Heather Lindell teamed with Image's Cherokee for a 6th place at the recent Pine Top Winter Horse Trials on February 4th & 5th. Anyone there probably remembers the weather firstly. Though as you might recall and you can read below every cloud has a silver lining, its not always about what color ribbon you take home, if you do at all.

Team Cherry at Pine Top Farm February 2006

Warming up for dressage I’m sure we looked as if we had “a cherry on top”. Thanks to Jennifer for lending me her red scarf to cover my ears from that cold wind. Our dressage score wasn’t as good as the one from Thanksgiving but we are going to work on that before the next show. In the warm up for stadium a rider’s horse was jumping an oxer and dropped his front legs in the middle and flipped over the back rail. The rider fell and the horse’s body rolled over hers. Ouch! Then, within the next 30 minutes a horse and rider combination went down in the ring. Double Ouch! Yes, I was taking notes so I spurred Cherry on and made him work off some of that rambunctious energy he is notoriously known for. We entered the ring, saluted the judge, waited for the whistle then trotted the first fence. The ride finished with a double clear round. Thank goodness I lost those Thanksgiving pounds. Of course, I did a good job working on gaining them all back at the party that night.

My parents are the best. Have I every mentioned that? They are a BIG part of the Team Cherry successes. They hosted a kickin’ barbeque dinner at the OK Corral Saturday night. Barbecue, veggie burgers, cowboys and cowgirls, “bull riding” and roping were all part of the fun. Thanks to Glenn for keeping us so entertained. Oh yes, I even had my first ever s’more. I think there is a picture of it floating around somewhere. The girl that eats sandwiches with a fork and knife had to bite into a melting, sticky s’more. Luckily I had the help of the ladies sitting at my table to guide me in this new yummy endeavor. We also celebrated Dave’s birthday and Cherry’s 25th coming up in March with a tasty carrot cake. The great food and comradery had us all pumped and ready to tackle the cross county course on Sunday.

Sunday was F U N! Cherry attacked the cross country course with great zeal. He absolutely loves it when he hears people cheering and he gives it all just a little more effort. Cross country was a double clear and a double thumbs up. Thanks to everyone that cheered Team Cherry through the weekend. It was a big crowd this time with Mom and Dad, the whole Phillips insured family, Dave, Bill and Sherri, Tiffany, Kris, Shelby, Katherine, Rusty, Rebecca and Rachel. Special kudos goes to Jennifer for still being the best groom ever and most fantastic photographer. Team Cherry thanks you all for joining us and supporting us in our sixth place finish at Pine Top.

The next horse trial Team Cherry will be attending will be at Big Bear in Pine Mountain the weekend of April 7-9, 2006.

Happy Riding!,

Team Cherry