From our friends at Eventing Nation... Here's the latest Eventing Radio show--Chris Stafford, along with co-host Bobby Costello really assembled a star studded guest list, including : John Nunn, Brian Sabo, Jon Holling, Max Corcoran, Karen O'Connor, and Jacqueline Mars, oh, and of course the coach himself, Mark Phillips. [Listen here]     Eventing Radio Episode 170 by Bit of Britain – Holiday Special with Karen, Boyd, Phillip and Sinead Karen O’Connor, Sinead Halpin, Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton gather round the fireside with Chris to reflect on the year and share their plans for the holiday season. Download the latest episode on iTunes or click on the following link… http://eventingradio.horseradionetwork.com/2011/12/01/eventing-radio-episode-170-by-bit-of-britain-holiday-special-with-karen-boyd-phillip-and-sinead/

Karen and her new partner, Mr. Medicott, owned by the O'Connor Equestrian Syndicate, have been named to the USEF High Performance Training List for the 2012 Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team. Read more...

Sad day for the O'Connor Event Team. David's father, Jay O'Connor, died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. We will miss his gentle smile and kind spirit....Condolences can be sent to this email:  condolences@oconnoreventteam.com

Congrats to Lauren Kieffer and Ron Reagan, for winning the Training 3-day at Rocking Horse this past weekend.  Click here to read the USEA article.

Congratulations to Team USA and Hannah Burnett riding Ms. Mars' Harbour Pilot....Team Gold and Individual Silver at the Pan Am Games in Mexico!!

ANNOUNCING THE WINTER OCET CAMP in sunny Ocala, Florida  December 27th - January 1 Enjoy a fun, educational week with the O'Connor Event Team! Campers are welcome to stay through the following weekend and compete at the Ocala Horse Trials. Click here for answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Click here for a registration form in Word Click here for registration form in .pdf format. If a file doesn't open when you click on the link, check your downloads folder for it...some computers will put it there instead of opening it up right away in a window. Contact denise@thebarrygroup.com with any problems!   Contact Rachel Goff for more camp information rdgoff84@gmail.com

Fair Hill update:  Karen and Veronica moved up to finish 12th after showjumping. Karen was very pleased with Ronnie and commented that anyone would be happy to ride such a nice horse!

It's a wet one so far at Fair Hill International.  But, Karen and Veronica put in a superb test in the CCI*** division and are lying in 3rd place after dressage with a 44.6!  Tomorrow should be an exciting day on cross country...

Karen and Veronica are at Fair Hill this weekend.  Stay tuned for updates on the competition.

Hannah Sue Burnett and Jacqueline Mars' Harbour Pilot earn a spot on the US Pan Am Team for 2011!

AEC update: Lauren Kieffer and Court and Kylie Ramsay's Czechmate won the training horse championship, finishing on an impressive score of 25.0, which was the lowest score of the weekend for training through advanced.  It was a great weekend for the Ramsays as Calvin won the junior novice division with Landmark's Miss Liberty.

From the USEF Lexington, KY - A Developing Grant has been awarded to Karen O'Connor and Team Rebecca, LLC's Veronica to compete at the Boekelo CCI3* in The Netherlands. This event runs October 6-9, 2011. Veronica is a 9-year-old KWPN mare who just finished 9th in her first CIC*** at Richland Park. The purpose of these grants is to provide developing riders and/or horses the opportunity to compete overseas and gain international experience and exposure. For information about the event, please visit: http://www.military-boekelo.nl/

Richland Park Final Results:  Pan Am Games Mandatory Outing: Hannah and Harbor Pilot - 4th place CIC 3* Gold Cup Division: Karen and Veronica - 9th place Open Intermediate B: Hannah and Danio - 6th Place Open Preliminary A: Hannah and Woodbury - 11th place Training Horse A: Karen and Smilla - 4th place Training Horse B: Karen and R.H. Blitsfee - 1st place

Millbrooks Results: Veronica jumps clean in stadium to finish her second Advanced in 7th place! Karen rides Smilla and RF Blitsfee to win two training divisions.

Photos courtesy of eventingnation.com Congratulations to Karen and Veronica for completing the mare's first Advanced HT at The Event at Rebecca Farm.  Karen was thrilled with Ronni, and is excited to be able to compete her at this level after this great educational first run in Montana.  Looks like Max had fun as well, sporting a new western flair.

Karen and Veronica head to Kalispell, Montana for The Event at Rebecca Farm.  A record number of entries will be hoping to win some of the generous prize money at the 10th Anniversary of this event.  Stay tuned for updates!

2011 OCET Summer Camp As written for Eventing Nation www.eventingnation.com From Kim Bradley: I write this midway through my fifth O'Connor Eventing Camp. Why have I gone to one camp five times? Am I that slow to learn? Well, sure.  But I firmly believe that one never stops learning (just yesterday, famed OCET team member Max Corcoran showed me how to use a girth buckle to open a bottle of beer--something I firmly believe every eventer should know) and I also believe that we learn what we are ready to be taught.  "When the student is ready, the teacher appears," is some sort of Hindu or Buddhist or something saying (I haven't learned that part yet), and I believe it's true. Every year at camp, Team O'Connor teaches the same system. Every year I learn something new. Five years ago, my game little tank of a horse, Gully, and I went to a horse trial in late spring and by some miracle finished third after the dressage in Novice Rider.  We moved up to second in show jumping that afternoon, and the next morning I entered the start box for my favorite phase knowing that if I went clear I would get a golden ticket to the AECs, which seemed both wildly improbable and more fun than Christmas. I kicked Gully forward and everything went to hell.  Gully's enthusiasm for cross country had grown to outstripboth my knowledge and my ability:  I had a choice between letting him gallop blindly at the fences, or getting into a fistfight in front of each one.  I finished, clear, exhausted, and appalled. My trainer said, "Great job! You're ready to move up to Training!" I waited for her to start laughing and say she was kidding, but she didn't.  She'd watched my ride.  She actually thought I was ready to move up.  I walked toward the barn thinking, "I have got to figure out what the heck I am doing, or I am going to kill my horse." Which brought me to OCET Camp Year One. In my first jump lesson Karen bellowed, "When I tell you to slow down, I at least want to SEE YOUR SHOULDERS MOVE!" At the time I found this amusing. By the final day I was jumping in control. Astonished, amazed--and it stuck. Three months later at the AECs I thrilled myself by being able to gallop forward, slow down, gallop forward, slow down. It was magic. It made me safer. There's no actual event training where I live (my former trainer moved 800 miles away) and I end up learning piecemeal from this dressage trainer and that jumper rider, with a dose of eventing clinicians thrown in. It's imperfect, but I don't have a choice. But I come back and back to camp, eager to learn more. Year two I figured out part of my issues with straightness. Year three I quite throwing my upper body forward, and started to work on my hands. Year four we tackled some serious show jumping issues caused mainly by my never quite having learned how to show jump in the first place ("Just kick and go" doesn't work at Training level.) Year five-this one--well, today I figured out something about my hips that I think will really help our dressage. I learned that I have to be on Gully's case every stride if I want him to stay straight. And I learned that I'm a much better jumper than I was last year. But there's another reason I'm a frequent camper, and here she is: My daughter. My thirteen-year-old homebred eventer.  As much as I want knowledge for my own sake, I want it double for hers. Katie started off auditing camp, but now she rides--and the week of camp seems to do her more good than half a year's worth of weekly lessons from trainers who don't event. She's brave and confident and strong, and some of that comes from Karen, David, Cathy, and Lauren. Going to camp with her is a blast. We love this week; we look forward to it all year. I know how fortunate I am to be able to be a frequent camper, and I intend to make the most of that good fortune. Until next year--kick on.

Bromont Good weekend at Bromont for OCET - Hannah finished 2nd, Karen 4th, and working student Rowdie Adams on her horse No Money Down were 8th!!!!

Virginia Horse Trials Results OCET had a great weekend at the Virginia Horse Trials: Karen/Veronica-4th in OIC, Karen/Sunset Paradise-1st in TH, Karen/Bally's Cracker-6th in NH, Karen/Smilla-2nd in NH; Hannah came 5th with William in OIC and 12th with Monaco in BNH. Then there was Lauren...one 3rd, one 2nd, and five 1st!   Complete results are available at http://www.vahorsetrials.com/horse-trials-events/competitor-infogroup1/results/142-results-spring-2011-virginia-horse-trials

Rolex Final Results OCET had a great weekend in Kentucky with an exciting show jumping day to round out the event.  Hannah and Nike finished in 8th, Karen and Quin were 13th,  and Liv and Subway were 15th.  Check out all the coverage on the USEA website and also on Eventing Nation.com.

David reining at Rolex 2011

Karen reining at Rolex 2011