Media

FEH Success

By Murphy Eventing

Katie Murphy of Area 1 ventured to the Morven Park International Equestrians Center in Leesburg, VA, for the Future Event Horse East Coast National Championships. Presented by professional handler, Christine Smith, Ensign on Deck RGS (Emitt) competed in the two-year-old division and Esccord RGS (Garth) competed in the three-yearold division. Both horses were bred by Page Brook Farms.

Emitt placed fourth among the geldings and fourth overall. Born in late June, Emitt was behind the other horses in growth and stature. We are excited to see how he continues to develop. Garth placed second among geldings and third overall for three year old fillies/geldings. Both horses received impressive scores for their quality and straightness of gaits and correctness of build.

Katie is headed to Southern Pines, NC, for March and February where Garth will debut at area events. In April, Emitt will compete at the Kentucky Horse Park during Rolex in the FEH three year old division.

Murphy Eventing would like to thank their sponsors for their generous support. For more information about Katie, please visit MurphyEventing.com.

December 2011, Equine Journal Northeast, 9

USEA Future Event Horse East Coast Championships

Hanoverians were well represented at the USEA Future Event Horse East Coast Championships this year. Valerie Fox’s Hanoverian yearling Sentimental Baby (Sinatra Song-Susanna/Salvano) was named Yearling Champion and Overall Reserve Champion with a score of 74.6%. Valerie’s two-year old Grafton (Graf Top II-Crazy Lady/Crazy Classic) also placed third in his class. In the Yearling Colts/Geldings division, Fusilier (Freedom Z-Princess Attaway

xx/Attaway to Go xx) finished in fourth place for owner/breeder Russ Boraas. Esccord RGS (Escudo I-EM Arabella RGS/Acord II) finished second in the Three-Year Old Colts/Geldings class for owner Katie Murphy and breeder Page Brook Farms.

www.hanoverian.org, December 5, 2011

The Best Bloggers – Some Inspiration

Bloggers, I have found, tend to fall into three categories:

1. The first category are those that decide a blog is a good idea, set one up, make a couple posts, and then forever neglect it as it gathers cobwebs and drops from sight.

2. The second category are those that feel a blog is a good idea, set one up, and then litter it with bits of meaningless, recycled information, thus irritating both the search engines and potential readers.

3. The third category are those that feel a blog is a good idea, set one up, and then thoughtfully and regularly post interesting content, thus encouraging website traffic as well as creating an enriching experience for their readers. Yay!

(There is a 4th category as well – the would be blogger that is intimidated by the idea of creating content on a regular basis, and therefore never takes the next step of setting up a blog.)

What category are you in? If you are in category three, congratulations!

If you are in any of the other categories, not to worry. We’re not here to pick on you, but rather to supply a little inspiration to help you get on track.

First things first. To start, we’d like to award one of Tebo Design Studio’s clients with the Awesome Blog Award! Katie Murphy of Murphy Eventing please step forward!

What has Katie done to deserve this award? What makes her blog so special?

Katie’s blog falls squarely into the third category. She posts regular, entertaining stories on her blog about her adventures as an up and coming eventer. (For those non-horsey people, eventing is a sport in which you perform a disciplined and elegant dressage test, which is much like ballet with your horse, and then race hell bent for leather over hill and dale jumping large immovable obstacles, followed by a slightly more controlled round on a show jumping course. Personally, the thought of eventing my horse always made me queasy, but Katie is much more intrepid than I.)

Katie’s posts can be tearful (her painful decision to sell her event horse, Fitty), joyful (the engagement ring!), or hilarious (her horse, Garth’s first person account of the secret motives of chipmunks). Most importantly, her posts are genuine. There is no contrived or forced commentary, just 100% pure original content.

The result? Take a look at one of Katie’s posts. I guarantee you there are comments. And comments mean people are reading her stuff.

In addition, you might find links to relevant websites or Facebook pages from within her articles, and if you look at her Facebook page you’ll see it is utilized to bring people to her blog. In essence, she has created a circle that keeps her in front of her readers. She is doing everything right.

However, the most amazing thing about Katie’s blog may be the very fact she finds time to write it at all. In addition to training, competing and caring for her horses, she holds a full time job and is furthering her education with additional business classes and equestrian certifications.

What can we learn from Katie? That blogging is approachable no matter what your career path, and that posts do not have to be carefully researched educational pieces to be of great worth. We might also discover that, with determination and focus, you can achieve anything, whether it be hurtling over imposing obstacles with an equine partner, or creating a blog worth reading.

Monday Morning Kick Start, November 21, 2011

Young Talent

Congratulations to Katie Murphy of Murphy Eventing on a successful showing at the Future Event Horse Series (FEH) at Stony Brook Farm in Peterborough, NH, on September 3, 2011. Stony Brook Farm is an ideal facility for the FEH, YEH and NEH events with a quiet location, close quarters and a ring with great footing and solid perimeter fencing. Ensign on Deck RGS received very respectable marks on his correctness and gaits, placing third with a score of 74.6. He was approximately three points out of the first place position and a gap of 5.7 points separated Emitt from the fourth place horse.

Esccord RGS made an exciting debut, behaving beautifully through the delay, and despite the flies and glaring sun, stood patiently for the judges. He placed first out of five horses, scoring 76.6.

Katie sends her thanks to her sponsors, Blue Seal, Hit-Air, Thumper Massage, George Barker Horseshoeing and HoofPix. For more information on Murphy Eventing or to read her successful blog, visit MurphyEventing.com.

November 2011, Equine Journal Northeast, 13

New Partnership

Congratulations to Katie Murphy on the purchase of Esccord RGS from Page Brook Farm in Whitney Point, NY. “Garth” is an inquisitive, very sweet young horse with exceptional focus, and powerful gaits that show natural

suspension. Katie tells us that he is a pleasure to work with in the barn and under tack. We look forward to seeing this pair in the future.

September 2011, Equine Journal Northeast, 11