Tuesday, November 10 2009
On Friday morning my friend Megan and I loaded up Strut and Tanner and headed to the Lake Oroville Vista Endurance (aka LOVE Ride) ride. Our drive was very uneventful. We did not take the Big Slow Rig, instead we took the Ford and were able to hit all the speed limits. Our first order of business was to stop at the local Starbucks, all good trips start with good java. Before you knew it we were in the lovely town of Oroville.
The base camp is in a flat gravel parking lot and it was already really getting full and it was only 2pm. We parked for a quick escape as we were planning to leave right after the race and head to my friend Hillorie's house. After we got everything all set up and packed up our crew bags we went for a preride. I remember in the past that the end of the race was a bit confusing. No problems with it now. After our ride I went for a run. I ended up running about 2 1/2 miles. Then it was off to the meeting and lights out. It's funny how you get sleepier when it gets dark earlier. Saturday morning we got up earlier than normal because at this ride you ride across a damn then over railroad tracks and up a hill and then you have reached the starting line. We had just crossed the tracks in the pitch black, which by the way looks way more scary to a horse when a flashlight is being waved over them, when we heard the train coming. We were very relieved that we would not be near the train as it rumbled by. It was intimidating enough just hearing it. As we warmed up Megan and I parted ways as she planned on going a little slower on her horse. Tanner did not even care. After they said go Strut was a bit rambunctious for the first few minutes and then he settled in nicely. The day went by really uneventfully and we ended up 3rd with reserve BC. Tanner was 5th. My throat was pretty sore though as I had been riding with someone who could not hear very well and I found myself yelling a lot. We cleaned up camp quickly and headed to Vacaville, from one Ville to the next! Hillorie had a pasture for us to turn Tanner and Strut out in. Strut has got to be the coolest stallion ever that you can load him up with a strange gelding go to a race and then next day turn them out together. Very cool guy. We showered and headed to Chevy's to have an exhausted girls night out. The next day I woke up feeling really crappy. We had breakfast with Hillorie said hi to all of her horses and headed out. By the time I got home it was all I could do to unwrap Strut and turn him out and head home. I have been in bed ever since, it is now Tuesday night and I have not left my bed. Jeremy's trip went well, he learned a lot and came home on Saturday. Heather Sunday, November 01 2009
We were going to do the Malibu Ride and take a horse for a client to try out but on Wednesday night we got word that it was canceled. Our client lives in S. Cal so the other option was Git R done. We made the decision to go and packed up Thursday and drove down on Friday. Michelle Roush was very accomadating to let us enter so last minute.
On Friday we pulled in around 2 pm. We set up camp, got our crew bag ready and checked in. Very uneventful. Our friends/clients, Karin, Ron and JJ Donley arrived around 4 pm. While they were getting set up Jeremy took Bey for a pre ride. He had been pinned on the trailer ride and had had a rough day and Jeremy wanted to make sure everything was alright for Saturdays ride. Bey was perfect and really ready. After we all vetted through we headed to the lovely town of Ridgecrest for a nice dinner. We ate at Tokyo House. Jeremy and I had some good sushi while the Donley's enjoyed steak and salmon. JJ & Karin got curious as to how eel tasted so they did get brave and tried one of our rolls. We headed back to the ride after dinner for the ride briefing. During the briefing we had the usual desert Tortoise lecture as well as the normal trail, vet, etc data. This time the tortoise lady brought two live tortoises. They were really tiny. The one that was a year old was only the size of the palm of your hand! I guess they can live 100's of years and that is how you get the big ones:) Karin and her son JJ were doing the 30 to try out My Mamselle, aka Mya. Jeremy and I were doing the 50 on Bey and Makazin (I rode Makazin). The ride started at 7 am. It was Halloween so I was in my costume. My friend Maddy lent me a Tinkerbell costume with wings and all. It was too cold to have the wings on the first loop (which was a bummer as I missed out on having my picture taken with the wings on, Rene did get one for me after the ride though) but I put them on for the rest of the ride after that. They even flapped when I cantered! Jeremy sported some tall striped orange socks and away we rode. There were many other riders in costume as well. There was a bumble bee, a princess warrior, a spider, a pink princess and many more. There was a guy at vet check one who said that someone had complemented him on his costume. He was shocked as he was not wearing a costume, just his normal attire!! Maybe some of us dress up more than others. Karin and JJ arrived into the first vet check just ahead of us. All of the horses looked great. All of the riders were having fun too. This is when the day started to really heat up. It turned out to be around 80 degrees! Very warm for fuzzy horses. It was at this point that someone asked me how many horses we had. I had answered that we had 12 in endurance training and Ron quickly told me that it was actually only 11. (They really liked Mya!) The day flew by and Jeremy and I had fun riding together. Bey and Makazin have a very similar pace at the canter so they were well matched. The trail was deep with sand in some places and single track in others. The hissing, burrowing Owls were not out so it was a little less spooky than usual. Not a tortoise in sight. By the end of day one Karin and JJ were first and second on the 30 and Jeremy and I tied on the 50. (They didn't allow the tie so my cute husband gave me the win.) We hung out after the ride and went into town and got a Starbucks and checked movie times. Nothing was showing at the right time, darn. We headed back to the ride for dinner and the awards. Makazin won the high vet score and Best Condition. I was extremely happy with that. The awards for First and BC were cool hand crafted, iron work, powder coated cut outs of a horse with the ride name on it. It was art work for sure, very nice. The ride meeting followed the awards and we were all reminded to change our clocks back that night. This was a little concerning as our alarm clock is one that sets itself, and our cell phones set themselves as well. I did manually set my watch alarm, which I have never used before and we hoped for the best. Luckily all of the "self setting" devices did their jobs and it was not an issue. Day 2 Jeremy Rode Smitty and I opted to crew. I did the early AM feeding and then slept in. Karin, Ron and JJ packed up and headed out with their new horse Mya. Best of luck to their future success. Smitty breezed into the first vet check and was on his own all day long. Leaving the last vet check I drove out along the road that was parallel to the trail. I had some fun with our video camera and got some footage of Smitty and Jeremy. Good times. It was about 85 degrees today. Really hot. Smitty won by a large margin. He also won Best Condition. We relaxed and got packed up. After a few hours we loaded up and are currently on the road home. It was a great weekend. Next weekend I am off to Lake Orroville and Jeremy is off to Pennsylvania for a hoof care clinic. See you all soon. Heather Saturday, October 24 2009
On the way home from our lovely Kentucky adventure we decided to go to the Lake Sonoma 50. Skip was feeling inspired as well, so he wanted to ride too. Skip hadn't been riding hardly at all lately. His last race was in 2003. He decided to come out and train a bit. On Wednesday Skip came out to ride and see if he really wanted to go through with the race. He rode again on Thursday and he was "ready".
We are a really bad influence at our barn. On Thursday we told two of our other riders that we were going to Sonoma and before you knew it there were 5 of us going. Nothing like being flexible. Gotta love endurance riders. Friday we loaded up all 5 horses. Our friend Carol had her horse Freebie and Jeff's horse Breeze in her trailer and Jeremy and I took Bey, Strut and Razin in our trailer. Jeremy was riding Bey, I was riding Razin and Skip was on the stud, Strut. Skip and Jeff drove up later in the afternoon. Carol followed us up. We drove our extra speedy big truck that we had just spent so much quality time in earlier in the week. We did play hell trying to get to a decent diesel station on the way to the ride. Oh well. When we got to the ride we found parking relatively easily considering how tight the parking is. We set up, then we checked in. Jennifer, the ride manager is a fellow mudder from our Kentucky trip. I don't think she got to recover from her trip either as she had to organize this race. No rest for the wicked, us included. :) We vetted all 5 horses in and then Jeremy and Carol went out for a ride. I got our crew stuff ready while they were out. When they returned Skip and Jeff arrived. We all went to the ride meeting where there were Halloween cupcakes. Yummy. The big deal at the ride meeting was that there was someone coming from the state department to be there for drug testing by means of drawing blood. Apparently there was a lot of concern about this as the person was just there to watch but that the ride vets would have to take time out to do all the actual work of the draw and filling out the paperwork. After the ride meeting our "Den Mother" (Carol) had brought a delicious dinner for all of us to share. Very yummy with extra garlicky, garlic butter for the bread, that she had made herself:) Carol takes the best care of us, we love her. That night the weather was really perfect and you could see all of the stars. Why did we ever leave California for Kentucky? Saturday morning we woke up bright and early. Carol had also brought us a great breakfast of quiche and fresh orange juice. After all of the good food and getting horses saddled, etc. it was time to get on with the ride. I said goodbye to Jeremy, Jeff and Carol. Skip and I were going to be riding slower as it was Razin's third 50 and Strut's first Heavyweight. Razin handled himself very well. He is really coming along nicely. Strut was his normal wonderful self as well. Skip and he were the studs together. On the first loop there is an out and back that you pick up an "item" to prove that you have been down to the turn around point. You also get a piece of candy from a "witch" in a purple hat. I was reaching for the candy when Razin did a full body shake and I ended doing a party foul and dumping the whole candy "bowl" (a helmet) over. Darn, I didn't need the candy any way, it was a sign. On our way back from the turn around a friend of ours, Steve Lenheim was offering to sell his "item" to riders coming out to the turn around. The first vet check was a breeze. We had a 30 min hold and then we were off again to the lunch stop. The trail was really fun. It is hilly and windy on a nice single track. Very cool on a handy horse. It did seem like the trail had been cleared to the height of a 15 hand horse. Not tall enough for the 15.3 and 16 hand horses we were on:) Lots to keep you alert. Lunch was nice. The check had been moved a little closer as there is now a horse camp with troughs and a good place for a vet check to be. Both horses were good to continue. As we arrived to the check Jeremy and Jeff were just leaving. Carol was about 10-15 min behind them. Razin didn't eat as well as he could have and has earned himself a free round trip ticket to a multiday ride... lucky. It was a pretty warm day on horses with their new winter coats coming in. Our two, Strut and Razin were definitely feeling the warmth. The trail was more scenic then I remembered it being. We finished around 2:45 or so. We aren't sure but Skip and I might have been in the top twenty. Both horses vetted through without a hitch. We found out that Jeremy had come in 3rd and had won Best Condition and Jeff was 4th. Carol was tied for 6th but there were no ties allowed so she took 7th. Another great day! Jennifer and her family did another terrific job putting this ride on, especially when you consider that a lot of them were in Kentucky last week! We got a trailer ride back to base camp (you finish a few miles from camp). This is when we made up our story to tell Jeremy (he didn't know he had won BC yet). When we got to camp we told Jeff and Carol that Strut and Razin had been 9th and 10th and that Strut had won BC! Jeremy was not in sight though. It turns out he had a raging fever and was sleeping. So much for our joke :( Oh well, it turns out he heard it any how from the trailer window. He was happy when he found out that he had actually won BC. We hung out for a few hours and ate a bunch of crap, junk food. Then we packed up and we are currently driving home as I write this. We will see how Skip feels by Monday morning! Sunday, October 18 2009
On Friday I loaded up the four horses and headed to the Lexington airport to pick up Jeremy so that we could start our drive home. (On the way, there a young boy who was in the back seat of a car and motioning with his hand to honk the horn, you know that pulling motion gesture. I was so excited that I could actually do what he was asking! I know a bit pathetic, but it made me smile. ) This is a very small airport so it wasn't too bad to get in there with our rig.
Jeremy got in and we were off. Our drive began at 6pm and we drove through the night. On our drive we called Charisse and Karl from time to time to see how we were all doing. Sometime in the middle of the night I got a text message from Charisse that was crazy. I called her and she told me that they had been following a big rig when all of the sudden it swerved violently and then crashed off the road through trees flipping over and twisting to to a halt. Karl and Charisse pulled over and ran to the rig. It was so buried in trees that Karl had to move branches away to be able to climb up on the truck to scale the side of it to get to the passenger side window. He looked in and the driver looked dead. Then the driver came to and Karl and Charisse waited for emergency crew to arrive. When they arrived the guy was able to climb out and walk away. He seemed like maybe he broke some ribs and his left arm was cut up but overall not much damage! The front tire had blown out and sent the rig out of control. It was the guys first truck driving accident in 25 years. We looked for a place to stop in Arkansas. We found the fairgrounds but it was more like a carnival land that was all locked up and there was no sign of a place to keep horses. The neighborhood that we were driving through was pretty scary as well so maybe it was for the best. It wasted about an hour of time and it was already 2 am. We drove further and with no luck on a stopping point at 4:45 am we pulled over at a rest stop and took a four hour nap. The horses were getting restless so we woke up and started going again. Last night was Saturday night and we found a place to stop in Amarillo Texas. We stayed at "The Big Texan". Home of the free 72 oz steak (if you can eat it in an hour, otherwise it is $72). There is a horse hotel there as well as a steak house. We unloaded and took care of the four horses and then waited for our friends Ceci and Jason to arrive so we could all go to dinner. While we waited we saw the cow statue pictured above. We also looked through the gift shop where they have cowboy everything as well as a Rattlesnake in a cage. Jason, Ceci, Jeremy and I had dinner and the steak was awesome. f you are ever on Hwy 40 take exit 75 and have a good meal. They also let you use there turnout pens for free for two hours if you are eating in the restaurant. Good to know. We slept like the dead and started out again this morning around 9. The horses are all well. We are currently in New Mexico and the slow and steady truck is doing exactly that, getting us there slowly. Friday, October 16 2009
Before Best Condition there was a light breakfast served to all attending. That was a nice surprise! At the Best Condition judging Jan Worthington's horse Golden Lightening look super and he was later awarded Best Condition. We didn't stay for the awards as we wanted to get cleared out of the barn and headed back to our house with the pastures for the horses. Jeremy needed to catch a flight to New York to work on some horses and Tim was flying home as well.
I was anxious to get back to the house as we had our two new horses that Lynn had trailered down from Delaware for us there and I had not met them in flesh yet. I went straight out to see them. This was the best part of our trip. I love them both!! We got an 8 year old grey gelding named A Kutt Above and a 3 year old chestnut gelding named An Honest Crook. Great horses, I am very happy... finally something exciting from this trip:) When the whole team made it back to the house we all got things settled and went out for a fun dinner as our final hurrah of this trip. We had a great time. On our way home we took the scenic route and had a good laugh. Finally we all said our good byes and headed off for bed. This morning at an early hour that I was not conscious for Cheryl, Maddy and Cherry flew out. A short while later I was awake and Carolyn headed out. I went out to the barn to find Karl, Richard, Charisse and Kim stripping out their stalls and getting ready to head out. I stripped my 4 stalls and said good bye to them and then It was just me and my dogs here. Around noon Jason and Ceci came to pick up a horse to take to CA. I helped them load up and they were off too. About 15 min later Ceci came walking up and asked where the stack of garbage cans were that Skip wanted them to take out to CA. Damn. We got the cans and carried them the 1/2 mile to where Jason and Ceci's truck was parked. Now I am waiting for Jeremy to land tonight at 5:30. I will go get him with the trailer and horses in tow to begin our return journey in our speedy truck. Hopefully it is as uneventful as our drive out. Friday, October 16 2009
We woke up at the civilized hour of 6 am. The race would not start until 7:46. I did my normal routine of getting ready and then we all took the golf cart down to the barn. It was already raining and it was increasing all the while.
When we got to the barn Chikako was there to let all of us know that she was alive and well. Thank god!! The day before I didn't know what condition she was in when they strapped her to that board and hauled her off. I went to my stall and Carson looked very relaxed. I saddled up and we started "warming up" a great misrepresentation of the word "warm". I was riding around with one of Valerie's other riders. Her name was Dorota and she was on Pandor, Carson's friend. We rode around for about 10 min and then we were instructed to go with all of the other 100 mile riders to another field to continue warming up. After about 10 more min in this second area we went to the starting area for a third "warm up" all the while getting colder. It was at this point that the water was running down my leg into my shoes. I also didn't really feel my hands anymore. At the starting area my friend Lynn asked me how everything was. I told her that everything was fine but that I couldn't feel my hands. She somehow magically produced a pair of dry gloves that I put on over my gloves. With the double pair on the wind wasn't going through any more. Finally it was time to start. Carson was very nice to ride. He was easy to rate and very smooth. The first loop was already really muddy as the 75 milers had come through before us. It weaved and twisted and looped back on itself many many times. We went through corn fields and tobacco fields. There were a lot of volunteers standing in the rain to point the way. That was probably the coldest job!! We made it to vet gate one. That is where I trotted twice again. This time it was no good and we were pulled. With the way the weather was it was a relief. I went to get warm in the shower, which took 20 min to get full sensation back. Then I started to crew. The vet area, that was on a polo field had turned into a sloppy mess. Luckily we all had mud boots on. The rest of the team was still ok. Skip had some heaters picked up at Walmart so that the riders and crew had some where to warm up. That was the best money spent on this trip! I do not know how the other teams riders were getting warm. Cheryl Dell was out at the next check. Reason was a little off. When they got him back to the barn it was discovered that he was missing a shoe on that leg. You couldn't find the horses feet in the vet area so it was an easy mistake. At the third vet gate it was announced that the weather conditions were so poor that the race had been reduced to a 75. With two of the team horses out already and no possibility of getting a COC Carolyn Hock decided to retire from that race. On the third loop Smitty was still going strong and was only 16 min behind the front runners. Charisse and Kim were also going well. On the last loop Smitty decided he had had enough mud for the day and was not wanting to do more than walk through the mud. Jeremy was ok with that. They made it to the finish in 9th place. Smitty still did not want to move in the mud at all. At the finish we did a practice trot out and Smitty jogged, reluctantly on dry ground. When he was then asked to trot for his completion it was on the very muddy trot out lane that had been used all day. No matter what Smitty was not willing to trot in the mud. It was extremely disappointing for everyone watching and our hearts went out to Jeremy. Charisse and Kim completed the reduced 100/ 75 on Ben and Laramie. All in all it was a pretty miserable ride. I guess the best part for me was getting to see Lynn, Mark and Bethany since I hadn't seen them in so long. I actually got to hang out with them and have "quality time" with them in the mud. I bet they missed me:) The after math of clean up was also a big project as everything we had was covered in sloppy mud. A shower followed by breakfast at Denny's with our crew was kind of fun. Friday, October 16 2009
On Monday night after the meet and greet we went to the barn to look after the horses and Fuego was three legged lame and this is barely good enough to describe how lame he was. He was lame walking. He had rolled in the veal pen stall and banged his fetlock. The hair on the outside of his fetlock was "melted" so to speak, like a rug burn. He hobbled around and we got busy with ice, Sore No More and a special poultice. All we could do is cross our fingers and go to bed and see.
I got up and went to the barn really early to see about Fuego. He was only slightly improved. There was no way he would be able to do the race. I spent the rest of my morning tracking down various stewards and officials to see if I could find Chikako an alternate horse. After all she had flown from Japan and I did not want to greet her and then invite her to crew! After a lot of work on logistics I found her a horse that was not on the grounds that needed to be trailered in. Fuego also needed to be trailered out so that the alternate could take his stall in the secured barn. All the while the teams are starting to line up to wait to be called to the stadium for vetting in. The alternate horse finally arrived and we went to go vet in. My horse was the second to the last horse to vet in. Smitty got to be the last one. I had the pleasure of having to trot two times and be voted on by the panel of three vets and that was just to start the ride. Not a good sign. My morning hadn't been stressful what so ever... very relaxing in fact. We got back to the barn and proceeded to trot Carson out many times at various speeds. It was hard to tell if his leg he had scrapped up when he cast himself in his stall was playing a role in this. His leg was wrapped with some cream on the cuts and we stopped worrying ourselves with it. We helped Chikako saddle up her "new" mount and told her how to get to the trail. Then we started getting the last minute things prepared for crewing. It was almost time for the ride meeting when we heard all sorts of yelling, "look out, look out... heads up!!!!" I ran around the barn just in time to see a horse coming past the entry t the barn area at full speed. Right in front of the security gaurd there was a tractor re-working the front area to the barn to fix a mud problem. Everyone moved away from the run away horse except the tractor couldn't hear. The tractor was moving at a perpendicular to the run away horse and the horse swerved from the tractor and the rider fell infront of the horse and there was an aweful noise as the rider landed. Immediately after the rider landed I saw that it was Chikako!! Before anyone could do anything there was an emergency crew on the scene. They were there withing 2 min. They quickly assessed her and got her strapped onto a board and told us what hospital she would be at. What a crap day it had been. We had the rider meeting in the stadium. It was brief and concise, the way it should be. This is when they finally told us what crew bay we would have. Nothing like giving us ample time to set up! We hustled up and set up the crew bay and then we attempted to be presentable because we were already late for the dinner party that was arranged for all the participants. It was a great dinner, with wine and wonderful desserts. It would have been a great party to have two nights before a 100 mile race rather than the night before the race, as the riders could have socialized and hung out longer. Off to bed we went. Maybe I will get to sleep and not be up worrying like I had the night before about Fuego! Monday, October 12 2009
Sunday came and went! It is now Monday night. I am super tired. Any how, Sunday we woke up and packed all of our trailers to drive over to the horse park and have our passport inspections on the horses. At noon we all drove over together and got the horses settled in. The stalls are extremely small!! They are also very flimsy. The walls are made of vinyl and that is it.
I finally got to meet Carson. He is really cool. He is 16.1 and looks like a race horse. I rode him with Valerie's group of riders after we had everything else settled. He is really comfortable and when he canters he passes everyone in the first few strides just doing a relaxed gait. He can come home with me any day:) Jeremy rode Smitty and Maddy rode Fuego. All the horses still look great. Monday, Jeremy and Tim took care of the horses in the morning. When they returned I asked how the horses were and they said fine... except for yours. I thought they were full of you know what. But they weren't. It turns out 16.1 hand horses and tiny stalls are a bad mix when it comes to laying down. Carson had remodeled his stall. Luckily he didn't hurt himself, just the stall. He ripped open the front door to the stall (remember it is only vinyl). He also bowed out the whole front section, gate and all. He is fine. The front panel has also been replaced already! There was a vet doing a heart study on horses. She had contacted several competitors to do research on their horses. Smitty, Fuego and Carson are all part of this study. They put a monitor on each horse for :30 min and then their little machine records data and we will get some sort of results from this. Should be interesting. I rode Carson again. Just as cool the second time. Jeremy and Tim rode Smitty and Fuego. (Chikako, Fuego's rider, gets in from Japan on Tuesday.) We went to the Kentucky Horse Park today and we were just in time to see the "Parade of Breeds". This consisted of 5 horses. An obese Belgium, another fat Morgan, a round Appy, an equally round Paint and a little, fit Arab. Then we looked around the museum which was really cool. There are all sorts of interesting things to read about. At 3:00 we had a team meeting and walked the vet check area. Then at 5:30 there was a meet and greet for all the competitors. That was fun. All of the Chefs got up and introduced their riders and had a few things to say, a few teams were razzing each other which was good spirited play. Right after this Lynn and Mark arrived. It was great to see them after a year of moving back West. They brought Merlin's mom, Mia and brother, Raton or Mousy. Tomorrow it will be all business. Unlike today, where Jeremy and I rode the Saddlebreds pictured above:) H Saturday, October 10 2009
Today is Friday. Last night Shar, Skip, Jeremy, Cheryl and I went to see a movie. We saw the new movie called Couples Retreat. It was pretty funny. Then we went out for Mexican food. While we were out the Mountain Team arrived.
Charisse, Kim and Laura Hayes went out dancing with the property manager for the farm we are staying at. Today we went over to the Kentucky Horse Park. Our team uniforms were admired. The registration wasn't ready yet, so we did what any rational group of individuals would do and went to Starbucks. When we returned they were ready for us. We were all able to register and then we checked out our barns. Apparently right after we registered, there were a group of officials from the driving event that came over to our registration. It turns out that their event is on the same day and yes, even some of the same course as ours! They were insisting that our course needed to change as they had registered first for their event. Good luck re-routing us Emmet! This is his newest nightmare. After we registered we went to Walmart to get some headlamps. It was realized that no matter how fast we ride we will be in the dark. The ride starts at 7:46, yes :46. Then add 4 hours of hold time and 100 miles of trail, so we got a few headlamps. Carolyn bought a wheelbarrow for when we get over to the secured barns. I forgot to mention that we had 6 people in a 5 seater car. Then we added a wheelbarrow to that equation. We headed back to the barn after our clown car act. I clipped Smitty and Fuego and then rushed off to the airport with Charisse to get Maddy, Richard, Carl and Tim. Luckily the airport is all of 15 min away. Jeremy rode Fuego and Smitty and glued boots onto Smitty, Fuego, Ben and Laramie. Charisse, Carl and Richard hauled a load of stuff to the Park, like shavings, hay etc. Skip did a burger and hot dog BB-Q. Lesson of the day, do not buy some unheard of brand BB-Q that needs assembly. First the BB-Q rolled off the patio dumping off a large amount of burgers that all of the dogs quickly consumed. Then the BB-Q had various parts that started melting on it. Not good. Oh well, another interesting dinner. Overall it was good. There was also a bottle of Moonshine finding it's way around the group. It was some sort of homemade apple moonshine. Tomorrow we will move the horses over to the secured barns at the Park. I am off to bed. H Thursday, October 08 2009
Today is Thursday. The Mountain Team was supposed to arrive today at our farm but they got stuck in a flood somewhere in Missouri. Hopefully they make it tomorrow.
Jeremy and I went on a really nice run this morning, blue skys and a really nice temperature. The scenery is of course great as well. This morning our team vet Chuck Kessinger arrived. He went over all of our team horses and they seemed to all be pretty good. There were 6 horses examined and one of them was an alternate horse. My horse is not here as he will arrive when Valerie gets to the Horse Park on Sunday. The only change that has occured is that it was decided that Charisse would be better off on Laramie, who was Kim's original mount and that Kim would ride Ben, the original back up horse. That put Charisse's original horse as the back up. Just one big round robbin. All the horses were fine but based on their records this seemed like the thing to do. I think Kim will now have a big work out as her horse Ben is A LOT of horse. Oh well, good for the team. A big thanks to Charisse and especially Kim! After the vetting Jeremy worked on Smitty's feet and the rest of the team rode. While they were out riding it poured! Jeremy went riding a bit later and stayed dry...lucky him. The frogs are rampant right now and I love listening to them. This is something I didn't realize I missed from living back East. The barn has a tremendous need of a barn cat. There were drowned mice in Carolyn's electrolyte water. Mice everywhere. Tonight we had a BB-Q with Kessinger and his wife. Very fun. We also sat around and filled out more paperwork for the race, oh joy, this is the story of my life. Merlin has become the team mascot. He is keeping track of everyone. I caught him going on a butterfly hunt yesterday. He was way out in the pasture jumping two feet in the air and twirling around snapping at them. It was really fun to watch him. Any how it is bed time. Hopefully there will be a Mountain Team here in the morning. H | |||||||
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