I Love Surprises

Don't you just love surprises?! When something totally unexpected, but really cool just lands at your doorstep - literally! I got home this afternoon from a very hot morning of riding, and a stop at Sam's Club to purchase almost $150 of water and gatorade (no joke - toilet paper and kitty litter also snuck into my cart, but it was so heavy with water by the time I checked out, I could hardly control the cart and was a danger to small children and snacking patrons - really, have you ever noticed how much people eat while they shop?!). Anyhow... I got home from my HOT morning, and was gathering up the mail. I turned over the Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA) newsletter, and WOW! There's Katchi and me gracing the cover of the newsletter! (It's not posted online yet, so I scanned the cover and posted below.) I do feel really bad for poor Katchi though - my little off-the-track thoroughbred eventer looks so miserable in the picture - definitely NOT a dressage queen!! But, it should give any horse person a good laugh - oh, the words Katchi had for me! Despite Katchi's lack of enthusiasm, what a great honor and surprise to be in print!




If you haven't checked out my favorite website, now is a great time to do it! Go to http://www.eventingnation.com/ I'm addicted. This weekend is Rebecca Farm's horse trial in Montana, and thanks to Eventing Nation, I have learned this is one hell of an event! First of all, they chartered a plane from Baltimore to take out about 15 East Coast horses - it was called Air Horse One. LOVE IT! Then they used a helicopter to film the entire cross country course for all us wanna-be's to check out! Seriously, NBC and Rolex - get with the program! Where's your helicopter?? (Okay, I just learned it was a remote controlled helicopter with a camera that did the cross country film; not a real helicopter - well, that's pretty cool too.) My prediction - we might very well see Rebecca Farm as the next host of the AECs.


And speaking of the AECs, I might as well announce that I am 99% sure I have decided to opt-out this year. It's been a hard decision (getting qualified ain't exactly a gimme), but I believe it's right to sit it out this year - and a consolation prize presented itself this week, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. My last big event as a young rider was at Carl Bouckaert's North Georgia Three Day Event - my horse, Telly, and I did the one-star long format there, and wow - what a place! Apparently a divorce brought North Georgia to an end, but Carl's new farm, Chatahoochee Hills, may be even bigger and better! I am just dying to see it! But, the reality is that I'm faced with choosing vacation time off to compete or vacation time to get better. I choose to get better. I have some big goals over the next few years, and as hard as it is in the moment, I'd rather put my time, money and effort into those bigger goals. Meanwhile, Area II announced a change in the Area Championships qualification date range - which works out perfectly in my favor! Katchi and I are now qualified! And one day off work to get to the Virginia Horse Center is a whole lot better than 5 to get to Georgia (if my faithful wonderful and OLD truck would even make it that far!). It will be a nice end to the season to go to a destination event, ride a championship course, and still have vacation time and money left over to get my butt kicked by Silva, Boyd and Jimmy on a regular basis!!


Tomorrow I head off with 2 students for a local combined test - this will be Kerry's first dressage test, and Debi is going with a mission to show her horse how not-scary show jumps are! I predict it will be a great day for both of them! Good thing I bought $150 of water today - we may drink it all tomorrow!