Rolex (Shopping!) Photo Recap

Finally!  The much awaited Rolex post!!!  Sorry for the delay - sometimes technology is not your friend.  Thank you Blogger for upgrading yourself right out of my technological capabilities.  Took me a few days to get the hamsters in my computer realigned.  But, nevertheless, I have pictures and a full Rolex shopping report to share!!!

This was only my second ever trip to Rolex.  My mom and I went to WEG in 2010, and I kept telling her - WEG is great, but Rolex is all about eventers!  My mom didn't quite understand, but when tickets went on sale for this year's Rolex, I convinced her we should make the trip.  About 4 hours into our first day there, I said to her "You pretty much LOVE Rolex, don't you?"  And what did she say??  "I SO LOVE Rolex!"  And as we left the KHP on Sunday afternoon, the truck full of goodies, she said "I hope I live long enough to come back to Rolex."  I think I'll have to be sure that happens!

Of course, everyone reading this already knows the results.  You know who sucked at dressage, you know who fell off in the water, and you know who won!  But, what you don't know that I'm sure you're all dying to know is....  what did I (my mom!) buy at Rolex?!?!  What were the best deals?  What was the most exciting new thing that I just had to have (for my horse's most basic needs, of course!!)?

Pretty much - my Rolex shopping was all about BOOTS!  I've had a really hard time with boots the past few years, so mom and I went with the mission of sorting out a long term boot solution.  And we may have gone a bit crazy.  In 3 months, I will have a lovely pair of black classic beautiful dress boots arrive from La Mundial Custom Boots.  With great luck, while my mom and I were agonizing over the details of said classic (read: should be very simple) boots - zippers, soles, spur rests, decorative details - my old coach from Texas, Mike Huber, turned up at the boot store and as if I was still a young rider carefully tucked under Mike's wing...  I said, Mike, HELP ME PICK OUT MY BOOTS!  And he did.  Bless him.  And then I said - wait, no girl can have just 1 pair of boots!  So we picked out another pair for home and lessons and clinics...  and, oh won't brown with black piping look so lovely!  Mike convinced me to get a fancy curvy zipper and I'm even having my initials stitched on the back.  Fun!!!  I'm in love with them already, and I won't get to meet them until the summer is almost over!

And then boot shopping got really really fun when I won a raffle!!!!   And now I'm the proud owner of RED - and this is serious shiny fire engine red - paddock boots and half chaps.  THANK YOU Dublin boots!  It will take me a bit to get them broken in, but then I am going to be THAT GIRL IN THOSE SHINY RED BOOTS!!!!  I'm imagining a red polo, black belt, white pants, and RED boots!!!  HOT!  But not at a lesson with Jim Wofford.  These are definitely not Jimmy-approved boots.  Although, he hasn't had a heart attack over Sharon White's ORANGE get-up yet... I don't want to tempt fate.  Although my mom already asked Phillip if he would send me away from a lesson if I showed up in RED boots - and he said no!  Yeah for Phillip!  Woo Hoo for RED boots!!  Check out the Dublin website here - you too could have a pair of RED boots and we could be twins!! :)

And the best t-shirt award goes to Bit of Britain.  I'm not sure whether #2 or #3 is my favorite. Maybe #2 is mine and #3 is Katchi's!

The best deal of the weekend had to go to the clearance store selling beautiful Anky designed shirts and jackets and even show shirts - all for $5.95 each.  Now that's a deal!  Katchi got himself a bucket of treats and a beautiful new leather show halter AND new super padded stall mats from Equilite Mats. My mom and I got them all set up in Katchi's stall and I think he loves them - he laid out flat to sleep last night, and he never does that!

Rolex is pretty much like going on the Hajj to Eventing Mecca.  Everyone is there.  And what good fun to run into an old pony club friend from Texas - who I must not have seen for 15 years!!!  Yet, so many years later, Joanne Cheville Redmond and I are still horse crazed little girls!!

Not only did I get help with my boot selection from Mike Huber, I also was so lucky to be able to walk the course with him and Heather Morris on Friday afternoon - along with a whole gang of Heather's fans from Texas and California.  Mike, being the head US Olympic Team selector, had some very interesting insights into the course, expectations, and the team selection process.  His key point: Rolex is only one of many selection trials, and the selectors have a very tough job ahead of them (which is very very exciting for Team USA)!

Heather's dog took quite a leap off the squirrel log!  Too bad I missed getting this into the Eventing Nation Rolex dog photo contest!!


And now a few cool XC pictures - Will Coleman and Twizzle up the bank, and William Foxpitt and Parklane Hawk bounce over the rail.

Where's Waldo?  Er, I mean, my mom??  Wondering why fence 9 (the coffin) caused so much trouble?  While 9A and 9B had their fair share of victims, 9C was brutal.  We spent the better part of the day about 30 feet from it, and while it looked impressive, didn't look THAT impressive.  But, when we walked up to it - Holy Cats!!!  I don't think it could have gotten any skinnier, taller, or furrier!  When my mom walked around to the back side - she became nothing but a green hat and sunglasses rims (as documented in the picture below - can you find her in all that brush?!).  And we especially loved the teeny tiny single red flower at the base - I'm sure more than a few riders took a glance at that pretty red flower as their horse scooted right on past.  Wow.  Now that's a 4* question.

 And one final very exciting bit of news - yesterday, Katchi and I went up to Phillip Dutton's for our first jumping lesson with him since December!  WOO HOO!  Phillip kept everything to no more than 3' but Katchi was jumping like a star and we had SO MUCH FUN!  After our lesson, Katchi didn't feel too tired, so we went up and puddled through the water jump and went for a few spins around Phillip's gallop track.  SO SO happy to be playing again!