More Pics Anyone?

Thoroughbred Park

Very cool bronze life~like race horses in downtown Lexington

and others grazing on hill behind.

and crack in wall views the finish line by a nose!

NEAT!

Dapple Grey Mare on hillside somewhere carrying the next Derby winner!

Everyone for some reason brought their dogs to the Rolex...
BUT WHO would bring their GOAT>>>???!

answer: A HILL BILLY!




Another beautiful shot at the warm up ring.
LUV IT!




Pony Clubbers Gymkhana event... CUTE!

OOOOOO.... A must have if you want to spend $1000 on a pair of boots... nice!

These R Mint Juleps! Served at the Kentucky Derby.

I have to say... HOLY CRAP Discusting! I dont care how expensive the Bourbon is!

BLEK! BLEK BLEK!

KEENELAND Racetrack. Inside of the holding stalls prior to race.

Looking out on the courtyard where they display horse & riders

Jockeys that are painted every year in their complimenting silks

JOYCIE & I ... at the cross country water jump in & out.

LOVIN' d'sun and check out those soooo stylish visors!

:)

ROLEX ... what an amazing time!

IF you couldnt tell.... that's ME...

I finally made it to THE ROLEX!


OH you want pics? I GOT PICS! I had to go thru hell first.... being that my new Canon 50D didnt come in time before I got on the plane to head to KY - but my darling husband made sure to pick it up at the York UPS connection and ship in OVERNIGHT FEDX to my hotel! It made it... YEAH! I had quite the time figuring things out on the fly... and unfortunately some of the best shots didnt focus center out... :( big huge sad face... as I couldnt get into the menu to figure that out... and they all looked so crisp and sharp on the 3" review screen ... why would I question it? 2731 pictures later... YES... two thousand seven hundred thirty ONE pictures later and my battery finally died... but I had a spare... but we were headed out of the park at 4:30 on Sunday and the last 4 pics are of Joyce and I at the water log jump. Still had memory left though... blah blah blah ... enuf about my new sexy Canon ok... onto pics! 15.1 megapixel pics baby!

We couldnt wait for the dressage to start so we sat at warm up arena and took shots!

OK... so arrived on WED to scope the place out. Took pics with my trusty Sony Cybershot before my camera arrived... Ya... but no... WALMART screwed that up... memory disk full after that day so we went to download 1hr onto CD so that I could delete all on camera and start fresh in a.m. Didnt find out until arriving at home on MON night - NO pics on Walmart provided CD! I cried and cried... luckily there werent anything we couldnt possibly get again in the future.... but still may never replace them again???? SAD but true... lesson learned - NOTE TO SELF... always have extra memory cards and do not OUTSOURCE!

DRESSAGE started Thursday after NOON inspections, then continued all day on FRI.

RINGWOOD COCKATOO riden by Bettina Hoy of Germany

she took second at the end of the weekend & seemed quite pleased!

Hildago De L'ile riden by Nicolas Touzaint of France didnt do so well ...

although looks nice here...

... as he had overzealous changes....

.... the chap pictured below... also had trouble with his trusty stead throwing his head!

HEY ... we all have those days dont we? For some reason it does my heart good to see the PRO's having the same issues I do ... especially at this level! HEY ... there IS hope for me!

WOOOT WOOT!

CROSS COUNTRY JUMPING

was next on SAT. Boy that drew the crowds!

There were awesome jumps that riders made and I caught....

& then there were not so nice pictures caught on my camera .... woah!

& then some great shots.... with perfect landings....

& then again...

not so perfect landings which cost riders an elimination!!!!! OUCH

third and final day was

STADIUM JUMPING!

& I shall not bore you with those pictures as I am sure you have seen enough...

so the winner is....

Lucinda Fredericks from Australia

riding Headley Britannia

& boy was she happy~ crying tears of happiness with an $80,000 check and a ROLEX watch (which is probably at a retail cost of $15,000 or $20,000 !!!!

ALL IN ALL

a fabulous time with tons to see and do and money to be spent! I did find some great deals... as I got a $250 dressage bridle for $79, a stock tie for $6, dressage gloves for $13, working dressage pads $10 each, and a set of brown eventing boots for Baby $15 for hinds & $19 for fronts! I KNOW ... crazy deals! Wish I had more to spend -

... NEXT TIME!

As The World Turns at Birch Ridge Stables

Well... boring I must say. Except.... expensive too? FIRST: I had the vet come and do shots. So we all know how expensive that can be with 3 horses right? Secondly, the findings of the vet to include what we knew all along ~ Angel has an unlevel Lumbo Sachral and will need Chiropractic as well as, acupuncture to hopefully help his balance to allow us to move forward with training. LUCKILY - I wasnt able to send the check in for the VT Adult Eventing Camp, as I was waiting for my Coggins to come in. Luckily I say because Angel seems to need far more work than I had anticipated. The vet asked me to commit to at least $320 for 3 visits of chiro/acupuncture and then we can go from there. THEN: MON the farrier came and while he was trimming Angels pasture buddy, Angel was defiant by tear assing around the pasture in deep footing which I would later determine why he was"off". That evening I took him in for a curry and to ride, but noticing that he was holding himself in a manner that resembled being impacted? He was also not putting much weight on one rear hind. Farrier? Pulled muscle? I decided to massage him and do several back stretches on him and between sets... then pulling slightly on his tail, just enuf hoping to release muscle tension. Well the next morning showed me he was WAY off, and he really didnt want to walk to the pasture. Watching as he placed his rear hooves flatly and softly as he exited the barn.... ??????? He was sore. I buted him tonight and took note of his movements on the way in the barn. Then I brought the youngsters in ~ Charlie and Baby in from the front pasture. I happened to be behind Baby as she walked toward the barn... and she is OFF TOO! WHY? It must be the trim job. He didnt take much off? Maybe Dry dry pastures? They do have alot of "hang nails" on the heels... so I decided to goop them all up with Hooflex on their coronary bands and massaged it in hoping to add moisture to their feet. One 4 and One 9 and both with same symptoms? Weird. I will call the farrier tomorrow and ask his opinion. I will then make a call to the vet to see what he has to say. I know my horses, they are off. I will take note of their stalls in the a.m. and see how much they moved around or if they were irritated overnight also.

Sunday Charlie had a swollen knee but he moved out fine so I rode for 15 minutes. Baby hasnt been riden in a week?... and neither will Angel until this is resolved.... unless the Bute and/or the hoof oitment did something overnight. We shall see.

Its the never ending saga of having ONE horse to ride out of 3 or 4. NO wonder Phillip Dutton is taking 4 (FOUR) horses to the ROLEX!

Which BTW is only 7 days away now! WOOOOT WOOOOT!
Truthfully it will be hard to leave them unless this is resolved!

Note: I will not be using the loose snaffle on Angel as recommended by Tom Davis... Angel hated it and I feel it is undoing all the gain that we have made in the last 4 weeks. So I am going back to a regular snaffle. Secondly, I have purchased a figure 8 noseband to allow for less interferrance around the bit. I have also ordered some nice leather Dublin boots that will fit my calves! I have some awesome Effingham boots but the calves are NOW too tight and all the leather wrinkles at the ankle and caused blisters. I cannot continue to ride in my Danskos with 1/2 chaps...my small toes are crushed by the outside iron! I am not comfortable ...and my riding therefore sucks.

I am actually still up and its 11:23 p.m. in hopes to outbid some YANKEE on some awesome tendon boots, leather ... and of course BLACK! Nice looking ones... and comes with matching rear fetlock set! Dreaming and hoping to use them someday and give me a reason to sell my other black ones... and upgrade! Sooooooo

Fingers crossed everyone...

wish me luck...

10 more minutes....

DRUM ROLL................................................

Another dreary day...

...but we need the rain to fill the wells that water our horses dont we? I was able to work Charles before the vet arrived to do Spring shots. He was a his typical charmer self... NOT! Worked him to a lather so he wouldnt give the vet trouble. All the kids got their shots. 5 way, rabbies and two got coggins. Budget is so tight I couldnt do the sheath cleaning this time around. Knowing that Angel will need some work on his Lumbo Sachral - may be able to do something next time. Dr Tusch wanted me to commit to 3 acupuncture sessions to correct some "issues" he has with his back. If I am going to be eventing him ... seriously in June... it must be corrected now to give it time to develope correctly before an event. Thank GOD I have items on Ebay for sale an will be sold to give me play money for Rolex and maintenance money for Angel.

I rode him today in the arena. Avoiding the frozen banks I created by plowing last week. Its worth it to have an area to work them though. I rode Angel with my bareback pad in the rain because I have been dying to get on since WED! I know WED! Well with their shots on Thurday they havent even been themselves until today. The rain the sleet an then down pour sent Angel and I in after 15 minutes... we couldnt take it anymore. He was wanting to just run on the lounge so bad. I want to bring them up to pasture on WED so they can enjoy just that! I will have my camera in hand and ready to capture all their loveliness while they run carefree in the field.

Unfortunately somebody is going to have to stay home.... Charlie heads or Tails Angel. Poor boys... cant have them both up there at the same time right off as Charlie Jerk starts too much trouble and Angel has no idea where the boudaries are. With the girls eating close by I am sure he wont get carried away, but if Charles were there I am sure he would drive him right through the fence or into the puckerbrush and then it would be Charlie Shiskobob time!

So until WED its raining and dont expect a post of me doing nothing but dreaming of the ROLEX! As we are down to 16 days away! YAY!!!!!!!!

OMG .... Its Not A Dream....!!!!!!

WELL....

I was pinching myself this evening when I stopped by my friend Joycies house...

I couldnt believe what happened....

& So SOON...

I mean I thought another 5 weeks at least!~

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

Sooooooooooooo

Guess what happened....

OUR ROLEX TIXX ARRIVED!

I KNOW !!!! I KNOW!!!!

ITS ACTUALLY GOING TO HAPPEN!

WOOOOOT!!!! WOOOOOT!!!!

We are totally elated! IF you couldnt guess!

SO READ em N WEAP HOSS LUVAHS!

HOTEL ..... $155

ROUND TRIP AIRLINES ....$310

ROLEX TIXX .... PRICELESS!!!!

Oh well and ....

the look on RONNIES FACE in first pic!!!!

HA!

ITS ROLEX TIME!!!!

That's RIGHT ... ROLEX time! I cant wait! I am going! I got my flights, my hotel, my car, admission tixx and stadium seats and headset! I AM THERE! What a great opportunity to learn, soak up the knowledge, atmosphere, smells of sweet Kentucky air and decide... which direction shall I go today :) WOOOOOOOOOOOOT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Awesome day it shall be, my first big step into the new world of intense competition! What am I in for? Flights werent bad, accommodations still surprisingly plentiful, and stadium seating during the dressage and jumping test hopefully will be confirmed soon. April 22 - 27.

On another note the Lindenwood Farm clinic with Tom Davis will be rescheduled for March 14th and that will be another good start to Spring. Angel will be a perfect darling as we are working diligently on, transitions, headset, rythm and cadence. Once I feel that he is more consistant we will start working dressage patterns and master them before Spring. I hope he surprises me with his willingness to perfect! I know he can jump over 3' without trying, so now I am going to just put the nose to the grindstone and be consistant in groundwork groundwork groundwork. He also needs to build some muscle so that we can realize that LEFT LEAD my boy! Momentum and forward motion is another small issue, as when we collect we loose both. In time... in time. If interested in more information on the clinic go to: http://www.lindenwoodsfarm.com/ for the schedule. I am also keeping a list of other events close at hand at http://www.flatlands-equestrian.com/events/index.html which is where Tom trains out of. He is a good clinician/trainer as he breaks it all down to horse and rider and then builds them up. He edifies the good in both horse and rider, encourages rewarding your horse and never talks above you or the audience. I saw great changes in both horse and rider during the clinic and hope that will be me during his next clinic!

Once the dust settles and I feel like it would be worth the money to make the decision & sign up for a week of eventing in VT at http://www.tamarackhill.com/AdultCamp/adult-camp.htm

AND that my friends would be the icing on the cake for us in JUNE.

I have to be fully vested in order to make great strides forward and develope the knack needed for these summer events.... this would give us the perfect opportunity to "KNOW" where we stand. After a week camp you would definately know to BE or NOT to BE eventing! right? RIGHT! So... I am 90% sure I am going.

I am posting this video showing small progress at the trot with headset. I can almost maintain good headset at the walk but the trot he seems to bob. I think the reason being he needs it to maintain rythm? As he isnt muscled up? He is very giving so its not that he is trying to take it away, I think he would offer more if he could. I hope to post an edited version so that you can see in continuation of progress he has made in another couple of weeks.