The Best Laid Plans

 Well the start to our show season is being delayed a month or so. We were supposed to leave for Thermal on Saturday, but scratched last Tuesday. DIHP put out a small little blurb last Monday about "a small number of horses" testing positive for equine influenza, but not to worry because they had been removed from the show grounds and were in a quarantine facility. 

Cinder was not pleased at getting a bath for a full body clip, now all for naught

Our vet is an FEI vet who has worked with the main show vet at DIHP in the past. She called him up and asked what exactly was going on. Allegedly there were 10 horses that tested positive, all vaccinated, and it appears that its a new strain of flu. She strongly recommended that we do not go, and if we did, that we should quarantine the horses when returning to Oregon.

Kill me

Combine that with the weather forecast for our week there, and all four of us going decided to scratch. There's no way our horses, or us humans, would have been ok with showing in that heat. It's hasn't broken 70 here in Oregon and the shock of going to 107 would have been cruel. Let alone hauling in that heat. 

I'm taking this as a sign from the universe that I'm supposed to show in Thermal in the fall, hopefully at Adult Hunter Finals if we can qualify. 

Sunshine, Shows, and Suckiness

I'm currently sitting on the floor at SFO trying to charge my phone during a 10hr layover (thanks air traffic control for cancelling my flight!) trying to get back home from vacation. So apologies in advance for mobile blogger screwing up the layout and the rambly nature of this post. 

Last Thursday my BO and I set off on vacation together. Her husband is spending the winter with his 92yr old aunt who lives along the Salton Sea in SoCal, 45mins from Thermal, and BO was going down to spend a few weeks with them. Side note, Aunt actually owns the barn property and spends the summers up here. BO and husband are like her kids. I had been talking about going to see my parents in Mexico around the same time, and since my BO, her husband, and aunt are like my second family, they got invited to Mexico too.

 Some of the other boarders were worried because BO and I have never been gone at the same time and if something happened what would they do?!? Remember that for later.

The drive down was long...good God California is a big state. But it was 84 when we pulled in Friday afternoon, much nicer than 52 and rainy in Oregon. Saturday BO, husband and I headed out to spend the day at Thermal and watch the $100k World Cup Qualifier. We spent the morning watching some 1.20m jumpers, window shopping all the pretty tack, then watching the 1.35m class in the Grand Prix ring. 

I might have fangirled a bit walking around with some of the big west coast riders hanging around the in gate. I will say that Hap Hansen looks about a million years old, and that his neck has fused. The GP was amazing to watch; tough course with only three clears. My favorite was Rich and Flexi, and even with a rail down they ended 4th. And it was announced that they'll go to the World Cup finals next month. 

After getting slightly sunburned Saturday we left Sunday for Mexico. We did a little sightseeing and Monday headed out to the Guadalupe wine valley about an hour from my parents. Mom had booked a trail ride they the vineyard for BO and I and we had a blast! I got a slightly spirited Lusitano named Valentino. He jigged most of the time but was super smooth and fun to ride. 

Unfortunately when we got back to the house Monday both BO and I were bombarded with texts saying that one of BO's donkeys was down and not drinking. Vet was called and it took 6 people to get her up. BO slept on it Monday night and spent Tuesday making arrangements. Thankfully one of our boarders is a contractor doing an addition to the barn right now and had the equipment to bury Panda on the property. He took charge of everything. But both BO and I know that the SH, the other boarder in charge while we're gone, is just beating herself up about it. She's super sensitive and anxious, and even though everyone knew Panda was going downhill, she's likely worried herself sick over it. I know I'll get a tearful SH to deal with tomorrow and threats if BO and I leave at the same time again. 

Planning Ahead

I've started getting some fun stuff scheduled on the calendar for me and the ponies.  Next weekend, the 25-26 I have the John Turner clinic.  Ride times were sent out this morning and thankfully I ride midday.  I'm hauling Buddy back and forth each day so I'm super happy that I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive down for an early ride.  I will got early to watch the group before so I can get an idea of what I'll be doing.

I sent in my yearly registration for OHJA and registered both Buddy and McKenna. I have no idea how this show season will go, but it's only $5/horse to register them so why not? I would love at least have McKenna go to a show and do flat classes by summer. I need to see if as a rider I can cross enter trot-a-pole and the 2'6"-3' jumpers.....

I also asked for and was approved for a few days off work to go down to my parent's in San Diego and take a road trip to watch the Thermal Million.  I'm already planning to ask for time off next year to go to the FEI World Cup Finals in Vegas!

Thermal

It was awesome!! Just walking around the grounds and watching the regular classes was so much fun. We got there around 11:30 and the Grand Prix didn't start till 2, so we had plenty of time to hang out. I wandered down vendor row and drooled over all the pretty tack and clothes I can't afford.

Dad and I got seats in the stands right along side one of the most difficult line of the course. It was fences 3,4,5ab, and 6. It was a long curvy bending line....5 strides from 3 to 4 both giant oxers, then 5 or 6 to a one stride at 5a and 5b. Then it was a 4 strides to fence 6, a skinny dragon vertical that was taken on an angle. So many riders had trouble down this line!

Out of the 40 riders there was only 2 clear, with another 2 having only time faults. Time was a big factor and a lot of people were over the time allowed. Being able to watch how powerful and talented all the horses was amazing. Antares F, McLain Ward's horse has an amazing front end. I've seen videos online of him but the action in his front end in person was incredible. He just cracks his shoulders and knees up, I don't know how McLain rides it.

I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped, I was so caught up in the action that I forgot. I did get some from the jump off between Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (who won) and John Pierce.

I did decide that no matter what, I will be showing at Thermal at some point in my life. It's going on my bucket list!

Enjoying life

This past week the weather has been great!  It's still a little cold in the morning but its been warming up into the 60s.  And now that the time changed its light till after 7 so I've been spending most of my evening at the barn.

On Sunday Amy had a lesson on Buddy, and while he was a bit of a pill for her, they ended well.  She's still trying to get used to him as he's almost the complete opposite of what she had been riding.  He was fussy with his head, but that's because she needs to relax and let go; trust that he 's not going to run away or do something naughty.  I can see a lot of myself in her when I first started riding Buddy.  The locked elbows, not sitting down and pushing him forward...makes me realize just how far we've come.  She has another lesson today that I should be able to watch.

I'm leaving Friday for 10 days down in sunny CA.  I've managed to convince my dad to drive the 2.5hrs out to Thermal with me on Sunday to watch the Thermal Million Grand Prix.  I'm so excited!!! We are leaving first thing Sunday morning so we can watch some of the hunters before the main event. I'm going to try and take lots of pics.