I know its been awhile but I hadn't thought of a new story that was appropriate for the time of year. I have also just been doing a TON of conditioning with Mira, so nothing really new there, accept that she wants everyone to know transitions and canter poles are no fun and neither are placing rails at almost every fence right now. She would like to gallop really fast and jump really big and screw all the finer stuff..at least she isn't in heat right now.

Ok, so the story of the day. I thought I'd go way back to when Jenn and I had the idea to try a new event in the Carolinas. It was to be our first of the spring and with the smarts (read WTF) that we had we thought we would start out at Prelim for the season instead of running one Training and then moving up. We decided The Horse Trials at the Ark would be our event of choice. It was early in the spring it couldn't possibly be THAT hard. When we decided to go we invited other friends to go to, so Jenn, Lauren, Katrina, and I set out on what turned out to be a VERY interesting trip.

The trip down was smooth, and when we arrived at the Ark we got quite a shock. Animals of every shape and size greeted us as we entered the grounds. All I could think at the time was please oh please don't let there be cows ( to Cameron cows were smelly, oddly sized, horse eating monsters)..... little did I know at fence 5 on cross country you had to jump down a bank directly at a buffalo pen. Thankfully on the day of xc they moved the buffalo. Cameron was brilliant although I was terrified (so scared that I actually called my Dad and asked him to please take care of my dog if I died, which he handled REALLY well in spite of how he really felt- when I called him after I finished ecstatic that it went well he told me he was happy for me, but to NEVER call and say that to him again) because I had to be the 1st horse on course that day. It was my first event of the spring, only my 2nd or 3rd prelim ever and I had to go out of the box 1st...yes I was scared pantsless....
In the end everyone had a pretty good weekend, and Cameron finished 2nd which I was over the moon about, it was the trip home that was interesting.

Katrina and Lauren got finished and loaded before Jenn and I were ready to go. They wanted to get on home, so said they were going to go ahead and leave. We didn't think much of it at the time. We also knew in all of the stops we make that we would probably meet up, and at the time Nextel's walkie talkie  cell phone feature was cool so most of us had it and thought we would communicate that way. Jenn and I got on the road about an hour after the other girls.....

We had been on the road for  a while and we get a "beep" from Katrina, she said," hey guys where are you? We are only about an hour or so from Lexington." Jenn and I were flabbergasted. There was no way they had driven that fast... we didn't know what to say, so we talked for a minute trying to figure out how fast they had gone, and how they were now 3 hours ahead of us...I mean we aren't slow so how fast were they? Naturally it took us so long to answer that we got another "beep"... " seriously guys where are you, were gonna stop for gas and thought if you were close we would wait..." Well now we had to answer...argument ensued over who was gonna answer that phone. Finally because Jenn was driving we decided (she made me) that I would answer. " Um, so, we aren't even to Beckley/Bluefield yet...where are you all?" Immediately, " were only an hour from Lexington, how did you all get so far behind? We thought you left an hour after us?" Now Jenn and I know they did something wrong...and it dawns on us that they went East on I-64 at Beckley/Bluefield in Virginia instead of West.... there is a Lexington, Virginia and its much closer to Beckley/Bluefield than Lexington, Kentucky....Now we REALLY don't want to answer...so cautiously I say,  " Um Katrina, which way did you all go on I-64 when you got to the Beckley/Bluefield split?"...... SUPER LONG PAUSE..... she said, "East why"....OH NO... I couldn't answer. If they were that close to Lexington, VA they had gone now 3 hours the WRONG direction.... Now it was a big fight. Neither of us wanted to tell them they were going the wrong way, but we had to tell them soon. It was already 7PM and we all had work or school the next day.

"Um Katrina...you do know Lexington, Ky is West on I-64.. if you went East your almost at Lexington VIRGINIA..." my voice shook so hard because I knew what was going to happen next... " WHAT OH MY GOD THERE IS NO WAY>>>WE DID NOT GO THE WRONG WAY>> OH MY GOD!!!" radio silence....

What ensued was a lot of cursing and Jenn and I trying to console them and tell them we were sure this late that the VA horse center would let them stay overnight and then try to drive home in the morning, which didn't happen unfortunately because they both had to get home. What was originally a 7hour trip took them almost 13 hours to get home. I felt really bad at the time, still do. That was one of the harder phone (walkie talkie) conversations I have had with friends.

We can all look back and have a chuckle about it now. We still joke and all ask eachother if we are sure we know the way home before we leave horse shows.... you never know...you might end up going south instead of north...and this time of year I would be ok with that...

If I don't write again until after Christmas, everyone please had a safe and happy holiday. Make sure and remind your family and friends (and animals) how much they mean to you, you never know when you might need them

signing off ~
Mandy

Foxhunting

This past Saturday I had the privilege of getting to go Foxhunting as a guest at the Woodford Hounds Blessing. It was amazing. I haven't hunted since I went years ago with Alston Kerr and Iroquois Hounds. I have also never ridden around Shaker Village on horseback. What an experience that was. The Blessing was amazing and the hunting we experienced after was fun.

I must say that the more I do it the more I love braiding. I am fairly decent at it and when a horse looks good, the braids just complement the picture.

Details Braids

Now on to what the Hunt entails. Its much similar to a horse show. You have to be up at 4:30AM so you can make sure your horse hasn't decided to become a creature from the mud lagoon overnight. If they have a bath should follow. The bath is for the horse...to be followed by you because when you are finished you will no longer be clean because all of the mud from your rhinoceros (read horse) will be transferred to you. If you have escaped sharing in the bath then its time to braid. With Detail who is an impatient as Nascar drivers waiting for the green flag (at least I hope that's the one) you also need a twitch. A twitch for those of you who don't know is a piece of rope attached as a loop to a stick. We put it on the horses lip below the nose and twist. It doesn't hurt the horse, it releases endorphins and allows them to relax (however if they are a 17hh broodmare about to be checked for pregnancy it is merely a bat to swing around and smack the handler with). It only takes about 30 minutes to braid if you get good at it, but can take up to four hours if your horse becomes a fire breathing dragon and tries in vain to eat you alive.

Then theres the trailer ride. Did I mention I live in Midway/Georgetown...Shaker Village is somewhere out in east Egypt Harrodsburg up some of the most narrow, winding, vertigo inducing roads that a horse trailer should not be traversing just to go gallop with some friends. It is amazing once you get there though, even though the actual trailer parking area is another three miles out in the middle of nowhere (I heard banjos).  You then tack up your horses and everyone hacks back down that three miles to the Village for the blessing. It is an impressive sight seeing all of those horses going down the road. The pictures just don't do it justice. For little Detail who had never hunted it was very confusing, but he followed along because all of his new found buddies were headed in the same direction....he really is a herd horse. If the others went and jumped off a cliff he would follow (that's a tribute to all the parents out there who like mine used to ask that of their kids---“If Billy jumps off a bridge would you do it too??”).

After packing almost 100 horses into a small area at the center of the village they brought in the hounds. I was impressed when one errant pretty little hound trotted right up and touched noses with D. I was only slightly worried that he was telling Detail how he was going to help him rid him of his rider somewhere later on the trail by jumping out in some marlin-like fashion from the woods. The actual Blessing was short, sweet and to the point. I think they knew that putting so many humans, horses, and hounds in one place for that amount of time was just screaming for the great stampede to happen.

They then separated us out into 1^st Flight (the jumpers), 2^nd flight (the non-jumpers) and 3^rd flight (anyone too terrified to gallop like a herd of elephants and small children). Somewhere in the separating we got put in 2^nd flight because we had never been out with the hunt and we were guests so due to Hunting etiquette we weren’t allowed to go with 1^st Flight. I’ll admit at first I was a bit miffed because I know I would be fine riding with those guys, but then I slowed down and thought about it (I know slowing down and thinking is a novel idea coming from me..) and realized I didn’t know the etiquette to ride in 1^st flight, I didn’t know the countryside, and my friend who asked me to come along has a horse who isn't ready to jump.

It still ended up being a boatload of fun. I love galloping cross country (especially with jumps-BIG ONES) but it is also tons of fun to go galloping across country with friends, although the chatting is slim to none because like skydiving when you try to talk the words get torn from your mouth before you can think them. I was disappointed to not see our quarry and to only sometimes see the hounds (though you can hear them the whole time) but come to find out, its rare for anyone to see the quarry.

At the end of the day, poor Detail had been subjected to long gallops, losing both of his front shoes (it was SO boggy because of all of the rain we have had), and having to stand in a line in the woods like a trail horse while we waited for the hounds to get something running. And my partner in crime, Sara lost her camera….on 4,000 acres. We were sad when we found out because she had just gotten the thing, but somehow (and it was shocking because it was 4,000 acres) someone found it and brought it back (I don’t know whats more shocking, someone finding it…or someone returning it).  

We did hunt a couple of coyotes, but no fox on Saturday. I blame the beautiful weather, but won’t complain because rain would have been miserable. It was a fantastic experience that I hope to get to repeat sometime, although without the thought of Sara losing her camera, and only as long as the weather cooperates. I am a fair weather rider ya know…. Even if I do event….

signing off~ Mandy

High Performance lists

Since most of the rest of the small community that is US eventing is weighing in on the Winter Training Lists, I think I should too.

Back when Cam was running Advanced I thought we had a real chance to do big things. He was running so well I was convinced that we would have been to the 2011 Rolex. Alas, as we all know it wasn't meant to be. Horses are heartbreakers, they give us the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I was also convinced since he and I had run so many Advanced Horse trials that we might be able to get on the Developing Rider List. That is what we all want isn't it? We want to be noticed. We want someone to say, hey good job, look how far you and your partner have come.

The truth of the matter is, those lists are as cliquey as any high school prep group. Its more about who you know and who knows you than what you have done or how promising you know your horse is. Some really good riders got overlooked because they are like Cam and I. They aren't known by the greater eventing community and they don't have the money and the sponsors to run with the big dogs. Its the truth and its tough, but thats life. We all wish eventing wasn't as political as a lot of other sports, but it is.

I think those riders should know that no matter what those lists say it doesn't mean that they can't be the best. It doesn't mean that they don't have a shot at getting to the top of the sport. It just means that when they do get there it will mean that much more in the end. There is nothing better than being able to show all the doubters and nonbelievers that they are wrong. I truly feel it makes the achievement mean that much more.

So good luck to those of you who didn't make the lists. Stick with it. You will get your day :)

rain and

Alright Chelsea, just for you I am blogging. I don't have much accept a couple of different short stories. This is what happens inside my head when I am bored. I can guarantee that none of these stories have ANY relevance to eachother, this is just whats coming to mind. Random thoughts....

At the show this weekend I was reminded how much I like announcing. I had a lot of fun. However, when you get tired you do get tongue-tied. When trying to announce 3rd place at one point it came out "thirty place" and another time what was supposed to be someone's name came out as a sneeze...
Then later I told my sister I think I want to go be a radio DJ and she actually laughed at me. I was serious. I like announcing and I feel like Im pretty decent at it. It requires me to enunciate...and when forced I really can avoid mumbling....

Since its rainy I'm thinking about summer and mowing lawns. This past summer was the first time in ten years I have had to mow a lawn- my lawn- and I really don't mind. Well, one day I made the mistake of offering to help Julie mow the laneways between the paddocks. I was supposed to be using the "zero turn" riding lawnmower. Julie's instructions were " if you panic, it panics with you because its so sensitive." She should have said, "go slowly dumbass because if you try to turn too fast you will hit the fence." I started out fine. I was boppin along mowing and then I had to go around a cross country fence, well I got to close to the four plank fence and when I tried to turn around I pulled too hard on the right toggle and spun the damn thing around and got trapped between the jump and the fence. I wasn't sure what to do, but every time I even slightly moved the whole thing moved. After about 40 minutes of desperatly trying to gently work my way out of there without taking out fence or the mower and being so fried that to this day I don't think I will ever be able to mow with a riding mower again...

And finally all I can think about because of this weather is the fact the our awesome Tough Mudder team now has 5 whole members! We still need a better team name though so if anyone thinks of anything please let me know... and yesterday at lunch I got to tell about my awesome skydiving adventure again which is always fun. The whole staff here has labeled me as crazy which I think is about right. I like to jump large solid fences on a 1300lb animal running at 35mph, I get a rush jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, and now I am voluntarily signed up to run a military obstacle course that includes jumping into a dumpster filled with icewater- in March- in Indiana- so you know its gonna be cold.

Thats really all I got right now. Its raining, so my brain is foggy. I have nothing to do, and I can't write on demand Chelsea...so there.... However reading about Adelaide makes me miss eventing. I wish the weather was better so riding was easy, that and there was an event to go to that is close because then I would have a goal. Its a lot easier to ride when you have a goal.. I also still wish I could go to Florida for the winter....I miss that... A lot....

signing off~ Mandy

Respect the Show Organizers

Its amazing the things we do that teach us respect for other peoples jobs. I define myself as a Professional Equestrian. I know what I need to do to enter horse shows, get my horses ready, and work out all of the small details that go into getting myself, my students and my horses ready for shows. I have been a volunteer and know what its like to be an outrider, a jump judge, ring crew, and a scribe. And I have been a spectator, watching all of the goings on at horse shows. Until this fall I have never been on the organizing/secretary side of things and what I have learned has given me a new-found respect for the people who take on the daunting task of making these horse shows possible.

As some of you know part of my job is secretarial in nature. I never knew how hard, yet also rewarding this could be. It requires a lot of remedial tasks such as copying, re-typing, and organizing but it also requires me to know how to answer all kinds of questions at the drop of a hat. For those of you who know me (now becoming a favorite phrase of mine) this can be a total nightmare. I am a stresser/worrywort by nature (see earlier posts) so I try to get these things done in a timely manner and sometimes they take over my life. This particular time its getting the program ready for the upcoming IHSA show at the College. DO YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT THAT IS!!!!

Here's whats involved. Begging all of the coaches to get their entries in on time. Organizing how many classes you will have, how many people in each class, who goes in what class, changing classes, answering questions, finding extra horses, sending the program to my laptop from my desktop so I can work on this ugly thing at home, making sure all the riders back numbers are correct, biting all of my finger and toenails off <---eeeewww not, as if I could reach my toenails...ugh,  find clipart to fill in the blank spots on pages, make sure all of the advertisements are where they are supposed to be, changing people in classes again, changing class order so the horses arent overworked, answering emails, pulling my hair out (much easier than getting a haircut- cheaper too), sending copies to the College's coach so she can make sure everything is correct, arranging for printing of the program, making last minute changes, getting irritated at a Coach who forgot to put a rider in the program, and take a deep breath because for better or worse its printed and while it looks pretty on the outside just know that the inside is going to get written all over. And finally doing a happy dance beacuse I don't have to do this again until next fall.

So while everyone has anxiously awaited another story, this has been my life. Now all of you see why I am so neurotic. I come by it honestly.

At the show I will be responsible for collecting money ( I know- who in their right mind would let me do that?) handing out packets, announcing (ba hahahaha), and helping with program changes and points. I do love this. I really do. Having done this though I think I could be a show secretary. I have even more respect now than I used to for them. I used to wonder why everyone had to be so snarky or in a bad mood or why they had to make it so hard for me or my students to switch horses/levels/riders/days etc. If you could see the mountain of paperwork involved in organizing a show you would understand too.

My advice is this. If you ever have to deal with a show secretary in any capacity say Thank You. They deserve it. Be gracious and polite when making crazy requests and if they can't be filled, don't bite the secretary's head off. They are just following the rules or guidlines they have been given with the organization their show falls under. If they do their best to help you out and bend over backwards so you can show 6 horses in 10 different classes all running within one day take a second to be grateful they are out there to do their job, because if they weren't I cannot imagine how we could all compete these animals we love.

Intercollegiate Dressage Blunders

So this weekend as most of you know, we went to our first Intercollegiate Dressage Competition. I must say it was a ton of fun and the Team did well despite my nerves, their nerves, a shady truck, monkeys, cumberbunds, and hotel pools with TONS of children swimming. I shouldn't forget brand new tall boots in the sauna, and fun dinner conversations. The following is an account of the weekend happenings and an explanation of what the hell IDA is....

The good news is on the way up there the trip was uneventful. We got our hotel rooms and proceeded to go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse where Jenn found an alien peanut and dinner was pretty good. We found out when we went back to the hotel that there was an indoor pool, sauna, and hot tub...all of which were explained in great detail by a 7yr old whose parents let him ride on the elevator alone ( and naturally I was the one trapped on said elevator with the chattering 7yr old).

                                                         Alien Peanut
Saturday proved a good first day for us. We drew four pretty cool horses and the judge was "R" rated (for you non horsey people an "R" judge is a high rated judge which is good). Our Training Level 1 rider even finished 1st in her division which was awesome. The best part of the day though was when my Upper Training rider was gettting ready. I told her I would help her with her hair and her stock tie (why is it no one knows how to tie those? If Jenn hadn't taught me years ago I'd be clueless too!) as soon as she was ready. I was watching a rider in a test in the arena (Otterbein has BEAUTIFUL brand new facilities) when Kellie said, "ok I'm ready!" I turned around to her holding up a white cumberbund. I said, "why do you have a white cumberbund?" although I had an idea of the answer. She said,"it's my stock tie." I told her no it isn't its a cumberbund...aaannd a bowtie that fell on the floor, amongst much laughing. I asked her why she had those, they are for men's tuxedo's. She told me she had bought it from a pile of "stock ties" that were on a table at the CKRH tack sale the other week. I asked her if she had ever even looked? She swore they told her it was one. Amongst much mirth that followed including her asking how to wear said cumberbund we finally got her dressed and she finished 3rd for the day. Our team finished a technical 5th for the day out of 9 teams but only Findlay and Otterbein beat us- just with two teams each...so to me we finished 3rd.

The only other thing that happened was when my winning rider was getting dressed she was bragging to the team about how her boots were brand new- so new we found out that she couldn't bend her legs... For those of you that know me, I was a little peeved that she hadn't warned me prior to the show so she could break them in, so in my irritation I told her she had to go to the sauna Sat night and sit in there with them for 20min to break them in. She took me literally. I went to check on her to make sure she wasn't dying and she was holding her boots in the sauna....oh well...what can ya do... ( I ended up making her put them on  and it helped a little)

I was proud of myself for actually running saturday night after the show. Tough Mudder be damned I will finish my training.

Sunday was not a great day. We drew cute horses, but they were difficult and the judge was unrated. I had one rider error (nerves) and one get crucified unjustly. Courtney finished 2nd (it was the boots in the sauna) and my walk/trotter got hosed (she is insanely tall and both days drew small quarter horses) and she is a true walk/trotter where some of the schools obviously used kids that were not such.

The ride home was mostly uneventful other than one of the girls looking over and seeing a monkey in a car next to us. We proceeded to speed up to stare at the monkey and when the owner (who was on the phone) saw us she sped off.

Overall it was a great learning experience. I have a good team. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we look forward to going to our next show. Hopefully the luck of the draw will be on our side and my team will kick butt.

Thats all for now, though here are some pics of the team...

The first is our Upper training Rider and I in warmup, the second is Courtney winning her class...with her stiff boots

and finally, my walk/trot rider at her first show ever. She's 6'2"...he's barely 15hh....

signing off~ Mandy

So I sit here stressing, because that's what I do, stress, a lot. Those of you who know me, know that about me. It's a part of me and I can't help it. I was thinking about what I would share with the world today. I talked to my boss this morning about a scary runaway horse from WEG....I could share that, or the fact that I am hopeful that I can get Mira to a CCI 1* next spring (wishful thinking) and that I hope that allows me to get her to Intermediate in the fall (even farther fetched). Even better I can share the conundrum that is this trip this weekend. I think that might be best to share right now. It'll allow me to get some thoughts on "paper" and talk myself out of this stress. Although, talking about my hopes for my horse would make me feel better- I am feeling a bit selfish right now (It comes from looking at the Galway coverage on Eventing Nation).

Ok, so first I am messy, but I have an organization to my chaos, and no matter where I put things I usually find them. That being said, I like lists. I blame my good friend Liz for this. She makes lists about EVERYTHING. For horse shows, I do a horse list (things they will need) and a people list (clothing I will need). Well, for this Intercollegiate Dressage Show I made a list for my team, so that none of them would forget anything. Apparently this was a source of much laughter because on the list I put, "underthings." I was trying to be politically correct people. Somehow I thought someone (mostly someone higher on the foodchain) would take offense to my putting, "bras, underwear, and socks" on a travel list. I know its far fetched, but sometimes politics can eat you alive so being careful is best. If anyone knows of some better descriptor than, "underthings" please let me know, I'll be happy to oblige, but insofar my team hasn't been able to come up with anything better.

Now, for the vehicle we will be taking this weekend. November 5/6, 2011 is a HUGE weekend for the college. I wasn't aware of this until about three weeks ago when trying to get a fleet vehicle for us to drive to the show. Lets see...Soccer and track have tournaments, basketball has away games, Tri-Beta has a seminar, the IHSA Hunts Seat team has a show, professors have lectures to go to, and hmm I think softball has a game....I'm sure there's someone I missed. For a college who usually checks out one van a weekend, this is massive. So, since my team is new (and small) we are low on the totem pole for fleet requests. We get to take the College's dual wheel, extended cab, Chevrolet 3500 truck. About this truck....I've known this truck since my time as a student. Its khaki colored, so we got it as a deal because the person who ordered it didn't like the color. It has no tailgate because someone (NOT ME) pulled away from the tongue of the gooseneck one time and ripped it off, and now it only has one fender because one of the other coaches was driving it recently and it blew a tire-taking the fender with it. Its an older diesel so it needs to be plugged in when the temperature outside reaches 65 degrees and below and apparently won't start if it gets too cold. So, yesterday I called the hotel we are staying at to see if they have any outside outlets...and the woman argued with me that no car should need to be plugged in (when I explained about diesel vehicles she told me I didn't know what I was talking about) so if we actually get TO the show tomorrow and Sunday it'll be a miracle... btw said woman was not of American accent...so diesels may have been foreign to her? And now come to think of it what about all those new hybrid electric cars...shouldn't they have plugs for those too?

And to top everything off, I've never been to Otterbein. We have to compete against some grandaddy programs such as Findlay, Otterbein, and Miami who are all solid when it comes to attracting high level riders. I am SO nervous, but I know my team will do their best. They have been working REALLY hard.

Now I just need to remember to go get a Fleet Card so we can get gas, stop by A/P and get a tax exempt form so we can pay for our hotel, see the Director of our program to get meal and hotel money for the team, find bungees and tarps for the luggage to go in the bed of the truck (because only one fender on a khaki colored truck isn't redneck enough), do one more lesson for two of the girls on the team, pack said truck and make sure we aren't going to lose anything, and get on the road.

So, if you see a one fendered-dual wheel-khaki colored truck driving down the interstate with a bunch of people crammed in it you will know its us. My only words to the girls during the drive will be at the beginning of the trip, "no fighting, screaming, biting, kicking, yelling, snoring, pushing, whining, singing (because I can't either), posting annoying/vulgar things on the windows to other drivers, and in general snottiness towards eachother. And keep your hands to yourself or I WILL turn this thing around." The good news is that my team all gets along pretty well together...we will see if that rings true after 4 hours cramped in the truck...

Wish us luck and interesting stories to follow on Monday...

Signing off~Mandy

The Mandy Van Can

Now since I have to take my team to their first Intercollegiate Dressage Show this weekend I thought I’d share a story from when I worked at Midway back in 2006/2007. At the time I was helping the then hunt seat coach to coach the IHSA Hunt Seat Team. It meant that I was required to go to all of the shows and drive a van. At the time we had about 28 girls on the team and because we were in a Region with Miami University and Morehead State we did a LOT of driving.

Now some of you have either ridden in or driven a 15 passenger van. If you haven’t you are missing out on a real treat. Try cold plastic seats with seatbelts from the 1940’s, a sketchy air conditioning/heat system, doors that don’t shut well so that you can hear the road rushing by, shocks that only do enough to keep the tires from exploding (not from bouncing over potholes and making you and passengers slam your head into the ceiling), and a radio that at the best of times got all country and at the worst got some sort of gospel or sermon. Add 12-15 chattering women or early in the morning snoring women and you have yourself a top-heavy death trap. But hey, we had wheels so we did travel…or so the saying says…

This particular trip we were headed to Morehead State University, it was February and apparently some weathergod had decided Kentucky needed to be reminded we were a midwestern state and if said weathergod felt like it, we would have a blizzard worthy of the mountains in Montana.  We had to leave at 5AM and I am such a morning glory. So now we have 13 women, plus me and my cranky self in a death trap, whose interior temperature is maybe -40 degrees and its snowing. (did I mention that we had to read a booklet/watch a video to be able to drive these vans because they are top heavy and they sway in the wind) so now I have drive this van over an hour to a horse show with sleeping students in the back and the wind blowing us all over the interstate.

Now I also need to mention that the head coach thought is was funny to get both of us lost and/or late to shows and there is nothing more that I dislike than being late (and being lost-ask Catherine about our trip to Gemwood Horse Trials this summer). Well this time I was golden. I had been to Morehead, so I didn’t need directions and the girls who rode on my van knew I was crazy about being late so they were loaded and ready to go. We left early. About twenty minutes into our trip its snowing so hard we can’t see the road, meaning no lines, and thankfully very few other cars…because most people are smart and would have cancelled this trip…but not Morehead….no cancelling shows when you have a heated indoor arena (must be nice). At some point I must have been being appropriately cautious because while the other coach was notoriously late she somehow not only caught up to me, but began to pass (and yet here's where I look back and should have had some concern at how fast she was going at the time).

              Aside here – I am EXTREMELY competitive, and I HATE being made fun of….both attributes the other coach liked to exploit in me.

Now my van riders, not to be outdone egged me on and said it wasn’t fair that the other van always got there first. So, me being me, I decide that since the road is mostly clear of other traffic we can drive right down the middle, make our own lane and beat the other van. My van cheered when we passed the other and despite the bad weather we beat them to Morehead, however we didn't expect to be blown left and right all over the road like a ship in a rough sea. Our streak ended when approaching the driveway to the MSU Equestrian Center I went to ease on the breaks for the stupid, ugly, good for nothing van and it slid like this graceful ice skater ever so slowly just past the entrance. It went just far enough that the other van eeked in behind us to beat us there (with me bellowing at the %^$&^% thing to stop). To make matters worse…It took us ten minutes to find a place to turn around because no matter how hard I tried to back up, traffic wouldn’t let me and I had a van full of seasick riders who I was praying to the weathergod wouldn't puke in the van.

Naturally, much laughter ensued and at the year end awards banquet the team decided to not only dub one of the vans, “The Mandy Van” but they also created a song, which was put to the "Candy Man Can” song from Willy Wonka. It was quite hilarious and one of these days when I can find the lyrics to said song I will be happy to post them on here.

SO, wish the IDA team luck this weekend and hope that this time since we have to take Midway’s Dually Truck to Columbus, Ohio that the weekend will not only go smoothly travel-wise but that we will bring home many blue ribbons.

signing off~ Mandy

So, my friend/roomate/student/pest (jk) reminded me that I did make this blog named after my Event Team ( I have big dreams that someday people will know Shamrock Eventing the same way they know OCET) <--- wishful thinking I know, so I should write about some "eventing" things. And since she pointed this out and I ran into another friend, Chelsea this weekend I thought I'd share how my life is one big farce (Erin I loved this word so I borrowed it).

In the spring (February of 2009) when I still had delusions of grandeur and was planning on running a 3* that fall with Cam, my friend Chelsea and I decided we were going to venture down to Pine Top Horse Trials to get a good spring run in. I was running the Intermediate and she was running Prelim. We were excited, we got to take her brand new rig all the way to Georgia. The weekend went well. We saw some old friends and had good runs on our horses. It was the trip home that was the problem.

We finished a little late on Sunday, but knew we would be ok driving home because both of us were proficient at driving trailers so we could take turns. The trip was going smoothly, but we were both getting tired. It happened when it was my shift (naturally) and we were driving over Jellico Mountain.
         -An aside here a moment. My mother hated Jellico. She used to say the devil had cursed it. Whenever its sunny and you drive over Jellico it rains, or snows or sleets or something. Naturally because of my mothers hatred of it I feel I need to hate it too, and now I have reason.
So I'm boppin along happy as can be because this rig travels so nicely, right up this nasty mountain (and yes people to me its a mountain, I'm not from Colorado and I've never seen those mountains) and people keep flashing their lights in my rearview mirror. I think nothing of it, they must be flashing a warning at the people going the other direction because of the nasty weather we are driving through. Well, we decide we need a bathroom/gas break and driver change so we stop at the little town of Jellico.....on a Sunday night.....in February....at about 10PM. All of these things spell horror movie waiting to happen.

We pull into the gas station and Chelsea jumps out of the truck to run in to the restroom. Its my turn to pay for gas so I hop out and start the pump. While its running I decide to go open the trailer door and check on the boys, who are both happily munching hay ignoring me. While I'm walking back to the back of the trailer I instinctively check the hitch and then look down at the driver side trailer tires. There's supposed to be two on each side. We're missing one. I immediately choke. I am floored. All the bolts are there, but there's no tire, no rim, no nothing. The tire behind it is fine and for all intensive purposes the rest of the trailer and the horses are fine. I am floored and have no idea what to tell Chelsea (this rig is BRAND NEW). She walks out of the gas station then and I look up. The only thing I can think to say is, " Ok, Chelsea, don't panic." Gee, thats inspiring. What do most people do when you say that? So you can guess what follows. I ask her to slowly come look at the trailer and tell me whats missing. At first she doesn't see it, but then she does and she makes this interesting strangled noise. I still to this day can't begin to imitate it, but it's what I would have done in the same situation.

Now we are stuck in a gas station, on Jellico, on a Sunday night, in February, with no tire. At first we think its ok. At least we have a spare.  Then we realize, because the tire apparently decided to dramatically rip away from the trailer and leave the bolts...they are melted/seared/stuck on the drum (not sure if its called a drum, but ya get the idea) and we cannot no matter how hard both of us try get them loosened and off. We still think we are ok, because Chelsea has US Rider. (Another aside here. Since this situation and another that I was in with a trailer I have since decided US Rider sucks and will never use it) US Rider is like AAA for horse people- since AAA doesn't help trailers (annoying). So we call US Rider. What ensues is Chelsea screaming at the dispatcher because its a Sunday night, on Jellico and they can't possibly find someone to help us (they have a 24hr guarantee- yea right), so we will have to wait till morning. Again, we aren't panicking yet. We are both on the phone with various people trying to get help and when this all fails we finally walk into the gas station to the lonely clerk ( who in the end was our saviour). She tells us that theres this guy at the truck stop down the road, we can call him, he will fix it. So we call, Ed (not his real name since I try to block this whole painful experience out of my head I don't remember it- and well my memory is crap). Ed tells us he will meet us at the station, which is good because neither of us want to move the rig.

An hour later Ed shows up. We had been sitting inside in the booths of an Arbys attached to this station watching for him because it was cold. Out of this old oil covered pickup steps a 65+ yr old man who looks like he's half-starved and had stepped straight off the set of Deliverance. He walks up to the trailer and pets the horses noses and stares at the tire (well what was left) and scratches his head. This is very inspiring when your cold and all you want to do is get home. We go talk to him. He tells us he thinks he can fix it but its gonna take awhile. We might as well go inside and stay warm. What follows is 5 excruciating hours of Ed fighting with those bolts, leaving, coming back with new tools, leaving again...coming back.... using power tools.....SMOKING by the GAS pump...WTF<---- I thought when he did that while he was standing there staring at the pieces of the bolts and petting the horses that Chelsea was finally gonna blow a gasket. I didn't think either of us could take much more. He switches between telling us we have to wait till morning and that he can fix it, although at one point he was so red in the face we both thought we would also be calling an ambulance. And all the while he refused help from, "us Ky girls".

In the end, Ed gets the spare tire on the trailer. We spent 7 hours sitting in those booths of the closed Arbys. The horses, bless House and Cam for being super troopers for standing on that trailer the whole time (there was nowhere to unload and walk them) and then for not colicing the minute we got home. And we finally at about 4:30AM left the little gas station that was our home overnight and limped home slowly...(it took us almost 4 hours because we were terrified to drive fast). Both of us were zombies at our respective jobs and I ended up pulling a huge muscle in my back from sitting in a plastic fast food restaurant booth for 7 hours, that and the stress of having almost unknowingly thrown us off the side of a mountain because we were cruisin with a missing tire.

SO, next time someone flashes their headlights at you, take the time to think about why have done this....and no its not the urban myth that a gang is coming to shoot you....

signing off~Mandy

Pineapple Rings really?

Since I am in to sharing my blunders. I thought since it's another rainy day, I probably won't be riding or running tonight, so I'm going to make another sad (if only you knew) attempt at cooking. I am an active person. Somehow in my lifetime I never really took the time to learn to cook. My Mom wasn't the worlds greatest cook, but my Dad is pretty good. My two older sisters are good at cooking too. I just don't have the patience. My time is spent teaching students and riding horses or taking care of my animals (that includes roomates). Its amazing how I can have the patience to work with a young horse for hours on end or watch a student trot cirles around me for days on end and never tire of it, but if I am reading a recipe and it isn't working the way I want it to I get so mad. The following mishap is mostly because of my sheer impatience. If I had just taken the time to listen I might not have almost ruined dinner.

A couple of years ago I lived in the small town of Midway (technically where I live now is in Georgetown so no correcting me) with two roomates (how do I always end up with two?). In this household we took turns making dinner each night, so every third night it was my turn. Oh, how I dreaded those nights. I knew I couldn't make macaroni every time, so I figured I'd make an attempt to make something better. I went to Kroger and they had a big sale on Ham. I was excited. I'd seen my Mom make ham in the past and thought for sure i'd be fine. My confidence failed me the minute I got home.

I decided to call Justin, who was at his barn taking care of his horse. He was the roomate who knew how to cook and I was sure he could help me get started over the phone. He told me the temperature the oven needed to be and to put the ham in a casserole dish and to get toothpicks and toothpick pineapple all over the ham to help keep it from drying out. Here's where I told him I'm in trouble. I didn't know I needed pineapple at the store...darnit I thought that was just to dress the damn thing up, not to help somehow. He told me we had pineapple in the fridge (apparently people eat that stuff as a snack daily). I thought for sure now I was golden.

 I looked in the fridge and there it was, pineapple chunks. I didn't see anything else (impatience strike) so I thought, hey these will work, and off I go spearing pinapple chunks onto this half pound ham (totally guessing on size here). I put my ham in the oven and off I go to play in the back yard with Ilsa, my German Shepard. Im out there for what seems like eternity and decide I'm bored and I need to check the ham. Oh, boy did it smell good. Justin had said it needed quite some time to cook so I went to watch TV. A little while later everyone comes home. Justin comes in the house and says it smells good, so I'm proud, I may have finally cooked something edible. I ask him if he will go check on it and tell me how its looking. A debate ensues where he says it smells fine, it must be fine. I don't agree, just go check it is all I ask.

I stay in the family room, hear Justin open the oven in the kitchen, and then a looonnggg pause. Now I'm worried (oh dear god the ham has gone poof, it's black and theres nothing left I'd better get out the pizza coupons and order something). I sit there in agony waiting for something, anything, just tell me! Justin says from the kitchen, "Mandy come here" with such incredulty that I am terrified. I go slinking in the kitchen. Justin has pulled the ham out of the oven and its a sight. It looks like a kid who has had knots put in her hair has stuck her finger in a light socket and gotten shocked until every little knot is a smoking, burning mess.

I am so shocked. I don't know what I thougth was going to happen. I think I thought I'd walk into the kitchen and there would be this Suzie homemaker commercial moment where he's set the ham on the oven and there's a little halo around it and some angelic music. He starts taking the burnt chunks-o-char off of the ham and throwing them away. He asks me what I was thinking? Thats what the rings-o-pineapple were for. They are on the shelf in the fridge right NEXT to where the chunks were. I told him sheepishly that I didn't see them and I thought the chunks would work, besides the rings with the cherries in the middle were something you saw on a 1965 sitcom on TV (insert dubious look here).

It turns out that the ham was actually pretty good, what we got to eat of it anyway. Everyone had served themselves dinner and we are all happily eating (actually more shocked because it wasn't a dry throat closing, burnt tasting mess) when we hear a *thud* in the kitchen. All three of us pause and I look around for Ilsa. She's always right near me. We then hear a scraping noise in the kitchen and since we are all in the other room and we don't have any cats, something is wrong. We get up and run in the kitchen to see Ilsa jet, tail tucked from just under the table where she has pulled the last hunk of ham down and had been knawing at it furtively. She thought my attempt at cooking was so good she had to share too!

I was so mad at her that day, but I guess I should have been flattered, maybe? My dog thought I'd finally gotten dinner right too.

And yet I still can't cook to save my life. If it comes from a can or a box I'm golden. If your daring and I decide to cook one night, come try it. If you can keep it down, you might be able to apply to be on one of those TV shows,  Survivor or Fear Factor.

signing off~Mandy

Snoring- Flying children! Oh my!

My family has a snoring problem. My mom was the worst. She talked in her sleep and had one of those snores that started out really quiet (heavy breathing) and ended with a house rumbling chainsaw sound. This took around 7 or 8 snores to round up there, but man once it did you spent the rest of the night with the pillow over your head and woke in the morning to her telling you if you didn’t sleep so funny you wouldn’t have a cric in your neck!  I always wondered why as a kid I woke up every morning wrapped in my blankets like a mummy, head at the footboard, or hanging sideways off my bed. I now know it was because every time my mother snored (from across the house) It made me toss and turn. I’m not nearly as violent in my sleep now.

My favorite story about my mom’s snoring happened when we went on our annual trip to Atlanta, Georgia to go shopping. We went on this trip with my Aunt (my godmother and my Mom’s best friend) and two of her sons. We loved this trip. It meant that we got to stay at the Peachtree Plaza Hotel and watch Cable and jump on the beds and generally get into a ton of trouble (This is where I lay blame on the boys- as little girls we were quiet and demure)<--ok I am so leaving this in there because I snorted when I wrote it…if someone ever called me demure I think I’d have to punch them.

This particular time somehow our room only had one queen bed, a pullout couch and a table with two huge plush chairs. Annie was small enough that she just pushed the two plush chairs together and slept. My Mom and my Aunt Mary shared the bed. Colin, Chandler and I were the older kids, albeit small enough that all three of us fit on the pullout couch. We were about the age that we all thought it was funny when someone farted (I never outgrew that) and naturally like most kids when its time to go to bed we wanted none of it. It all starts with the games where you see if someone can jump on the bed without waking a parent or someone tries to run out of the room and back without getting caught or someone throws something at Annie across the room or sneaks up and farts on her in the dark...(see what I mean, I was not nice to my little sister) Then we get yelled at and we try to sleep.

It was even  harder  to sleep in the same room with my Mom when she was snoring. While Annie and I knew we were in trouble, the boys didn’t.  So, once we had settled down, the snoring began, quiet at first ( I knew it was coming and put the pillow over my head) getting louder and louder with each breath. ( I still don’t know how Aunt Mary slept through it) Colin slaps his hands on the bed and says, “oh my god your Mom is snoring SO loud.” Naturally we all start giggling because its getting worse. He gets more ticked off because she now sounds like we've walked into a construction site in the same room.  (as an aside, at the time I think Colin was playing baseball and had a pretty good throw) Colin tries a couple of times in vain at calling, “shut up, shuuut uuuuppp” to no avail so he takes a spare pillow off the floor and launches it in the direction of the parents bed. We all cringe when we hear it hit, but are laughing so what happened next naturally made it worse. The pillow hit my mother square in the face and she sits up in the bed, points out in front of her and says, “I think……… there are children flying in here” We lost it. We even have Annie awake and laughing now.  My Aunt finally wakes up and says,”you guys leave Jane alone she’s trying to sleep.” Chandler replies,”she’s snoring so loud we CAN’T sleep!”  Aunt Mary tells him if we would all just settle down and go to sleep we wouldn’t hear her.  Yea right.

So, we try, we really do. We all settle down, she’s back to her heavy breathing and we’re trying in vain to fall asleep.        

 Here we go again….louder and louder until Colin starts getting irritated again and throws another pillow at her. I give him credit for good aim because he was on the far side of the bed and she was on the other end of the room, but he’s able to hit her in the face again. This time she sits up and says,” you need to come down now.” To which we again die laughing.

At this point I think Colin had chastised her enough that she either quieted down, or we all were so exhausted from laughing that we finally went to sleep, but this is one of my favorite stories of all time. I miss my Mom every day, but will always remember our awesome trips to Atlanta.

signing off~ Mandy

Eventing Committment

I’m feeling nostalgic today. I just read about all the cool upper level riders doing the Fair Hill International Three-Day and that the Pan-Ams are finishing up and it makes me miss competing Cam, so I thought I’d share a funny story about the last Advanced I ran with him at Millbrook HT August of 2010.

I was so excited then. My horse was brilliant. We were headed to the CIC3* at Richland after Millbrook and then on to the 3* at Fair Hill. If he ran well at those I’d run my favorite event, The Fork in the spring and then on hopefully to Rolex in the spring of 2011.

                                     Jenn and I watching the water jump at Millbrook being ridden....it rode a lot better than our faces are implying

The adventure as it was to be was embarked by myself and two friends who were all running Advanced.  Jenn, Heather and I were up to the task of the 16+ hour trip up to New York where none of us had ever been. Upon arrival we figured out that our stalls were as far away from anything as they could be, including the water sources and that’s where the bumbling weekend started.

We had set out on this trip with no idea who we would get to help us when we got there. At the time Jenn and I were taking jump lessons with a showjumper, Craig Shegog (he’s awesome) and all three of us had used different dressage trainers, but none of us was consistently taking lessons from an upper level event trainer. I had ridden with Cathy Wieschhoff and Karen O’Connor and knew Missy Ransehousen, Dorothy Crowell, and rest of the OCET crew and Jenn had ridden with Kyle Carter. None of those people were going up to Millbrook this time, so we had to find someone else. None of us knew anyone who was entered either, but we knew that since we also had never been around this course that we needed help.  After many phone calls it was decided we should ask Buck Davidson to let us walk with him.

So, while we were trying to arrange this we decide to go find our way around this course by ourselves. What we didn’t know is that nearing the end of this course there is a GIGANTIC hill that you have to gallop down. Not only do you have to gallop down said hill you have to jump through a keyhole from which it looks as if you have to jump into outter space. This is where we all stand and stare down at the bottom of the nearly 100ft drop and say our prayers…did I mention that NOW I have health insurance? I didn’t at that time.  We decide we had best head down so we start walking. I have never walked down a hill like this. It made my shins hurt just looking at it. About halfway down, Jenn says, “I can’t take this anymore- I’m committeddddd!!!!” and ends up running like Sonic the Hedghog, legs awheeling faster than a rocket down the hill. It’s a miracle she doesn’t fall. Heather and I are laughing so hard, we do fall and end up scooting down the last of the hill on our bums.

Naturally later when we walk the course, Buck tells us we had better get our butts in the tack and lean back or we’re going to have an “I’m committed” moment like Jenn and the end result won’t be as fun.

In the end, Jenn and Heather had a brilliant weekend at their first advanced and I had a heart wrenching last Advanced on Cam, but I will never forget that damned hill and hope to hell I never have to see it again!

                                                           Heather walking down said gigantic drop.....

signing off~ Mandy

Sometimes A little Shock is a Good Thing

In the spirit of the tough mudder I thought I’d talk about Christmas some years ago and my little sister getting the living snot shocked out of her.

We lived in a house in Paris, Ky on a beautiful horse farm. When you drove up to the house you came up to the back door. Some of you knew my mother. She loved to decorate for Christmas and the outside of our house always had some sort of garland with lights strung around it. This particular time my mother decided since we drove up to the back door that she would decorate that too. So in true Jane fashion she got beautiful live garland, wrapped it in white lights and strung it around the doorway (important aside note… the back door had a metal doorframe and doorjamb AND those lights probably had been re-used about 100 times). It looked brilliant. What happened to my sister was brilliant to…well to me anyway…it was hilarious.

It was a cold December day when it happened. We came home and it was raining and cold so we ran for the door. My Mom unlocked the door and hurtled inside and I followed….Annie didn’t. Next thing we hear is a small wail from outside, “muoooommm I can’t get in!!!” followed by Mom saying, “why not ? Get in the house! Its pouring rain out there!” To which Annie pitifully replied, “I can’t get in! The door is shocking me!” At this I about fall over I am laughing so hard, followed by my Mom yelling at me to go open the door so Annie can get in.

Now I can’t say my little sister and I were/are ever really very nice to eachother. We are both hardheaded and stubborn, which usually makes for some epic fights. I went to the door to see what was wrong. I looked outside and there’s Annie standing pitifully in the rain afraid to touch the door. “What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you get in?” comes out in my most taunting voice, because I know she’s telling the truth, but me being me I want to see her do it again. She tells me every time she touches the door it shocks her, so I decide I need to try this (I think this may be some insight into my own stupidity, since it happened to her, I must try and see if its just her or me too. Is this what they call a Psychopath? or sociopath?- doing something over and over expecting a different result) and walk out the door.  I turn because its cold and run right back in, no shock. Annie then tries to follow and screams because the door again shocks her.  I fall on the floor laughing so hard that I have tears rolling down my face and proceed to go back out and in three times showing her its fine. Then because it’s my mean sister nature begin to taunt more, “ whats wrong with you there is nothing wrong with that door!” 

This ends with Annie in tears (and me getting yelled at by our Mom to just let her in the damn house) so, I open the door for her, but just for good measure (because I got scolded by Mom for being mean) I swing the door right as she goes in so she squeeks and has to shoot by.

To this day we still don’t know the reason she was conducting electiricity. I told her it was because she had metal in her brain- which she believed until we were some years older. It was most likely a short because those lights were so old and its a wonder we didn't burn our house down, but every time I tell this story (yesterday in Equine Lab when I was trying to get people into the Tough Mudder) it reduces me to laughing tears.

And since I am still on the Tough Mudder. It looks like we might shape up to have quite a nice team (though more are welcome). Now if I could just get this to happen when I put together a Motley crew to run the HT at Team Challenege.... because inevitably one of us biffs it in show jump (last year it was me) and someone has trouble on cross-country, then someone has a great round and someone withdraws, and while I know this happens with team events all the time, I just wish I could get it right once. :)

Thats all for now. Have a good Friday and make sure you don't get shocked!

signing off~Mandy

Rain and Mud.. and Warrior races

What an ugly day...rain, nothing to do in the office, rain, unhappy college students, rain.....

And now on to more fun things. I have decided thanks to fellow eventer Laine Ashker that I am going to get into doing a Tough Mudder. For those of you who do not know what that is, look it up...kidding. Its this 10-12 mile warrier run that was developed by British Special Forces to increase awareness and comraderie between the forces. Included in the run are climbing walls, monkey bars, mud pits, jumping off high dives, crawling through tunnels, under wires in the mud, climbing steep muddy banks, running through high voltage electric wires (holy Darwin awards), and of course running. It sounds like something only the insane would do, so naturally I am excited to try it.

Now for those of you who know me- I am accident prone. I've been kicked in the face, kneed in the eye (25 stitches later), kicked in the groin, fallen out of a hayloft, fallen off horses more times than I can count and at least once a day my pesky depth perception will cause me to misjudge a doorway or turn and slam a shoulder or a leg into said stationary object. In trying to do this race Im asking to get hurt, but then again about two months ago I did jump out of a perfectly good airplane for fun. At least now I have health insurance.....

I guess thats all for now, if anyone has any interest on being on my team for this fun mud run please feel free to let me know. The more the merrier :) - plus something about trying to climb a 12 foot wall with no ropes screams to me MORE PEOPLE!

signing off~ Mandy

A quick Note

I thought I'd start off by saying I only want to do this because so many people are always asking of my stories. I tend to get in the most interesting situations and hope that writing them down will make it easier to remember the whole story. That and practicing typing will help with my current job.

SO, a little about me. My name is Mandy. I live in Kentucky and I am an avid eventer. I have run through the Advanced level on a horse named, 3 Sleets to the Wind. Long name, very cool horse. I'll have to talk more about him another day. I retired him last year because his feet just weren't holding up. I now have a smart 7yr old Thoroughbred mare named, Miss Airheart AKA Mira. She is currently competing Training and about to move up to Preliminary. I hope she will be as brilliant as Cam was.

I also have two dogs, Ilsa, a German Shepard and Jace, a Border Collie. If it weren't for them I don't think I'd make it through my days.

And finally I have two roomates, Kerry, and Catherine. Both have been students of mine and are friends and while we all live in harmony, sometimes we annoy the hell out of eachother and sometimes I don't think any of us would be happy if it were any other way.

Now I guess I'll fire this off and start on the stories that people apparently find so interesting....

signing off~ Mandy