Well it seems I haven't written in awhile. I feel I need to just clear the air. I should in all sensibility write about Indiana Horse Trials and how much of an interesting weekend it was, but I want to write about understanding the pain of entering an event (of any kind) and not actually getting to compete. There is nothing worse and sometimes people can be critical about you, your horse, your training (all kinds), the events you enter (on foot, wheels, or horse), the food you eat, and any other number of "getting there" techniques. In the end it either works or it doesn't, but when circumstances are beyond your control its just that much worse.

I have dealt with getting to an event and not getting to compete. it happened to me more than once with Cameron. The two worst were at Poplar at the CIC 2 star where I made a bad decision in that I chose to use a double bridle in dressage, against advice from my trainer and ended up having a disastrous unqualifying test. At the time Cameron had already been around the intermediate course there, so it wasn't worth wasting his legs just to jump around when my score put us far down on the leaderboard and it wasn't a qualifying score. Then there were the two times I entered Richland, the first time at Advanced, when I had a horrible trailer accident and didn't get to go. The second was at the CIC 3 star when I had entered and because Cam had jumped around Millbrook and came up lame afterwords we had to scratch. All of those times I lost large sums of money, caused untold stress and heartache to myself and my team, and managed to lick my wounds and keep on kicking.

As you all know I learned about the Tough Mudder event last fall when I saw some fellow eventers do on in Virginia. I was hooked. We all know I am somewhat of an adrenaline junky (skydiving and eventing just aren't enough) and am always looking for new more challenging activities. Along with a couple of friends I entered the Tough Mudder the was set for March 18th in Attica, Indiana. I was stoked. It was October 2011 so we had plenty of time to train for this grueling obstacle course event. Well, as we all know in late February the TMHQ sent an email that the safety officials felt March in Indiana was too cold, so they chose to move the event to June. We stayed with our Sunday time (June 17th) and while we were disappointed we figured the weather would be better and we had even more time to train.

Well we went this past weekend. We set out with a team of 6, "Asses from the Bluegrass" to do our first Tough Mudder. The trip to Indiana was uneventful. We had a good dinner and went to bed later than we should have because we were so excited. I was exhausted so when Olivia woke me at 12:30AM I was super confused. She said we had all just received an email stating that the Sunday TM was canceled. After about 15 minutes of serious contemplation (arguing) and internet research on our cell phones we found out because they had, had bad storms Saturday afternoon that they were canceling Sunday. Naturally we were all distraught and couldn't believe this was happening. We drove 5+ hours, got a hotel, ate dinner out, had t-shirts made, took time off work, and planned on having a kickass time at this thing the next morning and now because of some rain we were unable. AND unlike horse shows there was no phone number to call and no one to talk to, to ask if they could just start a little later. The next morning we drove up to the site and to our sad surprise there was not a bit of standing water near the start/finish.

                     This is just past the start/finish area...HUGE puddle (<--Insert sarcasm here)

 I understand there is a safety issue with getting emergency personnel to the back of the course, but like I said, if they had just started later...

        And this one is the monkey bars...its about 100 feet before the first picture..no mud in sight....

 The other difference is at least they gave us a free entry to another of their events. Sadly though I am not sure if I will be able to attend one this year due to conflicts on all of the other weekends. I think I will be on a mission to try to make the Missouri one work. It is fall break weekend after all.

So now I have a little inkling as to how it feels to be all of those people that wanted to run Badminton this year. My little adventure doesn't compare in the slightest to the money that those people spent (flying themselves and their horses to England, living expenses, etc) but I do understand the heartache. You prepare for these things and think there is no way weather can get in the way, but sadly because of all of the climate changes we have had, the weather ends up being the most deciding factor in many adrenaline fused activities. Personally, I say bring on the tough weather, it just makes it that much more of an achievement when you finish. That and the devastation that this weekend caused is extremely hard on a person as neurotic as I am :(

And yes it is called a Tough MUDDER....so naturally more rain would make it better right? Guess not....

signing off~
Mandy