6th Place at the American Eventing Championships!!!

Nothing could be more groovy!
I just wanted to come, have a good time, not fall off, and not get eliminated so that we actually got to do all 3 phases....and what happens? We kick butt!

I finished on my dressage score of 28.4! Really great. Fantastic. Super! I was tied for 5th, and lost the tie because I was farther away from the optimum time for cross country.....Yeah, like 25 seconds early...only 6 seconds away from being penalized for going too fast....so no complaints here! Guess that he's pretty much set for his training pace!

Check out this picture from the USEA web site.


Oh! and I won prizes!!! and MONEY!!!
Yes! I actually won some money!! (Dr. Mangold will be so proud!)

I can't remember everything, but...I won $250, a $100 gift certificate for the Bit of Britain tack store, a pair of SSG gloves, a pair of ice boots (I've always wanted a set of these for Ronan), and something else too...can't quite remember what. But, holy crap, I've been doing this for 20+ years, and I've never ever won any money!!! Woo-hoo.
Oh, and our beautiful green ribbon ain't too shabby either!

Our show jumping round was great. I think that he would have done it regardless....really acting like he knows his job now, but I rode great...exactly how I wanted. The course was very nice and flowing. No real scary jumps, only 1 two stride combination. Oh, but it was pouring down rain, and had been for the last several hours, so that put a bit of a twist on things. Very sloppy, but not slippery....Hey, thank goodness for the Irish horse! Ronan was like...what mud? what puddles? All I see are show jumps!

Ronan got 3 stud muffins yesterday, and lots of hay, so all was good in his little Ronan world.

28.4 !

Wow! I finally got to an internet connection.

The show is just awesome!! Lamplight Equestrian Center is beautiful. Really great facility.

We are currently tied for 5th after cross country !!!! How totally cool is that??
Dressage was yesterday, and he was pretty great! Not his best test, but a good one, and no silly spooking stuff. Very focused, very grown up. :)

X-country was today! I walked the course 3 1/2 times, so I was ready, and didn't get lost. Ronan was great. Listening and moving on! He didn't look at any of the fences, just kept on jumping. Really good boy! Oh! and he was moving on so well, that we almost got penalties for going too fast. We were supposed to be going 400 meters per minute. He wasn't noticeably fast, very balanced, not running of or on the forehand at all, just more at a training pace, I guess rather than the Novice pace. I did get him slowed down at the end, so didn't have any time faults, but it was close.
The course was challenging in some ways, but not crazy hard or trappy.
As far as fences go, there was 2 water combinations, a half coffin, a wimpy trakhener, and a very wide in length and narrow in width corner. There were 4 or 5 combinations. It was really nice. Our run was very uneventful, which to me is always a good thing, but may have appeared to be a bit boring. Ronan seemed to be really having fun, but was bummed out when we finished because he couldn't jump anymore. He felt like he was all warmed up and ready to go!

Tomorrow is showjumping, so I'm off to braid again. (He looked pretty spiffy for dressage.)
Keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be a good boy tmorrow. I can't wait! (more about the actual trip, etc. later...)

Oh and, I hear that there's a hurricane that's going to hit us back home. Lovely. At leaast Ronan's already evacuated.

I'll try and add pics to my post later on.

Wow! It's almost here! And I'm so not ready!!

Ronan pretending to be Rocky

Well....Here's the tentative schedule...

Saturday, 9/6 - Sarah works 8-6, rides Ronan (courses) then finishes up some packing, panics, etc.
Grant, works diligently on preparing for the trip, and does all of the stuff that Sarah thought that she'd get to, and of course, did not. : ) (I know...he's awesome.)

Sunday 9/7 - Sarah works 9-6...Grant picks up Dad from the airport in the afternoon. After work, Sarah takes a short nap, then finishes everything else and we depart for Lamplight ASAP...probably will be like midnight or something.

Monday 9/8 - We drive forever, and Ronan is bored. Hopefully, arriving at lamplight sometime late that night.

Wed. 9/10 Dressage (Ronan is lovely)

Thurs. 9/11 Cross country (Ronan is bold and kicks butt (not Sarah's))

Fri. 9/12 Show jumping (Ronan is awesome!)

Not sure when we're leaving yet. It'll depend upon how things are going, how much fun Ronan is having, and if Ronan is bummed and or rammy because he hasn't been turned out in a week!

I don't have to be back at work until Tuesday....but, I'll be working every single other day in September. : )

More later!!!

Trailer woes...

Ok...so...still having trailer woes... : (

Tried Laura's trailer out this past weekend, and well....

1.) He really didn't fit much better in it than in mine.

2.)The yellow truck/yellow submarine/big yellow taxi pulled that big sucker just fine.

3.)Her super huge long trailer is actually easier to turn and back up than my little Sooner trailer!

4.) Somehow, the balance wasn't right for my truck, and the front of her trailer weighed down the back of my truck too much...Kind of scary.

5.)So....We're going to take ours instead, and just open up the divider and see how that goes. We tried it the other day, and he seemed just fine.

6.)However, our AC unit still shifts some when we're trailering, so if Grant doesn't get back up on the roof and shift it back.... it rains in my trailer (inside the living quarters) Will try and take it to Bunkhouse and get that fixed before we go.

7.) The good news is that Grant secretly ordered me a new memory foam mattress off of ebay so that hopefully, my back won't hurt so much when sleeping in the trailer. : ) I love that man.

As Healthy as a Horse

Well, Ronan went to see his favorite Equine Vet Dr. Jenni Schroeder out at Waller Equine, and he got a thumbs up! So, all set to go from that angle.

Yes...I take my horse to another vet. I feel that since I see him everyday, that I might miss something.

We discussed our travel plans and she gave me some great tips on traveling with him for that long of a distance.

We're still trying to decide on what to do about the trailer situation. He needs to be able to drop his head down so that he can cough and clear his throat as needed, as well as just for generalized comfort on that long of a trip. The truth is, that in our trailer...he can't. He barely fits in there! His head's wedged up against the window, and his but is smack against the wall.....no chance that he's gonna fall down though! Doesn't seem to mind for a couple of hours, but this is like an entire day. 20+ (I'm guessing 24 hours)

I can open up the divider so that he can have both stalls, and that's a bit better for him, but I'm not sure if that's going to be the safest thing because he won't have anything to lean on.

My awesome friend Laura has offered the use of her really awesome extra spiffy trailer. We put him in it last week, and he does have a bit more room, and another half a foot in height, but it's still not ideal. <Sigh> He's just too darn big! I'm going to try driving her trailer this weekend and see how it pulls etc. I don't know how I'm going to be able to park that monster! So...then we hopefully can make a decision, and get him as comfortable as possible.

We're getting so excited. If it would only stop raining and dry out a bit!!!
I rode late last night after work, and yes, it rained on me...again....Oh well.
I just did some small jumps, as the footing wasn't too bad, but it was still wet. Just a bit of gymnastics. He was awesome....I love this horse! Such a good boy.

Got the Nick Larkin clinic coming up this weekend...so we'll see how it goes. I know that he's going to be just fantastic!

Ronan and Sarah going to the AEC's (American Eventing Championships)

Ok...For those who don't know, Ronan and I have qualified to ride in the American Eventing Championships at the Novice level! This is beyond groovy!

They will be held from September 10-14, 2008 at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL (outside of Chicago). So, YES WE REALLY ARE DRIVING THE HORSE ALL THE WAY TO CHICAGO FROM HOUSTON!!! (and no, we're not crazy....well, maybe not.)

We have all sorts of family and friends in the Chicago area, so this is going to be totally awesome, besides being at a show with all of the pros, and people from all over the country.

Our goal is to have fun, not fall off, and not get eliminated. And of course be safe... Believe me, that is plenty.

I will try and post updates here, and maybe even one or two from the show if possible. We'll have to see where I can find some wifi, so it may be coming from the iphone.

He's Our Man! (still!)

Went to see George Michael in concert last night. All that I can say is damn! He is still awesome.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, as his latest album is more of a greatest hits collection....basically it's called "25 Live" and it's a representation of the 25 years that George Michael has been in the music industry.

So... I was like....hmmm....Does he have an actual new album with stuff on it coming out? Is he out of money, like the Eagles? Is there some George Michale reality TV show that I don't know about? As far as I can tell...it's none of the above, but honestly, after seeing the show, I wouldn't care. It was that good.

Amazingly artistic setup. Very, very cool. Let me describe... Instead of 1 big screen or backdrop behind the stage, there were 3 columns of screen with space between them. In those spaces was a type of industrial scaffolding type structure that had actual stories...The band was on the different levels of that...very cool, especially because he had the usual rock and pop musicians as well as all of the big band type musicians since he tends to mix both styles together. Back to the screens...they would have artistic images of light moving across the screens, or sometimes shots of his videos, or famous people...all very purposeful....Really neat. The stage itself was minimalistic. Nothing on it except for him, and at times his backup singers all standing in a semi circle around him. Very nice atmosphere.

It didn't hurt that we had awesome seats (thank you! thank you! thank you! Grant!!!!) They were first level, pretty much on the diagonal across from the stage. Woo-hoo!

His voice was still the same awesome, beautiful, fun, soulful voice that I expected. But, to me, the best part was that he danced throughout the entire thing. Not choreographed like Madonna or Brittany...Just danced....like he was in a club having a great night out. He looked like he was having a blast. Oh...and no head mic. (Of course not! He's gay and would never wear anything so tacky.) He talked too...between tracks which was really neat. So, I danced the whole time, and remembered why I love his music soooo much. Because it's fun. Plain and simple, it's fun. He's "just too funky."

His reason for doing the concert? He actually discussed it. He was basically out there to have fun, and trying to say thank you to all of his fans who have stuck by him for the last 25 years. Groovy.

Oh, and did I mention that he still looks great! "oh yeah! "

He sang songs from various different points of his solo career intermixed with some Wham! songs as well. There was a 20 minute intermission between sets. Very classy. Hell, the poor man was probably tired after dancing that hard!

Poor Grant...he was looking oh so sexy all dressed up, but it was hot in there...(of course it was...it was Houston in July! What were we thinking?) He's not the greatest George Michael fan. Not against him, but pretty much just ok. I think that he had a good time. He liked the show. Of course with it being in a big arena (Toyota center) the sound is never good...but I thought that his was better than most, so of course bad sound is a huge annoyance for Grant and me too...but I was also there for the visual. : ) I do think that Grant had a really good time watching me having a really good time and being so energized and happy!

So...can you tell that I loved it? I would go again in a second. Hey...the chance to dance the night away with George Michael? I wouldn't miss it.

Back to the Blog

Ok, ok....So people have been bugging me about not blogging more. I know...To say that we've been wonderfully busy is such an understatement! Life is groovy. Gas prices suck, but my 10 mpg while pulling the horse trailer, detonator yellow pickup truck is still AWESOME! Hey, at least I only use it when I pull the horse.

Yes, Ronan rocks., and is going better than ever.

But, ahhhhh....now it is summer, and I can breathe a bit....not at work, we're getting crazy busy, but that's normal for summer. My last horse show until September was last Sunday, and so I plan to sit back and kick it for a while. Now is when I can do more art stuff, read more books, watch movies. I have managed to fit a bit of art stuff in here and there, but never as much as I want. However, I did take a break and went to CKU while it was in Houston last month....Too awesome. More on that another time.

So anyway...I'll try and post more stuff. I mean, I've got a husband who takes the most amazing pictures, and I'm sure that I can find some sort of art or scrapbook related stuff to put on the blog.

I'm Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come.....

I'm off to a continuing Ed. meeting tomorrow (The Central Veterinary Conference) and won't be back until Tuesday night.
Grant's coming with me which is just too groovy! He has some friends in Kansas City that he can go visit and it's just going to be awesome having him there!

One of the best parts is that I'm going to get to go visit my friends Dr.'s Will and Heather Heeb!!!
Will and I used to work together in Spring Branch when we both first got out of veterinary school!
His wife eventually took a position as a veterinary oncologist at KSU so they got to move back home. (They were just in Texas for her residency) So, it's been a while, and they've never met Grant!

Can't wait!!

Hopefully, I'll have some pics soon!

Dead truck

So, my ghetto truck that I pull my horse trailer with died this week....while I was trailering the horse. Grrrrr....

Luckily, it died at the end of Ruth's (my trainer's) driveway. So, Ronan was ok.
Unfortunately, the truck, was not. The engine died.... (yes, I truly have bad engine karma, but I'll save that for another time.) We've only had his truck for 2 years (bought it used) and only put about 20,000 miles on it. It only had like 97,000 miles on it total, but I guess that the guy that we bought it from must have just trashed it, since we've already replaced the transmission, the wheel bearings, the fluid brake system, something with the axle, and some sensors. Sooooooo, when we found out it was going to be like, $4500 to fix the engine, I was like THAT'S IT!

Besides, this was not the truck that I wanted anyway. When I first started looking at used trucks, I got my father to help me, because I am terrible about knowing what's in good shape or not, and my husband's not much better. So, we looked at several, and my dad found this really nice truck with 80-something thou miles on it, that I really liked. It looked to be in really nice shape, etc. So, we were leaving the next day to go to Disney World, so my Dad said that he'd go make an offer to the guy, and get the truck stuff all settled. I was like Great! (What was I thinking????)
So, my dad calls me the next day in Florida and says, the truck that you wanted had already been sold.....but, I got you a different truck instead! I was like, WHAT??? My Dad said, actually, it was in so much better shape than the other one, and that it sounded better, and he thought that the transmission was in better shape, and it had a bigger engine, etc. So, I was like....oooook?
So, we get home to find our new truck, which was definitely a lot more stripped (not really that big of a concern) and had dents all over it! I swear! I was like, Dad!!!! He then told me that he didn't realize that it was that beat up, but it runs great. (Like a year later, he made fun of me, and said, what the heck did you back into? I could have killed him, and loudly reminded him that the multiple dents were there when he bought it!)

About a week later, the top of the dashboard started to crack and break off in huge chunks. It kind of looks like Peanut Brittle. I told people it was "distressed" (like in an art way.) So, then everyone who has ever ridden in our truck was like, "Sarah? What's with the dashboard?" and I have to explain the whole ghetto truck thing.

But now, even though I hated it, I am very bummed that it's dead. Especially since it was paid for. All 3 of our vehicles were paid for. They may all be on the older side, but that was lots better than a car payment.

I started looking at used trucks again, and found zilch. The ones that were in good shape were the same price or more than a new one! I couldn't believe it. Now, the American car companies are hurting pretty bad, so they were offering some kick butt deals, but still!

So, we decided to buy a new truck. Especially when we heard that Dodge was offering a lifetime warranty on the power train (engine, transmission, differential) as long as I owned the truck. I'm thinking...that should be able to combat my bad engine karma.....Groovy. Oh, and my Dad talked me into going and test driving one. Boy is it nice! and so quiet!
We really love it! I hate it that I'm paying on a vehicle that is not our primary vehicle (I only really use it to pull the trailer, but I do that at least once a week now.) but after getting stranded with the horse, it sure feels a lot better to be in a new truck, plus it's really, really powerful and fun to drive! Did I mention my environmentally friendly, itty bitty car loving husband hates trucks? (He even likes this one, but probably not driving it!)

So, that's the saga of the truck. I got a gooseneck hitch put in right away, and drove it everywhere all last week, because I had to put 500 miles on it before I was supposed to tow anything, and successfully towed Ronan out for my dressage lesson
yesterday!