Hi Everyone!

Wow! What an amazing weekend! I am sure that Bonnie will be posting her own update shortly but I just wanted to let you all know what an amazing time this past week was. I don't really think it gets much better!

I didn't personally make it there until Thursday night but I was told that Bob did his best ever on Wednesday and it definitely showed up in his score. Murry and Jenga also appeared to have laid down their own usual brilliant scores. 

Grooming is always fun at a 3 day (am I insane???) but it was an especially good time having my friend Heather LoCascio along for the ride and emotional support I always need when Bob goes out on x-c! Heather groomed for Beale Morris for several years and she is a rock I can always count on when the stress starts to rise.  The two of us, along with Bonnie's new groom in training, Daron, had a busy Friday getting all the horses ready for their rides and taking them out for lots of walks and grass eating (my personal obsession)! We drowned ourselves in Quik Silver trying to get poor Murry as white as possible (I hope he is having a great time rolling in the dirt right now! He definitely deserves it...) and created a minor disturbance when I fed Bob too many treats and he started pawing at his door for more. There are not enough treats in this world to keep that horse satisfied!

That night we all went out to a funny dinner at a local restaurant called "Chickie and Pete's" where everything you order comes covered in French Fries, including salads. 

Saturday morning finally arrived and when we drove onto the grounds I swear I felt x-c day nervous and I wasn't even riding! We had a lot of organizing to do in order to be ready to take care of four horses throughout the day. Vanessa Fenwick was out first in the CCI** and then later Bonnie and Kelly List in the CCI*** and finally Bob in the Advanced HT. Lucky Jenga got to relax in front of his fan throughout the heat of the day, having been excused by the team selectors from running x-c. 

We got all of our "buckets in a row" so to speak and with nothing more serious than a minor temper tantrum on Connor's part (Magic Carpet) the day got off to a great start. I can't say I blame him! Who wants ice water dumped on their butt at 9:20 in the morning? Not me! Too bad because I practically spent the day swimming in buckets of ice water. My hands might thaw out by next week! Vanessa had a fabulous ride and crossed the finish line completely thrilled... only to jump off her horse, hit the ground and sprain her knee! It was a pretty scary moment when she hit the ground, fell over and was obviously in a lot of pain while I was holding Connor straight off x-c. A nice stranger ran over to help Vanessa while I started cooling Connor off and it wasn't until much later that we found out Vanessa had sprained her knee. I say I was cooling Connor off but actually it was me and an amazing team of people including Heather, Anne Bounds, Marley Stone and Kelly (before Bonnie made her go back to the barn to relax before her own ride!), and Vanessa's father Bob. Connor was a little slow to cool down but he looked great the next day so I guess he was just extra proud of himself!