Lisa Marie Fergusson — Galway Ups and Downs

By now, Lisa Marie Fergusson needs no introduction.  After a heartbreaking withdraw from Fair Hill just a day before the dressage, she and Smart Move have rerouted to Galway.  Here’s the story of their first few days in California.  Lisa won’t win the Bit of Britain challenge this year, but we appreciate John Nunn’s support of Lisa and Lisa’s guest blogs on EN. 
—-
tank.jpg

From Lisa:

ARRIVING SAFE AND SOUND!

Since arriving several people have asked me how long it took us to drive from PA to CA. There are a couple of ways to answer that question. My accu-weather response is, 48 hours driving but the “Real Feel” is “FOREVER”. My fitness trainer’s response is “48 hours or 5 lbs gained and 20 extra treadmill hours to lose it when I get back”. If there is an upside to driving as opposed to flying it is “no jet lag”. In fact driving seems to have the opposite effect as jet lag. People who suffer from jet lag have trouble sleeping and adjusting to the time difference but after driving 48 hours you basically pass out from exhaustion, sleep for 2 days, wake up not knowing the day let alone the time, but other than that you seem perfectly adjusted. For me, the most important thing is that the horses arrived in good spirits and they are both perfectly SOUND!

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

If you are cheering for Road Warriors making ridiculous drives to get to an event, Gina Fiore and her beautiful Feral Errol were as crazy as us. Gina traveled all the way from Southern Pines, NC to do the 3* by, you guessed it, truck and trailer. Gina was a huge help in locating pre-event stabling and has been super supportive and helpful since we got here. Great new friend that we will be cheering for….Go Gina!

GALWAY ups and DOWNS

Really forgot how much I love doing this event. People are crazy nice and the facility is top notch. Have not walked the xcountry yet but it looks…well…brown…it is California after all but from what we can see it looks like it will be a great course. Here are my Galway ups and Downs for day one.

 

Wednesday Day 1, In Barns

Down

It is super windy and dusty here Wednesday. Ronald Zabala best described it when he said “I am carrying ten extra pounds….of sand….in my teeth…funny, but true. Perhaps if he tried smiling less, I don’t know what he is taking but I want some, he is always so nice and happy.

UP

People are great, got my truck sand blasted for free and both horses passed In Barns and made it back to their stalls without going lame this time…Life is good.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Here are a few pictures during our drive from West grove PA to Galway Downs in Temecula CA.

blog4.jpg

blog2.jpg

blog3.jpg

Obviously those were mental pictures we had to keep because most of our trip we just saw a lot of this.

dessert.jpg

Oddest thing we saw during our trip, a shrink wrapped tank…who knew…afraid of scratching the paint?

Famous USA landmark “Leaning Tower of….Water? The French have nothing on us, although they do have great fries!

leaning tower.jpg

SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION

It might shock you, as it did me, to find that Temecula CA is not that much further south than West Grove PA. Seems crazy but check out a map, we basically drove west. In fact there is only a 6 degree latitude difference between the two (West Palm FL is 13). Here is Smartie’s 6 degree of separation connection to one of the all time eventing greats and one of my personal favorites, Ready Teddy .

Smartie was in Richland Park Advanced 2011 with Ballynoe Castle who was in Badminton 2009 with Carousel Quest who was in Boekelo 2005 with Headley Brittannia who was in Blenheim 2002 with Midnight Dazzler who was in Badminton 2000 with Drunk and Disorderly who was in Gatcombe Park 1998 with Ready Teddy. I figure with such a strong connection Smartie should do great! Kevin Bacon would be impressed.

Friday is Dressage Day for Smartie and our goal is to have an accurate, solid test and hopefully crack the top 10. This is a fantastic field so top ten would be really great, maybe a bit of a stretch but hey you gotta shoot for something right? I’ve asked Smartie to channel his inner Ready Teddy for Friday’s dressage. He thinks the higher elevation (1000 ft higher than PA) is reducing oxygen to my brain. I guess we will see what the judges think.

Will let you know how it goes and until then….GO EVENTING!

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments