John asked if I might keep everyone updated about our trip to Boekelo. Sinead may have covered this already but along with me and Running Order known in the barn as Skinny, RO, Elvis or Running Order is Sinead riding Tate, Will riding Missy and…funny that seemed like a good idea at the time but I don’t know Tiana’s horse’s barn name. Ill report back with the inside scoop on that. The grooms along are Meg, Chrissy and Nat (who is with the horses now).
This morning started out with a walk at 7. Sinead brought her truck over at 9 to pick up Skinny. My Dad, Cal Levine and Nat then headed to JFK with the horses. That drive from Gladstone is not many miles but its on the other side of NYC, so as you can imagine traffic can be a bear. I heard that it was just that on the way back. Thanks again to Dad and Cal, his navigator.
Quick side note, my Dad said the cargo port of KLM was the location of the $7.5m heist that was the basis for ‘Good Fellas’. I didn’t see it but I hear its good. He got some pics while loading all of our supplies…if I get them ill forward them on…
So that left Sinead, Chrissy, Will, Sara (who runs Eventing for the USET) and I to head to Newark for our flight. We met up at 3:30, and on to Newark we went…
We should arrive in Amsterdam before the horses, after customs we’ll head down to Cargo to meet up with the horses.
So how am I feeling about all of this…damn good question. I’m very excited and looking forward to the adventure. RO is going very well…so even though he’s still quite green at the level we have a good shot at representing the US well. Hopefully this is the first of many trips like this.
Funny…if you had told me a year ago that I’d be in this position I’d have asked you what you were smoking.
You just keep working and improving and its amazing what can be accomplished. I’ve been very lucky in the past year to not only be eventing a bunch of very nice horses, I think I’m around 100 starts this year, but also working with Anne Kursinski in straight jumping. I’d have to say that experience is what is giving me the most comfort heading to Holland. This summer I did my first Grand Prix…I can say, during the months leading up to it, the jumps were getting bigger and bigger. I haven’t been consistently placed in foreign situations where nerves were an issue since the first time moving up the levels in eventing. Being that I did my first advanced 10 yrs ago, it was strange indeed. I found myself falling into some of the instinctual habits I though I had long killed off. It was a tremendously educational experience, aside from Anne’s invaluable jumping advice, I learned a lot about myself and how to get the best preformance in difficult situations. So long story short, I almost feel as if I should be more nervous about this trip, but for now its just a different mode of transportation to another event. Done that 100 times already this year!
I’m currently sitting on the runway getting yelled at, so I better get back to everyone later…
-D
