Colombo and Ollie before leaving for the airport
Well, it’s hard to believe it, but here I am getting ready for my spring three day. It feels like this winter season went by in a flash, but that’s ok by me because I could hardly wait!! I have been so excited for the last few months thinking about the possibility of going to Badminton for the first time, and now I’m packing up and getting ready to leave!
As an eventer who is lucky enough to travel south for the winter, I do a lot of packing and moving around. I have acquired a lot of stuff over the last few years, and even though I try to stay organized, moving day is always a little hairy. Last week, I had an incredible combo of Moving Day/Packing for the Fork CIC 3*/thinking about eventually being organized for Badminton. So much stuff!! I packed up all of my things from the rental house in Ocala, where I have been since the middle of January. Some of it went in my car to be out of my hair, but unfortunately I wasn’t all that organized about it so I still ended up with mountains of stuff that needed to be jammed in to my truck and trailer for the trek up to North Carolina.
But, we made it up to North Carolina and had a very successful weekend at the Fork CIC 3*. It was a great confidence boosting weekend for both of us, with two really fun jumping phases and a respectable dressage test. Finishing in 2nd place in that competitive field was just icing on the cake! After the showjumping and awards on Sunday afternoon, Ollie and I made the trek from the show stabling to the main barn to have a Dr. Ober/Team Canada check up, as well as to have his last shoeing before making the trip across the Atlantic. Once we got the green light from the team, it was back to the barn for a well deserved night of rest.
Selena had to leave early Monday morning to make the move home to Ontario for the summer before meeting us in the UK, so she left Colombo with me for our 2 days of reprieve after the competition. The boys have been enjoying a bit of turnout (only a bit, though… this NC grass is serious compared to what they have been getting in Ocala!) and some quiet time before I take them down to Atlanta to meet their plane. I will be dropping them off at a barn an hour from the airport this afternoon. All the tack and equipment will be taken to the airport right away, and then the horses will be sent from the farm to the airport around midnight for their 4 am departure. Once I have dropped the boys off, I will be going to the airport to get my overnight flight to Heathrow via Philadelphia. The horses are flying into Stanstead airport, so Max and I will be taking a bus or shuttle (or something) from Heathrow to meet the boys! Once we are in the UK, we will be staying at Jackie Green’s Maisey Manor farm in Marlborough. I will be so relieved when we finally arrive there on Thursday evening!! Then the fun begins!!
Right now, its a lot of following the itinerary and hoping everything goes smoothly, but once we arrive everything will be much simpler. I’m looking forward to having 5 days to decompress at Maisey Manor, and I’ll be using that time to get focused on the competition and to make sure I’m relaxed and mentally prepared. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of a hugely important competition like Badminton. I think that Selena and Hawley feel the same way, and we are hoping to make this a really positive experience. So, keep following us over the next 2 weeks! It means a lot to know that there are supporters and well wishers at home.
The next update will come from the other side of the Atlantic!
