Last week, Meg was busy with preparations for The Fork. Now that the event is over, Meg and crew have finally made it home to New Jersey. It’s been a busy spring season for the SHE team, and we’re grateful Meg has let us in on all the fun. As always, thanks to Meg for writing and thank you for reading.
From Meg:
I am reporting LIVE from my bed for the first time since the 2nd of January. I figured I would spenda few post-road trip exhausted moments reflecting on the past couple of weeks in Norwood. (or Nasty Norwood as I like to think Dr. Dre would call it).
First off, I am very excited to soon start editing what will be the next and most epic Eyewitness Report of all time. Thank you to everyone who participated willingly, against your will, or without your knowledge.
Life at the Fork during the 14 days leading up to and during the horse trials was pretty much ridiculous…in a good way. But the time spent making new friends and hanging out with old ones left me about 89 hours short on sleep, enabled me to consume about 345 more drinks than I expected or wanted, led to making at least 3 bad decisions and ultimately gave me S.A.R.S.
Competition wise the weekend was amazing. The course was beautiful as usual, and the weather was pretty much unbeatable. Saturday – Advanced XC day – left Dana Cooke and I with that excited and nervous pit in our stomachs. To keep busy we stalked one of the course builders for rides around the course while our horses ran. Having said that, Manoir de Carn-vizzle fo shizzle had one of, if not, the most exciting and successful run to date. It was a good day for a lot of pairs. And what better way to end a successful day of XC then getting into a cardboard trashcan and having a dance party?
On Sunday, Tater went double clear and finished 2nd. Adrienne Iorio’s Outfoxed had a top ten finish in the intermediate, which is an exciting finish for this relatively new partnership. Shortly after, King bounced around the preliminary like a Boss. And around 2pm while people started packing up and leaving the Fork, the Training Fun was just beginning. Most notably, Big Baby Sarah and Convict fought and clawed their way up from 16th to 4th by weekends end. Sunday evening everyone remaining on grounds were socializing all over the farm in various locations eating and toasting and chatting and thanking and planning and laughing.
So recap: Sinead and Sarah had great rides this weekend… and I danced in a trashcan and got SARS.
Monday morning we said our goodbyes. Sarah left first as the lead car. Followed by the SHE Mobile an hour later, and finally after a final swoop, my car (The Slayer) and I left the Fork in search of NJ, and within the first 1000 feet I got distracted, pulled over and stole the hand carved wooden pig sign from the Course Builder’s Cookout.
Enter: Pig.
Life down on the farm (or D.O.T.F. as my friend Dellsie calls it) is slowly beginning to resemble the normalcy we had sometime last fall. We will have one or two quiet days here, and then full force lessons, training and competing starts as we head towards our next outing – Fair Hill International in a couple weeks.
So this is where Pig and I must leave you. Until next time….
