Monday, May 8, 2017

not enough words

But WAY too many pictures. Dear god, I don't even know how I'm going to get through it all. Wow. Happy Monday y'all - as a celebration (or, more likely, a nostalgic nod towards the weekend when work always seems to come too fast....) here are representative photographs of all the many goings on lately.

For starters - Charlie and I officially debuted our berry dressage outfit haha. And... proceeded to earn our worst yet dressage score to date. For what was actually our best yet dressage test to date. Go figure. Tho at least it didn't land us in last place so that's cool, I guess haha. 

Also this was of course a weekend of much racing and galloping and jumping. Naturally I was glued to the live stream all Saturday morning and actually got to see just about every cross country ride at Badminton. And I gotta admit - this might not be a popular opinion bc we can basically all agree that Michael Jung is incredible.

But.... I was THRILLED to see Ingrid Klimke snag the lead after xc. And honestly I was also pretty happy to see Andrew Nicholson pull out the win in the end, especially knowing all that he's gone through to return to competition at this level. 

Anyway tho, that was only a small part of a Saturday full of racing horses. I also made my way down to the Old Dominion, Virginia, to catch the Gold Cup at Great Meadow with Courtney, D'Arcy and Shelby. MUCH fun was had by all, even if it was cold with fairly constant rain. The bubbles helped for sure haha.

Pictured: bubbles lol.

These ladies were an absolute blast to hang out with and the event was definitely an experience unto itself. VERY different from most of the horse events that I typically attend - in that it was a decidedly non-horsey crowd. Actually the horses were almost only there to represent the trappings of wealth as a backdrop. Twas... interesting haha.

We had so much fun tho and I took a gazillion pictures so I'll probably have a more complete post on this day with the ladies later!

Race day wasn't over with that tho - as I scurried on over to Morven afterwards to watch the Kentucky Derby with Austen and Jan at their show grounds, and say hi to Liz too who was in town for spectating and moral support. Actually I'm pretty sure there are photos somewhere in existence of this lovely little get together, but alas I don't have them immediatley on hand.

All told tho, 'twas a very blogger weekend! 

Things kept on rolling through Sunday tho when we got our own chance to get out for some galloping glory. And actually I got to see Michele again at Fair Hill, tho failed to snap a pic of us together (tho I'm pretty sure she got some shots of Charlie as she found the horse before she found me haha! #internetfamoushorse).

It was really nice to see her and always so wonderful just in general to get to know so many likeminded equestrians around the area!

Of course you're probably curious about how Fair Hill went from a riding perspective haha, beyond the whole "terrible dressage score for what was otherwise maybe a pretty OK test" part lol. Short story? It was pretty darn good.

Fair Hill is a pretty cool venue with a somewhat unique atmosphere - especially with that looonnnng hack up to the jumping tests. Charlie handled it well tho. We were there ALL DAY for friends and he basically was able to hang out on the grounds like a solid citizen, and then rise up to occasion when duty called. He's still super green tho, and ultimately I did not regret my choice to ride in the 18" division.

It was a fun day tho and we spent a long time just hangin out at the trailers - esp bc one of our riding buddies brought their LQ trailer complete with awning, tables, and a dedicated ground covering outdoor rug lol. It was a major upgrade in our tail gating style lol.

Plus my parents came to watch my jumping phases!! It was their first time seeing Charlie since our first dressage show last November, so that was pretty cool :)

And ultimately it was a pretty successful day for everyone involved. As an early season outing, it definitely showed where we all have opportunities for growth and further refinement - but it also showed that everyone is already in a really good place and on the right track. This was made especially obvious by all the lovely primary-colored ribbons taken home by the group. Go team!!

And hopefully it won't take me 18 years to edit all the resulting media - videos of all three phases (including helmet cam!) and video of some fun horse races and just omg so many pictures haha. Soon enough!

Hope you all had a great weekend too - full of fun horsey stuff and hopefully not as much rain as ours!

39 comments:

  1. Yay! Can't wait to read more. Also I am totally in love with the berry color.

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    1. thanks! recaps will hopefully be forthcoming soon - just lots of editing to do haha!

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  2. I got photos of charlie. Lots of them!! It was so great to see you (and yes #internetstalker I am I pulled right up behind the Emma/Charliemobile (recognized the trailer and truck) so got to meet Charlie first thing and the lovely mare Bella too! The weather was ahem...not the greatest and i was pretty glad i was not riding.
    I thought your dressage test was not that bad (I saw your score). So odd how some scores were....hmm different than i thought they would be. The color scheme on Charlie made it easy to pick you out of a crowd too! I had way too many friends riding in way too many divisions so drove up to watch Emma and Charlie dressage then booked it up the road to watch about five friends go in intro stadium as well as got to see another friend do her last BN before moving up to N. Whew. People that Maryland crew had it going on. Tailgating! YAY. I wish i hadnt been so darn busy running around. AND I thought those were your parents how cute!! I was going to say something to them about how their daughter was famous but didnt want to freak them out ;) glad you had a good weekend!! PS if that little NSH pinto goes missing you can tell his owner where he is (at my barn) :)

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    1. awww thanks Michele - it was really great seeing you, thank you for stopping by and hanging around for our dressage! the score was unfortunate - but i happen to agree with you that what the judge saw and scored doesn't really capture Charlie's journey to date. that's a fairly natural thing tho and i'll certainly have more to write about it in the full recap!

      bummer you couldn't hang out more for our tail gate but now that you know how we roll, perhaps it'll be easier to convince you to hang out for a while next time ;) oh be sure to give Holly a heads up to stay vigilant in protecting Little Foot (who, btw, WON their division!)

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  3. That berry outfit looks smashing :) it really came together nicely. Sounds like a busy and fun weekend. Congrats on another good outing. Your season is off to a great start.

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    1. thanks! so far i'm really really pleased with out things are going. each outing helps me feel good about the track we're on, while also showing me what needs work and what we need to address to keep improving. good stuff!

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  4. I LOVE the berry outfit. And yay for your parents coming! Definitely a whirlwind of a weekend - don't know how you fit it all in.

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    1. omg girl, it was a whirlwind indeed. it was TOTALLY worth it tho to see you! down the road i won't remember the driving, but i WILL remember getting to hang out and watch the derby with good friends :)

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  5. The berry outfit is amazing! And I am quite confident you did more in a weekend than I do in a month.

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    1. lol thanks! this weekend was admittedly way more intense than i generally like.... but all for worthwhile reasons. i may or may not need a legit recovery period tho.... but no rest for the weary!

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  6. Oh my gosh I'm exhausted just reading that! Can't wait for the full recap of Fair Hill!

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    1. haha yea i'm pretty tired too. but also pretty pumped that everything more or less went pretty darn well for just about everyone involved!

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  7. aw charles!!! he looks good in white :P

    so much ponies all weekend!!

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    1. thanks girl! you were missed and very much in our hearts and minds all weekend! <3 charlie wore his berry purple with pride in solidarity.

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  8. Sorry I never made it over (I was super tired and lazy and decided to hang out and ride Batt and Ranger in the rain/wind/sun/clouds/cold who knows what instead), but it sounds like a success anyway. I can't wait to read your full recap. I love the berry outfit!

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    1. thanks! and yea that weather was a mess - and we got to ride in basically all of it from start to end (naturally, tho, the end by when we were finished riding was when it actually got nice out). sorry to miss you but maybe next time!

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  9. Replies
    1. thanks - there was certainly an awful lot going on all day every day! but very fun times :D

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  10. Berry looks STELLAR! I can't wait to read the in-depth recap, this teaser was so exciting! 😁

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    1. ha thanks! i'm hoping to pull stuff together asap, tho it might have to be broken into multiple posts just by dint of the enormous amount of media lolol

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  11. Love that berry jacket! Looking forward to the full recap. :)

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  12. Even having just read it I still don't understand how you fit so many things into your weekend.

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    1. honestly i'm not entirely sure how it happened either, tho my body is certainly feeling the effects today haha

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  13. The berry turned out looking quite festive (obvs in a good way). Can't wait to hear how you guys dominated over the weekend. And how sweet of your parents to come and watch

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    1. thanks! it was really cool that my parents came - a lot of our favorite venues are pretty far for them, but fair hill is super convenient for them. this is their 3rd fair hill in a row (their first was also the first time they had seen me ride since before college, basically), so i guess it's becoming a bit of an annual tradition <3

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  14. Yay! Can't wait for media. The berry outfit looks great!

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  15. I like how that burgundy thinking cap looks on him!

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    1. ha thanks - i like how well it seems to help him think!

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  16. I'm so pleased to have been able to see you this weekend. Really made that Derby party on Saturday extra special. Can't wait to catch up on the details of how Charles did Sunday!

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    1. i'm so happy i got to make it out your way too!! glad it was a mostly pretty damn awesome weekend for y'all!! :D

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  17. Loving the berry outfit. Though I would've preferred sunnier weather, had so much fun on Saturday!

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    1. It was so great to meet you and spend race day with you and the crew!! So sad that we didn't meet until you're basically moving away tho - keep blogging so I can keep up with things when you're in Georgia!!

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  18. Wow you two look sharp in your Berry outfit!

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    1. Thanks!! It came together pretty ok!! Tho now I'm wondering if the judge scored us so badly for being so gaudy haha

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  19. Oh I love the berry jacket!! And I can't wait to hear more :)

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  20. Glad it was a good weekend! Love the coat.

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  21. Love the jacket!! What a fun weekend.

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