Ironmans, Surefire and Delays...

We have an amazing vet -

She's actually one of my good friends. It is amazing when you can go from client to friend to client again and back to friend; we have such mutual respect for each other. She is always trying to know more and be better at what she does - you would think it would take up most of her time, but she also is an Ironman Triathlete. Crazy, huh? YES SHE IS!

Christiana went the do the Hawaii Ironman two years ago - she came home with a walking cast on one leg and a tattoo on the other. She is off to do the Ironman in Germany in two weeks. 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike and THEN a marathon.... I love hearing the stories and I admire her very much, but that is one adventure I don't need to join!

Summer is in full gear - the Virginia heat has eluded us so far. Temps only on the high 80's and much rain has made us all very happy. The horses are all doing well in their own right. They all ran at Surfire this weekend, and although the numbers didn't come up in the end - they were all very good. Mandiba got his much anticipated first run for 2009 - We got to see Phil run with his new owner (amazing! - the young horses all did well in the novice and are now having a holiday while the three year olds come in to get broke - David, Lauren and our working student, Jaqueline, all won their training level divisions.

We are off to Stuart Horse Trails next in Victor, NY. Awesome event, fabulous sponsorship - haven't been in a few years - really looking forward to it!

I am now sitting in the Dulles airport waiting to go on vacation - like the Alanis Morisette song "Ironic" - I am delayed to start my vacation... Flight was meant to leave at 7:20 and now at 9:15, we are hoping to board. Off to Boston to see my family - the to Tamworth, NH where my family has had a summer house since 1903. Clear air and fireflies.. I sleep so well there.

more soon...

Oh the places you go...

And the people you meet along the way!

The Virginia camp is behind us and we are smack in the middle of our next one - at Rebecca Farm in Montana....

Rebecca Farm is the vision of the Broussard Family - Becky and her husband Jerome along with their daughter, Sarah and her husband Drew. I looked at the photo album of the making of the farm - truly amazing. The ability to look at a vast piece of land and make it into what it is in 8 short years is incredible!

The Broussards are not new to eventing - Sarah competed all through young riders and still rides at the training level. The family also ran the event called Heron Park - before they moved here - 8 mile down the road.

David has terrible irrigation envy... they can pump out 1000 gallons a minute - from the "little" well. The big well can pump out 2000 a minute! We thought we were pretty cool when we got a new well in Florida that could pump 60 gallons a minute... humble.

Picture don't do it justice - the gallop lanes are already mowed and and being irrigated for the event in 5 weeks - I hope we can come someday and do the event - it looks galloping and fun... and that is coming from me - who is a self proclaimed chicken!

Camp has been great - been fun to meet faces we don't know at all from this side of the Mississippi. It is incredible to see the transformation the horses and riders make in one week! We had one parent - a BIG dad - that was so happy that his 12 year old daughter was finally smiling on the cross country because she understood how the ride and be safe too... he was on the verge of tears.

Back home tomorrow AM to get home tomorrow late afternoon - Karen teaching an ICP workshop at the Laws Tuesday through Thursday, Surefire Horse Trials Saturday and Sunday - Karen riding 6 and David on 2, Hannah on 4 and Lauren on 2. I am missing my horses being here around everyone else's horses. I know the crew at home is taking great care... we are so lucky to have the backup team that we do!

Off to the awards lunch.. Most Improved Camper, Best Stable Management, Most Improved Horse.... and the campers all have to do skits.... usually pretty funny! Becky is taking David, Karen and I to Flathead Lake this afternoon - should be fun!

more soon!

Rain, rain, go away....

I think I may build an Arc.

It has rained 8 inches in the last 4 days.... my gray horse is orange - I am starting to like the way I look in rain pants - my dog has had 4 baths in as many days - and boots are being washed twice a day - ewwww.

Things are busy at the O'Connor home base - All the horses are in full work, we leave for "camp" on Sunday, come home for 2 days at Seneca Horse Trails and leave the next day for "camp" in Montana.... I love it! I am not very good at staying home:)!

"Camp" is something Karen and David came up with a few years ago - During a clinic, you get to see one person two times for two hours with a large group of people. At camp - you see that one person twice a day for five days and can get so much more taught. Karen and David break it all down - how horses think, natural horsemanship, rider responsibility, stable management, a hand pumped bull to teach galloping position and how to move your body for a drop jump, how to walk a show jump course, and on, and on, and on.... very long days - but so fun to see people and horses evolve over the week.

Karen and I went to Holly Hill in Louisiana for a four day clinic last weekend - my first time traveling with her to teach my own portion... we had so much fun. Cathy Weischhoff came to teach too - 40 riders and 15 auditors... a mini camp in itself. Tracy and Bobby Hewlett own and run the farm with their daughters, Paige and Heidi. Both have spent their "teenage" summers with us - they have grown to be such fantastic people. Bobby is a vet and has stories that you cannot believe are true - his heart is so kind. Tracy keeps so many balls juggling with such calmness - very cool to be there.

We also got to meet Phil's "family". Phil is the horse that Karen's mom bought that is now the new truck I am driving.... He was sold to a great girl who loves him... she's doing her first event with him this weekend - can't wait to see how he does. The Newtowns that bred and raised Phil live 100 yards from the Hewletts. They were kind enough to have Karen and me to dinner on Saturday night. They have beautiful horses... we met Phils mom, sister, brother, nephew. George lets each horse grow at their own speed and lets them develop as they need. And - they are all so sweet and very kind around people.

The weekend was full of great weather, great food, great people and great laughs...

Mandiba had his first jump yesterday after a spring off - Made me laugh! Bucking and head wagging and smiles all around... he was very happy!

Off to dinner for a students birthday... Gemini's are good people!

more soon...

495 days....

There will be a few people that know what that number means....

495 - is that the route around Boston that gets the bad weather west of it? Is it the amount of money in my checking account (well, could be)? Is it the number of entries at the VA Horse Trails this weekend? Or is it the temperature that you broil salmon?

NOPE!!!!

495 days until the opening ceremonies for the World Equestrian Games. 495 more days....

We as a country have 495 days to get psyched about smoking the rest of the world in all 6 disciplines and para. It's all happening right here in our country - In our famous horse park...

We have 495 more days to support everyone that wants to get there and everyone that is helping those that want to get there. And the sponsors of those that want to be there. We all want to be a part of something - this is something - SOMETHING BIG. Something fun, something great, something we can all be proud of... Wahoo!

John Madden wrote an article recently that he and Bezzie are already prepping their horses for gold medals at the world. Every class she enters; every grid she jumps; every member of her team knows there is a path to Lexington.

Now that the spring season is done (and what a *&%&^$%4 long one at that - Jan to may... stop the madness) I want to get excited about getting our team excited. We have a long way to go - 495 more days, but as David would say - it's not about the competition - it about the journey getting there.

Lets get it all done in the next 495 days!!!

Spring Season

We are rolling along here in Ocala - heading to The Fork in two days, the season has been very quiet but still so busy. We have new horses to be excited about, a new truck, green grass, and no ride at Rolex - very mixed emotions for sure.

New to our crew are two horses from Louisiana - One Step Closer - a beautiful chestnut off the track that we call Sam (he has a bit of a parrot mouth - Toucan Sam) and Cherubino, a very fun thoroughbred cross that Karen's mom bought as an investment. We call him Phil after Karen's dad.... Sam is just starting his carrier and is the envy of all - and Phil has just done his second preliminary - and is about the sweetest thing. I'd buy him if I could. Sadly, Phil is the new truck - someone is going to be so lucky to have him!

Yes - the trusty black truck finally drove its last mile - known to all who loved her as the Ghetto Booty Truck, she drove 140,000 miles, broke down on me countless times and drove me up and down the east coast for the last 6 years... I will miss her.

The new truck is black too - and its shinny!!! And has a GPS and has xm radio.... sweet!

David continues to travel insanely... this past week he has gone from Lexington, KY to Galway in CA to Switzerland for FEI meeting to meet us at The Fork on Thursday. YUCK. Home and away... not for me.

Karen and I have been traveling a bunch too - We made the trek up to Full Gallop in Aiken and froze out butts off. The temps never got above 20 degrees and horses were finishing cross country with their tails frozen after going through the water jump.
Then to Pine Top where I thought I should build an ark - the rain just kept coming. We made countless trips to Rocking Horse and the Florida Horse Park. We did get to Wellington too - did some work with Laura Kraut and Betsy Steiner. Karen also had a few lessons with Canadain dressage rider Ashley Holzer. All amazing - the knowledge you can gather there is so much. And to Southern Pines where we got to celebrate Antigua's, Will Faudree's horse, retirement. A big black tie party with a 9 piece band - dancing a fun was had by all!!! Will made a fabulous speech that had us all on the verge of tears...

We head to the Fork on Tuesday - with Rocket, Smartie and Phil. Last year we had 6 advanced horses - how things change in a year...I am looking forward to being able to spend time with my horses - AND their owners - all of whom will be there!!! Very cool. Hopefully the horse's will do their owners proud!

Off to the next adventure - till then.....

On to the New Year...

Well - 2008 has been less than great for the O'Connor Event Team. With the loss of family members, horses, dogs, hurt horses, sick horses, friends with cancer, friends with family members with cancer.... just no fun. Christmas came and went and so did New Years Eve - I would sit and listen to people talk about how "bad" it was for them and I would always say my year was worse. Yes it was terrible, no I never want all that to happen again, yes I have more grey hairs than I did a year ago - BUT - it is time to put that away and start to control the things I can control.
One of my favorite books is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. The book tells the story of a boy named Milo and different adventures he goes on - He returns after his trip to see the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason:

"It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."
"You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons."
"But there's so much to learn," he said, with a thoughtful frown.
"That's just what I mean," explained Milo, as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. "Many of the things I'm supposed to know seem so useless that I can't see the purpose in learning them at all."
"You may not see it now," said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, "but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."
"And remember, also," added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, "that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow."

SO - my New Years resolution is to start being more positive - There are so many cool things out there to see, do, learn, and be a part of - even it it is a bit out of reach....

Photo of painting...

My painting from Steve Teachman.... per request.