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Sunday, March 16, 2008
RHHT part 1
9:00 AM
red hills horse trials is a world cup qualifying event and the cross country part was yesterday. it is my favorite of the trials because compared to dressage (friday- big yawn) and stadium jumping (today) it is much more action packed! after babysitting baby elwyn i headed out there with 3 fine companions in tow.... i happen to lurve greasy, dirty carnival and festival food and it very well might be my favorite part of any event such as todays. so immediately upon arrival, i procured a corn dog. i always pull the stick out of my corndog pronto to prevent gaggings and stabbings but when i did, grease poured out into a little puddle on my wax paper doused with ketchup.....i ate it anyway. we spent a exhaustive amount of time selecting the most desirable location to set up camp. we settled on a hill side under a stately oak with views of 3 different water jumps. not too far from the port-a-pottys, drink cart and no where near a single smoker....woo! it was delightfully breezy with the sun coming out in bits and spurts to warm our skin. the next thing on our agenda was to score a funnel cake...and oh what an exquisite, fried, sugary excellence it was! en route back to camp i encountered only one problem....that delightful breeze i mentioned before sent my confection swirling in the air. my mission during our hike back up the hill was to put my body between my dessert and the direction of the wind and get as much of it in my mouth as possible. sometimes i failed....i did sprinkle the ass of one innocent bystander and since it was an attractive ass, it was a fun topic of conversation between said sprinklee and myself, the sprinklor. yum. watching these horses run this course with their excitement and how they pick up their pace and perk their ears when they hear the praise of the crowd or the encouraging words and the pat on their necks by their riders causes my tears to flow, not with sobs like crying but just an emotion overflowing and spilling from my eyes. joy? pride? not sure but it feels poignant and good. before we arrived, this ides of march and it's strange blend of stormy sunny weather brought with it tragedy sending an olympian and equestrian superstar to the hospital in critical condition. another happening before our horrified eyes was the death of a horse lying in the bounce of a jump, kicking, kicking and then lying frighteningly still. questions are raised....why do people do this? why is this allowed? riding is a sport and accidents happen in sports....it is devastating, especially when they are this severe but i do believe in this big passion and love for both horse and rider.     - other things to share but i'll end now and post about my near death experience later. 4 Comments |
