Colorado Week 1
July 6, 2014
Wow, the week has flown by!! Colorado is going so much faster and smoother than Kentucky (I have a sneaky suspicion it is because we have an idea of what we are doing ;)) Oh this is so much to fill you all in on! The week has been full of 24 hr day, missing guys, Bruno this Bruno that, great new guy, and of course COLORADO HORSE PARK!!!! Let me start at the beginning…
The horses arrived Monday night… well Tuesday morning actually… at around 1:30 AM. Yep, guess who got to go meet them and Brad? You guessed it, I did. So I didn’t sleep because of course I slept all of Monday in preparation (hint: it does NOT work… either way you are exhausted by the 24th hour of consciousness…). When the semi pulled in I was there to help unload and get all eleven horses settled in. The horses were the easy part, of course. The unloading was the long and tiring part. The entire front of the semi was loaded up with all of the much most necessary items we could ever need. So we start pulling down bins after bins after buckets, after show trunks. I am so so thankful for all these muscles I have gained this summer because those trunks are HEAVY!! By the time everything was unloaded he has hit about 3 AM and we still had a list to accomplish. So of course, Brad and I jump (stumble) to it and start the set up. Finally around 4:30 Brad sends me back to the camper to get some sleep before I needed to be back down to the stalls at 5:30.
The day went fairly smoothly, thankfully. We finished set up and got the horses ridden. They were all pretty amped up so we got plenty of saddle time. I got to ride several and at one point we rode in the Grand Prix ring (my life goal is to compete in a Grand Prix but hey riding in the ring is a step!). Once we got back to the barns we found out that our hired guys were gone… like disappeared without a trace. Just what we needed right before a two week long show that started the next day… Luckily, one of Mary Ann’s clients knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy, you get the point. We got two new guys within a couple hours and let me tell you, a good guy makes for a great show! One of the guys was really experienced and was with us for the whole two weeks. I learned a little Spanish, some great new grooming tipes (rubbing alcohol takes Magic Cushion off your hands easy as can be!), and had a great time with some great help!
So throughout the week there was one thing that will be burned into my memory forever. So the stabling were these huge tents that had isles all the way down. We were in the middle of the tent so we had barns on either side of our isle and a half. The tops of the tents are fairly open so while you are sheltered from weather (it rained a lot…), you didn’t have much privacy. All conversations were overheard. Also, EVERYONE had dogs at the show. I am pretty sure half the riders give away their dogs and get new puppies before every show… EVERYONE had new puppies, as in itty bitty just weaned puppies (sooo cute!!). Anyway, the barn beside us has this girl working for them that seemed to be a jack of all trades. She was managing the barn, braiding for other barns, had been in the armed forces, and was Bruno’s Owner. Bruno is a dog. Bruno is not a very good dog but is very loved by Bruno’s Owner and loved Bruno’s Owner almost as much as my dog loves me (if you know Pyp, you know what I am talking about). Well, at horse shows, you can’t always be with your dog so if it is obsessively attached to you then there is a problem of barking, howling, whining, begging, etc. You name it, Bruno was doing it every time Bruno’s Owner was out of his sight. The people in the isle were alway yelling at Bruno to shut up but Bruno paid no heed 95% of the time. Bruno! Bruno, shut up! Bruno, quit! Bruno, Bruno, Bruno… This was the source of many laughing moments between me and our guy, Vondo. Anyway, I don’t think I will ever forget that little brown speckled hunting dog who loved Bruno’s Owner more than anything in the world.
Wish me luck for the rest of the week! I am managing the barn while Mary Ann is up at the arenas! Yikes! But at the same time it is pretty exciting!
Can’t wait for tomorrow! Hayley arrives!!
