The weather had stayed pretty decent most of the week. Marly had to return home Thursday morning as her husband, Jim, had broken his wrist and needed surgery. We were all sorry to see her leave, expecially Nash. Nash had grown quite fond of his new person that took care of him. Meg and I took over the grooming duties as Teresa (Meg's younger sister)was very busy grooming for Genay Vaughn. I don't think we did quite as good a job as Marly, but we got it done! Marly had a special "beauty kit" with all kinds of chalk in colors, shiny stuff for eyes and muzzle, etc. We didn't have the make-up, but Nash was clean and well-groomed (Oh Marly, we were sooooo missing you!).
Our plan was to do a 25-30 minute walk warm up with about 7 minutes of trot/canter work before the test. Mike (Meg's dad) met us at the front gate to walk Meg and Nash to the competition ring (about 3/4 mile). I took the golf cart with all the stuff and met them there. Oh, did I mention that the "BOSS", Bruce Springsteen, was staying in our hotel? Apparently his daughter rides jumpers and was competing. Also, Steffan Peters was coaching one of our Region 7 Young Riders, so he was "hanging around"!! Great company!! We did our usual warm-up and Nash looked good, but a little more tired than on Wednesday. The air was a little more "electric" as this was the individual test and everyone was competing separately. There was definately a different feel to things than on Wednesday. It was time for the final 10 second countdown - then down the rubber bricked walkway to the HUGE coliseum. The looked good, I was really proud of both of them. Unless you embark on this journey, you have no idea how much it takes to accomplish the simple feat of "entering at A"! It takes a whole team of people who are completely dedicated, and AWESOME horse, a totally committed rider, and an unblievable amount of resources. We had developed that team and I took a moment to reflect on how far we all had come. I have grown as a trainer leaps and bounds working on this project. Meg and Nash have come amazingly far in less than 3 years. Anyway - the bell rang, Meg cantered around and entered the arena. Nash didn't quite have the impulsion and brilliance they had shown on Wednesday. To me, it looked like a clean ride (I was sitting back behind A). Whew, in a flash, it was over. The ride looked accurate - now the scores. When the scores came up, I must admit I was a little disappointed. The average was just above 61%. I didn't think it would be enough to make the cut-off for the freestyle. Well, we had to still be proud of our accomplishments as it is a lot to ask of a horse to fly on an airplane, not have any NSAID's, and compete at the very highest level with a ground jury of the highest ranked judges in the world. We did it, and at the end, most important of all, we had a sound and healthy horse. Genay Vaughn was able to improve her score, and received a 66%, Jamie Pestana "smoked 'em" and won the whole thing, ending up the individual Gold Medalist. We were all really proud of all the girls, they were an amazing group of young women.
Saturday was Freestyle Day. Genay Vaughn and Jamie Pestana had made the cut. Both girls had an outstanding ride with Jamie once again winning the Gold Medal with a 73%. Her music is to Abba's "Dancing Queen" and it was awesome. Genay nailed her freestyle to Disney music. Both were a lot of fun to watch. We all cheered our girls on. It was a lot of fun. Meg and I had a chance to cruise around in the golf cart on Saturday as she wasn't showing. We decided to go watch some reining. It was a lot of fun watching a different sport. They had finished the NAJYRC part and were having a reining futurity. We got to watch some 3 year old's do their thing. We found an embroidery lady to embroider our jackets and while talking to her, we were able to visit with a young man that had competed and was kind of "down in the dumps" because he only placed 5th!!!!! I pointed out to him that their were only 4 people in North America that had placed higher - I think that changed his perspective!
Sunday arrived-PACKING DAY!!!!!! if you haven't done this, you have no idea how much it takes to ships all the "stuff" that you need to show a horse, and then home. The horse is the easy part. Genay and Jamie were going on to Gladstone, so they had to ship their horses and I think, rent another stall to hold all their trunks, etc. We made final arrangements for Nash to fly home. He flew to Ontario, then Van VanVleck from Rancho Murietta picked him up and brought him to Woodland. He was home by 7PM on Monday night. Sunday at noon, Sue Adams and I took a tour of some Thoroughbred farms. It was amazing to see the multi-million dollar stallions and the bazillion dollar facilities. The amount of wealth was staggering. However, it occurred to me, horses are still horses. They like to eat grass, hang out with friends, and they don't seem to notice what type of buildings give them shelter! Teresa Adams was invited to continue as Genay Vaughn's groom to Gladstone, so Sue and I flew home on Sunday night. We barely made out connector in Chicago. We can still run at our ages!!!!! It was great to get back home and see my husband, dogs, horses, etc. However, it was a trip of a lifetime for me and I shall always remember that one, awesome week in July when we won the TEAM SILVER. Go Team Nash!!!!!!
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