The individual tests on Friday, July 30

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!!!!!!

FEI Jr. Team competition

Wednesday arrived. It was the day for the FEI Jr. Team Test. we had a very strong team. Jamie Pestana and Winzalot, Genay Vaughn and Waranja, Meg Adams and NASH, Stephanie Early and Panash. I didn't realize it until I listened in the barn area, but we were the favored team to win. California is hard to beat and we had a really strong team. David Wightman was our Chef d'Equipe and he determined our order of go after the draw. We drew the 9th position. This means one of our riders goes in the 9th time slot for each rotation. There are 4 rotations as most teams had 4 riders. This was a really good position for us.

Stephanie rode first. She put in a solid test and received a 64%. Next was Meg and Nash. Nash wasn't wanting to hold the left canter in the warm up (we later figured out the bug bites on the left side of his back were tender). I had Meg sit lighter on the left lead and let him lower his neck just a little. We were able to find a comfortable place where he would somewhat hold that lead. I advised Meg to go for it on all the other movements, and "safety up" when on the left canter lead. She rode the heck out of that test! You really know when someone is truly a competitor when they are up against the wall and really hang in there and get it done. she had a mistake free ride. The judges were all FEI judges, 3 were "O" (Olympic)judges. Several were from foreign countries. It was one of the best judging panels I have ever witnessed. There were very few discrepancies in the scores. Meg ended up with a 64.321%. We were thrilled - many of the scores were in the 50's, so anything over 62% was pretty good. Genay Vaughn was next to ride. She rode a nice test, but there were a few bobbles. She ended up with our drop score. Our last rider was Jamie Pestana. Jamie and Winzalot had been scoring really high in our region. We were not surprised when Jamie had the highest score of the class. I think it was a 68 or 69%. This really helped. We had no idea if were had won a medal or not, no one was talking!!! We were told to be down at the awards ceremony right after the class, dressed and horses in white polos and tack. We found out that we were the Silver medal team. Eastern Canada won the Gold. They were really strong and we would have needed one of our riders to score a 67% along with Jamie's ride, to win the gold. The bronze medal team was quite a bit below us in points. We would have been hard for them to catch. Our girls were shocked and soooooo happy. I was so proud of all of them. They really worked together as a team. Off we went to the awards ceremony. First, pictures for all the magazines!!! Then into the huge coliseum with the podiums just like the Olympics. Meg and Stephanie Early were shocked when they saw that they get to stand on the podium. It was a full-blown awards ceremony with all the dignataries, the raising of the flags, country anthems, victory gallops, etc. I hadn't seen the girls smile like that all week. They were BEAMING. It brought tears to my eyes as I know how much time, effort, planning, money, and perserverence it took to stand on that podium. It had all been worth it. I was wearing my ball cap that says "Believe" in sparkly letters. It is my good luck cap and reminds me to dream big. We have all had to keep "believing" throughout this process. Many times, it would have been easier to just give up and walk away, but perserverance and stubborn are my two middle names!!! I have always and will always believe in Meg and Nash. They are a team. They love each other very much - each is there for the other. It was obvious during this ride, when Nash held it together for Meg even though his back was tender. Horses always amaze me with their generosity. Meg was equally there for Nash. She understood what was going on and did her best to help him.

After going back to the barn, we evaluated Nash's back and realized how sore the bites were. We had an attending vet look at him and petition to the FEI vet to allow treatment. We were granted permission for treatment and Nash was given a shot to help reduce the inflamation. He was much better by that evening. The next day was a rest/schooling day.

NAJYRC - the competition

My Blackberry decided it didn't want to cooperate in Kentucky. I wasn't able to keep updating my blog. I have to admit I was also too busy the first 5 days to do much of anything except focus on helping Meg and Nash.

Nash arrived at the Horse Park in good shape except for some bug bites that he must have received on his van ride from Indianapolis. They seemed to clear up except for a few on the left side of his back, right under the saddle!

The security was very tight and we were even required to have a steward present every time we schooled. We were only allowed to school once a day (2 hr. time slot)in a designated area. Everything was VERY controlled, but we didn't have much in the way of information in the beginning, so it was a little confusing. Our barn faced a little grassy hill that was included in the CDI area so we were able to hand graze and get the horses out of the stall. The stalls were the usual small stalls. It is really hard to keep a horse from getting sore during a CDI. You not allowed to use any NSAIDS or arnica, etc. The drug rules would blow your mind. We used ice, found an awesome massage thereapist, and had a lot of luck.

Nash schooled great. Marly took excellent care of him and Meg was riding really well. We had worked hard and waited a long time for this chance. Tuesday was the in-barn inspection and "the Jog". The Jog is where the FEI vet and the ground jury watch the horse walk and trot. They are either passed or not passed to go on in the competititon. We were preparing for the Jog about 3PM (jog at 4), when the annoucement came to hurry up - thunderstorm on its way and we needed to start at 3:30 and get done ASAP. Meg put the finishing touches on Nash's braids, changed into her team outfit and we literally jogged up to the ring. No messing around - Nash was presented almost immediately, and big sigh, passed with no issues. All of our FEI Jr. riders passed and we were off and running. Tomorrow was the big day of the team competition.