Catching Up

Wow. It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. . . . I know you all have missed me, right?

 Surprise tickets from work for the Dallas Game!!

 South Stands on the West side, rather than the East

 Packing for Vegas. Stazi wanted to go, up until she realized I would be zipping her in.

It started with a trip to Las Vegas, at the Southpoint Hotel, for the Andalusian World Cup. I was there on Tuesday for a seminar to get licensed with the Confederation for Working Equitation as a Technical Delegate. It's been fifteen years since the last time I was in Vegas and the biggest difference I saw was 1) food prices had gone through the roof, and 2) they don't use coins any more. That was the strangest thing: I missed hearing the coins clatter out of the machines. Not to mention, I think you can gamble a lot more money if you aren't feeding coins into the slots.

Wednesday I spent in the classroom, reviewing the US Rules for Working Equitation and talking about different situations. Being a TD means being an expert on the rules. The two people who were hosting the seminar, Tarrin Warren and Carmen Franco, have so much experience. It was good to hang out and go over all of the things.

Shadow judging at C

Starting on Thursday, the seminar attendees got to help with the A-Rated show. We helped with scribing, running, shadow judging, scoring and following up on all of the issues a TD might have to deal with. It was a lot of work, but also very educational. The WE part of the Cup had to be done by noon, which meant we spent the afternoon in the classroom, talking about the things that happened during the show, answering questions the attendees might have and reviewing film. Then, after dinner and the evening part of the show, we got to help set the course for the EOH on Friday, and the Speed round on Saturday.

There was a jury of judges: Tarrin Warren from the US, Isabelle Dorronsoro from Columbia and Rui Rosado from Portugal. It was really amazing to be able to talk with someone outside of the US and Isabelle was a font of knowledge from the International level. It really was an amazing experience. I will be back next year, but as a competitor.
 

There are always things that need to be adapted and changed.

The bridge was adapted to "varied footing" for the Speed round.

 The Gate for Speed.

There wasn't a gate in the EOH, since it has to be a fixed gate and the one that was designed and ordered didn't arrive until the week after the show.

 Carmen (left) and Tarrin (right)

 The arena after being set up for Speed.

 

Colorado had three competitors from HCWE, and one from Utah.

They did fantastic and I think they had a lot of fun.

The first sun we had seen in five days.

Not that it wasn't sunny, because it was, but because we weren't outside of the casino in all of that time.

Southpoint has the arena, the barn and stalls, plus a couple of smaller arenas and a warm up area all in the bottom of the hotel. It also has eleven restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa, a barber shop, a bowling alley and a movie theater. It was it's own little world. Between the seminar and the shows, my day started at 5 am and ended between 11 and midnight. We were all pretty wiped by the time the show ended. Tarrin and Carmen worked even longer hours to pull off the show. The casino didn't have a boot barn, though, so Carmen, Isabelle and I braved the world in search of Lucchese boots (which are slick as snot, actually). A couple of hours giggling over the outrageous boots offered at Boot Barn and one very happy boot totting Colombian judge was the perfect topper to the weekend.

I came back from Vegas and got two rides in before leaving for Grand Junction with J for her bike race. One of my two rides was a lesson, which was interrupted by poor shoe choice, but which Ashke stepped up to the plate for. Then we loaded up the camper and headed to Grand Junction for the Tour of the Moon bike race.

 Rocky Mountains.

 Fall colors

More color

 It was a pretty drive

 Definitely fall in the high country.

Course, by Saturday night, it was more like Winter.

We stopped at the Hot Springs in Glenwood Springs and enjoyed the heat, then headed into the KOA in Grand Junction. A and J slept in the camper and I slept in the hammock. Sleeping in the hammock is something I've been wanting to try,

 The rain cover was awesome, but I need to work on the hammock set up.  It really needs to be tighter, with less dip in the middle, in order to be comfortable to sleep in. I kept ending up in a ball in the middle of the hammock. I would say 5/10, but it can be improved upon. I do think I need a hammock mat to help hold it both flatter and more open, plus it does add insulation.

J and A did the 43 mile ride, with 5300 feet of elevation gain and loss, through a National Monument. The ride was brutal. It took them more than seven hours to do in the midst of pouring rain, hail, lightning and temps in the low 40's. They were both shaking with cold when they got to the truck. Part of the reason it had taken so long was the incredibly steep downhill after the brutal climb. It was too steep to ride, so they had to walk the bikes down. It was good they were cautious, since a woman on the ride just behind them lost control on that downhill and hit a rock wall, which killed her. They got into dry clothes, ate some lunch and then we went back to the hot pool in Glenwood Springs. Once we had a good soak, we grabbed a quick bite and headed home.

Sunday, I got up and went to Barr Lake with some of the riders from my barn and the friend I rode with on our last ride. We did a walking ride around the lake and it was wonderful to be out in the sun.

 At the entrance to Barr Lake

What we woke up to on Monday morning in the ceiling of T's bedroom.

Currently, there are roofers fixing the roof of the condo so there will be no more leaking in the bedroom.