I'm here......the flight took all day ,seemingly, last Wednesday to get to Washington DC. I was planning on taking the bus to Purcellville,however, it wasn't necessary as Megan was able to pick me up (thank you,Muchly!). I had called Heidi after they had announced for volunteers to take a later flight from Chicago to Dulles. They were offering $100 and the cost of the ticket...yay! I'd go for that but I had to make sure I had a way to get to Windchase. Windchase is close to Washington DC but for the bus service,it is a windy route,as bus routes need to be....it takes 2 hours by bus to get to Purcellville and then about a 20 minute drive (no bus) to Windchase...and the bus service is set up for the 9-5 commuters.It was certainly easier to get to Windchase by car...next visit Heidi and I WILL take a bus somewhere...
Thursday was spent filming Heidi taking a jumping lesson from Melissa Hunsberger and the afternoon and unfortunately the evening driving the truck around Leesburg,trying to find Costco but never did (yes,I lost myself,as usual ...)
ended up at the Sterling /Ashburn one which was quite advantageous; as from there, I eventually found the Dulles Center Mall with a huge Verizon store inside... even though I was there for an hour and a half Kobby,an associate, could not get Heidi's HP computer to recognise the Verizon USB760 aircard modem! (Heidi is "borrowing" my Mac computer to her utter horror "I need the internet access..so I'll use it" what would the Generation Yer's do without their wi-fi devices and pc's??) I finally got home at 845 pm.....not in time to make the girls' dinner as previously planned...we made do with grilled cheese and onion sandwiches..and their never-ending supply of ice-cream...Friday, I did a little bit of cleaning (I have always said it is far nicer to clean other peoples' messes than my own...)...and went to Wal-Mart in West Virginia for a few supplies...yes....Windchase is tucked in the North-west corner of VA..5 minute drive one way will cross into West Virginia.. a 5 minute drive the other way will take one to Maryland. Heidi was working...I also got to watch and film a dressage lesson of Heidi and Gemini with Winchase' very own Dressage Goddess , Jineen (as stated frequently by Heidi) Heidi has a professional respect and a love for Jineen and her knowledge of dressage and her teaching style.. her ability to get both Heidi and Gemini to turn those skills into a blue ribbon on the Dressage Arena.
Saturday... the day before the show day.. this always entails lots of preparing; running to the store..for me.. Heidi with Gemini...getting all her (clean,pressed) show clothes together... all Gemini's gear..clean the tack with the use of saddle soap and elbow grease!.... the trailer etc..etc... does she know her test?.. well, of course! ....We set off in the early afternoon for the just over 2 hr return drive to the Waredaca property...to walk the XC course.Phyllis was already there having just ridden her two boys in the Training division(and placed in the ribbons..congratulations Phyllis!)
Preparing for the XC phase.....working out the technicalities....etc..etc..
Heidi checking the map to the next fence....
Phyllis helping Heidi visualize the line of positioning for her take off point....
walking to the second jump.....
the first of two water jumps....this was the first time I had seen Heidi take Gemini into the water with the jumps before and after...they don't seem to like to get their feet wet..but with plenty of schooling and trust..and a few refusals..they usually don't mind in the end...and some horses of course..never have a problem with water!! A couple of years ago, at Spring Gulch HT.. Gem took the water as a jump to clear...Heidi's head whipped down landing on her hand so she "hit" herself in the forehead...fortunately she didn't knock herself out and continued on with her seat remaining in her saddle...
three jumps in one...the "C" is ahead...
This is the corner jump....the option(an easier but time consuming jump) was discussed.... Heidi commented after her ride that Gemini decided which jump to take.. the corner.. he went directly for it and saved them both!
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Finally the course came to an end.. after 21 "official" jumps ..many more because of the doubles and triples amongst some of them
Thank you Heidi and Phyllis for my first prelim XC walk .....
We arrived back home at 730pm. I cooked dinner and set off again to Wally World... more supplies...tomorrow's dinner and coolant for the truck!! yep, I checked the fluid levels...the oil was almost non-existent..I had some oil.. but I hadn't thought of the radiator!!
Sunday morning...The DAY had arrived...the alarm went off at just before 5am....it was raining.. it had been raining for well over a week ..every day...
what was the footing going to be like? would it be a cause for concern.. a lost shoe would be preferable to a possible broken leg..the horses slip and slide in the mud.. just like us..but their legs have to support 1200lbs or more...
Kaitlin,another working student at Windchase was also competing and her horse and self were coming with us... the chores done..,the horses loaded and we left for Waradeca at 0645....
we arrived about an hour later...sure enough.. the ground was muddy...soft and slippery. Heidi switched into 4 wheel drive on the truck.. The Great Kahuna was having a problem.. perhaps he didn't think it necessary...the gears would not change..the tractor was waiting nearby.. . and then the tractor was hooking us up...we were being pulled to a parking spot....
no worries,Heidi...even a semi type truck was being pulled by TWO tractors!!Kaitlin did an awesome job helping Heidi.....here she is unloading Gemini.....
Heidi getting herself and Gem ready .....
Dressage came first at 0912.....(photos to add)
then a little wait until showjumping (SJ)... Heidi put on her cross-country (XC) gear ..for the last few years the schedule has been to do show-jump then go on immediatley afterwards to cross-country...which means putting on the vest for SJ.. which is a good thing..if you happen to fall off... and taking the XC bridle to do a quick swap while enroute for the start box...
Phyllis had arrived to coach Heidi before she went out.... Showjumping came first...the pair were riding well.. a couple of rails were touched and fell...giving her 8 penalty points to add to her score...and at that point we had no idea what her score was...we just knew that she was having an awfully great time..and to me looked perfect in every way....
And she was perfect....she won the dressage..on her 2nd prelim show ever!!! Heidi didn't believe me .. and I had to go double check myself...only because back in Colorado the prelim entrants hardly ever amounted to more than 7..I had to look for another page to her group..I had browsed previously ..identified that her 32.5 was the lowest #...ran back to the Trailer where Heidi was tending Gemini after his XC run and gushed out the news..only to think when handwalking Gem.. was there another piece of paper with additional names..and the possibility of lower scores?? I rushed back to the scoring board..where I double checked for more names..I was right..one list,one low score next to Heidi's name...then I noticed everybody's results were in... with the two rails and time penalties on XC (per Heidi) I knew her tally would add up a bit more...but where would she end up finally?? THIRD... she kept it low....Winning isn't everything..but it does tell us that for her second HT at this level , to achieve a 4th and then 3rd place Heidi has had excellent training and turned that training into well-earned and deserved skilled rides of her life!
XC is by far the most challenging and exciting of the three phases from the spectators' view... Phyllis,Kaitlin and I were waiting near the 2nd jump for Heidi to come by....and we waited...and waited..surely she should have started by now.Phyllis had seen her walking by the start box...any minute now....nope...and then she flew by in a flash...the cameras clicked as we took as many photos as we could ..turning around to follow her path to the water jump that we could also see..thank goodness for a great telephoto zoom on the newer cameras...looking through the lens I could think myself right there!! as soon as she had cleared the water I ran up to the finish... Heidi was pulling up having just passed the finish line when I got there...a great job.. She was so happy with hers and Gem's performance..unfortunately..Heidi hasn't emailed me the photos taken..so can't add them yet...but here's two that I took of Heidi on her XC ride...
(photos)the routine is to then pack up wait for results of one's group.. pick up the ribbon and prize....then it's all done and time to go home...but today.. we had Kaitlin to watch.. She had an awesome ride too...(photos to add)
We arrived home where I had had dinner simmering in the slowcooker since we left in the early morning....we ate ,talked about the days' events and then watched a DVD of the 2008 Burleigh Horse show....I think they are all Horse-crazy in the Little House ... and in the big house and in all the other houses on the Windchase property....and perhaps myself too....just a little...or a lot!
to be continued......
