Here comes the end of 2011

Christmas has come and gone (phew!) and now we're on the fast track to the end of 2011. It's funny when you get to this time of the year and realize how much has changed in the last year. Now that I have surpassed the "toy" stage and been catapulted in to the "real world" at 190MPH, it's a bittersweet moment when your heart skips a beat over the new Dyson vacuum cleaner you asked for from "Santa". All vacuums aside, 2011 was a sweet victory of a year.

The year started out with the joys of being an intern for a public relations firm in Alexandria, VA, and living at home with my parents. Not saying there is anything wrong with a 23-year-old intern still living at home after a year sabbatical in the horse world, but it brings with it an array of new challenges and portrays the true personalities that have developed within a mildly bazaar yet functional family. Okay, so living at home wasn't THAT bad. Considering I was blessed with the type of family that doesn't require rent or pet fee, I had it pretty good.

In January I acquired a new job as a marketing assistant working for a political action committee in downtown Washington, DC. Not exactly where I thought I would be, but the potential of being able to pay my own horse bills was right up my alley.

In February I took Wanda to Aiken, SC to work with PD for the winter, which turned out good and bad. The good being that she returned with a positive outlook on eventing, which lasted through the summer competition season. I also had the opportunity to take a class on SQL through work, which was more than instrumental in learning about some key tools we utilize.

In March I completed in entirety an official press release, which was published to thousands of newspapers across the U.S. My interview was less than conventional, but turned out better than I could have anticipated, and we received numerous positive responses. I could not have been more thrilled about that.

In April I woke up one day and decided to head out to Kentucky for the weekend of the Rolex 3-Day Event, which I had dreamed about attending since I was tiny. I used bank points to acquire a flight and friend connections for a place to stay, and Groupon helped me buy some half-price tickets to the Cross Country day of Rolex. It was an absolute dream being there, and I loved that I now knew most of the riders from working at PD's last year. It was a milestone in my book.

In May I unfortunately lost one of my best friends, our horse Dublin. It is incredibly hard to lose an animal, especially one which you spent so much time with and learned so much from. He was truly an amazing creature and one that I will never forget. It was devastating.

In June I celebrated my 24th birthday among friends, and it was nothing short of ridiculous. I learned that Monday birthdays are NOT meant for drinking!

In July I met my soon-to-be roommates on Craigslist, and proceeded to search for apartments in Arlington with them. I also traveled (thanks parents!) to Bermuda for a week with my family, which I had never been to before. It was gorgeous, and I was able to check one more box on thee ole passport.

In August I was given a promotion to manager of membership services, and I moved in to my own place, a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom townhouse in South Arlington with my dog, Keana. I also traveled to Caledonia, NY, where I stayed with a Pony Club connection and went on a foxhunt with the Genessee Valley Hunt. In that same trip, I learned to milk a goat and feed sheep.

In September I competed most weekends and moved up to Training level with Wanda.

In October I traveled to New Hampshire for my friend from college's wedding. I got to see my roommates again for the first time since we graduated in May '09. Reunited, and it felt GREAT! In that weekend, we traveled to New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.

In November I got to spend a significant amount of time with my friend who had been deployed to Afghanistan, and had returned to Virginia for 15 days over Thanksgiving. I spent Thanksgiving at Millwood with grandma, my uncle, mom, dad, and brother, and was thankful for everyone being able to be there for another year.

In December I got to experience the holiday party tradition of the professional world, which was eye-opening to say the least! I spent Christmas with the entire family, and enjoyed every second of it.

So thank you 2011. And hopefully the world won't really end in 2012 :)

Update Time

August and September FLEW by!

One major event that happened before my trip to New York on August 15th, was that I finally officially moved out of my parents' house and in to one with roommates in Arlington! I've lived away from home before, but it has never been at my own dime (thank you parents!), so I can honestly say I have moved out! I live in a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse in South Arlington with two roommates I met on Craigslist and my dog, Keana. I lucked out, because the girls let me have the basement room which has a lot of privacy and space for Keana to run around during the day while I'm at work.

Since my last post:

August 21 - Wanda and I competed Training at DRPC Horse Trials & ended 2nd!

August 23 - I was sitting in my office at work, when my desk started rumbling. I immediately thought the White House was being attacked (our office is right across the street), so I booked it out of the office. It was a huge earthquake!! We don't get earthquakes in DC!!

August 30 - Dad's birthday, I went home to have dinner, but when I got to the barn Wanda had ripped her face open on the fence, so an emergency vet call was in order. 4 stitches and $500 later, I was eating cake with dad :)

September 3 - Was supposed to compete at Seneca Valley, but withdrew since Wanda's face wasn't healed enough.

September 6 - My roommate and I saved a mouse from an untimely death in a glue trap. Hooray!

September 18 - Competed Wanda training at Marlborough Horse Trials and had two refusals at a jump in to water. Dropped to last place.

September 21 - My cousin had twin girls!!! Absolutely adorable.

September 25 - Competed Wanda training at Middleburg Horse Trials, ended 8th.

October 1 - Competed Wanda training at Morven Park Horse Trials, the weather was MISERABLE, raining and cold, so I pulled her from the cross country. 3rd after dressage, took one rail in show jumping.

October 4 - Work Board dinner at the Hay Adams.. pretty nice!! Delicious food and lots of schmoozing :)

October 5 - Work Board meeting at the Hay Adams.. great meeting, good food, productive networking!

October 6 - Wanda rips her leg open in the field. Typical.

October 9 - My little from Salem got married!! So excited for her :)

And finally, the big news of the year so far... the Redskins are 3-1. :D

Foxhunting in New York

Last year during my H-A in NY, I met a guy who foxhunts with the Genessee Valley Hunt about 30 minutes south of Rochester. He had been trying to get me to come hunt with them, but the timing just never worked out. Finally, I called my bank and used some bank points to fly out there from July 12-14 The weekend was crazy, and the hunt was SO much fun. The horse I was riding, Foster, is actually for sale, and if anyone is looking for a seasoned foxhunter he is your guy!



I flew in Friday, the hunt was on Saturday morning, and Saturday night I got to help drive a horse & carriage for a wedding ceremony through downtown Rochester! Really a random weekend. I loved it!

Horses in Bermuda - Can't get enough

Earlier this year, my parents randomly decided to take one last family trip somewhere. I had 10 days vacation from work, and had been planning to head to the beach at some point, but when I heard they were heading to Bermuda that went out the window!
We left on July 18th and stayed for 5 days at the Fairmont Southampton. We had decent weather from Tuesday afternoon to when we left on Saturday.

Monday: Arrival


Monday: My first rum swizzle!


Monday: Dinner at Henry VIII in Southampton


Tuesday: A little rain didn't stop our beach trip :)


Tuesday: Watch out for the Man-O-War!


Tuesday: Pool time


Tuesday: Dinner at Frog & Onion Pub


Wednesday: Horseback riding with mom


Wednesday: Dad & Tristan went golfing


Wednesday: Dinner at the Lobster Pot



Thursday: Beach time


Thursday: Dinner at the Newport Room



Thursday: Fireworks


Thursday: Night at the beach



Friday: St. George's



Friday: Dinner at the Swizzle Inn


Saturday: Airport Fire Drill

Rubicon Horse Trials and a Birthday!

Wanda and I had a good weekend, with it being my birthday weekend and all :)

Friday I went out with some friends in Georgetown, and had an absolute blast.

Saturday I helped at the Rubicon Horse Trials most of the day, and was able to walk my course afterwards. It was ridiculously hot and when I got home I pretty much collapsed! Of course I had to get up and bathe/braid, so I couldn't take TOO much of a 'power nap' :)

Sunday Wanda and I competed training level at the Rubicon Horse Trials in Leesburg, VA. Everything went pretty well, and the main thought I came away with was that she and I need to work on our conditioning. We were both exhausted during cross country, which led to 19 time penalties. After a dressage score of 35% and a double clear show jumping round, we ended in 9th out of 20 competitors. Not too shabby for our 2nd training!

Helmet Cam Video of our ride at Rubicon

Monday was my 24th birthday, and naturally I had to work (yuck!) but met up with a few friends in Clarendon afterwards. I think everyone had a pretty good time (maybe too good of a time!) and I would say it was a successful birthday! My phone was blowing up all day from the Facebook birthday wishes, so I'll thank everyone for that.

24th Birthday Friends!

Tragedy at True Prospect Farm

Monday morning there was a barn fire at True Prospect Farm in West Grove, PA, where I spent 5 months living and working for PD. The barn that burned down was owned by Phillip but rented by Boyd Martin. Reports say it was an electrical fire, and it took the barn and the house attached with it. Luckily no humans were killed, though several of my friends and co-workers ran in to save horses and had to be treated at the hospital for minor burns and smoke inhalation. 6 horses perished in the fire: Boyd's rides Call Me Ollie, Charla, Phantom Pursuit, Cagney Herself, and Summer Breeze, and my friend Lillian's horse Ariel. Lillian, Caitlin, and Ryan were able to save 5 horses from the barn, who were immediately transported to New Bolton for treatment. Updates through EventingNation.com have been hopeful, and one of the horses has even been released back home.

I want to take a minute to send my condolences to those affected by this horrible event. I know what it's like to lose a horse, but I have never been subjected to such a horrifying experience as losing a horse in this manner. My heart breaks thinking of Boyd calling the owners to inform them of the untimely deaths of these talented horses. I truly respect Lillian, Caitlin, and Ryan for rushing in the blazing barn to heroically save the horses they could. It is hard to imagine what that could possibly be like and what I would do in that same situation. I am sad for them losing everything they had (their house burnt as well) but glad they escaped with their lives.

My family and I are praying for everyone affected, and hope to never experience something like this again. If you want to help, there are hundreds of ways to do so.

Boyd's Fire Relief Fund through SCES

True Prospect Farm Fire Recovery Fund


Denny Emerson is donating 50% of his book to the recovery

Doug Payne & Jimmy Wofford are donating 50% of their June book sales to the recovery

Ecogold is donating 50% of saddle pad sales to Boyd

You can make tax-deductible donations to the American Horse Trials Foundation (write the name of the recipient on a note with the check):
The American Horse Trials Foundation
221 Grove Cove Road
Centreville, MD 21617
Phone: (443) 262-9555
Email: ahtf@att.net

You can read more about the tragedy at www.eventingnation.com
or on Boyd's blog

Tribute to a Best Friend

My dear friend and companion, Dublin, was humanely euthanized this morning. It hurts a lot, mostly because I loved him. He helped me through my awkward years as a teenager, as the one soul who would listen to me rant and rave about my day, scream, or cry, and all he wanted in return was a carrot. This horse was the smartest horse I've ever seen. He could open gates in a second, push you over logs, step on your feet mid-walk, and learn tricks! This horse knew how to kiss, bow, nod "yes", and could stretch in any direction you could possibly think of.

Riding Dublin was a roller coaster. If he felt like it, you would have the best ride of your entire life. I got a 19% on a dressage test once. 19%! Unheard of. He and I cleaned up at training level and first level, and performed Pas De Deux's with Kim DeLisi (now in vet school!) and Revelation. He was absolutely unbeatable as a dressage horse. Of course, I got a bit overzealous and decided to start eventing him, which is when I really learned how to pick up the pieces and move on. He didn't want to jump. He wasn't an eventer, he wasn't going to jump some stupid log in a field, and that was that. I fell off THREE times in one jump lesson in the indoor arena at Frying Pan Park one time. Mike Mendell tells me I have an 'electric butt' now, and I completely blame that on Mr. Dubs :) He taught me to ride aggressive, whether it got me anywhere or not!



Mom took him foxhunting one time, and that was a disaster. All I remember, was him grabbing mouth fulls of corn stalks from the side of the path. I took him on Junior day twice, and he seemed to enjoy being with a Whip more than with the field. He did everything!



He had this one thing, where he would walk to the end of the lead rope and then would just walk off with you. It was really frustrating, but became absolutely hilarious. He did it one time with me at Phillip Dutton's up north. I remember it because I was pretty much the laughing stock of the barn that day. Mom drops Dublin off, he's this super fat and shaggy little horse which everyone made fun of to start with. I go to tack him up, and when I turn him around in the wash stall he bolts with me, smashing me in to doors to where I HAD to let go. He goes galloping in to the indoor arena, where OF COURSE all the horses in the entire barn that should not have been in there during this were! Connaught, Cambalda, one of Boyd's recovery horses, and a horse being handwalked by Shannon. Thanks, Dublin! They will never let me live that one down :) He also did it with my mom when she took him back. She was at Piedmont Equine, and he walked off with her, so Joe looked at her and said, "I'm a bit stronger than you, let me take him", went to turn him in and off they went! He never went far, and if there was a puddle anywhere nearby he REALLY didn't go far. Just a cocky little devil :)

He also had this awkward parrot nose and a big goofy bump on his forehead. He had a habit of reaching out and grabbing whatever was in the aisle if his door was open (arms, blankets, fly spray, dogs, etc) and once he grabbed the back end of Elliott as I was turning him around. Elliott kicked him so hard in the head there was blood running out his nose. He stood there and looked at me like, "oh, shit."

In 2010 we had his pasterns x-ray'd and everything was fine, which gave us the okay to start him back to light work again. Exactly a year later, the cartilage between his pasterns had completely disintegrated, leaving the bone rubbing against bone. He was in a lot of pain, and we retired him from working and turned him out in a field. Joe helped us with trying to figure out any solutions for managing his pain, and things went okay for a bit, but then started to progressively worsen. He would limp as a 5 trotting around, but would canter and flip his head and looked generally happy, so we managed him as best we could and didn't want to think about euthanizing him. The other day he must have rolled and took down a fence board, and was all sorts of wiggly in his back end. I think he must have fractured a hip or a leg or something. He was a great horse and an even better friend, and I'll be counting on seeing him again someday.

"The love of horses knows not its own depth til the hour of separation."

RIP Irish Crossing "Dublin"
April 1990 - May 2011



UPDATE 5/26 - I wanted to thank everyone for the condolences. Our family is doing well knowing we did what was best for him, and having everyone's support through this tough time has been incredibly helpful for the healing process. Dublin was a great horse and although he will surely be missed by everyone who knew him, I'm positive he is much happier where he is now in horsey heaven. I just hope I get to join him there someday :)

Our First Training!

I decided to go ahead and move Wanda up to Training at the Difficult Run Pony Club Spring Horse Trials this past weekend. The course is tighter than most and doesn't have a whole lot of gallop room, so I figured it would be a good course to show her the bigger fences without exhausting her with tons of space. I also love it there because I am still a Difficult Run Pony Club member (until 25!) and I have a huge support team there no matter how we do.

The dressage went great, and I was thrilled at her consistency. The Training A test introduces a few new movements, such as 15 meter circles, stretch-down circles, medium trot, and medium canter. I was a bit concerned about the transition from medium canter back to canter, but she was a superstar about it. We even got a 9 on one of our 15 meter trot circles! We ended with a 30.9% which tied us for 1st in the dressage.

I was a little disappointed with our showjumping, because I thought it rode quite well for the two of us. We had been having consistent time penalties at Novice in the showjumping, so I was pushing a bit more to make the Training time. Unfortunately, the push caused her to become a bit flat and three rails were the casualty. I wasn't horribly upset, because three consecutive horses before me were eliminated. I was just glad there were no behavioral issues!

The cross country was an absolute BLAST. I asked her for a bit more of a gallop and tried to let her figure things out for the most part. Still being pro-active, I kept PD in my head who says, "set them up and let the jump back them off". Of course, PD is the xc guru! Wanda didn't look at ANYTHING, even the crazy irish bank, which consisted of a brush fence, 3 strides to a ditch & bank up, down a hill, up a hill, and off the bank on the other side! I just kept my leg on, and she was perfect! We made it clear with no jump or time penalties. Happy mother's day to me!

Overall the 3 rails are what knocked us down, but we still ended 5th. Next up: Fair Hill Training!

Helmet Camera of DRPC Training XC. Warning: It's a bit shaky...

Virginia Gold Cup

Spent the day Saturday at the Virginia Gold Cup in the Plains, VA. It was gorgeous weather until about 1pm, then it got a bit chilly! We had a fabulous time in our big hats watching the horses at the steeplechase.

CDCTA Horse Trials

Two weeks ago I brought Wanda home from Aiken, SC, and was fortunate enough to be able to bring her back to a nearby barn where I could pay board for great care as well as having access to a riding arena with lights. Although not my dream choice (I would just LOVE my parents to put in a riding arena... :) ) it has been the best choice for the situation that I'm in with work downtown.

This past weekend was Wanda and my first event together for the season. Last year we had a lot of run-out problems during the final 3/4 events of the year, so I had to come out with a very pro-active mindset about how I was going to approach these issues.

The dressage was in some muddy grass footing, so I went ahead and put in studs for the dressage portion, and left them in for the entire event (all riding was on grass). I'm thankful that I did, because Wanda's hind legs slipped out from under her standing at the trailer before I put them in, and I can't imagine what it would have been like running without them! We scored a 31.3%, which wasn't too shabby for our first test. We were tied for 1st after the dressage.

ShowJumping went really smooth, and I was thrilled at how rideable she was. There was a two stride combination, and we jumped in in the proper stride, but she's so big that we had a very short two strides and bumped the back fence. Luckily it was just a tap and didn't fall :) So we came away with no jump penalties but 4 time penalties, dropping us to 5th place.

The cross country was the part I was most worried about since we had been having so much trouble with it. Luckily I was super prepared mentally, so I was able to avert the one time she tried to test me. It ran perfect and we came out double clear.

All in all it was a great event for us. It didn't hurt ending in 5th place out of 15 :) Definitely a good step in thinking about moving up soon!




Next up: Redland Hunt Pony Club Horse Trials - Novice - 4/24/11

Wanda's 2 Months in Aiken

This past weekend a friend and I made the 10 hour + trip from Fairfax, VA on Friday after work to Aiken, SC (with an overnight pit stop in Florence, SC), and returned on Sunday.

I had originally taken Wanda to Aiken for a few reasons, with the greatest being the fact I have no arena at home and the ground was making it increasingly difficult to ride. Not to mention the fact I had just gotten a new job downtown, and the hour and a half commute to work made it near impossible to get home in time for riding daylight. Wanda and I had been having stops cross-country last year, so I decided it was best to send her to work with Ryan Wood, Jennie Brannigan, and Phillip Dutton, a pretty great threesome of tough event riders. If anyone was going to straighten my mare out, it was going to be them!

I entered Wanda in the Paradise Horse Trials on February 20th with Jennie as the rider (Phillip was unable to take the reins at the time), and she had a chance to compete her at Novice for the first event of Wanda's season. Unfortunately they had a stop xcountry, but Jennie did a great job on the correction and they had a steady finish. I spoke with her after the ride, and we talked about the fact that it is purely a mareish behavioral issue, since Wanda decides to shy left more than 3 strides from the fence. Mares! Jennie assured me she had Wanda's number, and worked with her over fences for a while afterward.

Jennie Brannigan and Wonderbaar, Novice at Paradise Horse Trials 2/20/11


Unfortunately, Wanda became sick with some kind of horsey flu, so she was out about 2 weeks. In that time, Jennie had a horse land on her while schooling and snapped her collarbone, so Ryan took over riding completely.

When Wanda was better, Phillip took her Novice at Pine Top to see if he couldn't work out the kinks. He said she went pretty straight and forward, and they ended 4th. I talked with him for a while and we talked about what I needed to work on with her attitude and how to make her an easier ride xcountry. I've entered her in CDCTA, so hopefully I will be able to try out the new 'shoes' to see how she goes :)

Phillip Dutton on Wonderbaar, Pine Top HT 3/20/11


Saturday I had a great jump lesson with Jennie (she's such a trooper with her broken collarbone!) and Wanda felt fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this competition season. Let's see how it goes!!

Disappointed

In the way a certain organization has been communicating with me about certain things. I am paying a significantly large amount of money from my paycheck each month for a certain service, and that service has not been happening for a few weeks. Today I received a bill for an extra service which was not communicated ahead of time (even though I would have done it anyway), but now that the service is over people are finally communicating with me about the service that already happened. So now I'm extra broke, and extra misinformed, and extra unhappy with the original service I was paying for. End rant. :)

The King's Speech

GO SEE IT!!! NOOWWW!!!! That's all :)

Oh, they're talking about cutting down the language to lower the 'R' rating so youngins can see it. Totally going to ruin the funny parts!! See it quickly! By far the best movie I've seen in a while.

Job & Aiken Adventures

My last update was December 2nd, and boy has a lot gone on since then!

The holidays went without a glitch, and I was lucky to be able to spend Christmas with my family at Millwood this year. Last year I was working in PA, and had to work that morning so I wasn't able to make it in time for the Judy family Christmas.

New Years was by far the best I've ever had. It seems to get talked up so much every year that I end up spending it alone at my house with my own bottle of champagne! (Of course, I usually fall asleep by midnight). This year I was prepared.. with a date! I went ahead and made reservations through OpenTable.com for a place in Arlington called Extra Virgin. We wanted to keep it a pretty low key night since it does seem to get over-hyped, so the plan was to have dinner and return to his apartment to watch the ball drop in NYC. After our AMAZING 4-course meal at Extra Virgin, we decided to stick around the area and ended up hitting a few of the restaurant/bars nearby. Since we were still there by midnight, we ended up at a dive of a place dancing to some goofy music and ordering champagne from a bar to cheers. It ended up being one of those insanely random nights, and we were both exhausted by the end of it!

Post-holidays, I had a few interviews after being recommended to them by my internship job. My first was for an Executive Assistant position at a PAC, and the other was for a Press Assistant position for a House Rep. Unfortunately, I received a callback from the PAC saying they LOVED me, but thought I would hate that job. The House office never called. So, I kept on trucking :)

In January I volunteered at the Republican National Committee Annual Meeting at National Harbor, MD, as a WHIP-runner for (then) Chairman Michael Steele. He was running for re-election, and I thought it would be a great way to get involved in the whole process. It turned out to be SUPER educational, and it was amazing to see how sheisty it can get in politics! It was more interesting because it reminded me of high school elections. Almost a popularity contest at the end of it all. Anyway, Steele didn't win (as you know), Reince Priebus did- my least favorite candidate! Oh well. I was definitely bummed, but it didn't impact me as much as the rest of his team. They were pretty devastated to lose their jobs! Overall, I probably wouldn't do it again, but it was a great learning experience!

Nearing the end of the RNC meeting, I got an email from the PAC. They were interested in interviewing me again for another position with the company, one which they thought I would be perfect for. So I went in, and it was a unanimous decision to hire me on :) Starting January 18th, 2011, I became the Development & Marketing Assistant at a Business PAC in Washington, D.C. My first real life big girl job!! It's been exhausting, but also thrilling to learn new ways of building a department in such an established company. I'm really looking forward to working there!

This past weekend a friend and I loaded Wanda up in the trailer (after my parents and I spent 3 hours in the snow digging out bamboo so we could free the driveway back to the barn!) and drove the 9 hours South to Aiken, South Carolina. I haven't been able to ride Wanda very much since the ground has been so terrible and I've been so busy with work, so I talked the guys at Phillip Dutton's Aiken barn, Red Oak, in to conditioning her for me where the weather is much better! When we arrived there, it was about 65 degrees!! A pretty nice change from the 30 degree weather we've been having here in VA. Wanda was SOOO excited to be there. When I turned her out, she ran off bucking and prancing like a stallion. I hope she's not too much of a handful!!

My friend and I stayed at the Hotel Aiken, which I have ALWAYS wanted to do. It is a historic hotel in the center of the city, so we could just walk downstairs to the super popular bar, the Polo Tavern, and the Hotel Aiken's restaurant, 100 Laurens. We ate at the restaurant, where they only serve Tapas but they're amazing, and met up with all my horsey friends afterward at the Polo Tavern. It was so great to see all the people I worked with last year and it definitely made me miss being there!

Sunday morning we packed up and headed back up toward VA. We made a quick stop in Cary, NC to visit my friend's parents (and his giant rottweiler!). They made us lunch, which was a much-needed rest stop since we were pretty tired of driving, and we got back on the road. We arrived home at about 7:30pm, and  after I made some Easy Mac, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!! I slept like an absolute rock. Now it's back to my real life job!!