Badminton Bound and Bronchitis...

Kristin and Joey doing their
thing at The Fork



Somewhere in my travels in cheese-land last week I managed to pick up bronchitis.  Boo Hiss.  Blech.  And since I'm climbing right back on a plane for a business trip next week, odds are good I'll get over this just in time to pick up something new. Oh Goody! 

However, before succumbing to the plague I was able to run on down to Four Star International Eventer Kristin Schmolze's Everbreeze Farm and interview her for Horse Junkies United before she and her perennially young 17 year-old partner Cavaldi (aka Joey, the Face of Five Star Tack) head across the pond to the Badminton Horse Trials at the end of the week.

How did I get so lucky, you ask?  Proximity, really, and a few connections.  I board my horse about 5 minutes from her farm, and last summer my daughter and I participated in an Eric Horgan clinic held at Kristin's farm in Califon, NJ.  Kristin and her groom Vanessa couldn't have been more helpful or hospitable. They both complimented me on The Sainted Mare, which of course predisposed me to liking them immediately, but when they gushed over my daughter and her pony...well, let's just say I'd walk through fire for either of them.

So when I heard Kristin was heading to Badminton and needed to raise funds to help with the ENORMOUS costs (think SUV, or whopping college loan) well, it was a no brainer to say, "Hmmm, maybe the Horse Junkies United community and my AWIP friends can help!"

How lucky am I?  Hanging with
Joey and Bailey, Kristin's dog.

You'll be able to read the entire story about their amazing partnership and their dream of competing at Badminton on Horse Junkies United this Friday, 5/20, but in a nutshell, Kristin has always wanted to compete at Badminton.  It's any eventer's dream.  Joey is her horse of a lifetime, and at 17, this is most likely his last shot at doing Badminton.  Kristin and Joey have grown up together, and she can't imagine taking this step and making her dream come true without her best friend, the friend who has had such a large part in shaping her into the rider she is today.

Kristin's friends have organized a Badminton Bound 2012 fundraiser to help her offset some of the mega expense that is part of realizing the dream of sending Joey to Badminton. If you are able to and would like to help Kristin by donating, please visit http://www.kseventing.com/ and scroll to the bottom of the Badminton Bound post.  I did. I might never ride around Badminton, but in a few weeks, I'll have had a tiny part in the journey of someone who has.

If you have an FEITV subscription, you can catch the Badminton Cross Country phase on Sunday, May 6th.  Check back with FEITV for times.  I'm hoping I'll be lucky enough to catch Kristin and Joey tearing up the track.

Kristin and Joey Show Jumping at PTF 2011