Catching Up...

Damn NBC and thier confounded blank screen.

Sorry to have abandoned you for a while.  You know how it goes, real life tends to intrude on the stuff you really like to do.  Work got crazy busy and required all my attention.  Then there was the Great Computer Crash of Summer 2012, which was somewhat like the Great Computer Crash of Winter 2011. 

So let me catch you up.  I was trying to watch the Olympics, getting up at 5:30 or 6:00AM so I could catch some of the action before work. Did you watch any of the NBC livestream coverage?  Have any issues?  I couldn't sleep the night before Tina Konyot ride down centerline at Greenwich, so I gave up and went downstairs. I waited, foregoing coffee (didn't want to wake up the family) and when 6 o'clock came I switched to NBC's stream and all I got was a BLANK SCREEN. 

I could hear Calecto V's footfalls.  I could hear his breathing.  I just couldn't see him.  I had a minor meltdown.  Guess the lack of sleep and lack of caffeine caught up with me.  I swear I didn't do anything like throw the computer or anything (although I did think about it).  When it died a few days later it died all on its own, with no help from me.  As you can imagine, with a dead computer there wasn't much Olympic equestrian livestreaming in my house. 

The good news is that while I was AWOL the Sainted Mare was cleared for full duty!!  We had our first lesson in what seems like forever, jumps and everything.  Granted, they were little baby jumps, but they were still jumps.  Madame Mare was very happy to be jumping again, and she let me know with several very sassy head shakes and a couple of small bucks.  Thankfully she wasn't overly keen and I was able to rate her, which was a bit more of an issue the last time she came back from rehabbing. 

I was in crappy shape and needed several water and oxygen breaks during the lesson, but you couldn't keep the smile from my face.  It felt so good to have her back.  I worried a bit overnight thinking that her leg might fill up and that the work may have adverse affects, but the leg was cool and tight the next morning. Phew!  Finger crossed, next week we'll do another lesson and more days of flatting, and then the week after move back to our normal 2-lesson-a-week schedule.

That about sums it up.  Now we're back to Situation Normal, or at least as normal as it gets around here.

Billie Jean and I enjoying the evening after a nice ride. 

Sug's in the field, enjoying the evening her way with some grass.



Olympic Daze...

Why in the heck am I up so early?  Even worse, why am I up this early when I went to bed late and couldn't sleep?

I'm up this morning because there's a horse show.  Funny thing is, I'm not in this horse show.  I'm not up because I can't sleep because I'm worried I won't wake up and will miss my ride.  (Standard operating procedure around here the night before a show.)

Nope, I'm up early because it's the Olympics, and I don't want to miss Tina Konyot's ride.  Tina goes down center line at 11:00AM GMT, which is pretty much o' dark hundred EST.  Actually, it's 6:00AM EST, but o' dark hundred sounds better. Anyways... I'm up, and have been up, well, because I'm a type A and wound tighter than a clock.

Since I'm up early and have time on my hands, I made this.  I saw something similar on Facebook (what, don't you get all your news, culture, and information on Facebook?) and modified it for all of us equestrian addicts.  Feel free to share away!

Yours in caffeine,

Amy

What I Won't Be Wearing: Olympic Style

I don't know about you, but I'm a "People Watcher."  So much so that if it was an Olympic sport, I'd be a gold medallist.  FACT.

The London 2012 Olympic Games have not disappointed in this respect.  First, there are always the jaw dropping team uniforms. 

Yeah, I wouldn't be smiling if I had to wear this. 
You think the Spanish designer who did this had a bit too much sangria when he designed this?

 Ahh yes, pink and blue always makes me think of Germany.

I'm sorry, but only the French can pull off a beret. 'Nuff said.

Then there are the spectators.   There's always somebody who's going to stand out of the crowd, and often not in the way they'd hoped.



Princess Anne.
Is she wearing one of Devo's energy domes? 

Funny thing was I liked this hat, and liked how it looked on Princess Anne. Something about it kept niggling at me, though.  Finally it hit me...

Devo.
Did Princess Anne borrow one of Devo's energy domes?

And the winner is......

Boyd Martin shared this picture, taken by equine photographer Michael David Rogers of MDR Photo, on Facebook today. 

Kudos for excellent use of color coordination.  Otherwise, the mind reels.  I guess if there's a flag shortage during the medal cermonies they can always run these up the flagpole.

Olympic Fever!!

Are you feeling it????  Finding yourself getting up at the crack of crazy to watch the live feed of the Eventing competition?  I have been.  Thank heavens I work from home, because this is what my office looks like right now:

Yup, the iPad is live streaming from London while I am chipping away responding to my morning emails and making phone calls.  Just to the right of the iPad you can see the Dressage IS #1 foam finger I got while covering the US Dressage selection trials a few weeks ago.

Olympic fever is alive and well here at Casa Crazy. Horsies in the morning, swimming (my husband and I swam in college) and gymnastics in the evening.  We have a fun drinking game we play while watching gymnastics.  You drink once when they mention Marta Karolyi, and three times when they mention Bela Karolyi.  You drink twice whenever the announcers say Elfi Schlegel or any form of her name.  We also assign drinking values to certain moves, depending on the actual event (vault, pommel horse, uneven bars, etc.)

Seriously, the Olympics makes for good times around my house.  Good thing they only happen every four years.  Go Team USA!!!

Olympic Pentathlon: A Possibilty?

Olympic fever is alive and well at my house.  My husband and I were swimmers in college, so we always watch as much as we can off the pool action. I will watch any Olympic sport, although of course I have been getting up at o' dark thirty the past two mornings to catch as much equestrian coverage as I can.

The other day the kids and I were joking about what Olympic sport I could possibly still have a shot to qualify for.  God bless Hiroshi Hoketsu and Ian Millar; they give me hope that I'm not to old to dream about an competing in equestrian.  I'd probably be better off if I stopped this jumping silliness and focused on dressage. If I use 71 (Hoketsu's age) as a benchmark, I've got roughly 30 years to practice.

Swimming is out.  I'm not Dara Torres, who at age 43 attempted to qualify for the 2012 Games, which would have been her sixth Olympics. She missed her goal by nine-hundredths of a second (0.09). I was never more than adequate at the sport.  If my team needed an extra body in a relay, they'd throw me in.  Not really the base you want to try and build an Olympic bid on.

Long story short, I decided I might have a shot at pentathlon.  I can swim, I can ride, I can shoot.  I can also run.  I just can't run well.  I used to date a fencer.  That gives me a head start on that, right?? 

Then I saw this video on Horse Nation this morning:

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh27/Xenomorphic_2008/?action=view&current=video-2012-07-25-09-48-16.mp4

Meh.  Maybe not.

Wonderful Weekend, Olympic Dreams, Colbert Rebuttal Video and Whatnot...

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Love, Sug

I hope all of you had a lovely weekend, and that all the Fathers in your lives enjoyed their special day.  As you can see, Sug made sure to show her Dad a little love - the wet, slobbery green kind.

I have to say it was a pretty fine weekend in my world.  Everyone was healthy and happy, we got to spend time with good friends, both human and equine, and I got to spend some more time covering the USEF 2012 Festival of Champions and Dressage Selection Trials courtesy of Horse Junkies United.  On Saturday my barn buddy Libby came with me to offer her photography skills - you can check out her efforts on the HJU Facebook page as well as in my Day Four coverage.

Man, is it fun to see amazing riding, of any discipline.  The level of skill seen at this level, as you'd expect, left me slack-jawed most of the time.  Which, of course, was a lovely look when combined with my still-glowing-holy-crap-what-did-you-do-to-yourself hair color.

The fun and inspiration carried over into my own riding.   After I left the Trials I'd head over to my barn, which is just down the road from the USET Foundation headquarters in Gladstone.  Sug is still into the Walk Only portion of her rehab, but as I've noted before, I've discovered there's a heck of a lot to be done in the walk.  Each day I hopped on the Sainted Mare and channeled my inner DQ, trying to maintain a constant rhythm, straightness and connection to the bit.  I'd concentrate on lengthening my legs along her sides and wrapping my legs around her, as well as trying to keep my aids as independent from each other as possible.  Easier said than done.  Have you ever concentrated on your legs, only to find that your elbows stop "following" the movement of the horse's mouth or your back tenses up?  Seriously, there was so much to think about I darn near fried my brain, but it was all good learning.

And the Sainted Mare's reaction to all of Mom's shenanigans?

Oh for heaven's sake, you've been watching that Peters guy again, haven't you?  When does this show end, again?  Can't be soon enough.  You're gonna give yourself a stroke a stroke with all that gyrating and concentrating up there.

The other neat thing about the experience is that I got to show off for my daughter a bit.  I forgot my notebook when I left on Saturday, so on Sunday Sophie and I stopped by the show and tooled on over to the media tent to retrieve it.  I wore my credentials, and as we walked through the crowd I pointed out the newly chosen members of our Olympic dressage team.  Steffen Peters was hopping on Sundance 8 to warm him up for the Intermediare freestyle, but he smiled and acknowledged us, and Jan Ebeling did the same when we passed him even though he was in a crowd of people.  This impressed my daughter to no end, so I gained a bit of serious credibilty in her eyes!  Thanks guys -- I owe you both, BIG TIME! 

We cuddled up on the grass and watched some of the show -  after all, how can you pass up a chance to watch Steffen Peters ride? - and then did some shopping and had a bite to eat.  On our way out we saw Tina Konyot longeing Calecto V, so we stopped to gawk at His Gorgeousness as he cavorted in circles around Tina. He looked like a big (make that VERY big) old puppy dog playing on the end of a long leash.  I waved and wished Tina luck in London; she waved back and we exchanged a few pleasantries, impressing my daughter yet again.  (Thank you, Tina - I owe you, too!)  Soph was in absolute awe of Calecto -- his size, his big poofy mane, how docile he seems to be despite the fact that he is a VERY BIG BOY and a stallion to boot.  I think Calecto is now tied with Sapphire as Soph's favorite famous horse.

I don't think Soph is quite ready to take up dressage full time yet.  She did, however, spend the rest of the day doing tempi changes, extended trot and passage any time she needed to get from point A to point B.  May I say the kiddo has some very nice extensions and great ability to get her hocks underneath herself. ;)

If you would like to hear all about Days Three and Four of my adventures at the Selection Trials at Gladstone, as well as HJU coverage from our final Show Jumping observation event at Spruce Meadows, you can find them over at Horse Junkies United.

By the way, if you saw the Stephen Colbert video making fun of dressage, maybe you knew the USEF filmed a tongue in cheek rebuttal to that, featuring Ann Romney, Jan Ebeling, and the slightly perturbed Rafalca.  The mare was NOT impressed by the foam fingers.  Here's a video showing you the making of that original video.  You can see your's truly at about the 1:30 mark.  I'm the one with the blue and white striped t-shirt, white camera, and Budweiser in hand. (Note to self, NO MORE HORIZONTAL STRIPES!! Aack!)

Official Horse Geek Status and the FEI European Championships...

As you may know, the FEI European Jumping Championships are currently being held at the Club de Campo in Madrid, Spain.  A total of 16 nations will be competing, with the Swiss hoping to defend last year's Team Championship title and Individual Champion Kevin Staut looking to add to a very good year by repeating as Individual Champion. Additionally, countries like Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands still looking to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

I do my best to watch as much of the big championships as I can when they are on, and  most of my access to them is via my laptop.  At this point you might be thinking, So What?  Where's the geek connection? 

If you've been reading AWIP recently, you know I've been on a fitness kick in order to improve my riding.  Typically I get in a workout after my kids leave for school at 8 and before I need to start work at 9.  With the Europeans starting during that time frame the past two mornings, I needed to figure out a way to be able to workout and indulge my horse fix simultaneously.

My solution to my dilemma?  I decided to use my treadmill, and using some of my kid's toys and a couple pillows, I was able to prop my laptop in a (relatively) safe position where I'd be able to run and watch the rounds from Madrid.  WINNING!!!

I think this qualifies me for Horse Geek Club membership, don't you?  Just please, I beg you, don't tell my IT department what I did!

Results after Day One:
Individual:  Lord de Theize, Ridden by Olivier Guillon of France.
Team:  1. France  2. Germany  3. Sweden