Ricky Ross Ima Boss...Barack Obamas a boss and he don't hate a hoss

A few quick thoughts on the day:

1. TATER is back in work. Happily walking alongside his old French pal Foxypants (something tells me frenchies dont really use the word OLD or PAL) I celebrated by taking sineads checkbook to horsemans outlet and getting him new booties, a new fancy hoofpick, and some beetpulp.
ok so maybe those items lack any real fun, but some of us have others to think about....like baloo and zeppo.

...and then theres Sarah


2. Welp, so much for spring weather. I am not really a fan of WARM days and COLD nights. Because I hate blankets. however - the other day felt exactly like Ocala. It was perfect during the day and just cool enough at night. Today...not so much. Back to heavyweights and gloves and heated seats and quarter sheets and one miserable Sinead Halpin.

3. This uproar on the Horse Slaughter must stop. #1 - youre all being quite dramatic and it is bringing down the mood of my daily facebook stalking fun. I will not say much on the matter because I don't want too many of you to defriend me or throw eggs at Tate next time you see us, and I support everyone in forming their own opinion on political matters 100%. But don't be the Christmas and Easter - only churchgoers if you know what I mean. Do your research - find out what you're talking about before all the educated people make of fun of you publicly. I took political debate, and I was good.. you have to have more than an emotional blob of tears and threats to really make a difference. (start by researching how a bill becomes a law and other policy making processes of our government....can you name all three branches of government and do you know how many members of congress there are...do you know who your congressman or woman is or for that matter what district you reside in...do you even VOTE...do you know who the Vice President is????) Research the history of this issue in our country, and figure out constructive ways to bring about change. Let me tell you - burning down the white house and publicly facebooking death threats to the Commander in Chief Prooobbbabblllyyy not the greatest places to start. (anyway someone already burned down the white house - guess what  - they built it back... and about the death threats on facebook...dont say I didn't warn you when you are sitting in the newest version of Guantanamo Bay by yourself getting waterboarded)

Don't get me wrong - I love that my horsey family is finally showing some passion about policy making - just do your homework. When you know what you are talking about - other people who know what THEY are talking about will listen and then everyone will know what they are talking about so there will be less anger and confusion and more change! Do work son!

Who knows, maybe you will even start watching CNN and getting the Washington Post and NYTimes.  (yes, I am a democrat. I live in the very republican NJ-7 I have a moderately republican rep and his name is Leonard Lance. Funny enough NJ-7 was one of the races I had to oversee in the 2008 election for the DCCC. . . We lost. )

my point being - if you are not happy with something happening in the govt - your REPRESENTATIVES are there for you. they want to keep their voters happy -
so learn their name and their phone number and stop blaming everything on my black friend Barry.

I also invite you to google this issue as there are plenty of great articles from both liberal and conservative publications on the matter. . . or if you are really feeling eager - read the actual bill that effects slaughterhouse inspections!
Here is one of many lovely flow charts:

horrayyyy for US GOVERNMENTTTT

woop

now back to my Rick Ross pandora station.

Thanks-Taking 2011

Happy Holidays my brethren! This year has been fast and furious if nothing else, (be honest - how many people fell in love with boys in 2001 that had acura integras or honda civics with body kits and NOS? was that just me?)  and alas - winter is fast approaching. In case you don't have a calendar, just check the thermometer - oh wait, that would probably indicate that it is late spring.

I thought I would take a moment during my office hours of bill generating and florida planning and turn down my P.Diddy and the Bad Boy Family Pandora radio station to reflect for a moment in the most private and personal way - social media.

This year has been one of learning and growth for myself, my team, and I also feel the eventing family as a whole. I find myself constantly developing and growing into who I am in this sport, a head groom, a rider, a manager, and trying to achieve as many cameo appearances on eventing nation as possible.

I also am trying to find a place for my non-horsey side of life - trying to commit to running and health, (then quickly ruining my hard work when baby sarah brings home cheesecake from Walmart - fresh- ) and visiting friends from home and college as much as possible as their lives have all taken such a different track. I have stopped trying to explain exactly what I do to my friends - mostly because by the time I feel like I have given my job description justice, my friends -who are moms, dads, political media buyers, managers, CEOs, stock brokers, DoD, teachers, photographers, social workers, and government contractors, tend to be politely doodling, texting, or facebooking, maybe even all at the same time. (or they get that distant smile...you know what I am talking about!)  But if they take anything from my failed attempts of describing my sport in layman terms, they unanimously reply "you at least are doing something you love".  - which, is true.

I tend to spend most of my down time going to weddings, funerals, and baby showers, and while I have no desire anytime soon to get married, die, or procreate - seeing my bffs go through all the normal rites of passages helps me truly appreciate what  I do and what I have. I still get to see how my life would be or could be if I decided to change paths. And I do miss it sometimes, the normal life, but I know from the bottom of my heart, I would miss this more. (that and, if I still worked in political media with the amount of free food and wine and liquor and presents...I would probably be 564 pounds)

I know a lot of you were born into this, but there are some of us that were just following a feeling. kind of like that scratch on the weird part of your shoulder blades that is impossible to reach? heres to those people that go against the grain in whatever you do, even if all signs are saying 

\

and heres to the people that believe in them! (special shout out to dana romano and kristin michaloski for helping me get my own operation underway)

and heres to PDIDDY and the BADBOYFAMILY radio station and my homies I don't get to see enough!

I finally got the shepherds hooks I deserve!

Well, it has been an unreasonable gap in blogs. For this, well... what can I say? Its hard to ball as hard as I do.
The competitive season has dramatically calmed down compared to hartpury, burghley, plantation oh my!!
At first, I welcomed this. In fact, I welcomed the break so much I decided to rent a barn in my 'spare time'. I have always wanted to have and develop a separate business, and I am lucky enough to have a boss like Sinead that trusts my judgment and time management as well as encourages growth and independence.
Although sleep may be deprived, there is nothing like running the show...and lord knows it is what I do best. I get my first two horses in on November 1st and Kepferle Equestrian...which may soon be dubbed MegKep Equine Enterprises will be back up and running.

I also have signed up for a tough mudder. Although, I am not nearly the runner that Lainey is, being an ex-smoker from age 14-24 (JUST SAY NOOOOOOOOOOOO) this is my first year of really being able to run, and I love it. I have a long way to go, just completing a few 5ks, but I am excited to keep at it. As far as the TM is concerned, mine is in Nov. I hope to complete as much as possible - not so much worried about the fire and water and shock therapy...more so worried about scaling walls.

Between my new horses, my fulltime job, running, and teaching my all of my up downers through to my young event riders I hope to one day scratch and claw my way out of credit card debt and into a new truck/car/ boat/plane/mansion/limo/all of the above.

Speaking of limos, sinead recently celebrated a big milestone...so naturally we rented a limo.
that is a complete sidenote and has nothing to do with my blog...as that pertains to my personal life, and I like to maintain a real professional tone here.............

The real purpose of this blog is to thank baby Sarah, and all the girls that have helped me this year.
Sarah has grown very much since she came to NJ in january. She is more and more confident every day. Today, particularly, Sinead was off teaching in NY, and I had to ride a couple of horses for various clients - while we had much to do before our big open house tomorrow. I came back from riding ready to start stressing out and throwing around random jobs, and to my delight everyone was tasked and working hard - sarah's attention to detail is nearly as anal as mine now- cleaning the metal bars on the stall doors, putting matching saddle covers on saddles, folding the blankets just so, noticing when the hair changes patterns on taterball or any other pony for that matter...she is really the best working student any head groom could ask for. And I am very lucky she is my right hand dirt monkey. So here is to sarah rupert, and the other hard working reliable few and far between out there...keep on fighting the good fight - now sarah, stop reading this blog and fetch me my tea.

(picture is me and my new obsession....flowers...and thank you to sinead for letting me buy the really really coooool super duty shepherds hooks!)

Shants or jorts? Update post hartpury straight from your moms! ...or ogbourne st. Andrew!

Well week one complete and successful indeed!
Tate was a bit tired all week until Saturday.....then he was back to his old self pushing me out of the way, kicking the wall, hollering to his party people, throwing his head around in his princess dance after a cross rail...the usual.

Sinead and I spent the week with Tate, running the gallops and eating English breakfast. Everyone on the yard at maizey manor is super friendly. 
Its pretty cool to grab a book and walk out to the ring on flat days to see it full with Talented riders and horses from about five different countries. Although I did learn to stay hidden otherwise you very easily get dubbed the popper scooper and that scooper is not the ideal job in a full ring. Too much pressure.

Tate has a very large stall next to elizabeth powers horses, and he quite enjoys his automatic waterer and haylaige. While Tate is out in the afternoon Sinead and I strap on our nikes and head to the gallops....well, Sinead straps on her tesco ghetto pre-tied shoes.. The first day up that hill was a bit rough and i got a glimpse of what ot may be like to have emphysema, but it gets easier everyday. I even ran the three star on Friday at hartpury....ok so maybe it was a cic and I stopped to walk all the combinations, but I still ran. There were hills!....

We had an early start for Friday as we headed to hartpury for sineads dressage. Tate got a ride with Catherine burrell  on her lorry and Sinead and I drove behind...thinking we had time to stop for a coffee because surely it's going to take the lorry longer than it's going to take us on those windy little roads .....wrong . These brits don't play no games on the highway. Skirrrtttttt! With three little heads bobbing happily in the back munching away. 

Sinead's test was not their best, but Tate was feeling good and his lateral work gets better everyday. It is so great we have had this opportunity to come over here and work out the kinks before the big event in a couple weeks.
After dressage comes karaoke in the pub ...naturally, and a brief dance party with toddy and bettina....Coleman was on the floor dancing as white boys do, and Sinead was dancing as sineads do....I usually pick a theme for my dance parties and my theme for Friday was cruise director. So although we were listening to Justin timberlake, I had a constant replay of the love boat and copacabana playing in my head.

I digress.

Saturday was show jumping, and it was also the day that taterball came out of his jet lag. The last one down, but he is jumping very well and his confidence is high.

The next day brought cross-country. Everyone spent a lot of the weekend toying with different game plans for Sunday. The footing was not ideal, and the track wasn't the most inviting....but for us, being that we havent had an opportunity to run since rolex, it was now or never. The more the course was walked, the better Sinead felt. Tate at the end of the day is going to jump if you give him a good canter and a good line. We had also entered blenheim just in case the hartpury outing didn't go as planned, and as his caretaker I am glad we have that option for his best interest....but as megkep the consumer, I really really wanted to go to burghley because they have really good lemonade. 

Sunday came, and Coleman was the first of the Americans to head out. All a bit nervous, but at the end of the day each of these riders trust their horse or they wouldn't be sitting ontop of them in that start box heading out to a three star track. Will planned to take his experienced horse twizzel just beyond the first water and the pull up, that's all he needed and wants to make sure he stays safe and sound for the cci in a few weeks. 
Pawlow and faudree were just a few ahead of Sinead, and I had a chance to see them finish, will smiling, and nat in the coolzone. Sinead set out at 12:12. Tate looked great in the warmup, and after i saw his princess dance I knew he would be fine. UnfortunAtely from the vet box I could only see the first three fences, and the last....but he made it over them all. Tate and Sinead came through the final flags fist pumping...ok, maybe I was fist pumping and Sinead was just smiling, but the first thing out of her mouth as she jumped off was "onto Burghley!"
Thank god, I'm really thirsty! I thought to myself.

Tate recovered well, his breathing was great, his legs look great, and he is happy as a clam that we finAlly let him run cross country. 
I stuck him in ice, Sinead wandered off to watch some more, and I packed up the rest of our stuff. 
After about two hours and no sign of Sinead who normally checks in quite frequently, izibs groom Emily had already loaded their two horses and they were waiting on me and Tate. 
So, I could either be the ass who send their horse home with people kind enough to have waited around all day for it, and make them unload him and care for him while I find Sinead in the large crowd, maybe get a pimms and watch the rest of xc....or I jump in the lorry with my horse, and send out mental vibes to Sinead, hoping that her inner Sherlock holmes kicks 
In after she sees an empty stall and hears far less your mom jokes floating around from barn to barn, and realizes I've upped and lefted....whelp see ya later.

Kinda hard to communicate when no one knows anyones numbers by heart and we've both run out of minutes on our ghetto phones....so you really have to hone you skill of willing something to be.  Skill of the will.

She found us in the end. 

So overall it was a good weekend for the americans. We have made our plan for the next couple weeks and have learned from our mistakes made over the last few days. Aside from that and picking out some good studs, and a throwing back a shot of whiskey after watching that burghley course walk with CPT mark...i think all we have left to do is kick!

Bring it on burghley house 

I've got to go distract nat for five minutes so I can sneak in some of my laundry. 

PS for a good time google videos of CMPs wedding.

Pps in reference to my title.... Will Coleman is very jealous of my running attire. Shants, as he calls them, although i prefer jorts...or 'running pants' works too, are the way of the future. Move over lance armstrong...without a bike...ok so I cannot reference any famous long distance runner I just want to say usain bolt because he has a cool name, but will, or big willy c as I know refer to him, made a valid point that usain only runs for like 100 meters...so. Ya, I'm on about nothing now. Ciao ciao. 

What's faster......flying or swimming to England? Part two.

Soooo.... We left the vetport, I made friends with the shipper bladeblah...
Richard and I go through a brief security check at fedex terminal, then sit and have some tea and coffee while we wait for our our escort down to the plane.
By this time it's about 0130.
Those of you who know me..well at least know the megkep passed age 23...I go to bed by 930 pm. So I'm dragging by this point...the edge of excitement had long worn off between all the waiting and, well ... the waiting.
Thankfully for my e excitement neurons, the best was yet to come.
We are escorted to the Tarmac where I find Tate ( oh ya, haven't seen him in a while) standing quite patiently in the lorry. The guys had put the chute up that led to the cargo compartment where Tate would be spending the majority of the evening.
Once there I saw loads of fedex employees loading large cargo palates onto the plane via a very treacherous looking lift and some rudimentary, albeit successful, roller system.
After yet another hour of waiting and a brief nap in a fedex truck, I started snapping pictures....which of course I cannot share at this time because my pos computer has crashed but I will do asap.
Pretty unbelievable stuff.
The time came to unseal taters lorry, and load him up.....insert story of the shankymajigger here.....
Thankfully I loaded Tate without problem and no one had shut down the airpot, nor sniper rifle t he French princess.
Richard and I jumped in with Tate for the ride on the lift. We cruised around to the scale then onto the lift we rolled.
Richard played it cool....Tate played it cool...I played it cool ...on the outside. Definitely on the inside I was screaming like a little girl whose barbies hair was just cut off by her g I Joe carting older brother.
( is that too personal of a reference for you to relate....???)

Long story short we made it safely in the plane. Tate was surprisingly at home munching away. Richard and I got the galley a lll to ourselves, where I promptly fell asleep for three hours. Thank god so eons hired a professional groom to look over my horse :)
The pilots were amazingly nice and I didn't even have to name drop or change into more professional attire to get my in flight fruit basket and muffins!!

Once in England, safely on the ground, we unloaded via the same method ...rollers and lifts...except everyone had accents, the sky was cloudy, and my hair instantly went flat....I was in heaven.


We navigated our way to the vet isolation building to be cleared....I sat with Richard and my shipper to my final destination who was fab...believe his name was Darren. They kept proving how gullible I was with little bits of 'information' ...in my defense I'm usually so good about picking up on those sneaky types, but I'm telling the part about riding in the back with Tate really shook me and my judgement of jocularness.

After they were all done making fun of me and warning me how dry the pubs were where I was headed to, we set on our way.

I have been to England twice. I lived here in 2007 working for Former British team member Helen Bell up in yorkshire, and then I came over for a few weeks in 2009 to visit and look at grad schools, one being hartpury where we happen to be headed in a couple of days! I really do
Love it here. The history, the smell of haylaige, the tea, the weather, the chocolate, the horses, and especially the general .." just get on with it" attitude. I am so happy to be back here, and am really looking forward to the exciting month ahead I get to spend helping out an exciting rider on an exciting horse at an exciting time.
The trip may have been long, but it went extremely well, and I am sure it was worth every hour, mile, and gruff story I heard along the way...
Next stop ..the pub, then onto hartpury for a little pre burghley pipe opener for the tater!!




And I know there are tons of editorial mistakes but I really do not know how to operate Apple products. Like I said in part one, good luck decoding!!! Xoxo

What is faster...flying or swimming to England? Part one

Holy wow
Before I begin may I please just express my frustration. I purchased a brand new Dell computer especially for this trip...and I kid you not as I was on the plane over, telling Richard about my bad luck with computers and showing him my new shiny laptop....I get an error about my bloody hard drive. Heads will roll. Until I fix that batboy, I am borrowing sine ads iPad....but my typing skills aren't very good and I'm too lazy and tired to edit. Good luck decoding My Mac language,

Q.......sooooo.....
After many an hor, waiting and waiting and waiting....... We are in england!!

I headed back to vetport around 2030 set to see if tater wanted to eat a snack before his long journey, as I knew he wouldn't be eating for a while. When I arrived at the barn via Paul, tater was happily dozing off, and glad for some company.
Around 2145, Paul left to go pick up richard ..the inflight groom. At first, being as stubborn as I am, thought "why do they need another groom? I'm professional, I got this." but my attitude quickly changed. This experience is not something you can prepare for, you just have to live it.
..I was especially appreciative when Richard gave me a shankydeedooly (I don't remember what the exact term was, but it's those bit shank things that go in their mouths that brace horses use to be led around) anyway he hads me it, and I looked at him puzzled...I mean I have a chain...and a mean elbow to the neck maneuver,,, but Richard quickly explains that if I loose him at the airport I have about ten minutes to catch him before they just shoot him. The whole. Airport would have to be shutdown. Etcetc horror story enter here.

No pressure right? As I stared down the endless ramp between my lorry where Tate stood and the cargo palate where Tate was bunking for the night. (ok it was like 15 feet.)
Thankfully knowing Tate, even at his frenchest princessey moments he is still pretty manageable...but I used that badboy anyway. How would that conversation even start? Sorry Sinead, Tate got loose on the Tarmac and they sniper rifled his ass because RyanAir had to lAnd....awkwarrdddd.

Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. As it were, technically we haven't even left the vet port.
When everyone arrived to pick up Tate...the vet gave him the all clear and 'sealed' him in the lorry at 2300. The official seal was really a leadrope strewn across the lorry entrance with a metal clamp put on. .....very official.

The shippers were pretty great and definitely helpful. Shoutout to Scott and...well I don't remember the other guys name, but I did hear his whole life story on the hour drive to Newark international airport. I mean, I can tell you about his baby momma, his bicycle, his son, how he convinced his son to tell his mom that he sleeps in his car so she doesn't find his house, and my favorite part of the conversation...his opinion on gay marriage. I will spare you the details, but he was very entertaining and kept me awake.

Richard and Scott rode in the back with Tate. At first I thought they were joking....but they weren't. It went a little like this:
Scott: "you riding in the back?"
Me:"he he he..." (gathers my purse and my laptop....heads to front seat........ Notices there is only one seat and they really were serious.......... Pauses. ........Panics. ........Sighs and gets into air conditioning)
Yep...strike one for the new girl.

End part one

Vetport, Tater, Butch and some Pizza.

Tater Pants checkin out the SIty-achuun

Well –
Here we are at the vetport at jfk. Kevin, our shipper, picked Tate and myself up at around 1215 – at around 1130 – Sinead tried to sabatoge me by throwing my phone in my dogs water bowl – as she yelled, “SUCKAAAAAAAAA” and ran off.
So that is why, I am blogging via Word then via Blogger, as I stare at my poor phone, barely 2 weeks old, laying in a bed of uncooked MinuteRice.


ok, so maybe it was an accident....I guess I will just have to deal with 12 extra hours of no phone time added onto my next 30 days sans the blackberry.

The ride to airport was uneventful - except for the fact that ole Volvo lorry had a testy tranmission and I was semi-nervous as we failed to accelerate on the GW Bridge. . . but I have to hand it to Kevin - that badass lorry has over 1,000,000 miles on it. I didn't believe him at first, but she is 10 years old, original engine, original transmission (until next week, my guess;) ) and averages 100,000+ miles per year.

I have to say, I was pretty impressed - especially after we made it safe and sound to the vetport at JFK three hours later. (Tate would be one of the last horses I would want to break down in NYC traffic with...)

Once at the Vetport, I unloaded tater who was a little stressed out - but he quickly settled into his stall. He gets the barn ALLLL to himself - which at first worried me , and I was chewing my fingernails imagining the cement walls + a pissed off lonely french princess...but he seemed to enjoy the quiet and even ate some dinner. Once I felt a little less overprotective, I took off his halter and shipping boots...one at a time...and quickly replaced with some standing bandages...I thought about putting on some bellboots too..but I saw Butch - who runs the vetport - sitting there, judging me and my many trunks and hay steamer, muttering about the old days and something about Hay, Water and Oats....I opted no bell boots... threw him some steamed hay, and then we sat in peace.

aaahhhhHhhHHhh! nothing like the smell of tarmac!

Paul at Mersant arrived about an hour later, such a great guy - big ups to Paul - who hung out with myself and tater for a bit. Once we deemed Tate happy, he brought me to a local hotel and got me a room for a couple hours...I was expecting the woman at the front desk to give me a strange look when a man was getting me a room just for a couple hours...but I guess anything goes at JFK.

So now I am happily sitting in air conditioning waiting for my last American glutonous meal...(how long until that Tough Mudder I signed up for again??)
ANd then I will probably head back over to keep Tater company until we leave at 1100pm.

Our flight leaves from Newark at 0300.

I am really sad I forgot all the names I was supposed to drop with the pilot - apparently my dad has a lot of old navy buddies that fly for fedex, which I didnt really think much of, until Paul tells me that FedEx can be very "rule-abiding" and I need to make sure I answer yessir, nosir, etc....
Smells like military.
Thankfully my dad flew in the navy, has a nickname of Kombat, and I am dating an exMarine. I think my chances of landing on the otherside of the pond are pretty good.

I digress.

I am going to jump off here -

Butch!!! Judging me...

Cheers from JFK...onto London!

and then....Ogbourne St. Andrew!!!

xo

In Case you Missed out Last Night!!!

I promise to write more later about the awesome night last night!! And if I wasn't so old school I would have thought about a paypal account sooner! but if you couldn't attend, and haven't used a checkbook since 2002, but still want to support sinead and tate on their journey - we are finally equipped for the 21st century.

Stuart Shout Outs - Winning

I loved when in the middle of the frenzy that was the spring season I said to myself,
 "don't worry, summer will be quiet."
Summer is a lot of things; hot. humid. dusty. sweaty. long. drab. miserable. stupid. dumb.
but it is NOT quiet.

But I will say amidst all the heat and my constant curses toward mother nature - this past weekend at Stuart was WINNING. King pony gets the extra special shout out for completing his first intermediate and from moving up from 25th place to 2nd by the end of the weekend!! And for keeping his head down in his dressage test 87% of the time. i love that horse. winning

Sarah also gets a charlie sheen winning because she and her horse Convict are real life eventers now - finishing up in 6th in the novice. So proud. winning

Foxypants also made a great comeback this weekend finishing in the top 10 after being sidelined for quite a few years. This horse is going to be a cool addition to SHE as he restarts his upper level career. winning

Tate gets a shout out because he didn't kick down the stabling on Saturday as all his friends galloped by him grounded in his room. winning

Tik gets a shoutout for finishing 2nd in the OP, and trying to braid, failing miserably and then bartering with fellow canadian Andrea so his horse looked as beautiful as she should. winning

Little Horse gets a shout out for going clean and being a grownup pony. winning

Sinead gets a shout out for driving home sunday evening after the longest hottest day everrrrrrrrrr. winning

Emma Ford gets a shout out because it was her birthday and i pansied out and went to sleep instead of having a dance party. winning

Niki Lendel gets a shout out for falling out of her trailer, potentially breaking her ankle, and still show jumping later that day. winning

Olivia gets a shout out for working all weekend by herself with a disfigured hand. winning


Holly Payne and Baby get a shoutout for getting back to the swing and competing in the OP! winning

The jog strip at stuart does not get a shout out.

[EDIT] Eventing Nation gets a shout out because they keep linking my blog. just winning.

Spring Cleaning in July

Happy Fourth!

I am back from cali and back on the reorganizing warpath! We are still getting settled in our new farm - Fieldstone owned by Chrissy and Chuck Smith of Pottersville, NJ.
Our farm is a lovely, new barn with 13 stalls - all full!
We have slowly begun to put our vision into reality - and last night I went to Walmart...and bought the entire store.
Sunday was a day off for the horses, so as Sarah dragged all the rings and fields, and Olivia bedded all the stalls....megkep threw out half the feed room and tack room, pulled out a screwdriver and went to town.
I suppose you don't really get a relative idea without a before picture....but can i just say: Extreme Makeover: Barn Addition.

We aren't finished yet! But we see walls and floors, and there are shelves and trunks and more OH MY!
I love days of productivity. SIDE NOTE: Be sure to send in your RSVPs for the fundraiser - we will be donating part of our proceeds to the True Prospect Recovery Fund!!
Happy Cleaning!

Here are Sarah and Olivia after we made some real progress in the tack room today (HAVING FUN AS USUAL! LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE! THIS COULD BE YOU!!!!)

LIVE: from Cali

Just a quick note from the west side!

Vacation is going well, I have eaten drank slept and am sunburnt.

I return home thursday on a redeye and intend to hit the ground running!

The girls have informed me I am starting to receive RSVPs in the mail - this is so exciting! IF you haven't yet received your invitation to An Evening At the Team, be sure that you shoot me a quick email with your  mailing address so we can get one out to you.

We are also interviewing for an exciting temp Working Student Position. Check out my previous post for details, and holler if you have any questions.

And with our upcoming trip to my fav country in the world : the UK, our eventing sked has slightly been altered  - and Tater pants is officially entered to skip around an Intermediate track at Stuart next month  - our goal here is to ensure he stays confident before we head over to the challenging tracks in England.
Running along side him in the Intermediate will be Outfoxed - a new ride for Sinead, and mr pumba himself Classical King doing his first intermediate!

Sarah is also taking her steed for their second novice, and we have Belvedere running in the novice as well. I probably forgot someone - but you get the idea! Thats all for now, I will see you all Thursday ('see') as long as my plane doesn't crash....eeeek!

Peace out from the left coast!

my sunburn day 2:

Rare learning opportunity of fun and awesomeness for really really ridiculously good looking people that read good

S.H.E is offering a 3 month Student Position at Fieldstone Farm in Pittstown,NJ

In the effort of not only promoting good riding but the goal of promoting good barn management and people skills including working in a team and speaking with sponsors and owners and what it takes to run an Eventing Business.

Sinead feels there a few key things in running a successful Eventing operation

- An above average staff and environment. Your horses are only as happy as the people that work around them. Having an efficient hard working and happy staff leads to hardworking and happy horses.

- People Skills.

 The sport is changing and it is as important as ever to have good communication and marketing skills. This not only keeps sponsors,owners and staff happy it encourages new people to want to be part of the team.

-Work Ethic.

 - This sport is demanding and working a long day has to be expected. Learning and accepting this as part of the game will keep you striving high and your attitude unaffected when things get tough.

-The ability to learn by watching.

  We are lucky to have the ability to compete right next to the best in the world but actually learning how to take advantage of this is a learned skill.

All of these abilities are incorporated and taught in the work days at S.H.E

This is not a typical working student position. The Student will ride their personal horse next to Sinead in the arena. The Student will learn how to watch and ask questions. Communication is highly encouraged. The student will take part in all the chores of the barn as well as watch daily schooling sessions including lessons taught and taken by Sinead. Most of these sessions will be followed by short discussions. There is also an opportunity to help ride, especially while Sinead is away.

Sinead will be back and forth to the UK for August and will have a full competition schedule including Fairhill CCI in the fall.  If you are interested in this position please contact Megan Kepferle megkep@gmail.com. Currently interviewing. Candidates need to be 18 years of age, or out of high school and a car is preferred.

Cost without a horse is $500 a month

Cost with horse $1000 a month.

This includes a discounted rate for full training for horse and nearby shared accommodation for student.

Utilities not included and split comes to less than 100 per month.

position available end of July through November

Look at how much fun they're having! This could be you.

Come drink with us!!! And help us get to Burghley! (but the wine part is the most important!)

Alvin's Lookin for a J O B

Classic Garden is a perfectly able, willing and useful tb gelding looking for a job. 'Alvin' is the perfect horse to learn on, and is currently looking for some new students. Alvin is ready to help you get back to the show ring, and is also a great 'stepping stone' for juniors. If you are near Pittstown, and are looking for some lessons, a half lease or more- please call or email me! We have some special rates for new students and I am sure you will have some fun.
240-577-9102
Megkep@gmail.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Tate is back in work!

My high quality photography : Sinead, Tater, and zeppo (offscreen) off for a lovely hack

Today marks the official countdown to Burghley. Tate's vacation is over (which I think Tate and Sinead alike were MORE than happy to start back in work together). I suppose after 4 weeks of vacation I, too would probably throw my hay around my room just for shits and giggles to watch my minions struggle to keep my stall as tidy as I require. 

He will spend some time just hacking about phasing into light flatting to slowly bring his rested body back into work, and we plan to do our first gallop four weeks from tomorrow.

In other news, I made Sarah and Olivia separate, bag, and label allll the blankets today-clearly as it has felt like 100 degrees the past week, we clearly wont be needing them.

Then I checked the weather, quickly made a rule against mutinies and voodoo dolls, and then broke the news: low was in the 40s tonight. 

(I helped unload the blankets.)

Thats all for today - sinead is headed to Mass for a clinic, and I am headed to Unionville saturday night....so the girls are manning the fort!

no laughing matter here - this here is family

I know I am supposed to be funny and lighthearted - but I need to take a minute to talk about one named Lillian and the True Prospect Family.

As a rookie in this game, I knew no one. I worked day and night, my best friend was Running Order and I had verbal communication with one person per day. It was definitely something foreign for me. I have always been above average on the socializing scale, and for once I literally had no friends. Slowly I started meeting people, making acquaintances, getting more comfortable with my job. But all these people had been doing this for much longer than I, and while everyone was nice - I essentially was the new girl - unproven.

There were a few girls that I met along the way that first season - that really gave me the time of day - helped me when I was completely lost, gave me insight when I needed it, essentially and literally welcomed me into their homes. Lillian Heard was one of those girls.

Lillian always has a genuine smile on her face and a quick wit to crack smiles on others. Hardworking, more than reliable, and ultimately strong in character, she is always willing to lend a helping hand no matter how busy she is. She is one of those people that everyone likes and exemplifies the true meaning of the word good. A person that you want good things to happen to because they deserve them.

No one should have to deal with a barn fire, and it breaks my heart that Lillian has had to endure what she has this past 24 hours. Although relatively new friends, she is one of my closest in the eventing community. Part of my 'family'.

My heart is very heavy tonight as I drink my best bottle of wine, and think about the people and nature of this sport. There comes a time of maturity when you realize and prepare yourself for the hard times that come along with eventing and life, but you never prepare for a loss of this magnitude.

I have already seen the loads of support coming in for Boyd and his crew, which shows that this sport really knows how to unify in times of need. It is inspiring. So, as we all head to the barn tomorrow, I urge you be thankful for your healthy horses and try to add a little "Lillian" to your day. She really is a wonderful horsewoman, and a damn good bridesmaid ;)


for more information on how you can assist in the relief efforts for True Prospect:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs006/1104029799492/archive/1105760349885.html

http://boydandsilvamartin.blogspot.com/

http://www.eventingnation.com

On a Lighter Note...

So as my boss ...my aka slave driver (jokes) ....my good friend Sinead Halpin, whom I also happen to work for,  has climbed to the high profile blogging of The Chronicle, she has graciously passed the torch on to me to keep everyone updated here on sineadhalpin.com.

I hope to keep everyone entertained and informed on our daily happenings - and fully welcome all questions, comments, and donations - preferably in unmarked bills.

In the next couple of weeks we will be working diligently towards updating the website post-rolex. We have quite a few lovely horses in to sell, and some in to keep, two dogs (one unruly and one AWESOME), some flowers and a growing team of awesome girls, headed by yours truly. Between the four of us and the roughly 12 ponies, there is always something exciting happening here at SHE.

I am very excited to take the reins here - and look forward to using this blog as my excuse to escape from the premature summer heat wave.

you may contact me at megkep@gmail.com

ciao ciao for now