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!