I am BAAAACCCKKK AGAIN!!!!!!

I know it has been a long time since I wrote, and between you and me I am not sure if I can type any more. I find it really hard to type at the shows, then I get out of practice and it is hard to start again. SORRY!! Our barn went to three shows in a row and while I looked like (and felt like) I had been rode hard and put away wet, our horses and riders were stars. I guess our hard work over the winter and NO VACATIONS paid off. Thank God for Jason as he has really stepped up and started doing a lot more with all the horses.

Now that we are home it would get real hot.  OH BOY NOT!!! We have the fans going and I am sure our electric bill will make Mark pass out but what else can we do? Since we were gone for 3 weeks we had no time to clear the weeds, add to that the fact that we had just the right amount of rain and I was sure when we came home from our last show that we would not be able to see the house or the barns. This week we have had to send a man out with the weed eater and just have him go to town or at least up our driveway and around the whole 11 acres in the valley.

Mark was so happy that I blogged he just brought in a couple of Bit O Honeys as a reward for my typing. Mark goes to the school of Wife Whisperer, that is kind of like the Dog Whisperer only with wives.

I had a Birthday while we were at the last horse show and I want to thank Mark and the North Wind family for a VERY nice Birthday Party. Mark ordered a cake for all the people he THOUGHT would come to the party.  By the looks of the cake his guess was around 300 people. Well, Mark found out that I am NOT that popular as we had 3/4 of a cake left that needed to be eaten or stored in the refridge, and since we had no refridge we gave it to another party that was going on the same night. I KNOW what list I am on in the scheme of things but it seems Mark has a very high opinion of my status, so every once in awhile we have too much cake. I will say that when I got home from the show and did turn on my computer I was very pleasantly surprised at the almost 200 Happy Birthdays I got on Facebook.  It did make me feel warm and loved. Of course the warm part could have been a hot flash but I did really like the thoughts sent my way. I seem to be more popular on the Internet than in person.  Go figure.

My insurance company decided they would not pay for my Lunesta sleeping pills so I am trying to get to sleep at night with a small overdose of Advil PMs. I just love the insurance companies don’t you?

I wish I could sleep at night like a normal person, but then, I have never been normal.

I am thinking of all the people who have lost a loved ones recently, Chris and Shirley, my prayers go out to you.

I wish I could help those families that are going through some tough times right now, Gwen you and your family are in my thoughts EVERY DAY!

I am THANKFUL for the good things in my life…Family, friends, horses, dogs and health. Although I Wish I could WISH off a bunch off pounds.

Two Down and One to Go

Well, you have to settle for me again.  Nealia and Jason just got back home with the last 12 horses from the Jersey show.  We are working through 3 horses shows that were scheduled back to back.  Why you  ask?  It was not intended that way, but  long story short, it has a lot to do with the USEF calendar for setting horse show dates that sprung forward this year and several horse show venues that do not follow the USEF calendar, so we have somewhat of a horse show traffic jam this year which will work it self out, I think.  Anyway, the Jersey show was faced with the pressure of being shouldered by 2 shows in the area that hit the show in the entries and the pocket book.  So the show tried to streamline the show, focus on the kids and make it a fun show and Joan Booth pulled it off.  We opted to put the show inside at the indoor arena given a risk of the weather and in the end it worked out well as the heat index went through the roof today and of course followed by thunder storms.  Last night at the exhibitor party of pizza and ice cream, Joan had hired music for square dancing.  Kind of corny but it was a hit and many had a good time dancing.  The event was a success and the show went off without a hitch.

So we are back home after 2 shows, it’s late and now what to eat?  That was kind of difficult. In our town the restaurants and delis close early, so that was not an option.  Really no food in the house, so we went for the PB&J.  That has been a long time and it brought back memories of college at UofW Madison where I lived on PB.  They call it brain food right?  Not so sure it worked that way.  I think it was more that almost all my roommates became lawyers and their study ethic rubbed off on me.  Maybe a combination of the two — not sure.

While Nealia will have one day home before leaving for Syracuse, I have to get the final class list and Prize List finished for Children’s Benefit Horse Show to be held on July 22-24, 2010 at the Dream Park outside Philly.  We are late, but the pieces have been changing and with some new barns planning on attending, we are trying to accommodate everyone to make it a great show.  I didn’t feel so bad as we got home and found on our email that the Syracuse show is now changing their class schedule and that show begins this Wednesday.  Why is this happening?  Well its all because of the horse show grid lock that I mentioned earlier.  Things will get sorted out eventually and expect to get Nealia back after this coming week.

Ghostwriter at the controls….

It’s been hard to post on the blog as we are in a series of shows.  Three in a row to be specific.  I have always liked to support our shows in the area and given the changes this year to show dates we have had to go beyond the norm.  We took 12 to the Devon Horse Show which I think was the most of any ASB barn.  Now we are at the Jersey Classic with 21 or so.  Next week is the Syracuse International and we are taking a dozen at least to that show.  I always had practice going to back to back shows in the Chicago area, but the big difference is there most shows were within 90 minutes of our barn in Wonder Lake.  From our farm in New Jersey our norm is to drive 3-4 hours on average to a show.  Our own Jersey shows are 2 hours plus from home.  To say the least we put many more miles on our trucks and trailers in a given season than we did in the Midwest.  Support your local shows!

Everyone is here from NWS at this show.  So who is minding the store back at home??   Could it be June our Amish Buttwiggler?  OMG not June.  Maybe she is paying off the $700 she owes Mark for getting the porky-pine quills pulled out of her and Bibi a couple weeks ago.  Some of you may remember that June brought Mark a live possum one night when we were away at a show and he was staying home with the dogs.  Who knows what we will find in the house Sunday night.  We do have someone checking in on her and Wiley while we are away.

Who watches Oprah and has signed on to her “Don’t Drive and Text or Cellphone?  I was never a big texting person but I have done the cell phone from time to time.  After thinking about Oprah’s campaign I have caught myself on the phone and missing an exit, etc so it has made me really restrict my cell phone time in the car.  I think no matter what you do with the cell phone in the car you are distracted.  Jason was out looking at cars for Anne Butler who is in the market and he was leaving a lot and called me on the cell and inadvertently ran the truck up against a fire hydrant doing quite a bit of damage to the truck.  Could that have been averted if he wasn’t on the cell?  I think there is really something about this.  Now at intersections I look at other drivers to see who is talking and you know its pretty scary how many on on their phones.

Saddlebred Rescue has been placing quite a few of its rescues waiting for homes.  That is good news and increases our capacity to go and get more.  The adoption demand has always gone in cycles.  We are using Facebook more to get out the news on our rescues and that has helped.   Mark has been behind in getting out news through the online newsletter between working with SBR’s new accountants and lawyers as well as managing a couple of horse shows.  He needs to work on his time management I think.

Its after 11pm and we have to get up early so nighty night….

My Mama’s advice.

After today I am taking my Mama’s advice AND I am saying this in my best southern accent, ” If you can’t say anything nice, then do not say anything at all!”

Some people need to wear signs saying “I am stupid so do not try and explain anything!”

Even at the shows I get people calling me, texting me and even trying to make me feel guilty.  Well, it worked.  Several weeks ago I decided I would travel back and forth from the show to home.  On paper it seemed like a great idea and it was a way to be able to take more horses to Devon, but in reality I did not get home until 1:00- 2:00 a.m. every night, and I had to get on the road by 9:00 am to get the horses in before it got too hot. The horses handled it well but I was WAAAY too tired to blog.  Now since I have not typed for several days I think my typing skills are EVEN worse than before.  One step forward and two steps back.

The show went very well and I was pleased with all my horses (except one in the Championship class) and all of my riders. One of my tried and true campaigners absolutely FREAKED when he saw the Budweiser Clydesdale hitch and it bothered him in the show ring.  I would say his brain just checked out!!!  We did end up taking the gate (not a common thing for my horses) but not before he bumped into two of my own horses in the same class.  I am not sure how to prepare this horse for this type of occurrence if it ever happens again.  I want to go on record by saying the Budweiser hitch stood very quietly, and WELL away from the other horses, but just the sight off them was too much for one horse’s brain!  Of course Devon was hot but I must say the new footing was the BEST I have seen in an outdoor arena.

I had one bad experience at the show and of course it was with STUPID people.  I really do wish they would wear their signs so I would not waste my time talking common sense to them.  Jessie called me over and told me there were some people outside the barn reaching in our horse’s stalls through the windows and would not stop.  Jessie had asked them three times and they just ignored her and kept on doing what they wanted to do. I walked around to the back of the barn and I saw a man (stupid man) and four very small children reaching in the window to play with our horse’s mouths. I told them to stop and he told me it was OK because these horses were nice and they had been doing it off and on all day (unbeknownst to me). I asked them again to stop and told him VERY firmly that ANY horse could and would bite and the result could be a missing finger of a child. He just started yelling at me that I was being rude and IF I DID NOT WANT THEM TO PET MY HORSES I SHOULD HAVE A SIGN UP!!!!  After about 10 minutes of trying to tell this man why he should not need a sign up to stop petting the horses, I told him HE NEEDED TO WEAR A STUPID SIGN!!! I know, I was hot and I was not in a good mood.  But when he continued to harass us I finally had to go get the police and let them explain why he was wrong and what would happen if he did not leave.  Here is the real kicker, IF he had just asked me I would have had Jessie give them a tour of our stable and let the kids pet the horses in a correct way.  NO he had to sneak around to the back of the barn in a very NON PUBLIC area to pet the horses. His parting words to one of my customers, as he was leaving (when he saw the police) was I was a nasty @$$.  I may be a nasty @$$, but he is a DUMB @$$ that needs to be wearing a STUPID SIGN!  The worst part is he is teaching a whole bunch of kids how to act stupid.

I will report that other than that, all went well, and I slept all day today. Tomorrow I need to do entries and get hotel rooms and get my hair colored pretty. I sure do not want to look as old as I am going to be in a few days!!

I wish I did not have a love affair with pizza! (sorry Mark)

I wish I had 3 more days in a week that we did not go to shows so we could weed and mow.

I am THANKFUL for the cooler weather!! ( we do live in God’s country)

I know I have been bad.

Have I been bad or what? Since I wrote last I have been to a horse show, came home with a sore tooth/mouth, went to the sale and got two more rescues, been to the dentist and tried working in the barn.  First the show.  We went to the New York Breeders show for the first time and I have to say everyone enjoyed the show, so we will be back next year.  It does not hurt when our horses and riders place well.  The weather was great and add  to that the fact the facility is great and we had a wonderful judge; I could not have ask for anything more.  Jason showed three horses for Dr. M and he was a total star.  Jason for the last few years has shown very lightly and Jessie has shown a lot but this year Jason will be showing more and also showing his skills as a trainer.  I could not be prouder.

As I said earlier I had a sore tooth/mouth and I was hoping it would go away……….well it did not.  I am a real chicken when it comes to going to the dentist and I do not know why as the dentist I go to is very kind and never hurts me, but I still freak out anyway.  It took me two tries before I could actually go in the room to let him look at my mouth.  Before I went, I backed out the day before and boy did I pay for it that night. My mouth hurt so bad I took multiple sleeping pills, some pain relievers and I still  thought I was going to die. The cold bothered my face and mouth so I made Mark turn off the air conditioner in the house and needless to say it was hot here. I took about 15 showers through the night and let the hot water run on one side of my face, as that was the only time my face did not hurt. I took so many pills that I was knocked out the next day until my appointment at 3:30 pm. It was a good thing as I do not think I could have lived through the day with the pain I had the night before. I called Pat and ask her to bring some Advil cold/sinus medicine to me and it was like a miracle most of the pain went away. The dentist thinks I have a sinus infection and that made my teeth hurt. I am on antibiotics so we will see if I get better.

Mark and Jason went to Texas to Mark’s oldest daughter’s wedding, Jessie went to Wisconsin to a horse show and I stayed home with the dogs.  Now  every time I move I trip over a bunch of dogs. Whenever I make a move the whole lot of them jump up with me so they will not be left alone. Pat came over for a little while this afternoon and said she thought two cats following her was bad enough but a pack of dogs topped the cats. I have to say the house is REAL quiet and I have not been alone for years and years.

Tomorrow will be a busy day in the barn as Sunday will be also. We will be going to Devon next week, Jersey Classic the week after and the third week we will be in Syracuse NY. It is a good thing I love going to horse shows. There is nothing better than chasing after the points for western, so my horses can go to Louisville. Every year they change the rules and make it harder for those of us who live on the two coasts, west and east.  Because there are almost no western horses here I have to haul 6 western horses to each show, otherwise I would have to go to three times as many shows than we do now. Most of our shows are over 3 hours away and many are at least 12 hours or more.

Mark and Jason just called and said they were on their way back to the hotel so I guess I will end here.

I wish my mouth did not hurt.

I wish I was not so fearful of going to the dentist.

I am thankful Pat brought me some medicine that I think saved my life.

Its more than just the blues……..

Nealia and crew are in Syracuse at a horse show so she gave me literary license to post something.  I have a couple topics, so I will put out there the first one, short and sweet.

Tonight when Nealia called to fill me in on the day’s activities, she told me that the steward mentioned to her that someone made a complaint of Jessie showing our customers’ horses.  He wouldn’t say who made the compliant and apparently he didn’t go to the office to check the papers. The steward mentioned that he told the people that he was sure Nealia knew what she was doing, but then why make the comment at all to us??  Now this is not the first time this has happened as it occurred once last year from a steward who was not even working the show I believe.  So what is everyone afraid of and why don’t people check the facts before accusations are made, innocently or not?   They must think we use Jessie as a secret weapon and we unleash her to do all others in.  In fact, you would think she would be asked by many to catch ride, but that does not happen very much at all.  She rides for a couple other trainers on occasion every once in a while.  Anyone can walk into our barn and see Jessie is not riding any of the customer horses.  She does ours and the rescues.  World Cup is important to her and she has to remain an amateur.

I am not complaining as we deal with these issues, ignore them and move forward.  It is interesting though for a sport and community of people that are supposed to be having fun with their horses how many unhappy people there are.

I wish everyone could enjoy their horses and find something positive about their ride coming out of the ring.

I wish more people would appreciate that there is much more to a relationship with your horse than just blue ribbons.  There are so many life lessons we all get out of this sport.

Part #3 of Mark and Nealia’s big adventure.

And ACTION……………….. Mark and I had to get up early so we could get breakfast and walk to the meeting that was about 5 or 6 blocks away. I must say it was a nice walk and the weather was good, not too hot and not raining. I guess one good thing is we did not have to row a boat to the meeting as the downtown was not the part that was under water. I was more than just a little nervous about what kind of reception we might get since I train Saddlebreds, so Mark and I sat in the back of the room near the door. I must say everyone was very friendly, and the man who was heading up the Homes for Horses Coalition (employee of HSUS, the Humane Society of the United States) was very interested in how we got along with the breed association (ASHA). He seemed very happy when I told him that we have been lucky to work with not only the ASHA, but we have worked with the UPHA, the AHHS and the Morgan association. It became very clear to me that I was the only horse trainer there. There was a little talk of slaughter, but the focus was not on that issue, so the meeting quickly went to the real reason for the meeting; dealing with the horses that have been rescued and also helping people in times of need, feed their horses. There were several topics about haybanks and how they were step up, castration clinics and euthanization clinics. I found it very interesting to learn some breeds need to reduce the number of horses bred while the Saddlebred is seeing very little growth from year to year in the number of mares bred.  While the Quarter Horses and TBs  seem to breed way more horses that there are uses for,  which makes for a lot of horses bound to slaughter,  most of the Saddlebred horses  that seem to be going to slaughter are older Amish horses. I am not saying young ASB’s do not go to slaughter, but a larger number seem to be going when they get older.  The other rescues had a large number of younger horses and we seem to have a larger number of older horses.

One thing that Saddlebred Rescue will be doing in the future is working on being accredited with the  newly-formed GFAS (Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries).  The ASPCA and other funding groups say that in the near future, that is going to be one of the main ways they will choose who gets most of the funding available. I was please to find out that what we are working on now will help us get accredited (we hope).  They are hoping that this will not only weed out bad programs but also help the good ones be better in the paper work department. I will ask Mark to write on this more when he has time. I was surprised at the number of rescues that had a saddlebred or two and they also seemed surprised at how smart and friendly these horses were. I say, WELL DUH!!!  That is what the Saddlebred lovers have been saying for years.

I always thought we had a bunch of horses at SBR but let me tell you there were about four big rescues that keep about 100-150 horses all the time. OMG!!  The odd part is, we place more rescues yearly than these places did. Everyone had ideas that were different and they seemed to work for them so the whole experience was a very positive one.  Oh, and before I forget, the Lobbyist that works for HSUS used to ride and show Saddlebreds at Patty Milligan Stables. Small world wouldn’t you say?  Christine (that is the Lobbyist’s name) was shocked that I knew Patty Milligan and that is because the Saddlebred show world is a small world.

I think my talk went very well and I definitely had different ideas than the other rescues, the one thing I did talk about was, do not be negative about the trainers and breed associations when you are talking about the rescue horses. The kinder you are, the more these groups will be wanting to help you. Again maybe Mark can fill you in on my part as I was talking and not listening to my speech.  Here is a fun fact about the meeting, I got to meet none other than  the Fugly Horse creator and blogger. I am glad that SBR is on her good list. I have to say that she says a lot of what I am thinking and would love to say, but Mark tells me I should not say.

We had two days of meetings and the only thing I did not like was the VEGAN LUNCH. If I had to eat what we raised and killed I would be a Vegan, but for now I choose to believe that the food we get comes from a grocery store not a farm. I am sure Mark and I would like to go back to the Homes for Horse Coalition next year.

I will write about our trip home later.

I wish I liked Vegan food.

I wish everything would go as well as it did today, EVERYDAY.

I am THANKFUL that Pat placed a bunch of  Treasures this week and we can go get new horses tomorrow.

Part #2 of Mark and Nealia’s BIG adventure in Nashville.

Back to our trip……. the first leg of our two-part flight was uneventful, until we landed in Detroit. Our flight was a tad late and the second flight was at a gate that was not even close to where we landed, but Mark and I were not worried because how big could the Detroit airport be anyway? Well let me tell you it is WAAAAAAY bigger than we thought and in our hurry we did not see the over head train to get to the far away parts of the terminal.  Of course after we had to power walk underground to get from one terminal to another Mark and I were not looking UP for a faster way to get to our gate.  We had plans of stopping and getting McDonald’s for dinner at the airport before we got on the plane but there was not enough time (so much for that idea).  Mark had told me that the second plane was going to be MUCH bigger so we would not be so crowded,” in fact” he said “I booked with this airline so we would be on a bigger plane!”  Yes, he was right, it was bigger and it also was booked to capacity with not even ONE empty seat.  In case you have not figured it out,  Mark and I would be in two seats out of three. As we squish down the aisle (which by the way Mark cannot stand up in, because he is too tall) I am praying for a tiny person to be in our row. Please God do not have someone our size be in our row!! As we near our seats I notice there are a lot of easy keepers on this flight and I can feel my luck failing. Do not let ANYONE tell you that a once in a while  selfish prayer doesn’t work, because sometimes they work!!!! and today it WORKED!!! One skinny guy in the aisle seat.  I was still glad Mark and I did not get dinner because as everyone knows missing a meal makes you thinner on the airplane.  The flight was very boring (Thank God AGAIN!) and we landed in Nashville on dry land and on time.

Our hotel was a short ride away and we were ready to check in. I think Mark was a little worried as I had done some Internet magic and got us a real bargain rate for our hotel. When we pulled up we were in an old railroad station. I must say I out did myself as the hotel was BEAUTIFUL!!! We checked in and went to our room and one of the first things I see by the bed is a sound sleep machine. I stay in A LOT of hotels and the only hotel that I have ever seen with a sound sleep machine was a hotel right next to a train tracks. OMG!!!! Maybe staying in an old train station was not a good idea! We called the front desk and found out YES we were on the corner of the building that was near the tracks!!  This is it I though no sleep for the whole time we are in Nashville.  Mark saw me have a small heart attack (really a mini melt down) called the front desk AGAIN as ask them to move us…which they did with no problem.  OK the life was good once more and the “Queen” was pleased!  Since we were in downtown Nashville it was easy to get dinner delivered to our room even though it was 11:30 at night, I know we should not be eating that late but what the ”hey”, we had two full days before we had to get back on an airplane.

I was worried about the meeting so the first night in a very quiet and wonderful hotel was marred with the fact that I had trouble falling asleep.  When I have trouble falling asleep I have trouble falling awake. But fiddle-deedee, that is a story for another day or later today since it is 12:02 am.

I wish our house would clean itself.

I wish I would wake up thin and not have to do a lifestyle change.

I am THANKFUL “Bare” has clean x-rays.!! I am glad Judy is happy!

Part #1 of our trip to Nashville.

Have I been a bad girl or what? Mark and I did go to Nashville and the more I fly the more I like driving. On the first leg of the trip we flew out of Allentown, Pa. That sounds fairly easy as it is close to home and a small airport with very few hassles.  The problem was I had left my purse and driver’s license in the truck that Jason took to the horse show that morning. I did not realize that my purse was at a horse show that I was not at until we were getting the car loaded to leave for the airport. OMG!!!!!!!! We called Jason and he was on his way home (with my purse) and we figured out he would be going by the airport just about the time Mark and I would get to the airport. What luck was that?? We usually fly out of Newark but for some reason Mark had us fly out of Allentown. Things happen for a reason and this time had we been flying out of Newark I would not have been able to get on the plane. Getting my purse was like an emergency plan that we had been practicing all along, Jason got to the airport about 5 minutes before us.  Thank God his trip home brought him right by the airport. Jessie jumped out of the truck with my purse and waited for us to drive up, we unloaded our suitcases, I grabbed my purse, Mark handed Jessie the keys to his car. Jessie drove his car home (no parking fees this way) and we went straight into the airport and checked in.

We checked in our bags with no problem and went to the gate, right before they started to load the plane 4 TSA security guards came up to the line and just stood there. I noticed they (the guards) were putting on rubber gloves, I nudged Mark and said “Look, it looks like YOU are going to get a cavity search!!” Marks eyes got wide and he jerked his head around so he could see what was going on.  He started laughing as he figured out I was joking and he said ” I KNOW they are not going to do THAT, but I bet you one of us gets checked”.  Well, as we got up out of our chairs the female TSA agent came up to me and guess what? I got a pat down.  Mark laughed the whole way down the ramp to the plane. I told the lady (the TSA agent) I was not hiding anything, I was really that fat as I LOVE pizza A LOT!!  As we get on the plane and by now we are the last ones we notice at on this really small plane EVERY passenger was seated squished in the back 1/3 of the plane, absolutely NO ONE was in the front. From where I was standing it looked like some monster got on the plane and was going to eat some one so everybody ran and huddled in the back of the plane. After they closed the doors the flight attendant let Mark and I move up so we would not be so smushed in. Other than that our flight went very smoothly.

It is late so I will finish up my report tomorrow (well later today).

I wish I could type faster.

I am THANKFUL our planes did not crash!!