Monday – June 22, 2009
We actually left for Thunderbird Show Park (in beautiful Langley, BC, Canada!) reasonably on time. If you knew us well, you’d understand that this was a significant accomplishment! On the trailer were Sudden Image (Cash), Finishing Touch (Toby), Sienna (Sissy) and of course…Oberon (The Mighty Puckstar). Carting along all of the horse’s gear and wardrobe were me – driving The Mighty’s rolling tack trunk (aka Honda CRV), Nancy and Emily Wollebeck driving a second horse trailer with the 4 equine star’s food and nutrition needs, as well as additional (!) tack trunks o’stuff, Phil (aka Pinky), Debbie and Tessa Hingston toting all of Tessa’s stuff, and Sid and Tiffany Odgers (not overloaded). We arrived at the show park uneventfully, unpacked, unloaded and set up, and took the horses on a trail walk to stretch their legs and look around. We tried to go to The Shark for dinner after checking into our hotel (which involved many trips to and from the parking lot and monopolization of the luggage carts), but got kicked out. Not for unruly behavior, but for minors. Soooo…off we go to Red Robin which managed to satisfy everyone’s appetite. Afterwards Tessa, Emily and Tiffany went to the hotel pool, I hit the gym (I know…what the??!) and then it was lights out.
Tuesday – June 23, 2009
Today is schooling day – otherwise known as The Day of Chaos and Mayhem. I ate a good breakfast at our Holiday Inn (hereafter known as Ho-Inn) and tucked a bagel in the bag for later. Teri certainly had a busy day – putting a training ride on each horse first and then riders up for a schooling round. The Mighty took it all in stride (haha…pun intended) and afterwards we went for a trail ride to cool out. I should add that he was a perfect gentleman by himself on the trail right up to the end when he got spooked and spun and tried to run back the way he came. Sigh…..we got turned around and finished our ride with a few giant stallion-like snorts. I should add here that Monday and Tuesday were beautiful days weather-wise, and yes, this will be significant later. Horses were bathed, wrapped and the schedule for Wednesday was consulted. Quote from Michelle: “What? I show tomorrow? I thought I didn’t show until Thursday. Umm..good thing someone told me.” We went back to the Ho-Inn and they were so nice and accommodating; they let us use the common breakfast room to spread out, order in pizza, and clean mountains of tack. David (Teri’s son) arrived and everyone hit the hay.
Wednesday – June 24, 2009
Dawned….wet…VERY wet. As in….you can see the rain in the photos quite clearly wet. As in….holy **** are we back in Monroe wet. Luckily Thunderbird has awesome all-weather footing and it drained and held up beautifully. Lynn Kingsley and Laurie Rosen-Ritt, 2 fellow barn-riders showed up for the day to lend support. Poor Lynn, the last time she came out to watch The Mighty was on flood-day at Monroe in April. Maybe she’d stay drier just reading the recaps. Teri actually did The Mighty in a couple of classes today, leaving with a 6th out of a large field of LARGES (haha..see how I did that..worked in another Pun?). I dressed and rode w/water dripping down my neck, in my face, well everywhere really. 2 jumping classes and then I bailed on the flat class (see my clever reference to flooding again heehee?). We took a 6th in each class. Hooray.
With the horses wrapped, blanketed and all snug in their stalls we repaired to the Ho-Inn for another evening of tack cleaning, this time with lasagna and pasta delivered! Our fellow barn-mate Jessica Gaylord arrived, and the girls and David promptly made plans to initiate Barn Wars I. Stealthy like Ninjas…well Ninjas who get caught skulking by horse trailers I guess…but TP, duct tape or baling twine? Tent, cart or sign? What does a Ninja say when they get caught? Jessica and I had every intention of going, but somehow slept through our wake-up knock (ahem!)
Thursday – June 25, 2009
Dawned…only marginally better than Wednesday. At least we could slow the pace of the ark-building. After another convenient (and complimentary!) hotel breakfast (and a stop at Starbucks!), we headed to the show park. It should be noted here that Jessica was spending her summer vacation hanging out and helping out at the horse show – in the rain. There was not a lot of showing going on today – 2 classes, no ribbons. I think with the weather everyone was actually relieved to be done at a reasonable hour. And of course then the rain stopped.
I must interject here, where I was when I heard the news about Michael Jackson. Since the rain stopped, and the sun came out, several of us (me, Jessica, Emily, Nancy, and Tessa) were sitting on the grass bank by the Grand Prix field watching some of the jumping classes. Yes..at that point it was dry enough to sit on the grass..go figure. Ned Coffin, the announcer gave the news over the sound system and it was actually a shock. I didn’t truly believe it until he started playing the Michael Jackson and Jackson5 catalog. Each song had us singing along, and sort of dancing along on the grass. Looking around at other folks – they were doing exactly the same thing. It made me think that, no matter what you thought of the man himself, he left us an incredible musical legacy – spanning time, generations, and place. And then about the time I was having this profound thought, Tuffy (Teri’s Jack Russel) decided to run out onto the Grand Prix field w/Jessica chasing him yelling “Tuffy Come Back Here!” We ended up having dinner at a place next to the hotel called simply “The Pub”. Now that name should be a giveaway, but the manager assured Carl (Emily’s father who also arrived on Tuesday) and I, in his Russian gangsta accent, that minors would certainly be allowed…on this side of the partition. Oh boy. Some execrable karaoke could be heard over in the bar area, so being responsible adults, we decided ‘why not’. I also took the opportunity to remind Carl that, as a lip-syncher, I was in good company with Whitney Houston and Britney Spears. Dinner was actually okay – although it was fairly clear the waitress was used to a more..ahem..masculine bar crowd.
Friday - June 26, 2009
At last, sun! And our busiest show day! 4 jumping classes and 2 flat classes. But this was definitely a hurry up and wait day as well. Tiffany and Cash showed earliest and got some good ribbons. I am honestly not going to remember the classes all that well, it’s sort of a blur – but that also means nothing went hideously wrong! I think we got away with a couple of 2nds, and a 3rd in jumping, and a 5th on the flat. A pretty good day I’d say. Emily and Tessa also got some good ribbons, and we took the horses on a trail ride to cool them out. By the time we finished taking care of them, it was after 8:30 – so we hit the A&W for some frosty root beer floats! Jessica and I were up late obsessively watching Michael Jackson videos.
Saturday – June 27, 2009
Up for another tasty breakfast, run to Starbucks, and off to the show park. Wraps off, stroll through the trails to stretch our legs, and settle in for another long wait until our classes. Tiffany rode very well, and I believe was Reserve Champion in one of her divisions. Finally it was our turn. We actually had an end fence in one of our Equitation classes that SOMEone looked at HARD..but we jumped it (together) anyway . We ended up Champion in that Equitation division and got a nice cooler, and Emily was reserve! Then we had a “Low” (read..warm-up) class and we got 5th in a field of 32 mixed pro and amateur riders. I don’t remember much about the flat class, other than that Emily, Tessa, and I worked well together to give each other space (especially Sis!) when passing and keeping an eye on each other. The jumping went well and we got another 2nd (I think). Horses walked, and wrapped and it was time for the party EVERYone waits for – the Duct Tape and Garbage Bag Fashion Show! Every costume or outfit must be made of duct tape and/or garbage bags. People are so creative. There were Island Girls, Gold-Digger, Surrey Road Block, Warsteiner beer folks, Wedding ball and chain, and the winners – The Simpsons! (you can see pictures in my Facebook TBird album or go to the TBird show park website). While the judges were deliberating, Emily scooped up Tessa and bodily carried her to the runway, where we joined in a big ol’ group Thriller dance en homage to Michael Jackson. Much hilarity as I tried to remember more of the dance (which of course came back to me much later..and after beer). Finally back to the hotel for one more night in of tack cleaning and pizza.
Sunday – June 28, 2009
Ugh, all packed back into The Mighty’s rolling tack trunk, breakfast and check out. You know the drill by now, show park, unwrap, walk, WAIT. Today is just 2 classes, the Hunter Classic and a Stakes Class (both for $$). For the Hunter Classic – you get to wear your formal tails if you have them (and I do!) I figured I just had to ride up to the level of my wardrobe.
The course was a little confusing – the first round was 10 fences. Usually there are 8 in a “normal” hunter class. But for a Classic you ride a first round, receive your score, top 10 are called back to ride a 2nd shortened round, scores are combined..winner announced. Horses should be bold, yet mannerly, formful and scopey over the fences and move at one steady pace all the way around. It’s the “artistic” class as I like to call it. Not sure how this happened – but right away, The Mighty and I got into “the zone”. I only really remember this happening twice before showing, once with Beau, and 3 years ago at the Evergreen Classic with The Mighty. It’s hard to explain, but everything slows down, and EVERYTHING goes exactly as you planned and you see everything miles before it happens and inside your head it goes ‘ding’ and you know. This first round was exactly like that, and I knew it and I didn’t care what the score was going to be. But – it was an 80 – which is a great score and miles better than anything we’ve gotten before. I could have gone home extremely happy on that! But hold up, I have to wait out the remaining first rounds, and then do round 2. And people keep telling you “you’re still on top, you’re still in the lead” arrggghh..no pressure! Finally we went in for our second round – 7 fences. And of course our opening fence was not particularly stylish..not a chip, not a launch – but nothing like the quality of the first round. So of course I got mad and rode the other 6 great. We ended up with a 77, but now we have to sweat it out. I was also disappointed in myself for letting my insane need to over-analyze each fence possibly wreck the class. Emily had a phenomenal round on Toby and got an 81! But combined with her first round score it wasn’t enough to pass us. Finally it was over and we had clung to the win by the hair on The Mighty’s chinny chin-chin. Woo Hoo – VICTORY GALLOP! I have always wanted one – and Ring Steward Susannah told me to go for it! Emily was 3rd and Tessa 5th – so I looked down the line and said ladies – prepare to gallop! The Mighty also added another cooler to his wardrobe with the win, along with a paycheck! The Stakes class seemed almost anti-climatic – we got 4th, and ended up Reserve Champion for that Hunter Division. So not a bad haul at all!
Time to pack ‘em up and move ‘em out. If you didn’t think my story was interesting before – how about if I tell you how I was stopped at the border for possibly being a tall African-American male? And how Jessica just followed me into the Border office because she thought that’s what you were supposed to do? After about 20 minutes – I think they realized that I really was just a short-ish white female, and let us go. Maybe they were just bored and looking for a diversion. But somewhere out there is another Michelle Brown (hard to believe, I know) who doesn’t look a thing like me.
Lots of action at this show; drama, rain, sun, ninja hits and barn wars 1, we set fire to a golf cart (totally accidentally I swear), got kicked out of one club, great placings for everyone, a Championship and Reserve Championship for the Mighty, including a victory gallop for us when we won the Hunter Classic.
Quick Hits:
NINJAS! Mount Up!
Early morning trail walks in the Forest Arden
“We’re together, but not like that, not that there’s anything wrong with that”
“I love you man. No really, I love you man, you’re my best friend..we should do this more often.”
First golf cart – no go, Second golf cart – FIRE! (accidentally, we didn’t MEAN to set it on fire), Third golf cart – SURVIVOR.
To the jump crew in the schooling ring on Tuesday – Head’s up she’s jumping that jump, Heads up, HEADS UP, MOVE!!!!
Ah the rain – following me around like my best friend
FINALLY got to watch SYTYCD!
Thinking Ned was making a sick joke about MJ and then realizing it was true
Michelle and Jessica do yoga on the Grand Prix bank
Pole dancing really can pay for horse shows – well maybe
The Mighty getting a round of applause from a TBird park maintenance person who watched him do his airs above the ground in turnout
Slow Starbucks and crazy psycho parking lot
“love you long time” – see…offering to move up in the jumping order will always make the Ring Steward your friend
Huge thanks to Nancy and Debbie for organizing dinner every night! And to Carl and Pinky for making me laugh every day! “Inside leg to outside rein!”
And naturally to Teri – what a ride (hee hee..couldn’t resist one last pun!)
So – as those who know me know I like to do..I have..ahem…rearranged a few lyrics from some MJ songs to sort of ‘capture’ if you will..the flavor of this show. Answer key to ‘real’ songs below.
1) He rocks in his paddock all day long, leaping and squealing and playing along. All the cutie mares up and down the street, love to see The Mighty do his Lipizzaner leap.
2) In the schooling ring, trainer’s gonna show you, how to ride a class, how to jump in, then out, add the two, listen to me that’s all you gotta do. A B C, simple as counting 1 2 3. Easy as Do Re Mi, A B C, 1 2 3, Mighty you and me!
3) Rythmatic, acrobatic, he’s a dynamite attraction. When he goes through the gate he comes alive, yeah he knows what he’s doin’, he’s super bad now. He’s geared to take the class, he’s a jump, jump, jump, jump jumpin’ machine!
4) Don’t blame it on the sunshine, don’t blame it on the rainy days, blame it on the boogie (man jump)! (Sissy’s stop)
5) You’ve been hit, you’ve been TP’d by, some smooth ninjas!
6) Do you remember the time, when we scored 80? I’ll always remember the time we won the Hunter Classic!
7) They’re out to get you, competitors closing in from every side. They will dispossess you, unless you go in that ring and ride. Now is the time, for you and I to get our act together. All through the round, we work it out as one and make the judge see…That we’re a thriller, killer pair. after watching our round no one else can compare – we’re thrillers, a killer pair!
8) As I turn up the collar on, my favorite hunt coat, I, see rains blowin’ pretty hard. I see other horses in the warm up ring, can’t hardly see a dang thing, who am I, nearly blind, pretending I can even see.
1) Rockin’ Robin
2) ABC
3) Dancin’ Machine
4) Blame it on the Boogie
5) Smooth Criminal
6) Remember the Time
7) Thriller
8) Man in the Mirror
Some other favorites to go back and re-listen to:
Got To Be There
Dirty Diana
You Are Not Alone
Billy Jean
Dangerous
Unbreakable
Leave Me Alone
Scream
Get Down on It
JAM
Bad
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
Human Nature
Wanna Be Startin’ Somthing
Pretty Young Thing (PYT)
Rock With You
The Way You Make Me Feel
Black or White
Enjoy Yourself
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
