After three weeks away from the farm, between the Olympics, boot camp and the national championships, it’s back to work time, big time. Naturally, that means 16-hour days in high temps with even higher humidity. Welcome home!
Here’s what’s going on at Sprieser Sporthorse:
- Midge and I are off to Saugerties, N.Y., next week on Wednesday to show Thursday and Friday in our first actual Grand Prix tests, as in the Grand Prix test that is not restricted by the age of the horse. Wahoo! On Friday, I ride around 11, which gets me out the door, optimistically, by noon, so I can make the eight-hour drive home to drop Midge off and then turn around to go to…
- … the Morven Park show where about 10 of our clients are riding. Allison gets to take point on Friday, lucky girl, but I’m going to sweep in Saturday morning to wear my coach’s hat.
- This weekend I’m teaching my first clinic for PVDA, a two-day affair and my first clinic for them. Excited!
- I’m herding cats getting organized for three different clinics in October: one with saddle fitter Colleen Meyer the first weekend, one with sports psychologist Dr. Jenny Susser the second weekend, and one with Michael Barisone the fourth weekend. (Still have spots with Colleen and ride spots with Michael; auditing available for Jenny and Michael. Email me for more info.)
- The third weekend in October is the BLM Finals, for which, at this moment, we have 18 horses going. Eighteen. As many as eight of them from our barn alone. This is with both Allison and I showing. We just spent about $350 at Schneiders getting loot to organize 18 horses worth of stuff into three (or maybe four?) tack stalls. (Those Arabian and QH guys have the tack stall stuff DOWN. Check it out.)
- Even though November is irrelevant since Allison and I will certainly die after or possibly even during the BLMs, it’s not any quieter. Depending on how things go I’m hoping to ride at either the Hasslers’ Young Dressage Horse Trainers Symposium or Equine Affaire. I’m teaching some clinics in southern Virginia, and I’m hopefully getting Michael to us for one more clinic before he’s really settled in Florida.
- And then there’s all the usual stuff – getting three Grand Prix horses fit, nudging Fender closer every day to looking like an FEI horse, teaching a bajillion lessons to my awesome people, and trying to occasionally arrange enough time in my schedule to eat vegetables and run so my waist doesn’t blow up like the Hindenburg.
Fortunately my incredible clients, my brilliant staff and my marvelous horses are all being very patient with the buzz of insanity that seems to be hovering around me like Pigpen’s dirt cloud. If we can just make it ’til November 1, everything will be much better, right?
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