Here I am, enjoying a wintery sunset view from my desk in Vancouver. Florida seems so far away already, though as usual the marks it leaves on my memory are indelible. And it seems I can’t get enough of Welly World. I’ve been home only 48 hours but I’ve already booked my flight for a return visit in March for the dressage extravaganza week that includes the World Dressage Masters and Challenge of the Americas. That week might just turn out to be one of the best dressage holidays ever, at least for those of us who spend more time outside the white fence than in it.
I know I promised to post video from Friday’s Equestrian Idol, but for quite a few reasons that isn’t going to happen. First of all, I forgot to record in ‘web mode’ and have no idea how to take high res video and get it onto youtube. Secondly, and I’m blaming the cosmo I had on arrival for this, I kept forgetting to press the record button when something was happening. I also forgot to press the pause button a few times, so I have some spectacular footage of my shoes and the table cloth. But the main reason I can’t post the video is because it’s all out of focus. I found the evening to be a bit less than the awesome entertainment I had expected. Okay, it was boring. Not even the wine I had after the cosmo could lift my spirits enough to call equestrian karaoke a fine night out. It would appear even my camera couldn’t bring itself to care enough to focus on the stage.
Maybe I would have been more fascinated by the evening if I had the faintest idea who any of the contestants were. The only name I recognized was that of Hilary Dobbs. Hilary looked lovely and, bless her heart she went up there in front of hundreds of people and gave it her best. But she definitely chose the right career when she decided to be a rider. Hilary carries a tune about as gracefully as I carry the muffin top that spills over my jeans. The contestants were paired with past winners, perhaps in an effort to impose a minimum of quality control. But the effect for me was the opposite. Ki-Juan Minors, who apparently walked away from a blossoming singing career to groom horses, was so good that I just wanted everyone else to clear the stage and let him entertain us. He must be a hell of a fab groom to have left all that talent on the sideboard.
I think Equestrian Idol would be better if it were modeled after another talent show and renamed Equestrians Have Got Talent. That way the contestants could at least choose acts that would entertain us, instead of caterwauling top forties tunes whether or not they have any business doing so. On the upside, it was fun to set eyes on the Voice of WEG, announcer Brian ‘Looker’ Lookabill, after having listened to his disembodied voice for 18 days last fall, and MC Mason Phelps was resplendent in his Tiffany Turquoise jacket. He invited a certain six time Olympian (who looks like he’s been putting in some meaningful hours at the gym lately and who might or might not have been my mystery celebrity neighbour at St. Andrews) to join him on stage and plug his Tuesday afternoon radio show to the crowd. Welly World doesn’t often underwhelm, but I’m sorry to say it did last Friday.
If you are craving a dose of my Canadian muck raking ways, stay tuned for next week. My worm-can opener is hard at work on the lack of a service agreement between EC and HCBC (what ever happened to yes?) that is currently preventing everyone in BC from renewing our EC sport licenses.
Now I’m off to waste some time figuring out if I should fight the speeding ticket I got driving home from Boca two weeks ago (no, officer – the real crime is happening at the exit of Player’s, where people are going fifty miles over the speed limit, not ten). To console you for my lack of video follow through, here is something that I think must be guaranteed to make you laugh:
