Alright so now that the team has been “officially” announced we can get on with it!
To start things off right my mum organized an impromptu dinner at our house as a going away surprise for Woody and I. (AM would be joining us later on at training camp.) So Tuesday night we met up with around 32 people for buffet style dinner. Mum made her famous mac cheese which everyone enjoyed immensely. We had salads and desserts as well. It was so dang hot we mostly ate outside on the picnic tables. Thank you Veronica for decorating so nicely and Mum for cooking up a storm and many thanks to everyone for coming. People even brought gifts for Woody and I. Candies for me, mints and homegrown carrots for Woody.
Last Wednesday after work Woody and I left for Chesterland Farm so I could prep with my long-time coach and friend Bruce Davidson. Not only is Woody lucky enough to stay here and train on the hills, I get my own room too.? I thoroughly enjoyed cheering Buck on TV at Burghley with Bruce and Susie.
Nelson’s Hill…time for a gallop!
I had a few lessons with Bruce and he galloped with me on my last day. We haven’t been able to gallop together on Nelson’s since I had Colombo and he had Cruise and Jam. It was a special moment early in the morning before Bruce needed to head to a competition.
Afterwards I shipped Woody to beautiful Morningside training center in Virginia for training camp. What a fabulous facility with everything you could need. Cross country on awesome hills, show jumping course, dressage rings, a race track, it even had a polo field. The turn out was magnificent and the horses settled in and loved it right away.
AM drove down with Jessica and her groom Jaime late Monday night. Woody had Tuesday off having galloped and travelled on Monday. On Wednesday I did some dressage early in the morning, which was great for beating the heat and humidity. Then I jump crewed for the rest of the team. Everyone is looking fit and ready for the big competition. Wednesday night was extra fun as we had dinner with Stephanie and Trish Bosch, who I haven’t seen in FOREVER. It was super fun reminiscing about our time together on the team.
Foals at Chesterland Farm.
On Thursday it was my turn to jump first thing at the lovely High Acre Farm. Many thanks to Ms. Mars for allowing us to train at her lively facility. Woody felt fantastic and jumped really well, using himself better then ever. We didn’t do too many jumps so that he stays fresh for WEG. Afterward everyone ran through their tests with DOC at Morningside. I got a spasm in my neck while jumping Woody so I braved acupuncture needles etc afterward. So I missed cheering on my teammates during their test rides. Thank you Usha for helping my neck!
Friday fun day! ? We galloped up High Acre hill together. I went with Pavarotti and Jess. It was so much fun! In just two strides Rotti over took Woody on the fast stretch so on our second trip Woody and I went for it a little harder so we could keep up.?
Saturday morning we woke up at 2:30 a.m. in order to ship out to Tryon at 4:00 a.m. There are assigned arrival times and ours was the last at noon on Saturday. So here we are!! We made it?
Everyone’s settled in and the Canadians are ready to rock it!
❤️??
