A Wonderful Feeling of Support

There are so many different sides to life in Paradise.The farm side,The horse side,Horse Trials, Fox hunting, Eventing, teaching, selling,veterinary, mowing,machinery maintenace,book keeping,fatique,emotional,employee,telphoning and communication with DIAL UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and the most important one,trying to maintain a balance.That one is right up there with trying to ride a straight line.

With the new year,I am excited about so many things.Already January has flown by.I mentioned in an earlier blog,December was not a great month for me.I had a feeling of tremendous loss and doom hung over me for weeks.I felt as if I had reached the end of Paradise as I had known it.

The devils are in great shape andI have grown up enough to have made an executive decision not to enter them in any competitions until March.This is difficult when there are so many competitions right in my backyard.But I have made the decision to put the farm first this year.I am lining up my ducks so that after the Paradise Farm Horse Trials I can go on the road with a clear conscience.It is after all a very long season.

Organizing the Horse Trials is madness.I am getting much better at writing off much of my normal riding time with time spent talking on the phone ,e-mailing or face to face with all the millions of people that are involved.Tasks that one should think would be fairly simple can take days and days.And if you are not there ,right on top of it PERSONALLY,you can bet you will have to do it over at least once.Many of these tasks used to reduce me to puddles of tears and the burning urge to walk around the farm with a loaded shotgun.Now ,after much practice I can simply smile and say,"How Nice!"

When things go right,and when so many people pitch in and join up,it is a great feeling.I have managed to collect all my volunters for the event in an organized fashion without tears.Everything is running fairly smoothly on the farm.We are at our maximum number of entries for the event.This is HUGE.I am VERY VERY greatful to all of the riders that have entered and to those that are on the waiting list,I am sorry we can't take more.

Putting on an event is very scary.There are many sleepless nights.What about this and that.Oh my God I forgot this.Endless issues creep up.You can bet that EVERYTIME you try to get on a horse or teach a lesson ,someone that REALLY needs to talk to you will appear.No matter how organized or well thought out you think you have it,you can bet something will pop up unexpectedly.Just like riding!

Not only do we have GREAT entries (thankyou thankyou thankyou) but I have a GREAT sponsor.Arenus!Last year they helped me get to the Us Eventing Championships with the three devils.This year they have GENEROUSLY taken on the title sponsorship of the Horse Trials.This also helps me sleep a little better.Working with Katie Pell and Ken Kopp always leaves me feeling on top of the world.

WE had a wonderful evening January 19 where ARENUS came and gave a delicious dinner and imformative presentation of their products and philosophys towards the care and well being of horses.So many friends came and listened,it left me with another great feeling of support from Aikens community.Even the busiest vets in town came to listen which meant a great deal to me! Thank goodness that meant most of Aikens horses were in good health that night!

Aiken is such a busy place.There is so much going on all the time.WE are blesed with this great group of people and wonderful town.The support I have received over the years has allowed to me to pursue so many things.Eventing all over the US and Europe, and being able to continue to ride this season is a great luxury.Without this support, it would be an impossible dream.So,once again ,Thankyou all for being there.