Today the group split into twos, and each pair went in two very different directions. My partner in crime and I decided on another day hiking, while the other two spent their time relaxing at a spa.

For our weekend hiking finale, we decided to challenge ourselves a little, with the main focus of the day being to climb Spirit Mountain.

Spirit Mountain

Spirit Mountain was a very significant spiritual site for the Native American Yuman tribes, as it was considered the site of creation. The steep six mile hike up the mountain has an elevation change of around 2,800 feet, but the tricky part is the footing. The sloops are either large, steep boulders or covered in loose gravel. It wasn’t ideal, but that’s the fun of it. There isn’t a mark path, you just have to keep your eye on the prize and head upward. Fortunately the area is so bare, it’s easy to not only the car at the base, but the peak.

Starting out extremely motivated, we hiked almost straight up. Looking back, it probably would have been better to take a cross-back pattern, but, hey, it worked for us.

The way down was the fun part. Realizing following our climb was not the best idea because we’d probably end up just sliding on the loose ground, we had to forge around path. Sadly, while trying to attempt a more gradual decent, we ended up getting pushed further away from the car. In fact, even though it was always in sight during our ascent, we were blocked from the car most of our way down! Not that it matter, we didn’t get too far away, and once at the bottom, it was easy to spot in the open desert.

On our way down, we ran into one major annoyance: some small thorned trees!! Those things can be viscous. You think you’re around it, but it still grabs your pants and won’t let go!! Oh, and it’s painful. The fun part was really just the trial and error part of the hike down. We stop after one hurdle, evaluate the path choices ahead and go for it. A few times, our choices turned into dead ends, but they were still enjoyable to try.

After a few hours, we made it and felt good. We both had huge smiles on our faces.

This morning’s Flickr set: mountain photos

Grapevine Canyon

After tackling the peak, we decided to stop at a near-by petroglyph mecca, Grapevine Canyon.

Before reaching the actual Grapevine Canyon, we took a small detour. We mistakenly though some random granite formation along Christmas Tree Pass was the intended site. We saw a small sign warning against messing with the historic petroglyphs, and since the Spirit Mountain “trail” wasn’t marked, we assumed this might be it for his spot as well. We walked all through the area, desparetely scouring the rock walls for historic cravings, but there were none to be found. We walked out feeling a little jipped, because all our hiking litarate clearly stated the canyon was filled with petroglyphs.

Yeah, and all we could do is smile as we drove passed a well-marked, medium-sized parking lot for the actual Grapevine Canyon. Good job.

Grapevine Canyon Trail: 0.5-mile, easy difficulty

The actual location is covered with Native American petroglyphs. Most of them were concentrated at the canyon opening, which was covered! It was pretty neat. We only hike a small part of the trail, because we were both starving, but it was nice to actually see. We decided to go so we didn’t regret it later and feel we’d missed something, which was a good call.

This afternoon’s Flickr set: canyon pics

After we finished our short hike, we headed into Laughlin for lunch. Right on the border of Arizona, it was little a baby Vegas. Not wanting to get into too much there, we just stopped at a In-and-Out Burger and it worked. I’m not a big hamburger consumer, but I’ll admit, it was good.

The evening was pretty low key. We stayed around the house, reminiscing. Eventually we did go out for dinner at The Sushi. It was pretty good. The chef signature rolls all had interesting names, almost to the point it was awkward. I ended up getting the “Holy Cow,” but some of the other choices included “Who’s Your Ex-Wife,” “Smells Like Your Girlfriend.” Weird.

With all said and done, it was good vacation. The final leg, traveling home, went smoothly. I actually feel revitalized. I think I’ve been too bogged down in my current activities, including the horses, and lost touch with other parts of my life I enjoy. I love my horse and all I do with that part of my life, but I miss my photo trips and hiking. I’m going to have to put more effort into re-introducing that tradition back into my routine. (Although, I might wait until it’s a little warmer here on the East Coast).

Trying to repeat yesterday’s success, we followed a similar pattern for the day. We did have a little bit of a slower start, but it is a weekend now. I made everyone breakfast this time around and we chatted for a while, meaning we didn’t leave the house until closer to 9:00 am. Still, we stopped to pick up sandwiches and water, then hit the trails. This time we traveled a tad further east to Lake Mead.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

We actually ended up passing up the lake and the Hoover Dam. I guess you could say we were focused. We have all driven across the dam and enjoyed the lake at other times, so why waste time repeating such activities? We stayed on Northshore Road, with our sites set on Valley of Fire on the northeastern edge of the national recreation area.

Anniversary Narrows

Our first stop of the day was a well hidden trail through the Lovell Wash, off the Callville Wash in the Gale Hills. The path led passed the remains of the old Borax excavation site, Anniversary Mine and through Slot Canyon. The canyon was really neat, although relatively short. The trail, from where we parked, was about 2.5 miles, with the tight canyon making up about a half mile of that. The entire trail is about six miles, I believe, if you park near the road, however, we off-roaded it to save some time.

Redstone

Today’s picnic spot was around Redstone, which is exactly what the name implies. It’s a group of large bright red boulders protruding out of the desert. We found a picnic table tucked in by a few red rocks and had a nice quiet lunch. It was nice. I walked around a bit to snap some photos, while the rest of the party chilled out for a moment.

Roger’s Spring

We made a very quick pit stop at Rogers Spring, which is the first of two spring along the road. We really just stopped so I could take a few pictures of the small desert oasis.

This morning’s Flickr set: canyon pics

Valley of Fire State Park

Finally reached our end destination, the state’s oldest state park, Valley of Fire. It’s almost 35,000 acres covered with beautiful sandstones formation, including many bright red in color, giving the park its name. The park is about 50 miles northeast of Vegas and well worth the travel time.

The Cabins

After stopping at the unattended entrance station to pay our $8.00 park fee, we stopped to check out the Cabins. The three stone cabins were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the park’s early days for overnight visitors. They’re small, but pretty neat. On a trail, I think they’d be a welcomed “comfort.”

Mouse’s Tanks

Our first hike in the park was the half mile round trip winds through the Petroglyph Canyon to Mouse’s Tank, and back. The trail is named after an Indian renegade, Little Mouse, who hid out in the canyon in the 1890′s.

There were a number of petroglyphs scattered along the canyon walls, it was pretty neat. They were so clear, it was hard to miss. It’s things like this that really grab me. Where you actually get to see a piece of history. While the land may or maybe look the same as it had, here is something a person did that has remained, kind of like trench remains on battlefields. It just really makes the point that someone stood in this spot long ago… it’s not just words on a page.

White Domes

Next, we drove over to the White Domes and hike through the color landscape on that end of the part. The one mile trail loops around some gorgeous, colorful sandstone formation. The hike overall was pretty easy. The beginning was probably the most ‘difficult,’ in that it required walking/climbing down a relatively significant decent, but the rest was pretty even.

Looking up…

Halfway up…

At the top!

At the end, I snuck off with one of our friends, while the other two chatting in the car, to scale a near-by peak. It was fun. That was a little more challenging. The rock seemed like it went straight up, requiring some actual climbing. It had a great view at the top, but I’ll admit I had to fight through some of fear (of heights). The other two eventually took a break from their conversation to notice we were on top of the large sandstone in from of the car.

Atlatl Rock

The final stop of the day was the Atlatl Rock. It was a quick stop. We climb a set of stairs up to see the large number of petroglyphs on the rock, then headed down. That’s about it for the stop, although it was enough.

From there we stopped by the neighboring campsite to visit some friends who happened to be spending the weekend there. We stayed a little longer than we wanted, but it’s because we were having fun. No one wanted to really leave. The campground is awesome. Who wouldn’t want to spend a couple days there, waking up to a beautiful sun rise over the red landscape. Apparently, when they first got there a large Bighorn Sheep was leisurely standing in the next campsite. How cool is that?

This afternoon’s Flickr set: trail photos

Since we ended up getting back to the house so late, we decided to order in and just spend the evening chillin.’ We ordered pizza (again) from Villa Pizza and watched Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush Alaska and the hardcore “dirt-bag” movie, 180-degrees South.

Overall, great day!

After an afternoon of travel yesterday, we made it, so let the vacation begin! The flight wasn’t bad. We had a short layover in Albuquerque, but it was actually a nice little break. My sister and I grabbed a bite to eat and talked a bit, which was good thing. Even though, we landed in Sin City at 5:30pm, we had a pretty light evening. After a brief reunion at their house, we headed out for dinner at the Elephant Bar in The District at Green Valley Ranch. The food was good and the atmosphere, was perfect. It was a fairly happening place, but not too Vegas crazy. After that, we planned the next day and went to bed early.

It worked out, as we all naturally woke up early and refreshed, ready to tackle the day. We decided to stick around their house and just take day trips. So, by 8:00 am, three of us, as one of our friends was unable to get off work for the day, headed out to hike around Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, fifteen miles east of Las Vegas. On the way we picked up soome Cliff Bars, sandwiches and water, so we were set for the entire day.

Red Rock Visitor Center

We stopped at the new Visitor Center for a bathroom break before hitting the trails, but ended up staying for a good half hour. Inside, the center is very sleek, but somewhat empty. It has a great view of the Red Rocks, but little else. However, you walk out back and you hit the gold mine. It has a decent size, modern exhibit. It’s actually kind of neat. The theme is a merging of the four elements, water, fire, earth and air.

It’s kind of an interesting park. It’s not part of the National Park System, but the National Park Service annual pass does work. The area is actually maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, as part of its National Landscape Conservation System. Originally the Red Rock Recreation Area, the Bureau designated the 10,000 acres of the eastern most part of the Mojave Desert as a National Conservation Area in 1990. The switch allowed for more funding to maintain the site.

Eventually my sister had to push us along to get to the the trail!

Calico Tanks

It was a good start to the day. It wasn’t too difficult and covered a variety of landscapes as it wound its way back into the Calico Hills. It takes you from open desert, into a small canyon area, scurrying up rocks, to a hidden water pool, then up to a ridge with a great overlook of Las Vegas. It’s an out-and-back hike, so from the lookout, we just bee-lined it back to the car.

Willow Springs

It was a nice area. Fortunately, as it was a work/school day, it was rather vacant. There was a handful of cars parked near-by, we didn’t really run into anyone else during our lunch break. It was nice and peaceful. Our friend told us it was a nice change. He said he usually avoids the area because it’s often very crowded with families… which is not surprising. Lucky us!

After finishing off our sandwiches, we meandered around the area. There were a few petroglyphs scattered around the area to see. We also leisurely walked up the Lost Creek/Children’s Discovery Trail to a some-what hidden water fall. The trail was maybe a half mile or so and very easy. It simply weaved its way across relatively level land. This was the busiest trail we went on today, although, we still had some good luck in terms of timing. It was fairly empty as we walked up, but on our way back we passed a lot of people (and their dogs). It seems like it was getting to get a little crowded in the small area surrounding the waterfall and its pond rather quickly.

The funny thing is, while we were at the falls, there was a couple with two unleashed dogs, a German Shepard and an Akita. The dogs were going nuts. They were just so excited, running all over the place, with the owners constantly calling them. One almost knocked my sister down. It wasn’t an issue, but as we walked back to the car, every group we passed also had a dog. The first pair were small dogs, which only resulted in a few loud shouts from the initial owners. Then came a medium-size Boxer pulling his owner forward. Not long after passing them, we heard an eruption of barking, which made us chuckle. The next group had a smaller dog, but we were too far to hear how that went over. Finally, just as we reached the parking lot, we passed the final ingredient to what could have only been a K-9 mess. An group of older individuals were beginning their trek with their very small, fluffy dog. We all laughed as we passed, joking that one was in trouble.

Ice Box Canyon

The moderate 2.6 mile in-and-out travel goes back a narrow box canyon to another small waterfall. It was fun. We had to zig-zag across a small creek, fight through some brush and climb a few rocks. A few places it seemed we lost the actual trail, but we were close (not that you can get too far off of it). Without a doubt, we took the hard way up the final stretch! We literally climbed up a very flat rock until we no longer felt comfortable. I actually made it to the top pool by the waterfall, but suggested the other two not follow me. The climb up was tricky at the top and I felt lucky I hadn’t slipped down. The way down, we did have another close call, as we slid down a smooth rock, down a small drop onto a very narrow ridge, with a large pool of cold water waiting to catch us. We all laughed at ourselves because we were afraid of hurting ourselves if we fell, just how miserable the hike out would be after getting drenched. Unfortunately, we all made it down without incident.

After finishing that hike, we called it a day. It was fun. We left the park at 2:00pm, after more about five hours of hiking. Not bad. On the way out, we did catch a glimpse of a few wild burros in the park.

In the evening, we met up our other friend and went out to dinner. We decided to return to The District and ate at Balboa Pizza Company. I definitely give the pizza there two thumbs up. We tried the Goat Cheese and BBQ Chicken pizza and both were excellent.

We tried to watch 180-degree South, but we all fell asleep minutes into the movie, so it was postponed for another night. Off to bed early again for us!

Today’s Flickr set: hiking pics

A couple of friends of mine are nearing the end of their stint in Las Vegas, so this weekend my sister and I headed out for at least one last visit before they skip town. They’ve been bugging to me to make the trip for a few years, since I was there for their wedding in 2008.

We’ve tentatively planned a number of trips in between. We’d always leave planning discussion excited and determined, but it always faded. I guess I have a number of trivial excuses. Either I was too busy at the moment or knew I’d have time next month, which just never happened. We all probably know, next weekend or next month is usually never any better when trips are put off. As of late, I’ve been bogged down at the barn, working with my horse and all the responsibilities surrounding that, so I’ve barely branched out to anything else for some time now.

Anyway, the point is, my sister came home last month and was the catalyst I needed. She made an internal pact that she was going to be better at following through on promises to friends, which set me in motion to do the same. We had emailed for a month or so prior to her return that we’d go out to Vegas to visit these friends, so it was time to make it happen. They had come out for New Years and we set the ground work. From there, it was just a matter of picking a weekend and buying the plane ticket, both of which were done within a week and a half.

The plan is to mostly hike. We’ve considered driving down to Joshua Tree National Park, up to Zion National Park or just taking a couple day trips around the city. I’m not sure which we’ll do yet, but all sound fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been out really hiking. I miss it.

Yeah, and now, the weekend is here. My bags are pack, and I’m outta here… let’s get hiking!

Since we’ve been staying in Louisville and had some time before our flight this morning, we decided to visit Churchill Downs. Again, it was one of those things. How can we be in Louisville without visiting the home of the Kentucky Derby? You just can’t. Especially since we were here for horse stuff!

Churchill Downs

Looking toward the finish line

Twin Spires

Kentucky Derby Winner’s Circle

2010 Derby Winner, Super Savor’s jockey silks

The place does have an aura about it. The track was beautiful. The twin spires. Old grandstand. The whole view was just humbling. It left me speechless actually. The Derby is the oldest annual major stakes still running, apparently it’s never missed a year. We were fortunate enough to catch some morning workouts on the track, as we toured it.

2006 Derby winner, Barbaro

In front of the entrance gates, it has an amazing statue of Barbaro, covering his grave-site. The 2006 Derby winner, a fan-favorite, who went down with a leg injury during the Preakness Stakes. After months of treatment, he died of complications.

Derby Museum

Derby Trophy

Derby Winners

We didn’t leave enough time for a thorough visit, but will still skimmed through the museum. It was well done. It gave a good history of the Kentucky Derby and Oaks. It listed every Derby winner, gave a history of the US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, with tributes to each Triple Crown winner. It replayed the best race ever run… Secretariat’s Derby win. Upstairs, they had a new exhibit about the 2010 movie, Secretariat.

Phantom-on-Tour

Winston

Outside, the museum is also home to one of Secretariat’s grandsons, Phantom-on-Tour. He’s there with his little buddy, Winston.

This morning’s Flickr set: racetrack pics

After that, we headed to the airport. It’s sad that it’s over. This trip is something I’ve been looking forward to for so long, and now it’s passed, But… it’s okay, but it was as fun as I had hope. We had a great time.

After arriving at the airport, we stopped for lunch and headed straight to the barn. We had big plans. We were extremely motivated to not only start working on some upper level dressage skills, but also getting back into jump training. Yeah, well, the barn manager messaged saying the horses were good and we slowly started to get a little tired. By the time we reach her town, we were down. I just dropped her off at her apartment and headed home, with a plan to pick up at the barn tomorrow. She’s taken two more days off, and I should be able to get to the barn by late afternoon the rest of the week.

What can I say, traveling wears on ya.

Today was definitely a fun-filled day, of the equine nature, once again. Unlike yesterday, we had some time to actually eat AT the hotel this morning, which was nice. The drive over to Lexington was actually pretty cool this morning, as the sun rose.

Three Chimneys

The day started with a tour of Three Chimneys. We met the Blue Grass Tours‘ bus at the Lexington Convention Center, and headed out of town from there. It had the added bonus of allow us a quick visual tour of Lexington. We were close to just skipping town without seeing the city at all. We passed the historic Kentucky Theater, where they were prepping for tonight’s big Secretariat movie premier. The International Equestrian Festival is being held in the Convention Center, which we passed through. All around, pretty cool.

The drive out to the farm was amazing. It’s definitely gorgeous country. Even the local prison looks like a beautiful horse farm. It’s weird. The tour guide said the local residents fought to have the prison concealed so as to not to be a big eye sore near their prestigious farms, and it definitely worked.

Farm

We toured the farm’s Stallion Division, which was, again, AMAZING. The farm was absolutely stunning. The barns were immaculate. The stall were a nice size, with every aspect designed to keep the horses comfortable and safe. They were bedded with straw. The barns were very open and spacious. Our farm representative said the horses actually spend most of their day outside, which is nice to know. They aren’t confined to their stalls, with only an hour or so out.

We walked through the mare receiving facility, which was rather small, but it served its purpose. We visited two horse barns, one had eight stalls, the other with only four. The final stop was the “business room” of the farm, which was extremely nice relative to its function. They have certainly thought of everything.

In the middle of the courtyard between barns is a small memorial to 1977 US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner & Horse of the Year, Seattle Slew. Slew stood at stud at the farm for years, really giving the farm its first major sire to build a reputation off of.

Stallions

Smarty Jones

Point Given

The farm has a pretty impressive stallion roster, including 2008 Kentucky Derby & Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown. Unfortunately for us, Big Brown was in the southern hemisphere for their breeding season. They pulled out two of their most popular studs for us to see, including fan-favorite, underdog Smarty Jones, the 2004 Derby & Preakness winner My friend laughed a bit and pointed out how Smarty resembles my horse, yet he’s a winner and mine barely made it out of race training. Turns out, the two are closely related. The other horse they brought out was the massive chestnut Point Given, a giant relatively unheard of outside of the Thoroughbred racing world, yet incredibly successful racer. The 2001 Horse of the Year easily won both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, unfortunately, he just did not win the Derby.

Dynaformer

In the second barn, we got to see the farm’s current big earners, although, one’s stud career is over. Dynaformer is their ‘headliner’ at the moment, with a reduced stud fee of $150,000 (which is only that low because the market is down). He didn’t have the most impressive racing career, but over the years as proved to be a great sire. He’s known for siring million-dollar winners, and general very versatile foals. He didn’t come out of his stall. Apparently, it’s not the most well manner horse and could be dangerous. The other resident of the small, higher “prestigious” barn is Rahy. Rahy is the complete opposite of Dynaformer. He’s very small and seems relatively calm, however, he proved himself as a successful sire. He’s now infertile, but the farm has decided to retire him there, considering the money he brought in during his career.

This morning’s Flickr set: farm photos

World Equestrian Games

Alltech Experience

The final piece of our World Equestrian Games trips was the last phase of the Eventing Championships – Jumping. We had gotten lost on the way between the Convention Center and the Horse Park, so we were a tad late, but not by much. We still had time to re-check the Official Merchandise warehouse (still practically empty) and grab a couple Bourbon Barrel Ales before finding our seats.

World Championship Eventing – Jumping

~Stadium Jumping~

Buck Davidson (USA) on BallyNoe Castle RM @ Jump 13

Hawley Bennett-Awad (CAN) on Gin & Juice @ Jump 9

Boyd Martin (USA) on Neville Bardos @ Jump 4

Karen O’Connor (USA) on Mandiba @ Jump 3

William Fox-Pitt (GBR) on Cool Mountain

Michael Jung (GER) on La Biosthetique-Sam FBW @ Jump 11

The jumping was exciting. We had pretty good seats, but we should have. We’ve had them for over a year now! The course was pretty neat, although our seats didn’t give us the best angle to see many of them.

It started pretty slowly. Most of the first horses to go struggled with either the jumps or time in the course (or both), however, that can be expected. The order for the day was based on their standing after cross country, so the top contenders were last.

It didn’t seem like there was much shuffling amongst the leaders, with the exception of the American team. Boyd Martin was the only US team-rider to have a clear round. The other two American team-riders had some problems. Phillip Dutton and Woodburn had a jump fault, while Karen O’Connor on Mandiba had two jump faults, one being a full out refusal, and four time faults. The misfortunes actually took the team out of medal contention, dropping them from a sturdy second to fourth. Bummer. In addition, Becky Holder pulled out Courageous Comet out of the competition because of leg swelling this morning. She was sitting at third.

The Canadian team stayed steady, with two of their top riders completely clear rounds. The British team also successfully finished the day holding onto their top stop, with three clear rounds. Britain’s William Fox-Pitt pulled out a clear round to remain in second, and leader Michael Jung, of Germany, also pulled through with a clear round to winning it all.

~Medal Ceremony~

Team Champions: Great Britain, Nicola Wilson (Opposition Buzz), Tina Cook (Minors Frolic), Mary King (Imperial Cavalier) & William Fox-Pitt (Cool Mountain)

We did stay for the Eventing medal ceremony, even though we were on the ‘wrong side.’ Everything happened facing the main grandstand, while we were on the temporary bleacher seating. Oh well, we could still see what happened, and the competitors did turn to wave our way.

Team Medals: New Zealand (Bronze), Great Britain (Gold) & Canada (Silver)

Final Standings:
Team:
1. Great Britain (W. Fox-Pitt, M. King, N. Wilson, K. Cook) – 139.40 penalties, Gold
2. Canada (S. Rhodes-Bosch, S. O’Hanlon, H. Bennett-Awad, K. Carter) – 151.50 penalties, Silver
3. New Zealand (A. Nicholson, M. Todd. C. Powell, C. Johnstone) – 154.80 penalties, Bronze
4. United States (B. Martin, P. Dutton, K. O’Connor, B. Davidson, Jr.) – 160.30 penalties

World Champion: Michael Jung (GER)

Individual:
1. Michael Jung/La Biosthetique-Sam FBW (GER) – 33.00 penalties, Gold
2. William Fox-Pitt/Cool Mountain (GBR) – 42.00 penalties, Silver
3. Andrew Nicholson/Nereo (NZL) – 43.50 penalties, Bronze
4. Karin Donckers/Gazelle de la Brasserie CH (BEL) – 44.40 penalties

WEG 2010 Lexington

Trade Show

Wanting to get our money’s worth, we stuck around the park until it closed. This was our last day at the Games, so we didn’t want to short change ourselves. And, as predicted the purse strings opened and the spending began. My friend bought a new double-bridle from Bit of Britain. We found a hidden stash of official merchandise in the Kentucky Horse Park visitor center, where we went nuts. We snatched up a couple t-shirts and souvenirs there, but still no sweatshirt.

We went back through the Trade Show, but didn’t really get anything there. It didn’t seem like there was much for sale. Most of the booths were just displays. Even the outfitters and stores, such as Dover, didn’t have much out.

Kentucky Horse Park

Because it had been raining off and on all day, and was beginning to sprinkle again, we actual went in to tour some of the Horse Park’s buildings. You know, the permanent stuff.

~International Museum of the Horse~

We walked through the standard exhibits in the International Museum of the Horse, because those were free. It was interesting. I learned a lot of quick, random facts about horse breeds, in particular Thoroughbreds (because that’s what I’m interested in). The museum was well done.

As an added bonus, we found a clean bathroom!! After three days here, including yesterday of refusing to use any on the property, we found a clean, working restroom. What a great moment.

This afternoon’s Flickr set: jumping pictures

Great day. We ate at an AppleBee’s near the hotel and grabbed some sodas for the evening, and called it a night. I can’t believe the trip is almost over.

Today was the big day… the cross country phase of the 2010 Eventing World Championships. After grabbing breakfast at the hotel’s complimentary buffet, we made it to the park in plenty of time. There was one “oops moment.” I almost forgot our tickets!! I can’t believe, I have everything so organized, and yet still almost left without the most important piece – our tickets. Fortunately, my friend asked, although, I think she was doing so jokingly.

World Championship Eventing – Cross Country

Before the competition actually started, we had a chance to watch some of the Grand Prix stadium jumpers work out and walked the course once. It gave us the opportunity to plan out our day, which worked really well. The idea was we’d make our way around the entire course, watching at least two riders at each, with the option of hanging out for a while at the big water complex.

The first rider through really blazed the trail, so to speak. Brit Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz finished the course in a blistering 11 minutes. It was crazy. We watched her at the first jump, then we watched the next couple go and turned around just in time to see her at the end of the course.

Front Half: Jumps 1-16

Paul Tapner (AUS) on Inonothing @ Jump 3, Kentucky Quilt Pattern Brush Oxer

Mark Todd (NZL) on Grass Valley @ Jump 7, Walnut Creek Center

Simone Deitermann (GER) on Free Easy NRW @ Jump 8, Welcoming Water Wishing Well

Susanna Bordone (ITA) on Carrera @ Jump 15, Red River Gorge

It was definitely an impressive course. Jump 5 was a small water, but Jump 7, Walnut Hall Center (A: 3’11″ high rail, B: 4′ wide ditch, and C: 4’9″ high brush corner) was probably the trickiest up front. It caused a few faults and took out a couple riders. The Fallen Dueling Tree that made up Jump 10, was something. Not only is it a massive log, but it’s over a ditch, that’s not obvious until your AT the jump. The furtherest point out was the Daniel Boone Forest Complex (Jumps 11-14). We didn’t stick around that area too long. It seemed like we were too far away from a lot of the action out there. The four part Red River Gorge, Jump 15, was another intimating complex along the course. It involved a 3’11″ rail, straight to a 3’6″ bank down and 3’6″ bank up, finishing with a 3’11″ high, 6′ wide logger cabin. It resulted in a number of refusals, including one for US team-rider Buck Davidson, Jr.

A number of noteable riders went through while we were trekking along the front half of the course, including US team-rider Boyd Martin on Neville Bardos. We caught six-time Olympian, New Zealand team-rider Mark Todd on Grass Valley at the tricky Jump 7. The current second place rider, three-time Olympian, British team-rider William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain, passed through while we were at John Deere’s Fallen Dueling Tree, on his way to a clear round.

Water Complex: Jumps 17-18

Caroline Powell (NZL) on Mac MacDonald @ Jump 18, Normandy bank

Pippa Funnell (GBR) on Redesigned @ Jump 17, Canadian Goose

Karen O’Connor (USA) on Mandiba @ Jump 17

Becky Holder (USA) on Courageous Comet @ Jump 17

We actually found some great spots right along the ‘fence line’ at the big water Rolex Land of the Lakes water, so we camped out there for a while. In fact, it seemed like we watched about half the competitors tackle that particular series of jumps.

The jump complex was impressive. It included a large Canadian Goose, as the final piece to Jump 17, and the Normandy Bank in Jump 18. It was pretty common for riders to choice the alternate A option for the first jump in 17. One pair did fall, as the horse leaped off the bank and rotated too far to land correctly. Both the horse and rider went head first into the water, but both quickly got up. The horse, Mavrick du Granit, was eventually taken by equine ambulance for a potential leg injury.

We watched three Americans race through the complex, including team-riders Buck Davidson and two-time Olympian Karen O’Connor. We also waited around to catch American Becky Holder, on thoroughbred Courageous Comet, before we started walking. The pair actually finished the day placed third going into tomorrow’s jumping phase. Brit Pippa Funnel on Redesigned also rode through while we were camped out. She’s probably one of the most accomplished eventers in the world. A two-time Olympian, in 2003 she became the only Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing winner, having taken the 4-star Badminton & Burghley Horse Trails and Lexington Rolex Three-Day Event.

We finally decided it was time to get moving, so we could see the back part of the course as well. It was hard giving up such prime real estate at the most popular jump, but we had seen enough there. It was time to get going. Plus, were getting hungry and thirsty, so we had hoped to find something to eat or drink.

Final Stretch: Jumps 19 – 28

Duarte Seabra (POL) on Fernhill Gloster Rebel @ Jump 20, Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

Mary King (GBR) on Imperial Cavalier @ Jump 22, McConnell Springs

Phillip Dutton (USA) on Woodburn @ Jump 26, Scalloped Brush

Michael Jung (GER) on La Biosthetique-Sam FRW @ Jump 27, Kentucky Covered Bridge

We moved through the final jumps fairly quickly. They were pretty straight forward for the most part, so we stuck around for two riders at each and that was about it. Fortunately, it worked out well, because that got us to the end, with no room to spare. Some of the problem was that a lot of falls started happening late in the day, so there were some larger gaps between riders and fewer of them to see further along in the course. On a positive note, we found a beverage stand near Jump 25, which sold sodas and Bourbon Barrel Ale. How appropriate for a sunny day walking around a cross country course… beer. Good times.

The back half of the course was challenging, but pretty straight forward. There was one water, Jump 22, McConnell Springs – Founding Site of Lexington, involving two almost 5-foot brushes on opposites sides of a small pond. Watching the competitors go through Jumps 23 & 24 was pretty impressive. They were 5’6″ wide spread sloped tables, which asked the riders to take a fairly sharp angle across them to keep a straight line through both. The final big question was Jump 26, Land Rover Scalloped Brush, two 4’9″ brushes with a 7-foot spread.

Considering it was the nearing the end of the day and each country’s team anchor came through, we caught most of the top contenders on this stretch of the course. We saw five-time Olympian and British team-rider Mary King and Irish Sport Horse Imperial Cavalier at Jump 22. US-team captain Phillip Dutton and his New-Zealand Thoroughbred Woodburn sprinted through Jump 26 on his way to a clear round. Current leader German Michael Jung on La Biosthetique-Sam FBW flew by as were at the second to last jump (27). We caught the final rider, five-time Olympian and New Zealand team-rider Andrew Nicholson, at the final jump, a large ramp, “Kentucky Proud” Harvest Table.

Jump 5, Salato Wildlife Center – Trout & Kingfisher

In the confusion after the competition ended, but did have a tense moment. Wanting to get back to the main area of the park, we decided to follow a small crowd near us. Well, I’m not sure who they were or what they were doing, but we both realized we were definitely heading in the wrong direction. We were actually walking to the guarded stable area!! We quickly turned around, only to wander into the competitor cool down area! Oops. We eventually found the correct way back to the spectator area, but we did wander around the empty course for a bit first.

World Equestrian Games – 2010 Lexington

To make the most of our time at the Games, we spent another three hours or so walking through the various sections of the attractions and touring the park.

Equestrian Village

We happened upon the Equine Village first, so that’s where we started. The village was really just a random bunch of vendor tents for different breed societies and clinicians, scattered with random horse activities, such as pony rides. They also had an exhibition ring, with continuously running events to showcase different horses and clinics. It wasn’t too busy today, but that could be due to the fact everyone was tired from walking the cross country course and/or because general ground passes were not available.

We stopped at the Clint Anderson Horsemanship tent to pick up a gift for a barn friend. As a thank you gesture for watching our horses while we were gone, we picked up a book for her. She’s a big fan of his techniques. We considered getting a DVD, but they only came in sets that were WAY to expensive.

We had a couple laughable moments in that tent. First, one of the associates, all decked out in his western attire, walked up to help us, as we started blankly at the DVD shelves. He started by asking if what had something specific we were looking forward, which was a no, then asked if we had been to any of Clint’s clinics and we both looked at each other and say “NO.” He got quiet, then my friend asked if it was possible to buy just one of the DVD’s separate because the set was too expensive, to which he said no as he turned and walked away from us. None of that was meant in a rude way on our part, but we were tired and cold. We just wanted a simple relatively inexpensive, but thoughtful gift and honestly weren’t interested in much of a conversation about it. So, we stood there debating with each other about what to get or do, shivering, the guy decided to try it again. This time he came up and asked if we were cold, as we were only in t-shirts as the sun was going down and it was cooling off fast. We explained we had hoped to just get a sweatshirt here, but they were all out. He prompted pointed us to the company’s nice heavy sweatshirts in the back of the tent and we once again quickly shut him down. This time he left for good. Oops, again, not meant as rude, it’s just were didn’t want to buy things we didn’t want – and what we wanted was a WEG sweatshirt, not just any sweatshirt. Eventually we settled on a training book and she got Clint to sign it. Then we moved on, giggling a little bit as we looked back at how those interactions must have some across.

Kentucky Horse Park

Secretariat

Man O’War

We also made quick stops by some of the Horse Park’s memorials and statues. The Thoroughbred racing great, Man O’War, is buried on the grounds, near a few of his relatives, including War Admiral. Man O’War won 20 of his 21 starts during his two year racing career, including the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Unfortunately, his owner did not enter him in the Kentucky Derby. To end his racing days, he easily beat Sir Barton, the first Triple Crown winner, in a match race. He was named 1920 Horse of the Year. He went on to have a successful breeding career as well, siring a number of stakes winners, including Triple Crown winner, War Admiral.

There’s also a statue of Triple Crown winner and 1938 Horse of the Year Secretariat, arguably the best racehorse of all time, after he won the Kentucky Derby.

Alltech Experience

Finally, we briefly walked through the Alltech Experience. It was a tad disappointing. I’m not sure what I expected, but apparently more than it was. The Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital pavilion was cool, but I guess that’s because it was just interesting to me. The courtyard was filled with horse art statues, but it seemed a little cluttered to me. The Newport Aquarium tent in-particular was a let down, maybe it was bad timing on our part, but the “special guests” promised were missing while we were there (at the end of the day). The Alltech Pavilion was interesting and visually interesting, but yet I still found myself bored in it. It was dedicated to showing what Alltech, as a company, does and the research they are involved in, which should have kept my attention. But, maybe it was because I was so far from ‘school-mode’ and there was so much else going on, I just didn’t want to stand still long enough to appreciate it.

We spent a little time wandering around the trade show again. We contributed to the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center for Thoroughbred adoption. How could we not, between the two of us, we have three off-the-track Thoroughbreds. All horses need a second chance and good home. My friend pre-ordered a copy of the full cross country DVD. But, other than that, we didn’t spend much. Still holding out… which means tomorrow we’ll probably go overboard.

Today’s Flickr set: event photos

Our travel went fairly smoothly. I ended up at my friend’s apartment about 45-minutes early than I had told her, but she was a good sport about it. She said she assumed I’d be early, she just wasn’t prepared for quite that early. Anyway, after a few minutes, she was ready and we headed to the airport. The flight went relatively well. It was short. The only hiccup was during take-off the cabin pressure (or something) was off, and I thought my head was going to explode. Oh well.

Our interaction with the Budget Car Rental representative was a bit odd. She wasn’t very friendly at all, but the weird part is she didn’t tell us anything but then assumed we knew and would go along with it. She was almost insulted when I refused to take the full-car insurance plan she automatically tacked on to my bill. She even got a little snooty with me when I dropped all extra coverage. She was also just plain rude when I told her we didn’t need to pre-pay for them for a gas fill up. Our intermediate Pontiac G6 was upgraded to a Mitsubishi Endeavor, which had its positives and negatives. Obviously the SUV gave us more room, but at the same time, considering we had a little bit of a commute, I wondered about the gas mileage.

We hit a little traffic just outside of Louisville due to construction, but once we were out of that, it was clear sailing to Lexington.

Kentucky Horse Park

Main Stadium

The Games are being held at the Kentucky Horse Park, the home of the Rolex Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event. The venue is awesome. I was very impressed, even outside of the current set up for the Games.

We slowly strolled over to the Main Stadium for our first event, trying to take in as much as possible. My friend admitted eventing dressage can get a tad dull after watching a few competitors. There are only so many times you can watch the same test over and over, which was a good call. It was neat being around all of those ‘horse-people’ surrounded by everything equestrian-related.

World Championship Eventing – Dressage

We only had tickets for the afternoon session, the fourth and final, of the eventing dressage. It was definitely more than enough too. Our seats were pretty decent, especially considering I only recently purchased them. Of course, we also could have easily moved. There was a lot of free space in the stands.

We watched half the group go, before striking out again to get the whole World Games experience at the park. We caught the US team captain, four-time Olympian & Team Gold Medalist, Phillip Dutton go, on his mount, Woodburn.

World Equestrian Games

Kentucky Wine Council Tasting Area in the Kentucky Experience

After leaving the main stadium, we shopped in the large Bit of Britain, walked through Kentucky Experience, watched a reining demonstration and browsed the Trade Show Village and Pavilion. Good stuff. We didn’t buy anything, with the idea we can come back later in the weekend. Although, we did want to buy WEG sweatshirts for our evening event, but we didn’t find any. The official merchandise was surprisingly depleted. I don’t know if they just put a certain amount out each day or what, but there was nothing. Hopefully tomorrow something new will show up.

This afternoon’s Flickr set: eventing dressage pictures

The only low point of the entire day was our much-needed bathroom break, turned nightmare. So, after traveling all day and eating both lunch and dinner, we both just needed to use the restroom. Normal. Well, the only facilities there were all port-a-pots!! Disgusting! But, I guess, how else could it work. We did find a small relatively ‘hidden’ group, in hopes they were in better condition then the large group by the main stadium.

World Championship Dressage – Freestyle

The Freestyle dressage was amazing! We grabbed some Derby Pies and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (a great beer!), sat back and just watched the show. Good times. Although, considering we didn’t find a sweatshirt, we were freezing by the end.

Laura Bechtolsheimer (GBR) on Mistral Hojris

Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz (ESP) on Fuego XII

Edward Gal (NED) on Moorland Totilas

Steffen Peters (USA) on Ravel

Freestyle dressage is exciting. Each competitor, the 15 best from the two previous days, designs up his or her own test and set it to music. So, each is a different combination of very high level dressage skills – like freestyle figure skating. There were some amazing performances. Spaniard Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz and his Andalusian stallion, Fuego XII, were a crowd favorite. In fact, he got a standing ovation and the crowd boo-ed his perceived low scores. The poor horse wasn’t sure how to take all the noise from the cheering crowd and almost threw his rider off. Edward Gal and Moorland Totilas gave another outstanding performances, taking another gold medal. The pair swept the golds this year! Of course, Ravel and American Steffen Peters were also exciting to watch.

Grand Prix Freestyle Results:
1. Edward Gal/Moorland Tortilas (91.80%) [NED] – Team, Special & Freestyle gold medal
2. Laura Bechtolsheimer/Mistral Hojris (85.35%) [GBR] – Team, Special & Freestyle silver medals
3. Steffen Peters/Ravel (84.90%) [USA] – Special & Freestyle bronze medals

Unfortunately, we chose not to stay for the medal ceremony, but we just had to leave. We both had t-shirts on, and it was very cold. It took a lot to just stick it out through the competition, let alone waiting around for them to present medals. We knew the results. Not to mention, it was late, we still had an hour to drive and had to check into our hotel. All with an early morning waiting around the corner.

This evening’s Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/justme_findingmyway/sets/72157624975279049/

The drive to the hotel went pretty fast. As expected, at 10:00pm, the road was fairly empty. Also, it’s just a straight shot from the Horse Park to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

The trip I’ve been planning for over a year is finally here! I can’t believe it. For the longest time it’s seemed so far away, but it’s now right around the corner.

Yeah, so last year, a friend of mine casually mentioned wanting to go to the World Equestrian Games because they were in Kentucky this time around. It’s the first time in the history of the Games they’ve been held outside of Europe. Well, I jumped on the thought, and have slowly made all of the plans for our trip. Last fall, when the tickets first went on sale, I got our’s for the weekend parts of the Eventing Championships. Saturday’s cross country and the jumping round on Sunday.

The hotel was really the biggest piece of the puzzle. Even as I’ve spoken to fellow horse people, the first thing they ask when I mention going is if I had a room. I made our reservation exactly one year ago, the first day I could. It was tricky. We are actually staying in Louisville, which is an hour away from Lexington, where the Games are being held. It came down to a relatively short drive to save hundreds of dollars in hotel expenses. It was crazy, even a year in advance, the room rate for the decent hotels in Lexington were between $300-400 per night!! No way. Instead, I got a normal rate over in Louisville.

I’ve been monitoring flight prices for months, and finally just pulled the trigger in August. The cost didn’t really change much and at that point, I just wanted to be finished with it. The car rental was the same.

This month, I’ve finalized our plans, with a couple last minute added activities. After having picked out our plane tickets, I went ahead and bought tickets to Friday afternoon’s three-day dressage session. My friend then mentioned she had look into getting us tickets to the Grand Prix Freestyle dressage event, but decided not to because of the cost, so I went behind her back and did it anyway. The final addition was a tour of the well-known Thoroughbred breeding farm, Three Chimneys. It just seemed like if we were going to Lexington, we HAD to visit at least one nice horse farm. Right?

So, that’s the plan:

Friday:
1:00pm – WEG Three-Day Event Dressage
7:00pm – WEG Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle

Saturday:
9:00am – WEG Three-Day Event Cross Country

Sunday:
10:00am – Three Chimneys Stallion Division Tour
1:00pm – WEG Three-Day Event Jumping

I’m so excited for this trip. This is going to be Fair Hill on steroids! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my trips to watch the high level cross country at Fair Hill the past few years, and this is going to be an even higher level of competition. Oh, and I’m going to get to see the whole event – dressage, cross country and jumping.

My WEG: Day 1 // Day 2 // Day 3 // Day 4

In a repeat performance, this weekend our little group went back to Full Moon Farm for another horse show. This time the two split and competed in separate divisions. It was kind of a crazy, busy day but tons of fun. There wasn’t a moment to rest until both were completed all three phases. I had to hustle from one spot to another so I didn’t miss anything. Loved it. Too bad this will probably be the last show of the year for us (as a group). Now, next year, I might actually be competing, so I’ll have to give up my photographer position. Oh well. It will be worth it!

Baby Beginner – Novice Horse

Bo, a Thoroughbred gelding, taking on baby beginner during his second show.

Dressage

Stadium Jumping

A clear round!!! Yayee, Bo!!

Cross Country

Elementary – Novice Horse

The training project takes to the show stage yet again.

Dressage

Stadium Jumping

Made it through clear

Cross Country

Today’s Flickr set: show photos