Sept 17
We got the horses out early today because a film crew was scheduled to
arrive at 5:30 to film our morning activities and we thought our
horses would do best away from the bright lights and out in their
paddock. The one thing I have learned over the years (or actually I
should say one of the things) is that you rarely make the wrong
decision if your primary concern is the horse. I am not sure about the
schedule for today, but we need to move out of the hotel and back to
the horse trailers today. The horses should be evaluated some time
late morning probably (once Jim arrives) and then the selection needs
to be approved by the high performance and executive committees before
it is official.

We are now on our way to lunch and the store for grocery shopping. We
finished trotting out and I expect we won’t hear anything until mid
afternoon. Michelle Rousch withdrew after the jog because her horse
was lame. Apparently the foot she has been having trouble with was
very hot this morning. It is amazing things always start getting dicey
as we get closer to these big events. That makes it 7 riders and 9
horses still in the mix. I thought both Rev and Harmon looked very
good at the trot and I am very torn. Part of me would choose Rev
because her recoveries are simply phenomenal and she is more
experienced, but I think Harmon would also do an incredible job. Of
course, it would be an honor to be named at all, but it is a weird
being uncertain.

So the official word finally came (of course then we had to wait 1
hour for final approval). I am on the team with Harmon. The other team
members are Ellyn and Smokey, Jan and Leon and Heather and Sam.
Lindsay and Monk are the individual competitor and Deborah and
Juniper, Rev and Ellyn’s other horse are the alternates. The selectors
asked me who I would choose and I just couldn’t do it. I think Harmon
will do a great job and god willing, we will go to the AERC national
championship ride with Rev:) Thanks for all your well wishes. Now the
real craziness begins!!!
m =