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2007 Las Cruces- A Warm-up Ride
Images by John Teeter
Looking for Horses
John drove to the hotel this morning to meet everybody at the hotel and escort them out to Flight Leader Farm. (he took Big Blue, our '88 Touring Sedan that my father gave me - great old car w/ leather seats, electric seat adjustments, fun road trip car). I stayed here at the farm, getting things in order, working a little. Everybody showed up at noon - ready to look at the horses. It was very very serious - as each horse was examined, palpated, trotted, passports looked at, notes and records looked at, questions asked. Trotted, trotted again. The vets Dr. Bashir and Dr. Sri Kan took notes and pictures as they examined each horse.Then it was time to saddle up and take them out for a trial. There are several big dirt paddocks that were perfect for riding the horses, plenty of room to turn, open them up, do whatever they had to do to assess the compatibility of the horse with the rider. It was pretty cool to see how different the chemistry was between each rider and horse - and pretty cool to see when it 'clicked'. One of the horses is a hot little mare - very sensitive and quick to react - there was one rider that was a perfect match for her, you could see her settle in and accept his hands and seat and legs and respond to his requests. But nobody else could get the same response.
The riders all came, still w/o their luggage - but we rummaged through our stuff and managed to find tights and chaps and boots and helmets to go around. It was really cold - high of 50 degrees maybe. The sun was nice and warm but it got chilly when the breeze picked up. Plenty of excuses to go inside for a cup of tea :)
Tomorrow will be a little shopping, more planning. John's going to take our horses out for a ride in the morning. They've been resting for 3 days and are due for a little excersize. The wind is supposed to kick in again in the afternoon so we'll try to have all the horse stuff done by then. I'll meet the group in town again in the morning - more questions and planning, maybe help them find shops for things they need.
Some riders will start showing up tomorrow at the venue. We'll probably stay here at the farm until the 29th though. The horses are content, we have wireless internet... heater in the trailer. all's well -
Steph