A Thank You to Tall Pines folks

["Kirsten Price" <kprice@forums.law.Arizona.EDU>]

I also want to give a belated "Thank You" to the riders, vets and management
of the Tall Pines Ride last weekend in Silver City, NM.  It was my first
ride in the Southwest region (after moving from Reno), and it was Splash's
first ride ever.  Splash is my Morgan stallion who is just turning 5 years
old (today <G>).

Although Splash is a fairly well-behaved guy, I had some concerns about
putting him in his first ride situation.  He was adorned with *many* colored
ribbons in his tail; mostly I was hoping people would see them and give us
some extra courtesy room.  I want to say thank you to all the other
competitors who were VERY courteous on the trail.  We did not encounter one,
single problem  on the trail (or anywhere for that matter) and thus Splash
was able to get a really great experience in terms of both competition and
behavior.  We *really* had a wonderful time!

For you campers who were camping next to us, he was a little noisier than I
would have liked... although he wasn't too bad considering it was his first
ride.  He should get better over the next couple of rides and I will try to
camp away from other folks as much as possible (it just wasn't possible at
this particular ride since we got in so late).  Thank you for being so
understanding!

Ride management was VERY well-organized.  I got into camp, and received
immediate help in finding a place to park and directions to the vet check
area and the registration area.  In fact, they approached me first!

I had the pleasure of meeting the famous Barney Fleming for the first time
(and am still beaming over his compliment of Splash's good behavior).  But
all the vets and PR people were friendly, helpful and did wonderful jobs.

You can bet that Splash and I will be back next year, this time for the 50
(I hope).

Kirsten & Splash (Happy Birthday To ME!!!)

Kirsten Price
James E. Rogers College of Law
Director - GPSC Showcase 2000
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ
splash@dakotacom.net