Today was a busy day.. The team moved stable "stuff" and tack etc. to the Stables at the venue this am, minds changed about moving the horses, so the horses will be moved tomorrow.  1 more day for the horses to go out in the wonderful green grass pasture.  Much better than standing in Tent like stalls.  The stall roofs  are actually pipe material, covered with a white tentlike material.  I haven't seen what the stall sides look like yet.  I should get a peek at them tomorrow. 

 

 Today, I went with Grace Ramsey and her daughter Wendy, to show Wendy the crew spots.  Later in the day Wendy, and Kimmie, a good friend of Joey and Michelle's, went and drove our routes again.  Practice, practice.  I have only one spot I'm unsure of how tro get to.  Most of them are committed to memory.. Now  I just hope I get them in the right order.  There are 11 places that we can meet the riders, we decide that there are some major ones we want to get to and the rest are really close to the vet check, so we will skip them.  There is a link to the trail map, at Endurance Net, if you want to see how the trail goes.  The little town we drive right through to get to the vet check and a major cresw spot #2, was jammed packed today.  Pedestrians are supposed to have the right of way and we nearly saw some woamn get run over.  Nice lady, well dressed, she gave the driver whatfor!

 

Then we went to our favorite German store.  WALMARTEN  that's my pidgeon German, my favorite one is currently... "farfromparkin"  That's when you have to walk a long way  from the car to get where you want to go.

 

After that a nice buffet meal of German dishes, from the gormet kitchen here at the hotel.  I ate things I didn't know what they were and ALL of them were tasty.  I didn't spit out one thing! 

 

 Then we had a meeting for the riders and helpers.  Final well, semi final directions were given.  Nothing is ever final until Race day, with these big FEI rides.  You have to be able to roll with the changes and be prepared to make another change later.  I've been saying, Ok  here's the directions for now...

 

One interesting thing is, the horses have to trot for the Vets, before being allowed to enter the race.  If your horse is found to be lame, you don't get to come back at a later time.  Some rides, you get several times to trot out.. So some tougher rules.  Well, done too I think. 

 

 

There is some consternation regarding the credentials.  Only certsain people can get into the vetcheck area to help the riders.  Some of the crew are the owners  of the horse/who may also be a family member, wife/husband, etc who planned on helping crew the horse, well, the Owners are not allowed in the crewing area, some of our owners are the ones who really care for the horse so this is a BIG issue.  The Team Chef'dequip  (the team boss) and others are trying to get this rule changed.  Perhaps the show jumping and dressage owners doesn't need to be down near the ingates for the arena work.. But our owners are the horses caretakers, so they need permission to get into the areas that the  horses need to be cared for.

 

Hopefully this one rule WILL be changed.  It one we won't mind having a change on.

 

Steve Rojacks horse will not be competing, the horse has a foot problem, that has developed over the last few weeks,  Steve is disappointed, but taking it in stride.  A great competitor. 

 

Well, I'm running out of battery ,time to send this off  Later,