What's Up Wednesday

Well. This was the longest Wednesday on record. I had one of THOSE DAYS at work but at least I got to end it by riding all three of the free loaders. ALL OF THEM! Yay! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It was a crazy fun week/weekend and I'm excited to bore you with all the details.
I took Thursday and Friday off last week to head up to my Alma Mater for alumni weekend. I'm super old, so this was my 15th reunion. It's not a big one, as evidenced by my class's poor attendance:

We were heckled for our lack of classmates!

I realized that since I took the whole day off, but there really weren't any activities up at school until the evening, I had time to go ride Badger! Finally! He's off to HITS this week and I'm away potentially the two weekends after that, so I was excited to get a ride in and see this face!

Trainer had a little incident involving a table and her toe so she asked if I wanted to ride a second one. Um, no? Lol. Of COURSE! Oh gee, if I must ride your perfectly trained unicorn, I SUPPOSE I can fit it in. So I also got to ride Cara and hop over a few crossrails. She's still perfect in case you were wondering.
I hadn't planned to ride the boys at home, but they got some snuggles before I left for the weekend. Is it just me, or is leaving the tall kids behind for a few days one of the hardest things in the world? Especially Rio. Ugh. But fear not, they were in good hands and had a great vacation weekend too.
After dropping the short kids with their grandma, I was en route to Saratoga! Finally! At around 3. So much for getting up there early!

But it was early enough to get checked in and impress the student volunteers by knowing the word swag. Once checked in, I texted some friends to figure out the evening and headed to my other friend's house to get settled and have some delicious home cooked (not by me) dinner. And THEN (are you sitting down) at 9PM I went OUT! Out at 9! Not home at nine. Nope, I left to go out for the evening at 9 pm. I'm so young and hip.
We never did find any classmates that night, but we did visit a couple of divey bars we loved in college: Desperate Annie's (known simply as DA's) and the Tin and Lint (which may or may not be where John McClean wrote American Pie).  Happy to report they haven't changed a bit. And then it was like midnight and I had to go to bed before I turned into a pumpkin.
Friday morning I had planned to go to free yoga, but it was cold in my room at 7 when I would have had to get up, so I opted out. Instead I headed over to campus for breakfast around 8:30 and spent all my money at the book store on new Skidmore clothes. Mostly because I'm living firmly in the past. But also because I heart Skidmore. And buying stuff. There wasn't a ton going on that I was interested in Friday, so friends and I headed out for Skidmore themed mani/pedis.

Gold glitter on the tips is hard to capture...

And you know what I got to do after that?! I got to ride my friend's most perfect horse. And you know what I didn't do? Get any media from pony day. None. Not even a picture of his pretty face. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. I got to flat him and hop over some raised cavalletti. He was perfect and I wish I could have hidden him in my suitcase.
My next stop is probably the most exciting. I got to visit the future show grounds of the Saratoga Classic Horse Show! It was supposed to move this year, but with winter lasting a bit too long, they weren't able to get the site work done in time.

I'm really excited to see how it all comes together. There will be 8 rings eventually (seven to get started) 90 something permanent stalls, and pads for I think 4 tents. Lots of paddocks in two sizes, lunging area, camper area, a field to ride in, etc. I think it's going to be really nice. They're doing GGT footing in all the rings. Seriously, I can't wait. I really hope I have a horse to take next year for the grand opening.
I know it sounds like a really full day, but after having a quick dinner at the house, I went out (two nights in a row!) for a cocktail event for my class. There were actually people there too! But it was on a rooftop and about 50 degrees so we disbanded fairly quickly in favor of an indoor venue. And some snacks. I stayed out until 12:30, yet managed to not turn into a pumpkin.

obligatory dough boy

Saturday was chock full of reunion events. I got out of bed on time for yoga. Unfortunately, pretty much no one else did. One lady showed up a few minutes late, and it was just the two of us. But hey, free private yoga class! No complaints here. Following yoga, I skipped out on the alumni parade, got a giant coffee (they serve Starbucks on campus now, these kids are spoiled), and headed back to the house to get cleaned up for the all class picnic and photos. The food was great, and it was nice to see more people. I have some friends from the class of '97 and also the class of '92 so it was a great time to find them.
Skidmore does mini classes during Alumni weekend and most of them sounded pretty uninteresting to me. Except for the one that Sheldon Solomon was giving. Professor Solomon is pretty much a celebrity within the Skidmore Community. He's pretty eccentric wearing shorts year round (in upstate NY!) and sporting long hair. But he's crazy smart, and a really dynamic speaker.

There he is drinking water. I would not do well as a papparzzi

He was on sabbatical for much of my time at Skidmore unfortunately, so I only was able to get one class with him. When I saw he was giving a lecture this weekend, I was excited to attend. Most of my friends came along too. And pretty much everyone else. We had to relocate to a lecture hall from a class room so we could all fit. He spoke about how impending death affects your life and decisions. It was not at all morbid like it may sound and really was interesting, especially when he spoke about how people vote after being subliminally reminded of their impending death. There's an article here on his thoughts on the topic.
The lecture was only an hour, but we all wanted more! We'll have to come back in five years and hope he's still there. There was some free time between then and our class dinner, so I met up with my '92 friend for some coffee before heading home to do a little work and get cleaned up. The rest of the night was dinner, dancing, fireworks, and ANOTHER trip downtown for drinks and more dough boys.

I stayed out until 1 am. THREE nights in a row of bar hopping! I miss college. But also my liver and circadian rhythm do not. You guys. I had the best night in a long while, despite there being no ponies involved.
I had zero plans for Sunday morning. I got up around 7:30 and leisurely got packed. I was trying to remember if there was anything else I wanted to see or do (or eat) while I was in Saratoga, but I came up empty and decided to head home. If I timed it right, I could ride before the rain started. I did not time it right. But I rode anyway. In the rain. Romey was not pleased, but Rio didn't mind too much. I was just going to lunge Jampy since doc hadn't given me the green light to ride. Unfortunately, by the time I got to him it was pouring buckets, so we opted out.
I sent a nose pic to Doc on Tuesday and got the go ahead to get back on Jampy. But alas, more downpours and too many puddles. They all had Tuesday off. I did finally ride him tonight. He's actually feeling SO MUCH better than he has been. I hadn't really gotten to ride him since his hock injections due to the epm popping up. I really think they made a difference, or maybe it was the epm treatment. Who knows? Who cares as long as he's feeling better!
And that my friends, is what's up this Wednesday. I'm sorry there weren't many ponies today, but I had to recount my weekend for posterity. If you're still reading this, you get a gold star!
What's up with you?

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone! These weeks are FLYING by. Always seems to happen in the summertime. Why does winter take SO LONG?!  Anyway, let's get right to it. You want to know where I was this weekend, don't you?
I took a half day Thursday and all of Friday off so I could go visit my FAVORITE horse show!

You'll remember that I was super sad about missing the Saratoga Classic this year, so I decided just because I couldn't show, doesn't mean I had to miss it entirely. And off I went. I stay with a friend, so no need for last minute hotels or anything. I arrived in the evening on Thursday and pretty much just got settled in and had dinner with my friend. Friday morning I got to the show around 8. My barn away from home had an extra horse they said I could borrow for the Alumni classes, so I actually got to show while I was away! The alumni consists of one flat and one fence class, set at about 2'6". Nothing too challening! But let me tell you, this horse is wonderful. His name is Ventura, Venti for short.

He's rather tall... I'd guess about 17.2? And he is a total saint. He goes right into a frame with barely any extra bending or legging. He extends his canter easily. He halts. Total gentleman! Due to his gentlemanly tendencies, we won the flat class!

He was just as saintly over jumps. I haven't jumped a course... nor even an actual line, since probably New England finals last October. That's a long time my friends. A LONG TIME! I said to Molly who was schooling us, "Please tell me how to fast to go, I have no idea where his stride is!" She laughed and said she was sure we would be just fine. And we were. I got a little close to a couple of the jumps, but he took no offense and we finished in second. SUCH A GOOD BOY!

I mean, it was exciting to get to show pretty unexpectedly, but it was even more exciting to ride such a sweet horse. AND to get some pretty satin! I'm so thankful for good friends and trainers who are generous toward me. So much thanks to all of them! I was hoping to have one of the photos to share, but I haven't yet received the web photo yet. (Yes, I bought three photos AND a web version of one of them. I need the memories!)
The rest of the weekend I pretty much just slothed around the horse show. I watched some of the kids I used to ride with show in the grand prix:

And I watched my awesome friend (the one I stay with) win Grand Adult Hunter Champion!

 I also got to hang out with my dog away from home, Moxie:

She's the best! (I mean obviously slightly less best than my dogs, but right up there.)

I got back Sunday with enough time to ride my hooligans and hang with the puggers. No one tried to kill me so that's always a good day! Especially given they had so many days of vacation.

This week, it's been the usual late nights in the barn, but the horses have been really good shockingly.

After all the talk about bonnets yesterday, and the little bit of rain we had resulting in bugs galore, I decided to conquer my fears and try bonnets again. Everyone looked adorable... yet long eared.

I'm happy to report that all bonnets and bridles remained safely on all faces. Phew. And that's all that's up this Wednesday! We have a long weekend coming up with the 4th of July being on Monday, so I'm hoping to get to work cleaning all the bird poo off the barn floor. Exciting days ahead!
What's up with you this Wednesday?