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October 2007 Updates  October 7th Huntington Valley Horse show: You can say it's only a schooling show, but this show is sometimes the one that we look forward to for months. First, it's fall, so the weather is often a more pleasant temperature for showing. Second, it's a schooling show and we aren't trying to juggle showing and camp, so there is loads less stress, and third, though it comes at the end of the season, it is often the new beginning for many riders and horses in our barn. So it was with this year's show. We took 9 riders and 11 horses to Huntington.  There were many different levels of expertise in both the horses and the riders for this year's show: Cathy had her students, Maddie and Brittany on Malarky and Mouse respectively. Chris had her student Emily in the same division riding Mika (this would be Mika's first show!). Lizzle was on Kaden once again in a higher fence division, and was joined by Katherine G., who came up just for the weekend from Chicago to team up with her favorite pony, Merry Legs.  If all of this wasn't exciting enough, Taylor and Hilary paired up with their summer rides of Brenda and Maddy and made the BIG jump into the Regular ring to show in the 2'3"-2"6" division. As if coaching two students wasn't enough, Cathy brought Zen along and entered him in several flat classes for some experience. Just recovering from a shoulder injury, Zen isn't quite ready to jump quite yet. To round out our 11, I planned on riding three: Rylie was scheduled to come along "just for the experience of a horse show." As Rylie still doesn't steer too well at the canter, I thought it best not to enter her in a real class just yet. Al was schedule for his first showing debut in the regular ring, and SPOT was making his long awaited come back after a debilitating shoulder injury 3 years ago. Spot was scheduled to start out in the Basic ring. All day Saturday saw appearances of all the show riders coming to the barn to ride, take lessons, bath horses, pack their belongings and clean tack. From 8 AM until 8 PM the barn was a dither. After conferring with Chris and Cathy, it was apparent that I was the only one that seemed to think my horses would need to school a day early, so after riding three horses that were remaining at Cedar Lodge,  Cathy and I packed up Al, Rylie and Spot Saturday afternoon and headed over to the show grounds. I cannot lie. As I stepped into the trailer to unload my first horse, a feeling of dread over came me. It could have been all the screaming in my ear by Rylie, Spot and Al, I can't tell for sure. I had forgotten about babies. Showing young horses has always been a specialty of mine, but it has been a couple of years since I have brought one along. One baby isn't bad. Two is manageable. Three is suicide. Each one has to be handled with special care, and your most trusted friend at home can become a he or she-devil as soon as they step off camp soil. I had one thing going for me. It was unseasonable HOT! Temperatures were reaching close to 90 degrees and the humidity was intense. Our horses had started to grow their winter coats and that meant that even standing in their stalls, they were bathed in sweat. Though it also meant I was bathed in sweat, it was apparent as I stepped on Spot (and later on Al and Rylie) that I needed all the help I could get. My quiet school horse was a ticking volcano. I hopped off and opted to lounge. In fact, I lounged all of them, and after a few spins around the circle they all saw the errors in their ways (or the error in their breathing) and settled some. In the end all three schooled quite well, though it took all afternoon to get the job done. During that time NONE of them would shut up. You would have swore they were best of friends, when in truth, they didn't even know each other before the trailer ride. Silly horses. Home for pizza and a movie then off to a early bed time, everyone was up Sunday morning at 6 AM to bring in horses, finish packing and make the trek (two trailer loads) back and forth to the horse show. How did everyone do? I could be here all day. Chris summed it up thus: "Everyone had goals to meet at this horse show and everyone met their goals. I couldn't be prouder." And that was the truth. Not only did everyone survive, everyone thrived! There were many blues and many mistakes, but that's what schooling shows are for: it's a time to learn. Maddie, Brittany and Emily traded places in the ribbons and shared some good times. Mika was a super star in the cross rails division and acted as if she had been doing it forever (hard to believe I was teaching her to canter on both leads just this May). Lizzle and Katherine moved up a division and conquered the higher fence height. Taylor said to me, "you know it just doesn't seem right to be standing by the Regular Ring entry gate. I feel like I'm in the wrong place....." but then went on (as did Hilary in her turn) to prove that they DID belong in the big ring with nailing round after round in style. Cathy hacked and hacked and hacked and Zen got a good chance to see just what showing at a real show is all about. Rylie got a good look at showing from her rides in the Basic ring and warm up ring and even got to "Hang out" with the "cool group", the jumpers who were waiting around for their class. Al sored over his fences and made it look as if he had been doing it forever, and besides a bit of a bauble with a pole and a run out at a particularly scary Astroturf box (I think Jim Murphy put rattle snakes in it) he made his dad very proud (you can bet I will be building a astroturf box by the end of October).  And Spot. What to say about Spot. Well, after a bit of a bout with being naughty, and a rusty first round, Spot came back in and nailed his second round and the flat class to win both! Besides, everyone thought he was pretty. I couldn't close without mentioning Ashley, who though she had opted not to show, came to help out everyone else with any need they might have, and cheer on her friends. It's attitudes like that, that makes showing at Cedar Lodge so special. By mid afternoon, everyone was done, happy, tired and VERY HOT, as the temperatures once again sored near 90, but as Chris said, "Everyone met their goals." and that's just the way it should be. October continued to be busy, busy, busy at Cedar Lodge after the Huntington horse show. Many horses to ride, buildings to paint, and…….vacations to take! Middle of October Craig and I took off for Maine and the Presidential  Mt. Range in New Hampshire for a week of hiking. I could say that there was talk about camp during our hikes, but I know that I would be lying (sorry). Truth is, I was either breathing too hard, or too far behind for much camp talk. That being said, the views were once again breath taking and every summit was well worth the effort. After a day and a half in Maine’s picturesque Acadia National Park, we were off to Mount Washington (and his fellow presidents) for three more full days of hiking. As you can see by the sign, Mount Washington and the Presidential range ( a small subset of the Appalacian Mountains)has quite a reputation for a reason. It’s weather can be some of the worst in the United States, and many that have been caught unaware have met with unfavorable ends. Craig and I took our hikes very seriously and were always well prepared. Even with a quick pace, few breaks and full days, we hiked for 9 hours on day one, and 11 hours on day two to go up and come down on our decided paths. I can just imagine how uncomfortable it would be for someone that was caught unprepared for the challenge. After a quick, short week we were on the road back to Michigan, sore kneed, blistered but other than that, no worse for wear.  End of October it was Chris and Stella’s turn for a vacation. With Ashley in tow, they were off to Wisconsin for a long weekend in the Wisconsin dells. Ashley was along to visit her good camp friend Rachel. Rachel and her family live on a large dairy farm in Wisconsin and has just gotten a new pony. Ashley and Rachel had a great time catching up, I’m told and were busy day and night with things to be done. Stella and Chris dropped off Ashley and then it was off to the dells for a boat ride down it’s major river, site seeing and a visit to the “House on the rock”; A monster house, built with hundreds of rooms in a cave.  Chris, Stella, Amy, Craig and Ashley came home from their many adventures with grins, relaxed and ready to get back to the work at hand, namely to get on writing a camp newsletter, get ready for a riding weekend, ride more horses, teach more college students and a million other things that we fill our days with at and around Cedar Lodge!!!