Jessica Update

May 14, 2004--The finally final update

Wow, it is so good to be home. I don't think I could ever express to anyone how wonderful it is to be back. My life is probably busier than it was before I left, but I couldn't be happier. For instance, right now I am typing on my laptop, sitting in the sun in my front yard surrounded by green grass, flowers and my cats, and connected to the internet via our wireless connection in our house. All I need is a cup of local fair trade coffee, and I'd be the perfect NW WA girl.

I am sorry it's taken so long to write. I have just been going and going since I got back...and I have my first local horse show this weekend. So let's see, where were we in the story...Cross country day. Just to give you even a little more detail...again, Rolex was the biggest XC I had ever seen (as well it should be). But I was suprisingly calm about the whole thing. Not that I was really calm at all, but you know The course was great and I was so excited when we finished. However, they set things up badly at the finish (IMHO) due to the network TV cameras. When I came through the finish flags I slowed down and trotted and then walked. Then people started to yell to trot again so I did, and then more people yelled to walk so I did but then I started to worry that people were seeing something that I couldn't (ie broken leg, dying horse, you know). I asked the vet if Frenchie was okay and she said he was fine and to calm down because there were a lot of people around (which just made me panic further because I thought they were just putting on a good show for the crowd). So finally I got off and we started to put water on Frenchie (who was definitely hot) and I started to pay a little more attention to what was happening at the finish. It turned out that the vets were fighting with the TV people. The TV people wanted the riders to come through the flags and keep galloping on towards the camera with that winning grin...the vets wanted the riders to do what was best for their horses. My grooms later informed me that had I followed the rules (which we were not informed of) I would have trotted on, grinned at the camera, jumped off my horse and tossed him to the grooms to take care of while I was surrounded by the press to answer some deep meaningful questions...or something of the sort. But I stayed with Frenchie instead and I was happier that way. Although Frenchie came in hot, he actually cooled down way faster than I thought he would. Afterwards, he dragged me back to the stall despite the fact that I was tired and my boots were killing me.

Of course, the first thing on my mind that night was Frenchie's leg. I was super lucky that Dr. Revenaugh actually came out to Rolex so I could have a vet work on him that knew him and knew the situation. We scanned the leg about 3 hours after our run. It wasn't perfect, there was a little mottling around the old tear, but it was explained to me that tendons generally don't look perfect after running a 4-star. But Frenchie was sound and happy on it. I iced it a bunch and lasered it twice (with the Response laser light system that I want for Christmas :):) ). I jogged him again for Dr. Revenaugh at 10 PM and he still looked great. The next morning, jogged again and we still had a super happy horse. I love my boy The official jog went off without a hitch, though again, it started to rain I went and walked stadium with my two grooms and was generally just feeling good about life. One shocking note though, a number of horses got spun in the CCI Modified, way more than in the long format. In fact, after 40 starts, we only had 27 horses showjump!

The stadium course looked good. Nice and inviting. Mark Phillips helped me warm up and it really helped. I got some great jumps in warm up and headed down to the ring. As I was leaving Mark mentioned to me that I really needed this to be a clean round (no pressure). Oh! and I almost forgot that Jim Wolfe pulled me asside after the jog and said that they wanted to see Frenchie for the vet check PENDING my stadium round (again no pressure). So, up until I went down to the ring, there had not been a single clear round! I was feeling a little apprehenisve about my chances, but Hawley Bennet, who went just before me, helped me out by putting in a textbook clear round. "See" I said, "it can be done". So with that in mind, off we went. I kept him nice and up to the first fence, not too fast but enough to get out of the mud (oh, don't forget it's pouring down rain). First fence, super, second fence I took a deep breath and let him get a little soft...he just tapped the rail. But he tapped it loud enough to give me a kick in the butt and I rode every other fence after that as well as I could. I took a little chance at the last and we got there a little flat again but he left it up and we came in just under the time. I'm still grinning from that round.

In the end I finished 13th. I was the only US clean stadium round and there were only two others, Hawley Bennet from Canada and Philip Dutton from Australia. The best part was that because of that stadium round I was asked to stay for the vet check. What they didn't say though was that I wouldn't be checked until that Tuesday :(:( My sister and the rest of the group flew home Monday morning, so from then on it was just me and my mom...who so kindly was going to drive back with me. We hung out on Monday and got ready to roll on Tuesday.

Tuesday came and finally it was my turn to be checked. They decided this time (they didn't last year at Fox Hall when I did the same thing) that they were going to ultrasound both front tendons of every horse. When they did Frenchie we found the same as we did Saturday in the left front, a little mottling around the old tear but nothing major. The blow hit though with the right front. We saw mottling in the same exact place in the right as where he had the tear in the left (is that a sentence?) Anyways. I was shocked, so was the vet. His leg was ice cold and tight...but sure enough it was on the ultrasound. So the vets and Mark Phillips and Jim Wolfe and some others gathered in a circle about 10 feet away to talk about us. When they came back they gave me a choice...continue with the vet check knowing about the tendons, knowing that he needs to gallop for the selectors on July 7th back east, and knowing that if the tendons don't look better they won't take me to Athens...or...choose to pull out. So, I pulled out.

******
not that this matters, but for those of you who were keeping track of the fact that the start of my email talks about sun, and now it's almost 9 at night, I had a break for dinner and now I'm back inside with my wonderful laptop/wireless internet that I missed so much
******

Now, this really was my choice and I really do feel very good about it. Yes I was sad when I saw the ultrasounds, who wouldn't be. But this is for the better. I'm young and I have my whole life to go to the Olympics. Frenchie is a super horse who has more heart than I deserve and it's not fair for me to pound on his legs after he gave so much just to get to Rolex, my first ****, and let me truly feel like I was part of the elite group that comprise the best riders in our country. This is all the consolation you guys get. Most of the people who found out early are way more devastated about this than I am, and for that, I'm sorry. So what does the future hold for us? Well, I took Frenchie back to Revenaugh and we shocked both legs. Revenaugh was optimistic but advised me not to run Frenchie in anything hard this year...why gamble twice. So I'll see where things go, take him to some Dressage shows (he'll love that), and shoot for...BADMINTON next spring

But the story of course, doesn't end here Having heard the news I loaded up the horses and set out. With my mom as a navigator we found a place to stay the first night. I told him that I had a big rig, but obviously I should have exagerated. First we missed the turn into his driveway, mostly because it was lined with trees and didn't look like even a 2 horse trailer shoudl be pulling in to it. Since we missed the driveway we ran in to a dead end, road closed. So I had to back the whole huge rig up a windy hill about half a mile to find a place to turn around so that I could squeeze in to this little driveway. Once we were in I realized I would never get turned around. But after a lot of time and running over their garden stepping stones I did get turned around and mom and I both crashed after a very long emotional day. The next morning I knew I was going to have to get out of the tiny driveway. I pulled out wide, letting the front driver's tire dip down a grassy slope so that the trailer didn't run over the people's mail box. Then I got sick to my stomach after I heard a loud crunch. Not thinking (at 6 AM) letting the front tire down effectively pushed the back right tire up...effectively pushing the bed of our brand new super cool truck in to the bottom of the gooseneck and squishing the bed like a used pop can. I am still sick about it. I still can't believe it. But it happened and the damage isn't that bad...sort of. It wasn't structural so off we were on our not so merry way. To my mom's credit, she took this way better than I did. This is surprising only because she had to do some fancy footwork and bent over backwards to get me this truck before I left.

The second day home was uneventful and the second night was...better... The barn was super, it was huge and there was a huge driveway with a huge parking lot. However, there were horses and cows totally loose on the property and the wind was blowing at about 40 mph. The wind and cows had mom spooked just as bad as the horses...so I had to try and get all 4 of them in to the barn in one piece But we did it and the horses settled in and so did mom :):P But on the third morning...I woke up, went outside to get the horses...and it was snowing. Really if you think about it, why wouldn't it be snowing...it wouldn't make a good story otherwise. So I had a bit of a white knuckled drive (trying to imitate the illusion of control so mom wouldn't get spooked) as we drove through WY with ice and snow on the roads. At one point we stopped for gas and I couldn't get the horses' doors down because they were iced over. But later that day the snow subsided and we found a wonderful little place to overnight with no major problems.

And finally, the last day of driving was there. I couldn't wait. I can't explain how I felt when I was driving up out of the Columbia River gorge and out of Vantage when we crested the hill and saw Mt. Rainier looming before us. And then we were home. The horses were so excited! I was so excited And thus the adventure ends.

Thanks so much for sticking with me. I've felt so much support from all of you and I hope you can accept my apologies for not responding to each of your emails personally. I'll continue to keep you updated. Skizzy and Chase are making their big debut this weekend at prelim so wish them luck!!!

Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy and Chase

My whirlwind is finally losing power I'm back home and so happy to be here!!! I'm such a WA girl. So find yourself a comfy spot and get ready for the rest of the story.

Leaving the Sunshine State:

It starts back in Florida. About two days after I wrote all of you I got a text-message on my phone from my boyfriend that I would be participating in an Easter egg hunt. Later that night I received GPS coordinates that I was to go find. And when I got there, there was my boyfriend, all the way from Washington state. He flew in to Gainsville to surprise me for my birthday! It was really super. The horses got two days off (the first in a long time since they were the only things keeping me busy) and Chris and I drove down to Orlando and played around in the city.

I spent the rest of the time in FL getting in a few more good jump schools on Skizzy and Chase (who were super) and teaching Frenchie how to do dressage in his brand new double bridle. Since Chris was driving with me to KY I decided to leave a little earlier than I planned and drive through the night instead of driving through the day.

We got the trailer packed and drove the rig up to the barns where the horses were. I walked down the alleyway with my arms full of shipping boots only to drop them in horror when I saw that Frenchie's door was open. I ran to the stall and sure enough, he was gone. Okay, don't panic. I sent Chris off one way with a halter and I ran the other. Together we ran/walked around the 30 acre farm with no luck. Then I started to panic. I called my friend Amelia who boards there to find out if the property was truly fully enclosed by fencing. She thought it was and as she was telling me that I found a fence that was down and was forced to panic further. Amelia hopped in her car and drove over. In the mean time I had Chris unhook the trailer and we jumped in the truck and drove around the whole property. Still nothing.

As we drove back by the barn I thought I saw Frenchie though. Because I was driving so fast I couldn't be sure so rather than back up I drove around to the side of the barn and looked again. No horse. I started to look around outside again (now almost in tears...how do you explain to people that you lost your four-star horse right before Rolex?) and Chris decided to double check the barn where I thought I had seen him. Sure enough Chris calls out to me that it indeed was Frenchie. (Needless to say I practically collapsed with relief, trauma, etc).

There was a happy reunion and I went back to see where Chris had found him. He had been sitting in the cross alley eating alfalfa. In fact, he had probably been there the entire time and I had run by him not once, but twice without seeing him since I was so convinced he had to be outside. The only thing I can figure is that I must have not latched his stall. Frenchie is quite the escape artist and this is not the first time he's turned himself loose, but I think it really really will be the last if I have anything to do with it!!!

So after settling down and hooking the trailer back up, we loaded the horses and started off at 9:00 PM only an hour behind schedule. The drive was good and I enjoy driving at night with the horses. At 3:30 AM we pulled in to a little gas station outside of Atlanta in the bad part of town only to find that we had blown a trailer tire.

I spent a very frustrating hour on the phone with everyone and their brother, I even called the police, but there was no one who could/would help me with the tire. (Quick reminder, the trailer still has the locking lugnuts on the tires and the place I got the trailer from never did manage to get me a lug nut key so I was yet again stuck with no way to get the tire off). I finally found a tire place that would open at 7:00 near a truck stop...but it was 15 miles away. So we filled up with gas and limped the poor rig over to said truck stop where Chris and I caught about 2 hours of sleep with the poor poor horses stuck in the trailer.

At 7 we took the trailer to the tire place who told us that they too could not get the tire off, but thought they could change it still on the rig. And change they did. So at 8 in the morning we set off again, north to KY. 5 hours later - bam - there goes that same tire again. This time we were in a little town in TN called Athens (coincidence?). The tire place was much closer and this place was able to take the tire off. It turned out we had two problems, a hairline crack in our rim and a slice in the tire where a tool must have slipped while they were putting it on in the first place. Mind you it took 2+ hours to find out all that.

So we finally hit the road again (not sure what time) feeling frustrated. I was really glad to have someone else with me. We got within 12 miles of the horse park and I was dying to get there when we hit the biggest traffic jam I have ever seen. It took us 1 hour to go 2 miles. Again, lucky for Chris, he had some Red Dwarf episodes on his laptop that we watched to kill the time. Finally finally traffic started to move and at 5:00, 20 hours after we set off to make a 12 hour drive, we arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park.

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Rolex:

The next day I took Chris to the airport so he could go home to work and take care of our cats. The horses settled in quickly and the horse park is amazing! Skizzy and Chase thought the whole place was a little big and overwhelming and Frenchie was buzzing with anticipation. On Wednesday everyone arrived. The first jog was supposed to be at 3:00. Perfect, I would pick up Helen (one of my grooms) at the airport at 1 and have time to get ready. But as I was leaving the park I heard the announcement "in an effort to beat the incoming bad weather, the jog has been moved up to 2:00". Great, Frenchie wasn't braided and Helen didn't have a cell. But I gambled and won. I got to the airport early and Helen's flight was early. I grabbed her and flew back to the horse park, grabbed my braiding kit, and threw some braids in his mane. Helen cleaned him up and I ran to get dressed...just as the skies opened up. We did our jog in the pouring rain and made it back to the stalls by 3, just as the rain stopped. Figures.

My sister and mom and friends flew in that night.

The next day Frenchie and I got to do dressage...again, in the pouring rain. Poor Garyn (my sister and head groom) was having fits about the mud splashing in Frenchie's tail. But despite all that we put in the best test of our lives and were sitting in 2nd after the first day of dressage!! I have to say I felt way cool during the press conference sitting at a table with a microphone answering people's questions

Friday I rode the roads and tracks and worried about the footing and the course. The rain had caused the footing to be soft and deep. The modified format (my division) was supposed to go first and I would have been the 13th horse out. Not bad. But the TD and such decided that the long format horses should go first instead so they would have the better footing which meant that I was about the 60th horse to go. Not good.

But Saturday dawned sunny and bright. I was not very inspired however as I heard problem after problem in the long format. I thought I would go watch a few and the first horse I saw eliminated at fence 8. So I went back to the barns and just fretted. Finally 2:00 rolled around and I got on Frenchie and headed out on the modified roads and tracks. Frenchie was wound tight in the 10 min box and once we were on course everything fell in to place. I had a wakeup call at fence 2 as I tried to go for the long spot, but that was all I needed to keep my brain where it should be. Frenchie was foot perfect and I was having the time of my life.

I know the water jump caused some hearts to stop however. Frenchie used to have water issues, but he's been so super the last year that I just didn't come in aggressive enough. He crawled over the first drop in cantered up the bank and then crawled over the second. But all that counts is that we went through the flags and were on our way. It made my heart jump to hear the roar from the crowd who had been riding every step of the way with us. The rest of the course again was just super.

Frenchie really tried his heart out. Because of his injury last fall we didn't have the amount of time we really needed to get fit. He finished the course in good spirits but he was tired and we were 45 seconds over time. Again though, I couldn't have felt happier or more proud.

There was a scary moment in the vet box where the vets were arguing with the camera crews since I started to walk Frenchie sooner than the network wanted for their "photo finish". I thought there was something wrong but found out quickly it was just a struggle between looking good for the TV and actually caring for your horse. As a result, I never did get interviewed by the cameras because I stayed with Frenchie and helped cool him down. He recovered quickly and drug me back to the barns despite my protests and trying to tell him how tired I was.

Speaking of which, I'm going to leave you there until tomorrow. It's late and I still have a lot more to write. You can see pictures of us at

http://www.rk3de.org/Photos.cfm
Jessica and the gang

Jessica and Frenchie are one of only three horse/rider teams to go clean without time faults in Stadium Jumping, resulting in a final placing of 13th in the Modified CCI**** Division!

Hey all!!!

I'm so excited to write to you...but I only have a bit of time. Life has
been so crazy busy I can't even start to tell you. I had quite the crazy
trip to KY and there are just not enough hours in the day. I just wanted to
touch base with you though and let you know that things went so well.

Frenchie was the best in his whole life for dressage putting us 2nd after
the first day and down to 11th after the second. XC was amazing and
Frenchie was just incredible. It was so much fun and we picked up 18 time
penalties to move down to 15th. Then on stadium day...I was one of only
THREE clean stadium rounds (clean time and jump...there was one other who
was clear jump but not time). And of those three...I was the only American
;) So I moved up to 13th and was invited to let the team vets, farriers,
and selectors look at Frenchie tomorrow. And then I head home.

I promise you will all get a super long email with all the details when I
get back and on my feet. I can't stress how incredible this trip has been.
Thinking of you all...jess frenchie and gang.

Jessica and Frenchie are now tied for 15th place following cross country with only 30 competitors having successfully completed the cross country phase. Tomorrow is the final phase of stadium jumping.

Thursday Dressage

Imagine dancing a ballet in rubber boots, in the rain, and ankle-deep in mud. This is how today’s Modified four star, and CCI**** riders must have felt. The spring showers that bring May flowers were unrelenting until the last 5-6 horses went this afternoon.

But what’s a little rain when you hail from one of the nation’s wettest states? Amy Tryon from Duvall, Washington, with Leigh Mesher’s My Beau, took an imposing lead with a lovely, accurate and very workman-like test. Amy’s halt and rein back were probably one of the nicest seen all day, as was her extended canter work. Her score of 42.0 put her nearly eight points ahead of fellow Washingtonian, Jessica Heidemann riding her own French Twist.

This is Jessica’s first trip to the Kentucky Horse Park, and her dressage test showed the control, poise and accuracy of a more seasoned competitor; especially under such adverse conditions. Her score of 50.2 has her currently tied for eleventh place with Holly Hepp of Middleburg, Virginia, riding Lester Piggott.

By Alden Murray

Hello all!

I thought I’d give you an update before I headed off to Kentucky. The
horses are all doing well. Frenchie is working hard on his
dressage…although not as enthusiastically as I would like.

Chase and Skizzy are becoming much more at peace with their alone-ness…as I
have separated them to try and curb the ridiculous bond that was created.
They are also working very hard on their jumping and I’ve been super happy
with their progress. Chase is much more comfortable with ditches and Skizzy
is tackling water and drops like a pro. She hasn’t quite figured out the
skinny thing yet, but she’s getting starting to get it. It’s just amazing
how much schooling I can do down here! It’s almost a full season of
eventing in 2 weeks.

I’ve been eating well since I have been visited by some family! It was a
lot of fun and good to see relatives that I haven’t seen in a long time.
Other than that things have been pretty low key. The bugs are ridiculous
down here though!! Poor Frenchie has taken the brunt of it and has a bunch
of bites on his neck and raw spots at the base of his ears. I bought him a
fly mask today that will go over his ears to try and help. The weather has
been super the last two days. Overcast and 75 with a nice breeze. Happy
days.

Once I get to KY and find an internet connection I’ll give you another
update. Until then take care!

Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy, and Chase

April 7, 2004

Well, I’m officially a little lobster child. My first day in FL and Jessica
doesn’t put on any sunscreen. I was so good about it in CA too!!! But I
will definitely not make the mistake again :)

As for the show. I didn’t ride XC until 1 so I had lots of time to get nice
and nervous. There were a few big questions on course and I was able to
watch the first advanced group go…there were 20 and only 5...yes FIVE
crossed the finish line! So that wasn’t much of a confidence builder.

But we all know the story has a happy ending :) Frenchie was way overly
enthusiastic in warm-up and I was glad when it was our turn to go to the
start box so that I could get him away from all the other horses and give
him something to focus on. The first three fences were pretty straight
forward…four to five was our first question…a table to a bending line to a
corner. We were supposed to put in 5 strides, but Frenchie decided that it
was too early on the course to listen to his mother so he put in four and
then jumped HUGE over the corner and then ran too far down the hill so that
we were off our line to the next fence. He always thinks he knows where
he’s going but he doesn’t.

He was great at the water…which was so wonderful since he used to have water
issues…but I’m pretty sure we’re past those now. The other question that
caused a lot of problems was three fences…you could take the straight route
through all with some chancy angles or bend the line from one to two and
waste a little time. I decided to do the straight line and Frenchie did it
like a star. After that we were home free. We crossed the finish line with
11 seconds of time (due to huge jumps in bad places) and very very happy.

The real accomplishment though, is that we crossed the finish with a cool,
tight, super strong tendon. I had it ultrasounded just in case and that
just confirmed that his leg really does look great.

Later that night Mark Philips came and clapped his hand down on my shoulder
at the competitors party and smiled :) He was happy with the ride which
made me happy (and of course talking to him made me nervous).

Due to all the time and jump faults we moved from 23rd to 8th. Yay!!

Frenchie passed his jog with no questions and then we were on to stadium.
Again it was later in the day but I didn’t have to be nearly as worried this
time. It was a twisty course and I haven’t had a clear stadium in a while
so I was a little worried. But I really kept Mark’s teachings in mind
during warm up and Frenchie was jumping like a champ. We came in the ring
(Frenchie leaping around) the bell was rung…and off Jess goes to the first
fence. Look Frenchie…there’s the long spot!! (bad bad jess). “but mom,
Uncle Mark says that we’re supposed to get closer to the fences now…”
Frenchie chipped in and I swear we took down the whole fence, standards and
all. I heard every one of those rails rattle along with the coop
underneath. I figured, okay, pressures off, one rail down.

But as I came around the corner to fence four I could see that some how, by
the hand of some supreme being or lady luck, the fence was still
standing…which of course put the pressure back on for the rest of the course
:) The round was a little fractious for my taste but he jumped the moon and
didn’t touch a thing after that. I came out and Mark Philips was beaming
from ear to ear (something I don’t know that I’ve ever seen). He just gave
me a nod and a “good job”. So I finished in 7th and with one of only 13
clear rounds. I’m so proud of my little boy :)

Afterwards I was able to school the poor neglected Skizzy and Chase over XC
fences and they were both super. Chase did his first prelim coffin and
Skizzy was super brave at the scary water. I’ve gotten to play with them
both down here in Fl as well and they’ve both still been great.

So now I get to relax and train for 2 weeks. I want to try Frenchie in a
double bridle to keep him more off my hand in dressage. I also want to try
him in a chiton caveson…also called a half moon or “stop you F-er” noseband
to see if I can’t have a little more say on XC :)

I finally found some real Timothy hay so the horses are overjoyed. I’ve also
decided that the biggest difference between the east and west is their
attitudes towards internet and coffee shops. I can only find internet at my
friend’s house but that’s okay :)

Oh, I almost forgot!! To update you all on my Seabiscut phenomenon...it has
gotten much better. It was my RIGHT leg that got bashed into the flag at
the skinny on XC :)

I hope everyone is well.

Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy, and Chase

First I am so sorry for not writing last night!! I forgot that Georgia is
closed on Sundays. Then I was going to update you all this morning but the
temporary stalls were being taken down around my poor horsies so I had to
throw them in the trailer and then pack and now I'm in Florida :)

The drive was easy and the horses are all settled.

What you're all wondering though is about the event...I can't go in to
detail now as I'm stealing internet from a friend and we have to leave
so...I'll write a lot more later once I find a connection in Ocala...

XC was fabulous...my innards were inside out with nervousness but it was
all for naught. Frenchie was super and I picked up only 4.4 time penalties
to move from 23 to 8th!! Stadium also was super and we were one of only 13
clear rounds out of 50 to move up to 7th.

I'll give lots of details later!!

Jessica and gang

First off...(I forgot this in my last email)

Emily Gibson has been kind enough to put all of my posts online...you can
see them at http://www.briarcroft.com/jessicaupdate.htm

Also, there was a great article about me in the Bellingham Herald. Emily
scanned the pictures and linked to the article on "my" page on her site at
http://www.briarcroft.com/jessica.htm

Okay, first Seabiscuit. It seems that now, after the movie people relate two
things to Seabiscuit.
1) greatness
2) horse/rider injuries

It's fun to watch little girls say "he looks just like Seabiscuit" about a
huge black mare and other unmatching horses. Of course they only say that
about the "Olympic" horses.

As far as the injuries...Frenchie hurt his left front tendon. He also got a
dermatitis on the outside of the leg in CA that has been giving me some
problems. At the same time I got a cut on my left hand and the thought did
pass through my mind "just like in Seabiscuit". But now I want to formally
and publically revoke that comment because this hurt thing is out of
control!!! Right now I'm sporting a purple toe that Skizzy stepped on on
Monday that still hurts like mad, a huge swollen bruised knee that I whacked on
the door in the trailer, a sprained ankle from jumping over a ditch on XC
and the original cut...and yes, they are ALL on the left side of my body.

Hopefully this public announcement of injuries will stop my string of bad
luck...

Now for what you all want ... dressage day was good. Frenchie was a brat
but that's to be expected on his first outing. Mark Phillips helped me
warm up, and walked the XC course with me, AND asked when I would be at
Rolex so he could give me some lessons. hee hee

I scored a 64+% from both judges. One judge said it was a nice test that
would be better when I figured out how to get him between my hand and my
leg, and the other said it was a nice test that was tactfully ridden on a
naughty horse...I like the second judge better :) I am sitting tied for
23rd out of 72 riders. Not bad considering I got a 3 from both judges on
Frenchie's big blow up.

So I'm looking forward to tomorrow...but I don't have any huge expectations
(and I don't want you to have any either!!). I just want to get around
safe and with all four legs on my horse. The course looks good...it looks
big, but not as big as the first time I walked it :). There are a lot of
good questions out there though, but nothing Frenchie and I can't handle.

I'll let you know how it goes...I'll try really hard to let you all know
tomorrow how it goes but I may not get to a computer until Sunday. If you
don't hear from me and you're dying to know, you can call the barn at (360)
595-9160. They'll have the full scoop :)

Jessica Frenchie Skizzy and Chase (the latter two are feeling a bit put
out...but had a nice hack today.)

Hello all!!

Here's more on the airing of Rolex...

"NBC-TV will present a 90-minute telecast of the 2004 Rolex Kentucky
Three-Day Event, presented by Bayer on Sunday, May 2, from 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Eastern Time.

Outdoor Life Network (OLN) will present two 60-minute specials on the
modified Four Star Three-Day Event of Rolex Kentucky 2004. The specials will
air Sunday, May 9, and Sunday, May 16, at 5:00-6:00 p.m. Eastern Time."

In other news...people in Georgia don't feed their horses. It's the only
logical explanation to the fact that I can not buy hay in Georgia. No one
sells it. I did find one guy who sells hay..our conversation went as
follows...(make sure to give the guy a heavy southern accent)
"hello, do you sell horse hay?"
"yup, I got round bales"
"umm...that's not really what I was looking for"
"okay then, I'll make them square bales"
"That's okay, I'll pass. Thank you for your time."

I did finally find Orchard grass in TN...so I drove there to pick up some
little 50 lb bales that the horses hate. Skizzy and Frenchie will eat it,
but Chase has decided he would rather be anorexic. I figure he'll start
eating soon :)

Once again, we need to talk about the weather. I suppose it serves me right
for complaining so much, but it started raining Monday night and hasn't
stopped. It's also about 50 degrees out. Because this ground really wasn't
made for rain all of my stalls have flooded. The horses think it's
great...they have their own personal mud bath.

So the show officially starts tomorrow...this means that there are finally
people around!! Yay :) I was surprised and pleased to see that I know a
good handful of people. The horses are good and Skizzy and Chase are finally
settling in. I took Frenchie galloping yesterday and he thought it was
fun.

I'll keep you all updated as I can throughout the show!!

Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy, and Chase

Well we're here in Georgia!!

This trip was much less eventful so I don't have much to write! I found
internet at a gaming place so I'll have to keep looking for my cute free
cafe :)

The horses were all super. Chase loaded like a star the whole trip. The
days were longer than I bargained for...14 the first, 11 the second and 12
the third but we made it. Again, it's hot, but I think that will just be a
theme. It's more humid down here though.

I rode all the horses and they were all very good today. This is a much
different set up as the farm is a good 30 min from town and the horses are
all alone over at the competition stabling. It's a huge wakeup from the
wonderful people at Kingsway in CA. I haven't actually spoken to anyone
yet...it seems no one works until Monday.

GA is like a different world compared to the NW. Some people's accents are
so thick I can barely understand them...and most people ask me to repeat
myself as well. I remembered this from last year but didn't really expect
it again :)

I listened to a lot of good books on tape...my favorite of which was Steve
Martins "The Pleasure of My Company". I highly recommend it to each and
every one of you!! It had me laughing out loud and smiling until my cheeks
hurt. It also kept me feeling a little saner and put life in perspective a
bit. Again, highly recommended.

The only real notable thing is that I lost my wheelbarrow somewhere between
GA and CA. I just hope it didn't hurt anyone!! So I bought another today.

Hay will be a problem again since they don't have any Timothy down here,
but I'm off to the feed store next to check out my options.

I hope everyone is well!
Jessica, Frenchie, Chase, and Skizzy

I leave Cali bright and early Wednesday morning. It's been a good trip but
I can't say I'll miss the heat. I've tried to keep sun screen on but I'm
sure that I'm a bit pinker than a mother would approve of :)

The last two days of the clinic were great. On Friday we did some dressage
work the first half. We really worked on our half-pass which is by far the
weakest point in our test (well, other than the walk but he's an event horse
and I've given up on it - but don't tell Mark that ;) ). Anyways. We got
some great tips and I really feel like I have some tools at my disposal now.
The second half of the lesson we did some stadium jumping. It was a bit
frustrating because Mark changed everything that I have ever been told to
do. He wanted me to hold less and lean forward more...once we convinced
Frenchie that it didn't mean he could take off with me it really did go
well. Mark got on Frenchie and cantered a 20 meter circle (yes, just one)
to show me what he wanted...the visual aid was very helpful. Frenchie
jumped well and Mark and Gina Miles sat and talked about what a super
careful horse he was *proud grin*. That's my boy.

Saturday we went over to Gallway so that Mark could watch me gallop and we
could do a little XC. Again, he ripped apart everything I have ever known.
He really put us in the same position that a jockey uses when he gallops a
race horse. I felt like I had never ridden before! :) Mark got on Frenchie
again to show me the position but this time Frenchie was a bit higher. He
cantered around the arena once to show me and then got off and said he was
too old to get bucked off...which then when I got back on Frenchie, he
proceeded to try and do. Mark just laughed and said he was glad it wasn't
him. So anyways, we worked in the arena for a while and then went out to
practice over "real" fences. We only jumped 4 fences but I really felt like
I was getting what Mark wants.

It's been an interesting experience having my whole riding world turned
upside-down and inside-out. I'm going to keep working on what he showed me
through Rolex and see what I have on the other side. I thanked Mark at the
end of my lesson and he said "this has been a huge day for you" and pointed
to his head to indicate that it was all mental. It's a humbling experience
to be a true student again struggling with the concepts of what your
instructor is getting at. But it's exciting because I know I'll just come
back out of this a better, stronger, more competent rider and hopefully
teacher. Mark will be at North Georgia so we'll see what he says about our
performance there.

The other horses have been pretty good. I was thrilled with the little bit
of XC schooling that I got to do with them at Kingsway. Unfortunately I
wasn't able to get them out anywhere else. I tried Copper Meadows and Jill
Waltons but both places needed me to have a trainer and everyone was too
busy. Oh well, they'll at least get to school in FL if not in GA after the
event. They are still madly in love but have allowed me to remove the other
from their presence if I promise to have them back in 1 hour. Poor Chase
only got to know me for 1 week prior to our departure. I think his new
mantra is (insert Garyn's best horsey voice) "my mother would never treat me
like this!". Skizzy generally says "yah, well she IS my mother so you should
be happy."

Interestingly enough, the only other consistent thing that I've struggled
with is food. Both for me and for the horses. Now, I'm not a real big
cooker...but I vowed that I was not going to go out to eat while I was in
cali because I had this wonderful place to stay and all this free time and
darn it, I was going to cook myself some food! That lasted for 2 days.
Now, since I'm sticking to my vow not to eat out I've been eating a lot of
pickles, fruit snacks, tomatoes, salami slices, avocado, mustard, and green
olives. Oh, and celery but now I ran out of cream cheese. I was eating a
lot of cereal but I ran out of clean bowls and I had doing the dishes even
more than I hate cooking. *sigh*. I suppose I'll have to buck up in the
end. The good news however, is that I managed to get myself some good
popcorn. Popcorn is a very important part of my existence and it has to be
done just right. First you have to have a pot and do it the old fashioned
way. Then you need butter and brewers yeast. I was worried that I might
not be able to find brewer's yeast on the road so I brought a whole bunch
with me :) I was excited the first night when I had all the stuff...but I
realized I didn't have a bowl. So the next day I bought a bowl, and got all
ready to make popcorn only to discover that although this living quarters
has every gismo and gadget known to man, it does not have self-lighting
burners. So then the next day again I bought a lighter and we were set. I
rented a movie from Blockbuster and settled down in front of my laptop with
my bowl of fresh popcorn. It was almost like home but without the cats
demanding attention.

As for the horses...Normally at home, Chase gets grain only in the morning.
(Skizzy and Frenchie get half in the AM and half in the PM). So I tried to
keep everyone on their same schedule. But no, Skizzy and Chase were so
afraid of loosing one another that neither would eat the hay and grain that
they got for breakfast...instead they hung their heads out the stall doors
and stared at each other. Fine. So I started feeding Skizzy first - just
grain which she wouldn't eat - and then putting the two of them out with
their hay and moving Chase's grain to the evening. Well Frenchie was upset
about that because it meant that his friends left their stalls that much
earlier. But finally after a few days they settled in to that routine. Now
like I've said, it's been very hot and the horse's have been sweating. So I
thought I would start adding electrolytes to their grain. Unfortunately in
the same thought/same day, I thought I should start putting garlic in their
grain so that when they went to bug-land Florida they would be a bit more
protected (Skizzy is pretty allergic to bugs). However, after adding both
electrolytes and garlic all of the horses were convinced I was trying to
poison them. Even with fresh grain they said that they could still smell
the garlic and it was unacceptable. Skizzy however has been the most comical
about the whole thing. She wouldn't touch anything until I was in her stall
with her and wanted to see how horrible it really was. So I grabbed a piece
of corn from her grain dish and ate it. Well that was just too much, if I
was going to eat it then she was too, but she would take a bite and then
chew with her mouth open and her lips pulled back so that the grain would
fall back out of her mouth. "mmm, see, I like the grain". That was a few
days ago. And now I'm renewing my attempts to add garlic and so far it's
been good.

The hay situation caused some stress as well but just because Timothy costs
$20 A BALE down here!!! (it's about 8 at home for a 3 string bale). But I
bit the bullet so my horses didn't have to change feed :)

Otherwise things are pretty uneventful. I'm sorry if this rambled on about
uninteresting stuff, but it gives me something to do :) I won't write again
until I'm in GA. I plan on arriving on Friday and I'm sure it will take a
while to find myself another internet connection. I hope everyone is well!

Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy and Chase

PS...for those of you following Cassy, she had her first jumping lesson with
Uncle Steve and he still loves her. She was a super star so I'm sure she'll
be in tip-top shape when I come back...if Garyn doesn't sell her as a
stadium jumper in the mean time.

Hello all!!

Well, we made it safe and sound. So many things to tell you all...

I'll start with a weak "February update" since not a lot happened from the
last time I wrote since that was so late as well. Frenchie just continued
to progress nicely and started jumping (which felt so good!!!). We also
found a rider to keep Cassy jumping while I'm gone and she's getting along
splendidly with him.

And now the trip is officially underway :)

It started at about 4 AM Monday morning. I threw the rest of my clothes and
stuff from the house in the car and headed out to the barn. 5:00 I got
there and got everything I could think of in the trailer (but I did most of
my packing the day before). Got the horses' boots on and off we go right?
No. First we put Skizzy in the trailer and she proceeded to leap around and
try and come through the window. Okay, so Garyn stood there and fed her
cookies while I got Chase. Now Chase was ... I just realized that most of
you have no idea who Chase is. He's a training horse that is coming with me
for training and schooling and such. He's a very sweet bay TB gelding that
is going Training level and hoping to move up. Okay, now that the
introductions are out of the way ... Chase was already a little upset
because he said that his halter fleecies made him feel stupid and he didn't
like his boots. So he let me know in no uncertain terms that he was not
about to get in the trailer because he was grumpy and there was a crazy
black horse already in there. To make a long story short we drugged Skizzy
(to keep her quiet) and Chase and got them in the trailer and then grabbed
Frenchie who leaped in with no problems telling the other two that they were
acting silly and finally hit the road at 7:30...2 hours later than planed.

So off we went in not the best of spirits but we certainly made our presence
known on the road. The trailer I ended up with for the trip has a 35' belly
and an extra long goose neck and is pulled by a huge F450 crew cab (that I
had to sell my old truck and my soul to buy). This is by far the biggest
rig I have ever pulled, but I am pleased to say that I have yet to hit
anything :) (quick! Knock on wood!!).

I made my first stop in 13 hours south of Redding, CA. The horses unloaded
and settled in like champs. I slept like a rock and 6:30 AM came way to
fast. So this time, now being alone, I learned my lesson in loading.
Step 1 - Drug and load crazy black horse
Step 2 - Go get sensitive bay horse with lots of cookies
Step 3 - use the lounge line through the window so that you can push and
pull on bay horse at the same time and voila - bay horse loads
Step 4 - go get champ chestnut
Step 5 - Get drug over to the trailer by naughty chestnut dying to get to
his friends (note to self, use stud chain)
step 6 - load now neurotic chestnut
Step 7 - lock everyone in and hit the road!!

So mostly in part to my loading experience the second day of travel started
out much better. I had one gas station incident where I was trying to go
where a 40+ foot rig didn't belong and it took a while to untangle...but
otherwise I was making good time. I hit LA around 4...just the start of
rush hour. I got on to I-215 at 4:30. And at 4:40 I looked back and saw a
bulge the size of a golf ball in one of my trailer tires.

So I pulled over and found a tire place not too far from me...in downtown
Pasadena, at 5:00 rush hour. I think it's safe to say that the citizens of
Pasadena and I are not on speaking terms any more. but I managed to maneuver
the rig to the tire place and was forced to park in the middle of the road
since they couldn't accomodate us :) So I got the tire fixed .
6:30 - back on the road!! I finally hit my destination at 7:30 tired but
happy to be there safe and sound. Again the horses were champs and we all
crashed.

The next day I spent getting the horses settled in and getting the Living
quarters in order. (it's still not done). Chase and Skizzy get to go out
together in a huge (2+ acre) paddock together. They have declared their
undying love for each other and would like to have the wedding as soon as
possible. Frenchie is feeling very left out.

Now, Frenchie isn't really supposed to be turned out...but watching him so
sad was breaking my heart. So I took him out and galloped him and worked
him down real good...then I took him to a nice big flat safe paddock armed
with a can of grain should things get out of hand. I let him go and he was
super. I sat next to the paddock with my can of grain and read my book. He
had some cows next to him that he made friends with and was quite content.

I had to go in to town though so I put him back in in stall. When I got
back to the barn I couldn't help but feel sorry for him so I let him back
out in the paddock that he had been so good in. Bad Jess, bad bad jess. He
ran and called and was silly so I got my grain...but on the way to get him
he said he was sorry and settled down. I watched him for about 20 min and
then started to clean his stall...about 5 min later I asked a girl to look
in on him. She said well, he's trotting a bit towards the fenceline, now
he's headed for the coop in the fence line (a little jump set there for fox
hunters and such), now he's jumping the coop and running with the cows.
Great.

So I go flying over, grain can in hand yelling at him to get his little red
tail back here...surprisingly he did. He turned right around, cantered back
over the fence and ran up to me. That was the end of his turn-out
privileges and I reminded him of that little escapade today when he asked
again to be let back outside.

Skizzy and Chase were both good to ride but I think the farm will have their
vocal cords cut if they don't stop screaming back and forth to each other.

Today was my first ride with Mark Phillips. It was very very good. He gave
me some great pointers and said that we had a lot of potential (which I'm
trying really hard to take as a complement instead of thinking that it
really just means that we suck right now :) ). Tomorrow we'll do half
dressage and half stadium and then Saturday we'll do cross country.

The only other notable think is that it's &%*!#@ hot down here!!! Yesterday
it was 91 and today it only got to 87. Yuck. But I think it's supposed to
start cooling down...I hope.

I'll keep in touch when I can. After scouring Temecula for an internet cafe
(and giving up), I stumbled on one by chance when I was trying to get ice
cream at the Cold Stone Creamery only 5 min from the farm.

Take care!
Jessica, Frenchie, Skizzy and Chase.