Schwaben-Power in Kentucky - and time to 'retire' my wedding ring

Rolex Kentucky beckoned and as every year we came. I was especially keen on watching my fellow Schwabian Michael Jung show the rest of the field how to do it right – riding a 4star CCI, that is. And he did not disappoint!

Saturday the heavens opened and the forecasted 63F were nowhere to be seen. We sloshed through the mud and cold, but got treated to excellent riding. The famous Kentucky Bluegrass held its ground, meaning the course held up well. Several riders were held on course to repair frangible pins on jumps that got hit. Always a nerve-wracking situation to get pulled out of the galloping rhythm. It was neat to see New Zealander Tim Price (who would finish 2^nd) get off during the hold to give his horse a break.

Sunday showed Kentucky at its finest weather for the final show jumping competition. The stadium was sold out for the nail-biting finish. I loved the parade of competitors, especially of course the sole German, Michael Jung, walking next to the pony clubber carrying the German flag.

It was our ‘Big’ Anniversary, and we couldn’t have picked a better place to celebrate – first at the Kentucky Horsepark, then a lovely dinner at Le Deauville, followed by… I won't say J

I will say, however, that JP completely blew me away with his surprise: He had designed two matching rings in the form of horseheads, one representing Saumur and one representing Remy, and had them custom made by a jeweler in Metamora. Wow! Time to retire my wedding ring! (Hmm, I don’t think that was JP’s intention, though…).

One of us enjoys his vacation - the other one crosses the pond

Back after nine non-riding days in Europe. Meetings in France followed by F&F (friends & family) time in Germany. The trip went well, the French air traffic controllers decided not to strike, which I greatly appreciated.

Dinner with about 50 men in Lyon, lights are dimmed, waiter presents me with a dessert that has sparklers on it. People clap. Wait – it’s not my birthday! Up comes the ‘instigator’ (one of the division directors, interestingly also named Remi) and says that they all appreciated me being at the strategy session as the only woman, and they wanted to thank me for attending. Well, that just made the entire trip worthwhile!

Off to Germany, last plane landing in Stuttgart at night. Suitcase made it and Ingrid is standing by. Nothing like being welcomed by one of your best friends when you are utterly exhausted. Next day: Trip to Loesdau (a MUST), with parents. Find great Cavallo show pants, decorated with crystals. Nothing like a bit of bling (usually so not my style, but those look great). Cashier looks up my frequent buyer number, sees the US address, and compliments me on my “perfect German”. 

On to visit Stephanie, almost more sister than friend. There is never enough time, but we make the best of it. And.. she presents me with “Chocolate Remy”! He will be my travel companion back to the States.

Sunday: Lovely day trip into the Schwarzwald*, with parents and Ingrid. I LOVE the Schwarzwald! Picture myself galloping on logging trails, traversing the pine forest where the light has a hard time penetrating through the dense trees (hence the name Schwarz -Black- Wald -Forest-).

Monday, 6 a.m.: Flight to DTW via AMS. Happy to be home!!

Remy had the week off playing with his friends. First ride back yesterday left me pretty much frustrated at my inability to quickly pick up where we left off. Remy filled in the blanks for me (thanks, buddy) and despite howling winds violently attacking the roof and walls of the barn he did a lovely job.

I guess “Chocolate Remy” is a good role model (so no way I could eat him)!

*The Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald),is a great, forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. It is bounded by the Rhine valley to the west and south.

"Honey, you shrank my pants!" - and off to school he goes

Time to go back to school – for the boys that is. Judy is back from CA, meaning Remy’s party time at home officially came to an end yesterday. JP wanted to bring Chambord along, and while I was still working on my laptop JP was getting ready (it takes a long time to get Chambord presentable = clean).

All off a sudden I hear a panicked “I can’t get into my riding pants, they must have shrunk in the wash!” Hmm, really? I didn’t exactly ‘cook’ them, and mine were just fine. Then it dawned on me: JP was literally trying to get into my pants! We both have brown full seat pants that look pretty identical, alas, different sizes…JP is by no means a big guy, but fitting into a size 26 'ain't gonna happen'.

Nothing like a good laugh to set the mood for a good ride. After four days off Remy went to work like a grown up. I had briefly thought about longing him first, but then decided to give it a whirl without. It took him a bit to find his hind legs, and me to get him to come to the party quicker but then we were trucking.

I had left Remy’s Thinline pad at home and he had to make do with a –notquitethesame- substitute, but at least he didn’t accuse me of shrinking his pants!

Happy Easter! - And a rather bleak forecast when it comes to riding time

Happy Easter! Remy is enjoying his time off goofing around with Chambord. He is sleeping well, judging from the 'breading' of shavings he sported this morning.

I'm trying to grapple with my schedule for the month, and not liking the lack of riding time at all. Next Sunday I'm heading to France for meetings, then onto a meeting in Germany, followed by the weekend with my parents. Back to the US on the 6 a.m. flight Monday morning. A few days in the office, and we head to Rolex. OK, that's for fun! 91 entries this year, and the top rider from Germany to boot. Watching Michael Jung is pretty inspiring, and not just because we speak the same dialect!

Back from Rolex and onto Mexico the next day. Nope, not to lay on the beach. More meetings with a customer trying to press out money for the pleasure of doing business with them. And for that I travel from Detroit to Mexico City, to Veracruz, to Orizaba. If I'm lucky and no flight gets canceled I'll be back home just in time to ride with Jan.

Not exactly a swell idea to sign up to ride with a demanding Olympian after weeks of no riding, I know...

Ah, I think that calls for the 'kill' of another chocolate bunny, my endorphins need a serious boost!

The coach has tires again - and an early present from the Easter Bunny

Well, the coach is rolling again - meaning the manufacturer sent five funkelnagelneue tires of the right kind (radial!) to the dealer. JP made another four hour round trip, and voila - we do have the trailer back. Despite assurances all around that now everything is perfect my faith in it is still pretty shaky. First thing before picking up the trailer was signing up for USRider, a roadside assistance program that dispatches aid (hopefully!) if we run into trouble.

JP took Chambord on the maiden voyage to Topline, just in time to ride during my lesson with Maryal. I wasn't sure what to expect as Remy had the first part of his Spring Shots yesterday. This time the vaccine didn't seem to cause any negative reaction, so we threw ourselves into the action.

Remy was right on, he felt pretty awesome. Maryal helped us to improve the counter canter by reminding me that I need to keep the correct bend. Note to self: When doing the loop, don't go into the corners. Maryal's recommendation to think about 'gliding' when doing the shoulder in really helped. Our walk-canter transitions were much better (no skipping to the right), and the medium canter felt like flying. I said to Maryal I was expecting a jump at the end of the long side. We worked on transitions within the gaits and finished with nice trot-half passes.

Several times during the lesson Maryal exclaimed: "Your ride makes my heart happy!" I guess the Easter Bunny came early for me this year :-)!

Still, I wonder, would it be too much to ask to come back with some chocolate eggs??

Traveling with the new tests - learning on the fly

Traveling to Sherbrooke (a town about half-way between Montreal and Quebec City) I packed the usual: Laptop, business suits, TSA approved travel cosmetics, and so on... plus the Dressage Illustrated Test Book 2nd level. I thought I might as well use the time in transit to learn the new tests.

Quite frankly, I'm the worst person for my job when it comes to travel. I need heavy duty prescription anti-nausea medication every time I travel. Otherwise I will spend the entire time with my nose in the 'courtesy bag' , in the worst case passing out. The meds not only make me groggy and give me stomach issues, they also affect my eyesight so enter reading glasses. Really?! The things we do to learn dressage tests... As for learning the test patterns, let's just say I'm still in the 'assimilation stage'. 

This trip I was tempted to double the meds, so I wouldn't think about the tragic crash of the German plane in the French Alps. My heart aches for all the people that lost their lives, and the families that have to deal with the loss. 

The trip went smoothly, well, aside from the huge piece of Elk I got served for dinner. This is what you get when you work in a male dominated business. Luckily the waiter took pity on me (probably fuming: "Ah, les Femmes!") and found a plate of pasta. 

Remy had his "Aunt Jude and me" time with Judy during the week. Yesterday's lesson was great, despite the meds still roiling in my system. Judy had worked with him on the collected canter and better responses to half-halts, and I got to reap the benefits. I might not know where to go but we sure can do awesome counter canter loops - Sweet!

Getting an education on trailer tires - Bias-Ply vs. Radial

I have been agonizing about the issues with my trailer and quite frankly I am still very much inclined to hand it back to the dealer.

On Tuesday a customer service representative from the manufacturer called me in response to the message I posted on their website. He informed me that the tire blowouts were due to my trailer having the wrong tires. WTF?? The tires were installed by you guys! That did not make me happy, and I quite bluntly told him so.

Turns out the manufacturer installed bias-ply tires on the trailers, IMO quite certainly to save on costs. It seems that they had quite a lot of customer complaints about tire blowouts, and now decided to switch to radial tires. Of course, the idea of informing the dealers about the issue apparently didn’t cross anybody’s mind, or if it did, it was squashed. Keep in mind the tire issue is just the top of the iceberg, before that it was faulty axles on our trailer.

So, our trailer got another complete inspection, and a set of five radial* tires is apparently on its way from Oklahoma to Michigan. Once the tires are installed at the dealer’s JP has to do another four hour round trip to pick up our trailer.

Quite frankly, the whole issue caused a lot of friction between the two of us. I think the trailer is a safety hazard, and I much rather just trade it in (it’s barely two years old). I am seriously wondering where else the manufacturer tried to cut corners to save money?

Of course, the dealer doesn’t want to go for a trade in, and JP is convinced that 1) it is now fixed and 2) I’m overreacting.

This is one of the very few times where I wish for JP to be right. And I think JP fervently wishes that, too. After all, if one more thing happens with the trailer he has to move into it - and then we can discuss "overreacting"..

* The main difference between bias ply and radial ply tire is how the tire is constructed. The cords underneath the tire are run in different directions. On a bias tire, the cords run at a 32 degree angle from the direction of travel and on a radial tire, the cords will run at 90 degrees from direction of travel, or across the tire from wheel lip to wheel lip.

Because of the construction of a radial tire, the tire has more flex and will allow for more ground contact. That will improve traction and better treadwear. It also gives the radial tire better stability. 

A bias tire will have a stiffer sidewall and shoulder, which will increase heat buildup in the tire. The radial tire will run cooler which will help the tire last longer, especially when the tire is under a load.