Hello from home!
I am happy to say that I am writing this last blog from my very own bed! We made it home today after a very long 16 hour day of driving! We arrived back to Centreline around 8:45pm and Stentano was happy to be back in his own "bed" too! We had an uneventful day of driving and it was pretty much traffic free until we got closer to Seattle where we hit some rush hour traffic but otherwise no problems! We had about a 5 minute wait at the border where the customs officer once again put on the "Hmm there are a lot of papers here look.. I guess I better pretend I know exactly what I'm looking at and stare at them for 5 minutes!" I always get a good chuckle out of that!
I have to say writing this makes me a little bit sad that this will be my last NAJYRC 2010 blog now that we are safe and sound back home. I have enjoyed writing back to you all as I reflected on each day. I so loved the whole entire experience and I could not ask for it to have gone any better! I would like to thank you all once again for supporting and following me along in this journey and believing in Stentano and I! I feel so blessed and so grateful to have such great parents that gave up 3 weeks to get Stentano and I to Kentucky and back and to be by our side the entire time! I am also so grateful for Karen and Albrecht as well who helped me along too! And most importantly I am so grateful for Stentano. He brought more to the table than I could have ever asked for and I know that my last 2 rides weren't perfect but he was pushing the envelope to the next level and now I need to work on learning how to ride the hotter, more powerful version of Stentano. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!
I am so proud of Stentano and I hope to make the journey again to KY next year so I guess we will pick back up with the blogging then :)
All the best!
Monica and Stentano
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Salt Lake City, UTAH
Hello from Salt Lake City, Utah!
(Photo: Just outside Salt Lake City)
We made another progressive move across the USA today clocking in 15 hours! The weather was fairly cooperative today staying in the 70's for most of the day until we got into Salt Lake City where it peaked up to 90 degrees F when we arrived... however the humidity is gone now so it doesn't seem overwhelmingly hot and it is supposed to cool down over night. The only "excitement" of the day shall I say was a freak hail storm that lasted for about 10 minutes in Wyoming! It was crazy to watch the rain drops get bigger and bigger and bigger and then suddenly have hail pounding down on the truck!
Stentano travelled great today and he remained at a comfortable temperature throughout the drive so that was better than yesterday at least! He seemed content to stand facing forward on an angle while we were driving... I think he was enjoying the scenery! ;) The barn we are staying at tonight is a huge upgrade from last night in Nebraska! Stentano is being treated to a big stall in the "show horse" barn, not just the regular barn!!
This is the barn we stayed at last night in Nebraska.
This is the barn Stentano is in tonight!
Tomorrow we have 16 more hours of road time which will probably end up being 17 to 18 hours... so we will see if we are able to make it home tomorrow night or we may just stop at a rest area before the border if it is too late to sleep for the night and then come in Thursday morning.
Good night!
Monica and Stentano
The 2010 NAJYRC Canadian Dressage Family
After a drought of pictures on the blog I am going to try to catch you up from where we left off! :-)
The Gold Medal 2010 Junior Team :D(left to right) Me, Sylive, Esmee
The Leslie Steele chef d'equipe group made up of Canada East-West Youngriders
and the BC Juniors!
(left to right) Erika, Santana, Me, Leslie, Esmee, Sylvie, Lindsay
The NAJYRC 2010 Canadian Dressage Family!
Ontario Youngriders, juniors, east-west youngriders and BC juniors.
Okay well uploading pictures apparently takes a lot more battery than I expected so I will post more pictures later on tonight!
Monday, August 2, 2010
The journey home - day one ends in Lincoln, Nebraska
This time going home we have decided to actually stop at barns overnight! We realized that the whole driving straight through thing was slightly too crazy for us and Stentano!! That way Stentano can get a good sleep and cool down overnight.
Our first day of driving was uneventful (thank goodness!!)! We did hit some good heat going through Kansas City as it peaked up to 104 degrees F! Stentano got pretty hot so whenever we stopped for gas I would grab some cold water bottles from the cooler and drizzle the water over him in attempts to cool him down... He travelled well other than that and within a couple hours he got used to the fact that he was on his own again with no buddies. It amazes me how well he adapts and cooperates with the situation!
So we got into Lincoln, Nebraska around 5pm after a good 13 hour day! It is in the high 90's here and very humid!! We found the barn easily and we were able to get Stentano hosed off right away! The first barn we walked into had really low ceilings with tiny, dark stalls (most of which were filled with mini's!! go figure!) and the guy took one look at Stentano and said, "Wow, he's really big! I think I'll find a bigger stall for him!" We were relieved when he took us around to the stalls attached to the "indoor" where some other horses were and the stalls looked much more stable and "warmblood like". He pointed us to our stall that he had quickly got ready - my mom and I looked in and there were rubber mat-like things with a little bit of dirt in the back and nothing else. "Umm can we get some bedding in here for him?" my mom asked.
"Ohh we don't supply bedding, we expect everyone to bring their own.." said the man in charge. He pondered for a bit and disappeared and then came back and said, " Well, I guess and I can sell you some of ours.."
Let's just say it is kind of like another world over here.. perhaps a scene from a movie from the wild west or something!
Other than that little surprise he is doing great, drinking lots, eating hay and his bran mash and he seems very relaxed and ready for a good night sleep!
Tomorrow we are heading to Salt Lake City, Utah which is about another 13 hour drive!
I will work on uploading some pictures tomorrow of various things since I have all day in the car! ;)
Monica and Stentano
Our first day of driving was uneventful (thank goodness!!)! We did hit some good heat going through Kansas City as it peaked up to 104 degrees F! Stentano got pretty hot so whenever we stopped for gas I would grab some cold water bottles from the cooler and drizzle the water over him in attempts to cool him down... He travelled well other than that and within a couple hours he got used to the fact that he was on his own again with no buddies. It amazes me how well he adapts and cooperates with the situation!
So we got into Lincoln, Nebraska around 5pm after a good 13 hour day! It is in the high 90's here and very humid!! We found the barn easily and we were able to get Stentano hosed off right away! The first barn we walked into had really low ceilings with tiny, dark stalls (most of which were filled with mini's!! go figure!) and the guy took one look at Stentano and said, "Wow, he's really big! I think I'll find a bigger stall for him!" We were relieved when he took us around to the stalls attached to the "indoor" where some other horses were and the stalls looked much more stable and "warmblood like". He pointed us to our stall that he had quickly got ready - my mom and I looked in and there were rubber mat-like things with a little bit of dirt in the back and nothing else. "Umm can we get some bedding in here for him?" my mom asked.
"Ohh we don't supply bedding, we expect everyone to bring their own.." said the man in charge. He pondered for a bit and disappeared and then came back and said, " Well, I guess and I can sell you some of ours.."
Let's just say it is kind of like another world over here.. perhaps a scene from a movie from the wild west or something!
Other than that little surprise he is doing great, drinking lots, eating hay and his bran mash and he seems very relaxed and ready for a good night sleep!
Tomorrow we are heading to Salt Lake City, Utah which is about another 13 hour drive!
I will work on uploading some pictures tomorrow of various things since I have all day in the car! ;)
Monica and Stentano
Goodbye NAJYRC 2010!
Hello!
It caught me a little bit off gaurd as we were walking into the closing ceremonies yesterday (Sunday) that the week was actually over! It was such an amazing week filled with so many emotions and positive intensity that it felt weird to actually sit down and reflect on the past week. It was very exciting to see the last few medals given out and to actually see how well the Canadians had done in all disciplines!
After closing ceremonies we finished getting ourselves packed up for the morning take off and we said our goodbyes to Sylvie and Lindsay as they were heading out that night. It was also weird knowing that I will not be seeing several of the youngriders next year as this was their last year so I am wishing my best to them as they go about their next phase in life!
Over all, I could not have asked for anything to have worked out better than it did! I learned so much and I had so much fun being around people who have the same goals and aspirations as I do! As well, I could not have asked for better coaching help than I had! It made this experience so special to have Karen come out to help and support me and give the confidence that I needed and also to have Albrecht there every day to push me and to work along side Karen to bring the best out between Stentano and I!
Thank you once again for all of your support and encouragement through this whole process of NAJYRC!! I will continue to give updates as we drive home to let you know how it goes!
All the best,
Monica and Stentano
It caught me a little bit off gaurd as we were walking into the closing ceremonies yesterday (Sunday) that the week was actually over! It was such an amazing week filled with so many emotions and positive intensity that it felt weird to actually sit down and reflect on the past week. It was very exciting to see the last few medals given out and to actually see how well the Canadians had done in all disciplines!
After closing ceremonies we finished getting ourselves packed up for the morning take off and we said our goodbyes to Sylvie and Lindsay as they were heading out that night. It was also weird knowing that I will not be seeing several of the youngriders next year as this was their last year so I am wishing my best to them as they go about their next phase in life!
Over all, I could not have asked for anything to have worked out better than it did! I learned so much and I had so much fun being around people who have the same goals and aspirations as I do! As well, I could not have asked for better coaching help than I had! It made this experience so special to have Karen come out to help and support me and give the confidence that I needed and also to have Albrecht there every day to push me and to work along side Karen to bring the best out between Stentano and I!
Thank you once again for all of your support and encouragement through this whole process of NAJYRC!! I will continue to give updates as we drive home to let you know how it goes!
All the best,
Monica and Stentano
Saturday, July 31, 2010
The freestyle brings excitement into the house!
Today was a fantastic day to be a proud Canadian!!! I watched my own team mate, Esmee claim the bronze medal in the freestyle and then a few hours later Jamie Holland was our golden girl for youngriders and then Megan Lane claimed the bronze there too!!! It was super exciting!!
I once again had a fantastic warm-up and I felt that Stentano and I were totally on and together. He was super going around the ring and the first few movements were great... and then he went a little looney in his mind. I think because the music is so overpowering and strong in that stadium that he started to feel a little bit too good! It also seemed like the more I collected him the more power he got which made him want to go even more! The in between stuff was super but taking off more than once and kicking in the changes doesn't help bring up the marks any! So we ended up with 63.9%
Anyways... it was kind of frustrating but I have to say I am so happy with how the warm-ups have been and I am picking out the great stuff that was in the test and learning from the rest! We ended up 12th in the class so I am thrilled that we made it that far and the potential that we have excites me even more for next year! It's all there we just have to work together and connect like we did in the team test and it will fall into place. I have learnt so much and I can't wait to share all of the stories with everyone back home!!
Monica and Stentano
I once again had a fantastic warm-up and I felt that Stentano and I were totally on and together. He was super going around the ring and the first few movements were great... and then he went a little looney in his mind. I think because the music is so overpowering and strong in that stadium that he started to feel a little bit too good! It also seemed like the more I collected him the more power he got which made him want to go even more! The in between stuff was super but taking off more than once and kicking in the changes doesn't help bring up the marks any! So we ended up with 63.9%
Anyways... it was kind of frustrating but I have to say I am so happy with how the warm-ups have been and I am picking out the great stuff that was in the test and learning from the rest! We ended up 12th in the class so I am thrilled that we made it that far and the potential that we have excites me even more for next year! It's all there we just have to work together and connect like we did in the team test and it will fall into place. I have learnt so much and I can't wait to share all of the stories with everyone back home!!
Monica and Stentano
Friday, July 30, 2010
Freestyles here we come!
Hello!
Well we made it on to the next round as the jumpers would put it!!
Today seemed like a long day of waiting to ride and then managing the show nerves as well! At 12:30pm I finally was getting ready to get on and head over to the warm-up ring! My warm-up was fantastic and Albrecht was thrilled with it! I felt a little bit more nervous today than Wednesday but I felt confident about the way things were going! When I got into my test Stentano was feeling great but he just seemed to have a little bit more oompapa than in the team test. I tried to use that to my advantage but in the canter he clearly expressed his excitement in the changes! We lost quite a few marks in that which really brought my score down but I could feel the potential in the ride today with how the energy and power will come to my advantage in the future! We ended up with 64.211% which just squeaked us into the freestyles as we tied for the 15th position and the top 15 move forward! WOW!! It was very exciting to see Esmee and Norseman in the top ten placing 5th and Sarah Lowen from Ontarion placing 10th!!! Congratulations to them and all of the other juniors today!
I am super excited tomorrow to show off my slumdog millionaire music put together by Karen Robinson! Tomorrow is a new day and we will take what we have learned thus far! My ride time is 2:08pm tomorrow so hopefully the heat may become useful in calming both Stentano and I!!
Sorry I have to make this one quick because I need to hit the bed soon and go over my music a few times tonight to begin the freestyle mindset!!
Monica and Stentano
Well we made it on to the next round as the jumpers would put it!!
Today seemed like a long day of waiting to ride and then managing the show nerves as well! At 12:30pm I finally was getting ready to get on and head over to the warm-up ring! My warm-up was fantastic and Albrecht was thrilled with it! I felt a little bit more nervous today than Wednesday but I felt confident about the way things were going! When I got into my test Stentano was feeling great but he just seemed to have a little bit more oompapa than in the team test. I tried to use that to my advantage but in the canter he clearly expressed his excitement in the changes! We lost quite a few marks in that which really brought my score down but I could feel the potential in the ride today with how the energy and power will come to my advantage in the future! We ended up with 64.211% which just squeaked us into the freestyles as we tied for the 15th position and the top 15 move forward! WOW!! It was very exciting to see Esmee and Norseman in the top ten placing 5th and Sarah Lowen from Ontarion placing 10th!!! Congratulations to them and all of the other juniors today!
I am super excited tomorrow to show off my slumdog millionaire music put together by Karen Robinson! Tomorrow is a new day and we will take what we have learned thus far! My ride time is 2:08pm tomorrow so hopefully the heat may become useful in calming both Stentano and I!!
Sorry I have to make this one quick because I need to hit the bed soon and go over my music a few times tonight to begin the freestyle mindset!!
Monica and Stentano
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