First Email - Tuesday

Hello from Kentucky!

Well after 3 very long days of driving we made it to Lexington! I have to say I thought I wouldn't have much to write about to you all about our drive except for the report on how Stentano faired the drive. However I was wrong! We had quite the journey... where should I start... the part about almost running out of fuel, or the blown tire, or the stitches that are now in Stentano's nose! Yes, it certainly has been an eventful past few days!!

Our drive down took us around 60 hours!! We were on the road most of the time except for about 3-4 hours each night where pulled into a rest aread to catch some sleep and give Stentano a break. We inched our way across 11 states and the temperature averaged around 90 degrees F the whole time and didn't drop much overnight either! The last day it was especially hard to keep Stentano cool but we tried out best to keep him happy. He travelled excellent and each day we took him out twice at various rest areas in order to allow him to stretch his legs and have his box stall cleaned out.

Okay now to the drama of it all!! The first day of driving went smoothly and things were on a good roll. However when the second day rolled around we found ourselves on a stretch of freeway in Idaho that seemed to be gas station less for way too long! Long story short by the time a gas station finally appeared we were at 0 miles of fuel range left!! I don't know how we made it without running out of diesel but somehow we were okay!!

Now the scary part: All was goingwell on the third day until someone pulled up beside us on the freeway waving and yelling to us that we had a flat tire! We pulled over and checked it out and sure enough one of the trailer tires was not only flat, but completely blown!! Thank goodness the exit we pulled off on had a mechanic shop attached to one of the gas stations so they quickly fixed it up for us and explained that it blew because of the heat!!! That was a little overwhelming but we made it through!

I'm sure you are all wondering about the stitches... Stentano sliced the front of his nose on his bucket in the trailer just before we arrived to the farm where we are staying at before going to the horse park! Again, long story short, we had to have a vet come out the next morning to stitch it up for us because there was a flap of skin that looked like trouble. We got good news from the vet saying that it is only superficial but because of the way he sliced it, it needed stitches. So we have 10 days that we are supposed to have the stitches in for and our first class is exactly 10 days away from the day when the stitches were put in so we are good to go! He is on antibiotics for a couple of days too just to avoid any infections. He is doing well and right now it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all so I hope things keep heading in this direction!

Yesterday (Monday), was the first day I rode him since we arrived late Saturday night. On Sunday he was really tired and so I felt it was best to let him recover and to allow his nose a day to recover too. He felt very good on Monday considering the trip he had just endured! Today (Tuesday) when I rode him he felt even better! The biggest challenge is gradually getting him adjusted to the heat (and myself too!) so I am riding in the mornings right now before it gets too hot and then I will gradually move my rides to a bit later. In the morning's it is usually in the low 80's and by the time noon rolls around it's at least in the 90's (never mind the humidity too!!)

Esmee Ingham and her mom, along with Erika Urff fly in tonight and then their horses arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) so I am looking forward to seeing them all tonight! Tomorrow we will be moving Stentano over to the horse park so that will be nice to get him to the venue!

Alright well I better stop before I end up writing a novel! I hope all is well at home!

Monica and Stentano