I thought I would copy William Fox-Pitt’s lead here and describe what could be an ideal day off for me. I was just talking with Lillian about this subject last night, and I was happily telling her that I have resumed my days off on Mondays now that competition season is over. No matter how hard I try to organize my life, from June – October it seems I cant get away from the to-do list and days off become very sporadic. But I am now fully commited to leaving the farm once per week, for something other than diesel fill up, and trying to top off my own inner happiness tank.

Last Monday I decided I would head on up to the mountains to collect wild, edible mushrooms.(No we werent in the area in the photo, but its a lovely photo that Mark took!) This is one of my hobbies in the fall, and was once, in the far past, also my employment at the UW. The search and seizure of mushrooms is incredibly fun, granted it helps to know that you are collecting culinary rapture, not something that will soon put you in the hospital on dialysis! We are so lucky to live where we do, and the weather the last few weeks has been stupendous! So, I wanted to spend all day up in the mountains enjoying both mushrooms and the weather. Mark quickly decided he wanted to go too, which was great, more eyes to gather more goodies, plus I just like the guy and its nice to spend time together not talking about horses or tractors.

We drove up the Mountain Loop Hwy and then wound up a Forest Service road another 11 miles to get pretty high up in altitude. One of the things I love most about the northwest forests is the simplicity of them on the outside, but then once you enter, they are incredibly complex and interesting inside. We rumaged around, off trail, in what could have been Hollywood fairy tale sets. Small, clear ponds of water surrounded by ferns, moss carpets that extend as far as you can see, and thick young trees that make you feel like a flea on the back of a dog (called Doghair forest by an old cowboy friend of mine). I never feel tired when I am scrambling around in this way, even though we had been doing it for hours, its refreshing to be in such a cathedral type place. Collecting mushrooms is an addictive activity, once you find something good, you cant stop looking for more. Just watch any child at easter to see the emergence of this activity!

We found a mushroom that I remember from 15 years ago as being one of my all time favorites, but had not collected it since. Hydnum repandum is a nutty, fragrant mushroom and I felt like I had stumbled upon the holy grail.  We came home and I made a cream sauce with white wine, fresh herbs and garlic over pasta. It was delicious!!!!! Mark has been hearing me rave about Hydnum for years and now he finally could agree with me that it was one of the best wild mushrooms to eat. We also found some great King Boletes that we have yet to turn into food, but its on the agenda for lunch today with my parents.  After dinner I went down to kiss the horses in the barn and make sure they all survived without me (truthfully, they always do survive, I just love to see them). It was a fantastic day and I cant wait to take anybody back to that beautiful forest who wants to go.

Wow – what a great day! I woke up at 1:00, 4:30 and 6:00 AM and was startled by the vast amount of rain coming down from the skies. Especially, the 4:30 one….that was a deluge that pounded off our tin roof. Not once did I think that our big outing to the Horse Park would be threatened, because I had faith that Cle Elum would have perfect skies. Jordan and I got up to do the barn at 6, and neither one of us mentioned the rain. JoAnn, Lori and Jeanne arrived later and none of them mentioned it either! Were we all in denial? or not be daunted?

Our day at the park was beautiful! We had 8 horses from Polestar going, and we jammed them into the trailers, off we went, (more…)

(no photographs today because the internet connection is slower than an old man without Viagra)

It was a blast! Today was a huge amount of fun, and it was so exciting to watch horses and riders get challenged, be safe, and stay entertained. It was one of those courses that I feel should receive a standing O from the crowd – we got everything that we wanted, the wheat separated from the chaff, great weather, daunting jumps, smokin beautiful horses and all that while on vacation.

As usual, we got stuck in front of the Jumbotron as soon as we got into the infield at KHP. Friends start to accumulate and next thing you know, 4 hours have passed and you feel like you have ridden the course yourself at least once. I think the highlight of my day was the first horse on course, Opposition Buzz, ridden by Nichola Wilson (GBR). She might be riding the scopiest horse I have ever seen bless the ground…. ever. There are more amazing horses in the show jumping world, and they are definitely scopey. But for eventing, Buzz is in a class all his own. I am so sorry to tell everyone that Fleetwater Opposition, the sire, is deceased. You might be able to find some semen through Ocala Equine Stallion Services, but hurry!!! His jumping form is not conventional, but it is breathtaking nonetheless. Even after watching him as horse #1, I was not disappointed for the rest of the day. It was so fun to watch the Japanese riders ride well…. maybe they are not in the top 10, but it was obvious from watching them that they are not long from the front lines and we can all look forward to horse sports becoming an important sport for that country. Other highlights for me were: Mandiba and KOC, Karin Donkers on Gazelle de la Brasserie, Redesigned and Pippa Funnell, Vettori and Stuart Tinney, Gin and Juice and Hawley Bennett (on Fire!!), and Steph Rhodes on Port Authority. There were so many others that were a joy to watch, but Im sorry to say that I didnt take enough good notes to report all of them to you.

I wish you all were here to watch it with us…. I highly recommend that you read Jimmy Wofford’s blog for the most “informed” information!

Mark and I arrived here on Wednesday evening and joined up with NC friends: Tom, Jayne,Tremaine Cooper, Courtnay and Gina. We arrived to our accomodations, which leave everyone else with envious wonder: an 1840′s grist mill located on a beautiful river, with waterfall…..only 6 miles from the horse park. We have a full kitchen, excellent covered porch, loads of inflatable beds everywhere filled up with friends. Pretty great. At this very moment, we are sitting around sippin Kentucky bourbon and BBQing steaks, listening to Blues Brothers.

Dressage for the last two days has been amazing! There have been disappointments and some very very great highlights. Becky Holder and her entire family (16 people) came over for dinner last night, which was a nice break from the hotel crap that they are currently experiencing. Becky was the HIGHLIGHT of our US squad, for sure. She was confident, attacking and polished in her test. The rest of the Americans  were a bit conservative and/or dealing with tension in their horses. It was disappointing! But watching some of the Europeans (read: Germans and Belgs (is that short for Belgiums?)) kick ass on their tests, made up for it. You cannot help but be motivated and excited by a wonderful horse/rider pair. Simone Deitermann ( GER) was my all time favorite, riding as an individual for Germany. She was amazing, and I hope you can find a youtube video of her. That is one horse that I would take home, no questions asked.

We walked some of XC today with Tremaine, he had to inspect the course as he is on the Fix-It crew. That course is BIG! Really big, actually. There are some options at the difficult combinations for the less experienced riders on the roster. Im a little worried for a few riders who have only had 3* experience, and there are more than just a few out there.  Im worried for them. I would not want to be on a horse who is surprised by the maximum width of a jump… at fence 1! Maximum is: over 6′ wide. And horses notice that stuff.