Are We Bad House Guests?

The meteorologists are describing a “high pressure dome” above the Pacific Northwest, which just makes me think of an unopened container of hummus sitting in the sun for too long.  The bulging lid is looking like a cartoon bomb, making me squinch with anticipation of explosive hot gasses that are bound to send me to the hospital. FYI, this may or may not have actually happened this weekend in the 113 degree sun.

Archie McPhee and the rubber ducks. Photo: Luigi Menghelli

This so-called dome of hot air pretty much sucks for timing. This weekend was an event in Oregon, Inavale Farm HT, and it had the bad luck of falling on a breaking-all-records-since-Jurassic era for temperature. Last time I rode in 113 degree temperatures was in Virginia where they know it will be awful and thus make it a one-day event and get everyone home in time for an afternoon cold beer.  Not here in PNW. I never love the rubber temporary stalls, but I especially hated them this weekend. They felt cruel. 

 Inavale organizers, Luigi and Caroline Menghelli, did as much as humanly possible to make the event run well despite the heat. They had their own personal ice machine, Elsa, running for the entire previous week to help every rider cool their horse with free ice. The ground jury moved around times as best as they could so that nobody rode after 2 pm, when the afternoon sun was at its worst. I appreciated all the work and stress that they must feel, knowing the complaints would be rolling in about something so inescapable, like the weather.

Mostly, this is what I want to get on my soapbox about. 

Let’s play the numbers game, a la Harpers Weekly Index:

Number of organizers in Area VII: 8

Rough percentage of Area VII riders who are organizers: 0.9

Percentage change of events in Oregon from 1985 to today: -80

Number of weeks from Aspen to Rebecca: 6

Number of new venues asking for a date in Area VII: 0

Number of times I heard that Corvallis is too far of a drive in one week: 7

Number of times I rolled my eyes: 7

 Coincidentally , the chance that a person is an organizer is roughly the same as a boy born in 1987 was named David, but I’m straying off subject.

I’m sure that you are catching my drift. I’m suggesting that people like Caroline and Luigi have put in 20 years of work, money, sweat and tears to provide us with a competition. And I can tell you that they might be thinking it’s not worth it anymore. And where would that leave us, other than feeling badly?

It would leave us with a hole in our calendar that is not looking like it could be filled easily. It would take away opportunities for all of us to compete and strive to be better with our 4 legged friends.  There is really nobody else out there in our region who is willing to invite us over, watch us make a mess, require hundreds of hours prep and then more to clean up than you ever want to admit. We competitors are like bad house guests. And we barely say thank you as we run out the door.  I get it….we all hate I-5. It’s a horrible necessity for our region, and pretty much universally sucks to be near it on Sunday afternoon. It is roughly 5-6 hours for the Seattleites to travel on, and yet nearly every single one of them that complained about the drive will happily drive 11 hours to Rebecca. 

I’m just saying…

And yes, the course does go from trees to gorgeous meadow. So what! Learn to ride your horse better and jump what the course designer is presenting to you. If you can’t answer the challenge then maybe you are not riding as well as you think you are.

 Speaking of course designer, Inavale has a new one, Marc Grandia. And I cannot tell you how much FUN I had on the Intermediate and Training courses. They flowed, they were inviting and my youngsters at training were rewarded with an excellent experience.  Also, Marc took multiple trips down to Inavale to help set up his vision. I think it was a clear success. 

Here is the cliff notes for my soapbox blog:

 We need to support our local events. Yes, the weather can be hot, and if you knew that the organizer would bend over backwards to make sure you and your horse had a great experience despite the heat, maybe that is worth supporting. If you knew that the course designer was implementing a course that was inviting, despite the terrain and forest trails, wouldn’t that be worth supporting? 

Come on Area VII. Don’t mess this one up.

Oh how I wanted to “fall” off in that trough!!!!