Let's have some fun, this beat is sick!

What do YOU do for your pre-show ritual?

I spend the entire week prior to the show getting ready. For Groton House, for instance, I started on Sunday, stripping all the old bedding and hay scraps out of my trailer, adding fresh bedding, cleaning up her shipping halter and boots, and hanging a fresh haybag. On Monday, I cleaned out my trailer's tackroom, got my ride times, organized and laundered my show clothes (the few that were still dirty), and hung them all up neatly in my coat bag in my tack room. Tuesday, I went to the store and bought petfood (cause I needed to anyway) and picked up some snacks, vacuumed out and washed Patron, cleaned out and organized my brushbox and grooming tools, and packed hay and shavings into the bed of the beasttruck. I also snagged some library books, because who doesn't want to read Harry Potter for the 90,000th time? Today was a bit more hectic - I packed all her grain, cleaned ALLLLL my tack, trimmed her feet, packed up the dog's stuff, cleaned my helmet, made sure all my pads and things were all washed and put away, and am still in the process of getting directions, doing laundry, polishing my boots, and packing up all my remaining stuff. Tomorrow, I'll finish packing, clip, trim, bathe, braid, and otherwise clean Her Majesty Queen of Dirt, inventory alllll my stuff, make sure my test is memorized, make sure my GPS is ready, make sure my food is all packed, and go through the ten million things I forget to mention during this little blog post. Then, after work, she and I will be rollin on 22's. (And I mean that... have you SEEN my rims? Patron has so much chrome its like a boobie trap!)

Oye, it's almost midnight and still so much left to do. Gogo had another tremendously amazing dressage workout today, and I've been on cloud nine. I was sidelined for a few hours from my packing today when my friend Colleen asked me to come with her to pick up her horse from the equine clinic, and we ended up taking my truck and trailer instead of hers, because the mare doesn't seem to scramble in mine. I feel awful for them... they've worked their BUTTS off this season and are showing 4th level and doing the Juniors tests, and qualified for a team slot for the NAJYRC (the Junior Olympics, essentially), and the mare hasn't been right recently. They finally opted for an MRI after not finding anything conclusive, and as it turns out, Duet has a tear right near the insertion of her DDFT, right before it articulates with the coffin bone. There's some swelling in the navicular bursa too, so that explains all her ouchiness and the location of the pain. That's the end of this show season for them... Duet gets 6 months of stall rest now. It was Colleen's last year as a Junior. That just sucks something terrible. She just sent her entries in for the NAJYRC the other day.
But anyway, that was why I seem to still be fussing around here, waiting impatiently for my laundry to finish drying so I can finish my packing and GO TO SLEEP. Mmmmmm.... sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep goooooooooood.


I am also happy to report that because my very wonderfully kind mother booked me a hotel room instead of allowing me to spend the weekend sleeping in my trailer, I will have internet access and can post pictures and updates throughout the weekend!!

All right, laundry's done... we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Time for SLEEP!