Gladstone Day 2

Fortunately the rains let up.  There was much flooding in the area, but Gladstone escaped with just mud.  We actually saw blue skies, and Brian O'Connor joked about canceling the show due to the shadows caused by the sun. 

A wild looking river near the farm....swollen and angry from all the rains....

With the sun came the bees though.  I don't think there was a person there who wasn't dodging them.  People got stung.  One or our friends even got bit on the inside of his cheek...We wore long sleeves and sweated.  Heaven forbid you had sugar in your coffee.  And apples were especially appealing...

Christine, Erin's mom, with her "bee hat" on so she could watch Erin's warmup without getting bit!

I do apologize to the Junior, Young, and Pony riders as those were usually the times we were either training or not on the property.  But am happy that they also had their moments to shine at this very special event.

The Grand Prix Special went as expected I think.  Ravel and Steffen and Calecto V and Tina again performed head and shoulders above the rest with better and more powerful performances than before. The footing was better, and you could see both riders "go for it" as they knew they had their rides under their belts.

Then the long awaited PSG.   It was a long day for us, as we started our training session early, and we wanted to see Steffen on Weltino's Magic, a Westfalen who was purchased from Munster Handorf, where we have also purchased many wonderful young horses.  We were not disappointed.  The top three horses, Weltino, Paragon, and Grandioso, clearly were in a class above the rest.  Two other young upcomings who were worth watching were Warsteiner with Heather Mason and Big Tyme with Marisa Festerling.  Marisa was having a great go at it, until unfortunate mistakes started to happen in all the last movements.  But the power of this horse was complimented by a beautifully quiet rider.  They are truly a pair to watch!   The top three were definite "ins" for the Pan Ams,  but who the fourth and fifth horses were still left a big question mark.

I do know there was some 'murmur' among spectators.  It did not appear to any of them that Caesar patted or even acknowledged any of the efforts of Grandioso.  It did upset a few....

I did get to do some shopping.  And found some very new gloves with "bling".  My only sadness was the fact that the fancy new helmet that I tried to order apparently does not come in my size.

Oh well.  Life will go on :-)

Tomorrow is Erin's time to shine.  Best get up early, as I want to be in tip top coaching form!