Helloooooo world!!!!! I am so excited to be taking over the Angelica Run blog. This is Kristin Carpenter reporting, and I have (terrifyingly) been given free rein. Remember that promise, Skye!!
Angelica had a 2011 full of extreme highs and extreme lows. On the low side, our farm flooded and we lost everything in September. It was actually in the middle of the American Eventing Championships. That was a huge blow to the program, but the team rallied together and rebuilt the farm in record time.
After a 6th place finish at the AECs in Intermediate, my horse, Trance, got Tildren in preparation for Fair Hill. He had a rare reaction to the drug that sent him into full renal failure, and he spent 18 days in ICU and lost over 200 pounds. We lost out hope of a Fall two star, but he is now back in work and stronger than ever. If Angelica is anything, it is a resilient team!
We had a lot of highs. We had multiple wins and top three placings at every level. We had four riders debut at the international level, and all with great success! We made the summer trip to Bromont and had a wonderful time. But most of all, we had a great year of memories. Part of eventing is dealing with the good moments and the bad. We all had those "perfect" runs, and we all also had those shows where we did dressage in a monsoon to get a 47, then pulled three rails in the mud pit, then finally finished on a high with a great XC run only to miss the finish flags like an idiot. Or wait, maybe that was just me. REGARDLESS, Angelica is there for each other when we need to cry, and certainly when we need to laugh.
We just made the trek to our home at Pony Up South in Aiken. We have a private farm with a jump and dressage ring, track, and a ton of turnout. Life is FABULOUS! Angelica has a lot of hope for this season, and we are working hard on making those dreams come true.
Aiken has great weather, lovely footing, close events, WAFFLE HOUSE, and tons of eventers. It also has some…well….peculiarities. For instance, when we did a run to the trash today, there was a very old man in front of us dumping his truck. I thought the oddest part was his camouflage cell phone holder mixed with his frat shirt, until we noticed the missing thumb….but no. The oddest part was that his bags and bags of "trash" appeared to be full of squirrels. Dead squirrels. Now, we are deducing this based off the fluffily squirrel tail sticking out of a bag. The motives for this circumstance are endless.
Aiken also brings out some of the stupid in our horses. A horse that is to remain nameless was turned out with my two. Trance has a habit of going into the field every day and galloping a few laps. Literally, every day. We don't even condition him because he knocks out a good 12 minutes of canter a day, then takes a nap in the middle of the field. Well, this poor new pasture partner thought he would like to try and keep up with Tranceypants. Not only is Trance extremely fast, but he is very agile. Trance and "Nameless" were thus on lap one, when Trance turned right. Poor Nameless Horse tried so hard to make the turn, but instead flipped legs up into the air and went THUD onto the ground, then slid a solid twelve feet! He looked like a giant upside down tortoise. We were worried he might be….well….dead…when he suddenly jumped up and scurried off. The kicker was that he LITERALLY fell out of his blanket! He jumped up and ran off, but the blanket was in a heap on the ground, leg straps and all! Reminded me of those Youtube videos of people getting hit by something and literally knocked out their shoes. No worries, Nameless is doing just fine, but he has given up hope of keeping up with Trance in the AM conditioning sessions.
Stay tuned…..this is sure to be a great year!
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