WEG photos ( just a few)

Kris and Helen Racing
Helen & Jen Churchill paddock

vaulting arena--tv film crew/horse

Helen & Dani--how high jump

Marathon water crossing

Eventing jump, makes our cross rails look pathetic

Funnycide bath time

Jen's What's happened since Ride and Tie

We just finished the last lesson of the year, now it’s time to winterize and move the horses back to Colo. I hate the thought, but let’s face it, it really is that time of year.

Here’s a little of what has happened since the Ride & Tie: unpacking from Special Olympics, moving horses, meeting the new crew at Stagecoach, a new Morgan gelding (Alex), new litter of seven kittens, Kris, Helen, Dani and I went to the World Equestrian Games, Linda covering classes for us while we were at WEG, the best group of volunteers that we’ve had, several new riders, and an arena that has now been treated with a dust control product (thanks Stagecoach!!!).

Kris just returned tonight from a trip to Brazil, where she was able to visit friends and also gave a presentation (including a lesson demo) on therapeutic riding—hopefully we’ll hear more about that later! What she didn’t realize was that she was going to be on TV. It sounds like she’s now inspired to tackle the Jungle fence now that she has seen the real jungle. So if anyone wants to learn the fine art of fence building/repair, let us know! Once we have a good hard frost (tonight?) we should be able to see how much the pasture fence was damaged by flooding this summer. Wear hiking boots and blaze orange!

I was able to spend a few days doing chores (yeah!) while she was gone. Coffee, Kyle, Dandy, Miracle, and Peanut were glad to see me. Maybe because I feed them twice as much as normal? Or else because I make a pretty good scratching post? Hagrid and Bindi the Jungle Kitty and her daughter were glad to see me, too. Last time I brought them some treats and they remembered. They were disappointed this time, though. I just refilled their bowls and gave them one treat.

Dani will be going to NARHA’s national convention in Denver in November. We’re looking forward to her report back.

We really want to give everyone a huge thank you for helping out during session 3, especially while we were at WEG! It was the first time that we were all on vacation, and we couldn’t have done it without such an awesome group of volunteers! And a huge thank you for Linda, too—we can’t ride without our NARHA instructors! This was my first non-family, non-Scout vacation, and the first time I’ve been on vacation with horsey friends. It was great!!! Well, the horse part, the sleeping part didn’t go as well as planned. We were wondering where the bluegrass was—apparently they’ve had a drought this summer, so it was more green at home in the fall than in Kentucky.

Special Olympics 2010

One Heart riders have participated in Special Olympics since 2003. The state offers one competition each year which is held near Des Moines. Kris has been a Special Olympics Equestrain coach since '03 and Dani and Jennifer are coaches as of 2010. To qualify for the One Heart Team, riders must participate in either session 1 or 2 of the year of the event. Special Olympics specifies that athletes should be coached 10 times prior to the competition. The One Heart rider must also meet the qualifications of Special Olympics. The One Heart coaches restrict the roster to those riders we can safely mount in an arena that is unfamiliar to us and may not have the facilities to support our riders. Even with those restrictions, more and more riders find they LOVE being in Special Olympics! When our team roster hit 20, the coaches faced a delimma; how can we possibly mount 20 riders in 2 classes each? We frequently have 3 to 4 or more riders in each class. From experience we knew that it was impossible to mount and dismount riders, get them through the class, watch the awards ceremony and keep tack changed and volunteers in place. The least of our worries was volunteers. One Heart volunteers eagerly sign up to accompany the team. We know they play a huge part in our success. First and foremost, One Heart volunteers know our horses and riders. This gives the horses, athletes, coaches, parents and staff more confidence and keeps us relaxed.

I'm Baaaa-ck :)

Hi Gang!

Special shout-out to Jerry - hope you are well,  Gaila, great to see you, Dani and Jen, thanks for finishing session 3, and Katie - prodding me back to the blog.   Thanks to all of you who offer comments.  It really encourages me to keep this up.   If you know me I chat, alot.  Chatting is not blogging.   I am a "reciter" not necessarily a writer, .
I want to start chiseling away at all the news.  We have to cover Special Olympics, what's going on with the PBS film, Session 3,  our trip to WEG, and my trip to Brazil.  Also, we have had several requests to have One Heart "get togethers" through the long winter.  Some suggestions are for social and educational opportunities.   Sounds good to me!   We should also think about a giant 10 year celebration!  One Heart was incorporated as a non-profit on sept. 24, 2001.  Our first riders went up June 4, 2002. 

On Sat. Oct. 30 we had several respond to our plea to help load out from Stagecoach for the Winter and get the horses to Colo.  Thanks to those who came....and brought a truck and muscle!
There's more to come tomorrow.  I also have to remember the World Percheron Congress and some horse updates.  Chat soon, I mean Blog soon,  Kris