Spring around Flying Colours Stables has been very busy.

The usual spring chores and dealing with the upkeep after the ravages of winter, has kept Reiden and the girls quite busy.

Tom was back at the stable twice, the end of February and the beginning of April. The continuity of training by having regular access to an international trainer is a big part of the success of the work at FCS. He knows our horses, riders and my coaching so can make great improvements that we can sustain. Regular clinics with Tom, increases our depth of understanding of the work and we are able to utilize it day to day. This produces steady progress forward.

Grace and I had the opportunity to haul to Sherwood Meadows and ride with Hendrick Gable. He is a young trainer from Germany who frequently works in Canada to help with the stallion preparation for the Canadian Warmblood Breeders Association. We had a great clinic and enjoyed ourselves! Thanks to Deb and Donna at Sherwood Meadows for putting on this clinic and making us feel so welcome. Grace and I travel with a contingent of grooms (everyone wants to watch their coach take lessons!) and SM accommodated the bunch of us!

Friday we hitched a couple of trailers and took some of the horses on a road trip to Butlin Ranches. It's nice to get the looky ones and the babies out before show season. We took Grace, Reiden and her just backed 4 yr old, Chino, Leslie and Magnum and Elizabeth's new mount, Lorano. Everyone did so well! Thanks to Lois Girard and Norma for sharing their arena with us for the afternoon. We plan a couple more excursions before the first show. This weekend I was in Olds at the Equine Canada Coaching Evaluation. Trish Mrakwa, Cathy Chalack, Kathy Playdon and I evaluated 18 new coaches. It was a great weekend with some wonderful new coaches.

The big excitement for April is World Cup in Vegas! We have a block of seats bought and are ready to cheer Leslie Reid on to top marks for the show. Go Canada! The opportunity of be able to watch this caliber of horses in North America is not to be missed.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Okay, it's Tuesday and Ivars and I boarded the flight for Las Vegas at 7:30am. In the past days at the stable we all have been so excited as the day of departure has been getting close. I'll send on these updates on the experience as the days unfold. The reports yesterday, off the internet, have been that the European horses have arrived in LA and were trucked to Vegas. Whew, to go all this way and not see Briar…..that would be a shame!

We had a great flight into LA, so great in fact we arrived 45 minutes early. Yeah America West! Upon deplaning, we checked with a gate agent to point us to our next gate and found out they had cancelled our flight to Las Vegas due to mechanical difficulties. Boo America West! But, as we had arrived soooo early from Edmonton, they could book us on to the next flight to Vegas. Yeah America West!!!!!

We picked up our boarding passes and streaked down to the next gate. The gate agents reassured us our baggage would arrive with us and they were on the phones to make sure that happened! Yeah, yeah America West!!!!

We arrived in Vegas before noon! While Ivars waited for our bags at the carousel, I found a booth we could check into the Paris Hotel at the airport. We immersed ourselves in sights and sounds of the Vegas experience. A Disneyland for adults!

We took the shuttle to the hotel then walked through the Paris casino to the registration desk. As we had registered at the airport, we didn't need to get in line (30 to 40 deep) to register. We picked up our key and headed to our room. Did a little unpacking and headed out to find lunch. (great flights, but no food) We took the elevator up to the Effiel tower restaurant and had a lovely light lunch. The view of the Bellagio fountains from the restaurant was spectacular!

Okay…I wanted to head to the Thomas and Mack to check out the activity, horses, equestrian market. We grabbed a cab and headed out. In the arena they were just finishing up the jog for the jumpers. A short search around found us next leaning on the rail of the warmup ring in the warm up tent. Briar, Salerno, Evie Strasser (Yeah Canada!), Sven Rothenburger! We watched them school for over an hour. Wonderfully talented horses and riders!!! What a day!

Ivars and I wondered around the Strip for the evening and had a spectacular dinner at Prime in the Bellagio. The food was super, the fountains unbelievable and company the best!!! We headed back to the Paris after a wonderful day.

Wednesday, April 20

Of course we woke up at our usual barn owner time! Ordered room service, (what wonderful thing!) and leisurely started our day. I got caught up on this report and Ivars headed down to the fitness room.

Barb, Bruce, and Lindsey called and we organized how and when to the Thomas and Mack for the day; but first I had to take a little trip up to the PENTHOUSE SUITE that they had been checked into for the night! What a lovely room, the view was stupendous. We headed to the T and M for the afternoon.

The equestrian market was great, though I think we are spoiled, as most of the vendors are at the Masters at Spruce Meadows in September as well. As soon as you walk in the front doors, the Canadian Warmblood booth is visible down the first aisle!

We shopped for a while and then settled into our seats for the afternoon of dressage. Isabel Werth's horse Anthony, was rung out of the jog on Tuesday so the FEI had a committee meeting and allowed Evie Stasser on Quantum Thyme to compete in the WC event. Very bad luck for Werth but great luck for Evie and Canada! The disappointment to come all this way and not have your horse jog would be devastating!

The schooling was super to see. The arena probably had 2,000 people cheering and clapping. A great way to get the horses acclimatized for Thursday. Canada was first in. Each country got 15 min to school. The 20 X 60 just tightly fits into the arena so as an indoor I'm sure it's a little spooky. Mark and Quantum handled the pressure and relaxed into some of the GP moves. There was lots of support for the Canadians. Go Canada!

We saw some great horses, lovely riders and interesting schooling techniques. Bruce very astutely asked, "So the competition is for 2nd Place?". It'll be very hard to beat Anky this week. Schmidt and Aramis looked great, so did Gal and Lingh, Brink and Briar, and interesting, Wettstein and Le Primeur. Tomorrow's competition is going to be very interesting.

As it's Katie's 18 birthday and we are all in Vegas, we headed back to the Paris to plan the evening. We had a light dinner and got ready to watch the show "We Will Rock You". What a great show!

Barb and Lindsey are buying new breeches from the $.25 slot winnings! Yeah Barb and her lucky spin!

Ed has decided to really drive that Jag of his and should be in Vegas tomorrow to join Carol and Sheryl at the Celine Dion show Thursday night.

All and all another wonderful day and looking forward to Thursday!

Thursday, April 21

The day started bright and warm. Carol, Katie and Lindsey headed to the pool for a workout in the sun. Ed arrived at 2am so Carol will have a date for the day after all! Ivars and I started the 30 - 40 min walk to the Thomas and Mack. We picked up the day sheet and headed in for a little shopping before the competition.

The Canadians were 1st and 3rd down centre line for the afternoon. Evie had a great ride. I’m sure she will be very happy with Quantum. 67.3% Leslie’s ride had some problems with the piaffe and passage. 65.08% Mark seemed overall a little tense, maybe the venue? Too bad, they are such a great pair.

Incredible riding and horses. The highlight of the day, by far, was Edward Gal’s ride on Lingh. What finesse, timing and feel! The stallion is amazing and the rider is incredible!

As the movement ended, the mark from each judge showed up on the jumbotron. We saw some 10s and many 9s. Most of us were “plugged in” to Cara Whitham, with headsets, for a play by play of each ride.