This drive was the average 400 something mile drive. A long day, but it was a nice one. Once we got into Florida, we made a stop so that Dennis and Deborah could meet up with Pat Parelli (http://www.ultimateparelli.com/ ). Pat's program uses the Natural Horsemenship as well, but of course, he has his own ways.
Our meeting place turned out to be in one of the smallest Walmart parking lots I've seen. Here we have our convoy of two Peterbilt trucks and trailers, the Freightliner with the Featherlight trailer and the Custom Luxury Motor Coach. Pat's in an amazing Custom Luxury Motor Coach pulling a matching horse trailer. Very impressive setup.
So here we are in this already packed parking lot when the security guard came up and said we only had 5 minutes before we had to leave. Well, about an hour later, we finally hit the road again.
Not long after, we made it to our destination. The side streets that led up to the arena were beautifully tree lined with quite the mix of nice houses sprinkled along with shacks. The arena was located on the fairgrounds, which turned out to be another open arena. By the time we hooked up the Jamco and Custom Luxury Motor Coach, we had lost the light of day. We had to fumble around arranging the trucks so that we could use their headlights to see into the arena's outdoor pens that we were going to use for the night. Finally, Toni received a phone call from one of the fairground employees who explained where the light switches were. It sure made things easier for getting the horses settled.
The next day, Mark and I went about our normal procedure for setup. We were thankful that we were underneath the shade the whole time because it was getting hotter as the day wore on. Actually, the cloud formations reminded me a lot of Hawaii. All throughout the show it was hot, but there was still a light breeze which made things tolerable.
The show was pretty much the same as usual. The students were many of the same that had been following us around. Nathan, Shirley, Ed and Karen, Michelle, etc. There was another Ed and his wife Kyle that we had first met in Georgia. Great couple! Ed was amazing help with setting up the store and during the show. He is one of those people that just always has a smile on his face and is willing to help anyone out. Another couple was Lisa and her 11 year old daughter Presley. Lisa is married to Dr Karl's brother, who just happens to be the CFO for Aflac Insurance ( http://www.aflac.com/us/en/aboutaflac/ManagementCloninger.aspx). Presley looks small for her age, but she sure makes up for it with her maturity. It was fun to watch Presley out there with all of the other students. She could do the ground school with her horse just as well as anyone else.
After we packed everything up on Sunday, a few of us went into St Augustine. Here's a link that describes the city better than I can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida. Of course, the best part is that the city is that the city was founded in 1565. It makes it pretty old, huh???
It was me, Mark, Shirley, Nathan, Michelle, Lisa and Presley, and Shirley's friend Kathy. We found a really cute little New Orleans style restaurant that had great food. Although the food was good, the company was much better. I haven't laughed so hard and had such a relaxing time in quite awhile. Afterwards, Michelle, Nathan, Lisa and Presley all decided to go back home. Me, Mark, Shirley and Kathy walked around checking out the town. We went down to the old fort pictured in wikipedia and sat around talking. We finally got back around 2 am.
Monday was the normal day off. Wash clothes, Walmart, etc. Mark and I decided that it would be great to see the Atlantic Ocean, so Dennis allowed us to take my Peterbilt truck (without the trailer, of course). We were only about 30 miles away, but we didn't get out there until 4 pm or so. We didn't stay more than an hour, but it was long enough to spend the time body surfing. Mark mostly sat up on the beach while I spent almost all of the time out in the water. It seems that it's been so long since I've actually been able to spend time in the ocean. I had forgotten what it's like to have the strength of the ocean push you while the water flows along your body. There was a time when I was able to spend at least 3 hours, if not longer, out in the water boogie boarding using fins and a full wet suit several times a week. I carried my wet suit and board in the trunk of my company car and hit the beach every chance that I got, which was quite often since my region was along the coast from SF up to the Oregon border and Hawaii. It can be quite addicting...
It was a great start to the adventure of our next stop.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Murray, Kentucky
Whoops, I jumped one stop ahead. Murray, KY was before Gainesville, GA.
Kentucky is a really beautiful state. Everywhere you look it's green and lush. I really enjoyed the drive out there. Although, we hit one scary portion of the road on the way out to the arena. We had taken the northern back roads and came across two separate bridges that only had one lane each way. The lanes were so narrow that we drove about 15 miles an hour over them. It didn't look like there was any room on either side. At one point, I passed another truck and could swear that we touched mirrors! I heard the clink...but luckily there wasn't even a scratch.
Turns out this arena was located at the Murray University. We were met by two young men named Taylor and Ben, who worked at the arena and went to school there. By the time we started to unload, there were a few more young men that were in some type of rodeo class there who had also came to help out. This time, I was able to back my truck into the arena, which made unloading the panels so much easier. It also helped that we had so much assistance. By the end of the day we had the horses in their stalls; the Featherlight trailer in it's spot; the cross fence up as well as the round pen. We really had a big jump on getting the store set up.
Dennis added a lot more information for this show then I had seen up to this point. Turns out there was a Reining Hall of Famer, Charlie Hutton (spelling???) at the show. During Sunday's show, Dennis has an hour long lecture on the proper use of bits and bridles. It's a wealth of information just in itself. After that portion, Charlie made the comment to Dennis, which he was given a microphone to repeat to the audience, that he learned more the last couple of days that he had ever expected. This from a Hall of Famer that has been around for many years!
Dennis added a couple of fun bits to both the student instruction as well as the show. He "leased" several roping steers from the college for his students to practice herding. It was fun to watch them do something a little different. During one portion, Dennis actually wrestled a steer to the ground. Dennis just turned 51...not bad! Especially since there were several of the young college guys hanging around during the whole time that also tried. They were able to do it, but not as fast as Dennis. Mark gave it a shot and was successful. I was going to, but after watching Dennis wrestle another steer down by twisting it's neck almost all the way around, I changed my mind.
During one of the shows...can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday, Dennis pitted me and Mark against two of the students in a soccer game using the big 6' red ball. Bear in mind, I'm 43. Mark is almost 50. The two students were in their early twenties. Knowing that they had the advantage of youth, Mark devised a plan to call both of them over once we started and tackle them. At that point, I could then push the ball into their goal.
Well...it was a good plan in theory. But I had poorly positioned myself so that I couldn't see Mark. He called them over, but I jumped the gun and tried to take the ball before he could tackle them. Needless to say, they quickly recovered the ball and scored. We had one more round, which was well fought, but they ended up scoring again. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but I was sucking air like never before. It must've taken 10 minutes to recover to normal breathing afterwards. I didn't feel too bad, though, because one of the younger guys (he was 22) was breathing just as hard. We had a lot of fun, but it made me realize that my theme song in my older years is Toby Keith's song that says "I may not be as good as I once was, but I'm good once as I ever was." Truthfully, it doesn't apply to this game, huh, because we lost...:)
At one point during the show, Dennis was awarded as an true Honorable Kentucky Colonel by the Governor because of he created and pushed through the Day of the Horse as an official US holiday.
No other memorable things happened that I can think of right off...
I do remember we took another route on the way out instead of crossing those bridges again!
Kentucky is a really beautiful state. Everywhere you look it's green and lush. I really enjoyed the drive out there. Although, we hit one scary portion of the road on the way out to the arena. We had taken the northern back roads and came across two separate bridges that only had one lane each way. The lanes were so narrow that we drove about 15 miles an hour over them. It didn't look like there was any room on either side. At one point, I passed another truck and could swear that we touched mirrors! I heard the clink...but luckily there wasn't even a scratch.
Turns out this arena was located at the Murray University. We were met by two young men named Taylor and Ben, who worked at the arena and went to school there. By the time we started to unload, there were a few more young men that were in some type of rodeo class there who had also came to help out. This time, I was able to back my truck into the arena, which made unloading the panels so much easier. It also helped that we had so much assistance. By the end of the day we had the horses in their stalls; the Featherlight trailer in it's spot; the cross fence up as well as the round pen. We really had a big jump on getting the store set up.
Dennis added a lot more information for this show then I had seen up to this point. Turns out there was a Reining Hall of Famer, Charlie Hutton (spelling???) at the show. During Sunday's show, Dennis has an hour long lecture on the proper use of bits and bridles. It's a wealth of information just in itself. After that portion, Charlie made the comment to Dennis, which he was given a microphone to repeat to the audience, that he learned more the last couple of days that he had ever expected. This from a Hall of Famer that has been around for many years!
Dennis added a couple of fun bits to both the student instruction as well as the show. He "leased" several roping steers from the college for his students to practice herding. It was fun to watch them do something a little different. During one portion, Dennis actually wrestled a steer to the ground. Dennis just turned 51...not bad! Especially since there were several of the young college guys hanging around during the whole time that also tried. They were able to do it, but not as fast as Dennis. Mark gave it a shot and was successful. I was going to, but after watching Dennis wrestle another steer down by twisting it's neck almost all the way around, I changed my mind.
During one of the shows...can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday, Dennis pitted me and Mark against two of the students in a soccer game using the big 6' red ball. Bear in mind, I'm 43. Mark is almost 50. The two students were in their early twenties. Knowing that they had the advantage of youth, Mark devised a plan to call both of them over once we started and tackle them. At that point, I could then push the ball into their goal.
Well...it was a good plan in theory. But I had poorly positioned myself so that I couldn't see Mark. He called them over, but I jumped the gun and tried to take the ball before he could tackle them. Needless to say, they quickly recovered the ball and scored. We had one more round, which was well fought, but they ended up scoring again. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but I was sucking air like never before. It must've taken 10 minutes to recover to normal breathing afterwards. I didn't feel too bad, though, because one of the younger guys (he was 22) was breathing just as hard. We had a lot of fun, but it made me realize that my theme song in my older years is Toby Keith's song that says "I may not be as good as I once was, but I'm good once as I ever was." Truthfully, it doesn't apply to this game, huh, because we lost...:)
At one point during the show, Dennis was awarded as an true Honorable Kentucky Colonel by the Governor because of he created and pushed through the Day of the Horse as an official US holiday.
No other memorable things happened that I can think of right off...
I do remember we took another route on the way out instead of crossing those bridges again!
Gainesville, GA
Well, I'm finding myself getting futher and futher behind on the stops. For the sake of time, I'll give you a highlight of events and try to fill in more later.
Georgia had an open arena. At first, I was a little apprehensive, but turns out it was a really nice experience! During the shows, there was a constant breeze blowing though. It was warm, but quite comfortable with the breeze.
All of the students parked right next to us since all of the RV hookups were right next to the arena. That Thursday night seemed like one big family reunion. Many of the students returned to ride with Dennis again. Ed and Karen had put hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill to share with everyone. We were able to just sit around and shoot the breeze like a group of old friends.
The show went off pretty well. It seemed like the two show days passed by pretty quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to pack everything up again.
We had our normal day off again. Nothing new or exciting to report about it.
Georgia had an open arena. At first, I was a little apprehensive, but turns out it was a really nice experience! During the shows, there was a constant breeze blowing though. It was warm, but quite comfortable with the breeze.
All of the students parked right next to us since all of the RV hookups were right next to the arena. That Thursday night seemed like one big family reunion. Many of the students returned to ride with Dennis again. Ed and Karen had put hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill to share with everyone. We were able to just sit around and shoot the breeze like a group of old friends.
The show went off pretty well. It seemed like the two show days passed by pretty quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to pack everything up again.
We had our normal day off again. Nothing new or exciting to report about it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Cookeville, TN
We pretty much took the same route out of North Carolina, which meant the beautiful drive through the mountains again. The route continued through Tennessee with a stop in Cookeville for a layover.
We didn't get to Cookeville until late in the evening. You probably wouldn't be that surprised to hear that it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning, huh? Well, it was quite the storm. We connected the "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" to power and water as well as the Jamco. Got the food and water together for the horses. This time, there were stalls already available, but they had concrete floors. What this meant was that we put down the rubber mats we carry on the back of the mid-size Frieghtliner. A bag of wood shavings were put down on top of the mats for the horses to lay down on.
The worst of the storm had passed right after we finished getting the stalls together. But by this time, we were soaked. There were a few times where I thought I might have to use the method learned at Philmont that lessens your chance of being struck by lightning. I had left my raincoat in my truck, so I was a wet, muddy mess. We were a bit rushed because Dennis was already running a few minutes behind on getting on his phone call.
Dennis' show comes on three times during the week and after each show he makes himself available to talk to viewers live. He's the only horse clinician that does that. It takes a big commitment to make the calls, though because two of the shows come on Monday. One is mid-day and the other in the evening. The other show is mid-day on Sunday. Pat and Deborah are also part of the call. Pat has a program on her computer that allows her to see each caller's telephone number and location. She tracks it and helps coordinate either herself, Deborah, Ken, and Fran to make return phone calls to each caller to either answer questions or sell their products.
Not only do they make themselves available to their veiwing public, but they also have an "Ambassador" and "Membership" call during the week. An Ambassador is a volunteer that helps spreads the word about the upcoming show in their area by passing out free tickets; talking to the local tack - feed stores about getting merchandise for the raffles during the show; helping out with the logistics; etc. The Membership call is for members that have joined the Support group made available by Dennis to answer any questions they may have about their horses. They also get a monthly DVD that is made up of the best parts of the taped portion of the tour stops.
It was pretty late by the time we finally had the horses bedded for the night and went to bed ourselves.
The next morning, we found out that Dennis gave us the day off. It was well needed and appreciated! Usual things once again...wash clothes, Walmart, good food, etc. This day off really worked out great since Mark and I had taken the last day off to go to the Biltmore. Neither one of us had done laundry so I was getting worried that I was going to have to wear the same dirty clothes one more time.
We ended up staying one more day after that. Mark and I did various repairs on the vehicles. Pretty light day overall.
The next morning we were off for our next stop.
We didn't get to Cookeville until late in the evening. You probably wouldn't be that surprised to hear that it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning, huh? Well, it was quite the storm. We connected the "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" to power and water as well as the Jamco. Got the food and water together for the horses. This time, there were stalls already available, but they had concrete floors. What this meant was that we put down the rubber mats we carry on the back of the mid-size Frieghtliner. A bag of wood shavings were put down on top of the mats for the horses to lay down on.
The worst of the storm had passed right after we finished getting the stalls together. But by this time, we were soaked. There were a few times where I thought I might have to use the method learned at Philmont that lessens your chance of being struck by lightning. I had left my raincoat in my truck, so I was a wet, muddy mess. We were a bit rushed because Dennis was already running a few minutes behind on getting on his phone call.
Dennis' show comes on three times during the week and after each show he makes himself available to talk to viewers live. He's the only horse clinician that does that. It takes a big commitment to make the calls, though because two of the shows come on Monday. One is mid-day and the other in the evening. The other show is mid-day on Sunday. Pat and Deborah are also part of the call. Pat has a program on her computer that allows her to see each caller's telephone number and location. She tracks it and helps coordinate either herself, Deborah, Ken, and Fran to make return phone calls to each caller to either answer questions or sell their products.
Not only do they make themselves available to their veiwing public, but they also have an "Ambassador" and "Membership" call during the week. An Ambassador is a volunteer that helps spreads the word about the upcoming show in their area by passing out free tickets; talking to the local tack - feed stores about getting merchandise for the raffles during the show; helping out with the logistics; etc. The Membership call is for members that have joined the Support group made available by Dennis to answer any questions they may have about their horses. They also get a monthly DVD that is made up of the best parts of the taped portion of the tour stops.
It was pretty late by the time we finally had the horses bedded for the night and went to bed ourselves.
The next morning, we found out that Dennis gave us the day off. It was well needed and appreciated! Usual things once again...wash clothes, Walmart, good food, etc. This day off really worked out great since Mark and I had taken the last day off to go to the Biltmore. Neither one of us had done laundry so I was getting worried that I was going to have to wear the same dirty clothes one more time.
We ended up staying one more day after that. Mark and I did various repairs on the vehicles. Pretty light day overall.
The next morning we were off for our next stop.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Fletcher, NC
I keep saying that we've had some nice drives, but the one to North Carolina was breathtaking! What a beautiful drive! We drove through the Smokey mountains, which reminded me many times of the drive along the Sierras out there in California.
It would've taken lesser trucks a longer time just because of the steeper grades, but Dennis' trucks have enough power to chug on up the hill without dropping below 55. It's nice to have that much power!
Once we arrived at the arena, we were met by a couple of the local Ambassadors. One was Tim, and the other...well, it's been too long...I can't remember his name. Both nice gentleman, though. There were a couple of other students that were already around ready to lend a hand. One of Dennis' other instructor's was there as well. Ken lives in Florida and guess what...he's an Eagle Scout. There have been quite a few Eagle Scouts or just other Scouters that I've met along this journey.
Unfortantely, there wasn't anyone available from the arena. It took forever to find the light switches later that evening. But they were locked up so we were stumbling around in the dark trying to get the sound set up before the next morning.
Before that point, yet after we had the horses in the stalls fed and watered for the evening, we went out to dinner with a few of the other students. Once again, there were several that had already made it to the other shows, so it felt like a big ol' family reunion. A few that really stand out are Ed and Karen - a married couple (Ed's an Eagle Scout) who always team up for the student games. They are a force to be recogned with. Both are really nice. A young man named Nathan, who you'd never guess by his maturity level that he is only 21. Dennis relentlessly teases him by calling him "Raoul - the pool boy" since he's young and keeps himself in shape. It's funny, that nickname has stuck to him pretty good. His mother and father showed up at this last show in Georgia. His father was wearing a nametag that said "Raoul's Father". Pretty funny stuff. He has always traveled with his aunt, Shirley. Shirley is a really positive and fun person to be around. Her wardrobe is something else. She's always impecciably dressed with matching cowboy hats and scarfs, really nice boots and blouses. Another really sweet lady is Michelle, who is also from Georgia. She's really one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Always smiling; always joking. Dennis' nickname for her is Ellie May Clampet from the Beverly Hillbillies. Once again, the nickname has followed her to each of the stops she's been at. Her mother, Louise, comes with her to all of the shows as well. Once again, a very sweet lady. Like mother like daughter. I could go on and on about the other students, but I'll just say that I haven't met one that I didn't like.
This time around, Mark and I really only had a day and a half to set up the store since we traveled and arrived on Wednesday this time. This show was going to be different since Easter was on that Sunday. The students rode with Dennis Friday morning instead of Thursday and the show actually started on Friday at 5 pm and ran until 10 pm. Saturday was the usual Sunday show. Needless to say, we were a bit worried about having everything set up. It was amazing how "easily" things came together this time. We're pretty much at that stage of being able to throw things up without much thought. We really surprised ourselves...that's for sure.
After scrambling around Friday morning to put everything together, the show started at 5 pm. Of course, just like the other stops, it started raining that evening. Truthfully, it was much more than rain. It was a pretty bad thunder and lightning storm. Some of the arenas that we've been in have been closed off with the exception of the front glass doors. This time, the arena was recessed down below the bleachers. There were glass doors and windows all away around the building so that we had natural sun light during the day. But Friday night we were able to see just how bad the lightning was flashing. I was waiting for the lights and the power to cut out at any point.
So, needless to say, since Friday's show went until 10 pm, we had a long day. Mark and I still had to feed by 5 am the next morning. That weekend was one of the hardest ones, as far as back to back long hour days, yet.
Sunday, Easter, made up for it, though. Shirley and Nathan took Mark and I to the Biltmore house in Asheville, NC. It's the largest home in North America. It was owned by George Vanderbuilt, who only lived in it a year after it was built before he died. Here is the link to the house: http://www.biltmore.com/visit/house/default.asp . We spent the day roaming around the house and playing tourist. It wasn't our normal day off...no laundry...no Walmart. It was a well needed restful day.
This day off prepared us for our next stop, which was in Kentucky.
It would've taken lesser trucks a longer time just because of the steeper grades, but Dennis' trucks have enough power to chug on up the hill without dropping below 55. It's nice to have that much power!
Once we arrived at the arena, we were met by a couple of the local Ambassadors. One was Tim, and the other...well, it's been too long...I can't remember his name. Both nice gentleman, though. There were a couple of other students that were already around ready to lend a hand. One of Dennis' other instructor's was there as well. Ken lives in Florida and guess what...he's an Eagle Scout. There have been quite a few Eagle Scouts or just other Scouters that I've met along this journey.
Unfortantely, there wasn't anyone available from the arena. It took forever to find the light switches later that evening. But they were locked up so we were stumbling around in the dark trying to get the sound set up before the next morning.
Before that point, yet after we had the horses in the stalls fed and watered for the evening, we went out to dinner with a few of the other students. Once again, there were several that had already made it to the other shows, so it felt like a big ol' family reunion. A few that really stand out are Ed and Karen - a married couple (Ed's an Eagle Scout) who always team up for the student games. They are a force to be recogned with. Both are really nice. A young man named Nathan, who you'd never guess by his maturity level that he is only 21. Dennis relentlessly teases him by calling him "Raoul - the pool boy" since he's young and keeps himself in shape. It's funny, that nickname has stuck to him pretty good. His mother and father showed up at this last show in Georgia. His father was wearing a nametag that said "Raoul's Father". Pretty funny stuff. He has always traveled with his aunt, Shirley. Shirley is a really positive and fun person to be around. Her wardrobe is something else. She's always impecciably dressed with matching cowboy hats and scarfs, really nice boots and blouses. Another really sweet lady is Michelle, who is also from Georgia. She's really one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Always smiling; always joking. Dennis' nickname for her is Ellie May Clampet from the Beverly Hillbillies. Once again, the nickname has followed her to each of the stops she's been at. Her mother, Louise, comes with her to all of the shows as well. Once again, a very sweet lady. Like mother like daughter. I could go on and on about the other students, but I'll just say that I haven't met one that I didn't like.
This time around, Mark and I really only had a day and a half to set up the store since we traveled and arrived on Wednesday this time. This show was going to be different since Easter was on that Sunday. The students rode with Dennis Friday morning instead of Thursday and the show actually started on Friday at 5 pm and ran until 10 pm. Saturday was the usual Sunday show. Needless to say, we were a bit worried about having everything set up. It was amazing how "easily" things came together this time. We're pretty much at that stage of being able to throw things up without much thought. We really surprised ourselves...that's for sure.
After scrambling around Friday morning to put everything together, the show started at 5 pm. Of course, just like the other stops, it started raining that evening. Truthfully, it was much more than rain. It was a pretty bad thunder and lightning storm. Some of the arenas that we've been in have been closed off with the exception of the front glass doors. This time, the arena was recessed down below the bleachers. There were glass doors and windows all away around the building so that we had natural sun light during the day. But Friday night we were able to see just how bad the lightning was flashing. I was waiting for the lights and the power to cut out at any point.
So, needless to say, since Friday's show went until 10 pm, we had a long day. Mark and I still had to feed by 5 am the next morning. That weekend was one of the hardest ones, as far as back to back long hour days, yet.
Sunday, Easter, made up for it, though. Shirley and Nathan took Mark and I to the Biltmore house in Asheville, NC. It's the largest home in North America. It was owned by George Vanderbuilt, who only lived in it a year after it was built before he died. Here is the link to the house: http://www.biltmore.com/visit/house/default.asp . We spent the day roaming around the house and playing tourist. It wasn't our normal day off...no laundry...no Walmart. It was a well needed restful day.
This day off prepared us for our next stop, which was in Kentucky.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Decatur, AL
Our next stop on the tour was Decatur, AL. Once again, it was a beautiful drive that included plenty of green grass and trees. The arena was named Racking Horse Celebration Arena. Here's a link that describe what Racking Horses are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racking_horse. There are some debates about the horses because of the actual chains and the extensions that are put on the horses front feet. They are used to give the horse the gait which causes the horse to raise his front feet in an unnatural way. It's considered to be inhuman to many.
On a more positive note, we were met by the facility manager Donna and the maintenance guy Jesse. Both nice people. One of the common things that I've learned about each arena is the costs of running the lights. They are 1000 watt bulbs, which draw a lot of power, especially when you first turn them on. Donna explained that she has to turn each row of lights on individually with at least 15 minute intervals because otherwise it is such a draw on the local power company that they charge her a large fee. It was funny how tough she was about the lights, almost like she was the guardian of them. She turned them off the minute that we were through with them.
As well as Donna and Jesse, we were also met by two gentleman, Danny and Gary and his son and daughter. They assisted with getting the panels for the stalls off my trailer and set up. They were down-home fellows that seemed like they would give you the shirt off their back. Saturday, after the show, they, along with Gary's mom and dad, cooked up some fried catfish, cole slaw, fries, and homemade pecan (properly pronounced in the southern drawl: "p-can") pies that were so good they left you wanting more. I haven't had pecan pie that good since my grandmother made it many years back. That was a good meal, needless to say! They also were kind enough to bring in extra panels that were needed to run the perimeter of the arena since there was only a half wall...the horses would've easily jumped the fence...
The weather was an interesting combination of warm, very cold with light snow, and wild storms that included thunder and lightning and wind so bad that it rocked the big rig while sitting still...oh, and there was also the threat of tornadoes. This weird combo was all in the period of a week.
The crowd was about average. Nothing really different. There was a really big learning experience during the show on Saturday, though. One of the students was riding a pretty high spirited horse using a cheap synthetic saddle with plastic stirrups. There was a point in the show were the horse spooked, reared back and caused the rider to have to stand up in the stirrups. They broke while she was standing, causing her to fall off the horse. The arena dirt was pretty packed, so she didn't have much to cushion the fall. She passed out for a brief minute. Luckily, two other students were doctors so they immediately ran to her aid. I ran out there behind Pat, who is a retired heart surgical nurse, and called 911 to the arena. While waiting for the ambulance outside, I was talking to Gary. Since he was from there and knew the volunteer paramedics, he was going to try to talk them into not having the helicopter fly out since it cost so much. According to him, they have a bad habit of immediately sending the helicopter for the flight to the hospital 12 miles away because they can charge $8000 for the ride. Pretty expensive! Turns out, they still flew her out.
She was up and getting around in the hospital later that day. Sounds like she'll be fine and will be at one of the other upcoming shows with the same horse for Dennis to work with to try to calm it down.
Obviously, things could've been a lot worse, but there is a definite lesson with this experience. The lesson is that you shouldn't skimp on the tools that are designed to keep you safe. In this case, one should never ride a horse with a cheap saddle that has plastic stirrups.
Dennis continued the show and the rest of the time including Sunday went off without any problems.
At this point, I'm getting several stops behind, so I'll post pictures a little later so I can try to get caught up.
On a more positive note, we were met by the facility manager Donna and the maintenance guy Jesse. Both nice people. One of the common things that I've learned about each arena is the costs of running the lights. They are 1000 watt bulbs, which draw a lot of power, especially when you first turn them on. Donna explained that she has to turn each row of lights on individually with at least 15 minute intervals because otherwise it is such a draw on the local power company that they charge her a large fee. It was funny how tough she was about the lights, almost like she was the guardian of them. She turned them off the minute that we were through with them.
As well as Donna and Jesse, we were also met by two gentleman, Danny and Gary and his son and daughter. They assisted with getting the panels for the stalls off my trailer and set up. They were down-home fellows that seemed like they would give you the shirt off their back. Saturday, after the show, they, along with Gary's mom and dad, cooked up some fried catfish, cole slaw, fries, and homemade pecan (properly pronounced in the southern drawl: "p-can") pies that were so good they left you wanting more. I haven't had pecan pie that good since my grandmother made it many years back. That was a good meal, needless to say! They also were kind enough to bring in extra panels that were needed to run the perimeter of the arena since there was only a half wall...the horses would've easily jumped the fence...
The weather was an interesting combination of warm, very cold with light snow, and wild storms that included thunder and lightning and wind so bad that it rocked the big rig while sitting still...oh, and there was also the threat of tornadoes. This weird combo was all in the period of a week.
The crowd was about average. Nothing really different. There was a really big learning experience during the show on Saturday, though. One of the students was riding a pretty high spirited horse using a cheap synthetic saddle with plastic stirrups. There was a point in the show were the horse spooked, reared back and caused the rider to have to stand up in the stirrups. They broke while she was standing, causing her to fall off the horse. The arena dirt was pretty packed, so she didn't have much to cushion the fall. She passed out for a brief minute. Luckily, two other students were doctors so they immediately ran to her aid. I ran out there behind Pat, who is a retired heart surgical nurse, and called 911 to the arena. While waiting for the ambulance outside, I was talking to Gary. Since he was from there and knew the volunteer paramedics, he was going to try to talk them into not having the helicopter fly out since it cost so much. According to him, they have a bad habit of immediately sending the helicopter for the flight to the hospital 12 miles away because they can charge $8000 for the ride. Pretty expensive! Turns out, they still flew her out.
She was up and getting around in the hospital later that day. Sounds like she'll be fine and will be at one of the other upcoming shows with the same horse for Dennis to work with to try to calm it down.
Obviously, things could've been a lot worse, but there is a definite lesson with this experience. The lesson is that you shouldn't skimp on the tools that are designed to keep you safe. In this case, one should never ride a horse with a cheap saddle that has plastic stirrups.
Dennis continued the show and the rest of the time including Sunday went off without any problems.
At this point, I'm getting several stops behind, so I'll post pictures a little later so I can try to get caught up.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Forest, MS
Forest, Mississippi was the next stop on the tour. Deborah and Toni had flown back to California once again to complete work that they had to do, so they didn't travel with us.
It was a little under 300 miles of beautiful country. It was one of the best drives so far. The reason being is because we had to cut down from Interstate 40 to Interstate 20 using a little four lane road that took us through towns and stoplights. It was nice to see something other than trees and road, which is really the only thing you see driving the Interstates. We meandered along a river, drove through some really cute little towns where people actually waved from their front porches, and such.
We came across this hill portion of the road in this one little town where at the crest was railroad tracks. For a normal vehicle, you wouldn't think twice about it. For us, though, we have the horse trailer and the "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" that both have really low clearances. We made it with about two inches to spare with the horse trailer. There was going to be no way with the bus. Dennis ended up backing it down this one way street a couple of blocks away that had a little less incline. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of traffic. It only added an interesting part to the day.
We arrived in town at around 8 pm and were met by Reis Ranch Ambassador Stacy and his 12 year old son Reagan. Stacy is the type of down-home guy that made you feel right at home and his son was well mannered and acted much more mature than his age.
The arena manager met us as well to let us into the facility. It was a very nice venue with plenty of seating and a very large arena. It was right off the freeway, which was nice, and it was a cool to see that they had their large sign advertising Dennis' show.
First things always is first: get Deborah and Dennis' "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" connected with water, sewer and power and the Jamco (name brand of the trailer) horse trailer connected to water, sewer and power.
Afterwards, Stacy and Reagan helped us get the panels out for the horse's stalls. Mark started getting their feed together while Reagan started filling their water buckets. Once everything was ready, the horses were brought up and put in their stalls.
As always, the Featherlight trailer was driven into the arena and parked in it's normal area that creates the separating line between the store area and the main arena. Since Pat sleeps in the front part of the trailer (it has a nice little living quarter with a bed, little kitchenette, closet and a bathroom with a shower), power was run to it.
It was a long 18 hour day, so you bet that I slept good that night!
The next morning, Mark and I started to unpack the Featherlight to set up the cross fence that goes next to the trailer and from one side to the other side of the arena. The facility had a young man named Charles that worked there. Turns out he was a BIG help setting up things. He didn't mind doing grunt type work and was willing to help out with anything else that needed to be done.
Dennis surprised Mark and I mid-day by giving us the rest of the day off. After the previous day, it was well needed! We decided to go see a movie to relax. The nearest place was in Jackson about 35 miles away. Didn't start out at relaxing as it should've, though. We were on our way in the mid-size Frieghtliner when I was pulled over by a Mississippi DOT police officer. The DOT police mostly concentrate on big rigs and larger vehicles. I only received a warning for not having my log book up to date, even though we tried to convince him that we were off duty. If one didn't know better, it almost seemed as if he had singled us our right from the start. He was parked on the on ramp when we first got on the freeway. He started to follow us, eventually passing us. Meanwhile, we both passed a disabled car with people working on it and one car towing another car, which is illegal, going our way. Not much further up the freeway, we passed him parked on the shoulder of the road. As soon as we passed, he pulled us over and talked to us for about 30 minutes.
Spoiler and all, we still made it to the movies. Mark saw Escape to Witch Mountain, which I teased him unmercifully for seeing. I saw that new movie with Nicolas Cage. Pretty good movie...lot of action, but the ending was disappointing in my opinion.
The next day was pretty easy overall since we had help from Charles, Stacy and Fran, who is the Lead Instructor for Dennis. Great lady! She's looks petite, but I tell you what, I wouldn't want to mess with her! Not only is she an Instructor, but she's also shoes horses professionally. She's got a great personality with a wonderful smile and sparkling eyes.
It also helped that by this point, both Mark and I pretty much know exactly what we need to do. It not quite to the point of being second nature yet, but I figure we'll be there after a couple of more stops.
By mid-day Friday, the store was setup. It was a satisfying feeling to be completed that early.
We all seemed to be in high spirits because things were going well and this place had a good vibe. Although Arkansas had a nice complex, it had a couple of hurdles, the biggest being the location. It was out in the middle of nowhere. This place was in a great location and Stacy had worked hard to promote the event by passing out over a thousand tickets.
If anything, the weather was the only thing that was strange this time. There were threats of tornadoes and really bad rainstorms at night. The days were beautiful, but the nights were something else! I kept being woke up throughout the night because the rain was so bad several times. The truck is insulated pretty well, but it's still metal.
Saturday's show had roughly four hundred people...if I remember correctly. Things went well with the show. He had less than 10 students that he worked with this time, all but one had been students as previous shows. It was like a big family reunion again. Loved it!
We had Dr. Carl and Becky back for this show. Both were not available for the last two shows because of other commitments.
Looking back, the start of Saturday's show was the only real hiccup. Once again, it was a sound issue. There was a bad sound cable that caused three speakers to go out, which was right at the start of the show. I was scrambling like a madman to rewire them before we actually got started. Meanwhile, I was told that the Internet connection went out. This is a big deal because it is necessary for our cash registers. Each issue was a big deal in itself, but combined...well, not good. After side tracking the speakers for the Internet connection, I found out that the router had been knocked off the table that it sat on...whew, easy fix. I ran back out to fix the speaker situation.
Normally, we have four large speakers on each side of the arena in the bleachers. One also sits on top of the Featherlight and one right behind the store where Dennis sits during the breaks (They're called "breaks", but Dennis just moves from the arena into the store to sit and talk to people face to face answering their questions, signing autographs, and marketing his products. He barely has time to eat during lunch because he spends his time in the store talking with customers. Deborah spends her time at the cash registers, or being the accountant, or when she's not monitoring the editing equipment being the producer during filming for the TV show / Membership DVDs or being part of the show, etc. Her theme song should be Sammy Kershaw's "National Working Woman's Holiday"). Since everyone was sitting on the one side and they still were having problems hearing him, we moved the four speakers and the wiring from one vacant side to the other side.
Other than the sound issues, things went off without any hitches. They were both entertaining and informative.
Sunday's packing up went really well. We had good volunteers that had everything packed up within an hour and a half. The volunteers get a horse stick for their services signed by both Deborah and Dennis.
Monday was our day off again. Can you guess what we done??? Yep, laundry, Walmart, and a good meal. Both Toni and Pat fed for both Mark and I so we didn't have to get up early. Didn't seem like it really matters anymore because I've gotten use to waking up at 4:30 am and then again at 6:30 am, my normal schedule. It was still nice to lay there a little longer, especially since I was able to get back to sleep until around 9 am.
Tuesday morning we were up to feed the horses and get the panels loaded on my trailer and ready to go right on schedule.
Our next stop was Decatur, Alabama.
It was a little under 300 miles of beautiful country. It was one of the best drives so far. The reason being is because we had to cut down from Interstate 40 to Interstate 20 using a little four lane road that took us through towns and stoplights. It was nice to see something other than trees and road, which is really the only thing you see driving the Interstates. We meandered along a river, drove through some really cute little towns where people actually waved from their front porches, and such.
We came across this hill portion of the road in this one little town where at the crest was railroad tracks. For a normal vehicle, you wouldn't think twice about it. For us, though, we have the horse trailer and the "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" that both have really low clearances. We made it with about two inches to spare with the horse trailer. There was going to be no way with the bus. Dennis ended up backing it down this one way street a couple of blocks away that had a little less incline. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of traffic. It only added an interesting part to the day.
We arrived in town at around 8 pm and were met by Reis Ranch Ambassador Stacy and his 12 year old son Reagan. Stacy is the type of down-home guy that made you feel right at home and his son was well mannered and acted much more mature than his age.
The arena manager met us as well to let us into the facility. It was a very nice venue with plenty of seating and a very large arena. It was right off the freeway, which was nice, and it was a cool to see that they had their large sign advertising Dennis' show.
First things always is first: get Deborah and Dennis' "Custom Luxury Motor Coach" connected with water, sewer and power and the Jamco (name brand of the trailer) horse trailer connected to water, sewer and power.
Afterwards, Stacy and Reagan helped us get the panels out for the horse's stalls. Mark started getting their feed together while Reagan started filling their water buckets. Once everything was ready, the horses were brought up and put in their stalls.
As always, the Featherlight trailer was driven into the arena and parked in it's normal area that creates the separating line between the store area and the main arena. Since Pat sleeps in the front part of the trailer (it has a nice little living quarter with a bed, little kitchenette, closet and a bathroom with a shower), power was run to it.
It was a long 18 hour day, so you bet that I slept good that night!
The next morning, Mark and I started to unpack the Featherlight to set up the cross fence that goes next to the trailer and from one side to the other side of the arena. The facility had a young man named Charles that worked there. Turns out he was a BIG help setting up things. He didn't mind doing grunt type work and was willing to help out with anything else that needed to be done.
Dennis surprised Mark and I mid-day by giving us the rest of the day off. After the previous day, it was well needed! We decided to go see a movie to relax. The nearest place was in Jackson about 35 miles away. Didn't start out at relaxing as it should've, though. We were on our way in the mid-size Frieghtliner when I was pulled over by a Mississippi DOT police officer. The DOT police mostly concentrate on big rigs and larger vehicles. I only received a warning for not having my log book up to date, even though we tried to convince him that we were off duty. If one didn't know better, it almost seemed as if he had singled us our right from the start. He was parked on the on ramp when we first got on the freeway. He started to follow us, eventually passing us. Meanwhile, we both passed a disabled car with people working on it and one car towing another car, which is illegal, going our way. Not much further up the freeway, we passed him parked on the shoulder of the road. As soon as we passed, he pulled us over and talked to us for about 30 minutes.
Spoiler and all, we still made it to the movies. Mark saw Escape to Witch Mountain, which I teased him unmercifully for seeing. I saw that new movie with Nicolas Cage. Pretty good movie...lot of action, but the ending was disappointing in my opinion.
The next day was pretty easy overall since we had help from Charles, Stacy and Fran, who is the Lead Instructor for Dennis. Great lady! She's looks petite, but I tell you what, I wouldn't want to mess with her! Not only is she an Instructor, but she's also shoes horses professionally. She's got a great personality with a wonderful smile and sparkling eyes.
It also helped that by this point, both Mark and I pretty much know exactly what we need to do. It not quite to the point of being second nature yet, but I figure we'll be there after a couple of more stops.
By mid-day Friday, the store was setup. It was a satisfying feeling to be completed that early.
We all seemed to be in high spirits because things were going well and this place had a good vibe. Although Arkansas had a nice complex, it had a couple of hurdles, the biggest being the location. It was out in the middle of nowhere. This place was in a great location and Stacy had worked hard to promote the event by passing out over a thousand tickets.
If anything, the weather was the only thing that was strange this time. There were threats of tornadoes and really bad rainstorms at night. The days were beautiful, but the nights were something else! I kept being woke up throughout the night because the rain was so bad several times. The truck is insulated pretty well, but it's still metal.
Saturday's show had roughly four hundred people...if I remember correctly. Things went well with the show. He had less than 10 students that he worked with this time, all but one had been students as previous shows. It was like a big family reunion again. Loved it!
We had Dr. Carl and Becky back for this show. Both were not available for the last two shows because of other commitments.
Looking back, the start of Saturday's show was the only real hiccup. Once again, it was a sound issue. There was a bad sound cable that caused three speakers to go out, which was right at the start of the show. I was scrambling like a madman to rewire them before we actually got started. Meanwhile, I was told that the Internet connection went out. This is a big deal because it is necessary for our cash registers. Each issue was a big deal in itself, but combined...well, not good. After side tracking the speakers for the Internet connection, I found out that the router had been knocked off the table that it sat on...whew, easy fix. I ran back out to fix the speaker situation.
Normally, we have four large speakers on each side of the arena in the bleachers. One also sits on top of the Featherlight and one right behind the store where Dennis sits during the breaks (They're called "breaks", but Dennis just moves from the arena into the store to sit and talk to people face to face answering their questions, signing autographs, and marketing his products. He barely has time to eat during lunch because he spends his time in the store talking with customers. Deborah spends her time at the cash registers, or being the accountant, or when she's not monitoring the editing equipment being the producer during filming for the TV show / Membership DVDs or being part of the show, etc. Her theme song should be Sammy Kershaw's "National Working Woman's Holiday"). Since everyone was sitting on the one side and they still were having problems hearing him, we moved the four speakers and the wiring from one vacant side to the other side.
Other than the sound issues, things went off without any hitches. They were both entertaining and informative.
Sunday's packing up went really well. We had good volunteers that had everything packed up within an hour and a half. The volunteers get a horse stick for their services signed by both Deborah and Dennis.
Monday was our day off again. Can you guess what we done??? Yep, laundry, Walmart, and a good meal. Both Toni and Pat fed for both Mark and I so we didn't have to get up early. Didn't seem like it really matters anymore because I've gotten use to waking up at 4:30 am and then again at 6:30 am, my normal schedule. It was still nice to lay there a little longer, especially since I was able to get back to sleep until around 9 am.
Tuesday morning we were up to feed the horses and get the panels loaded on my trailer and ready to go right on schedule.
Our next stop was Decatur, Alabama.
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