Cheeseburger in Paradise!

WOW! I want to start by saying a HUGE HUGE congratulations to everyone at Rolex 2010. I am honored to say that a few of good friends were competing at Rolex this year. Everyone looked amazing and there was allot of talent galloping around as well as leading the way. From an onlooker the weekend was a success. Oliver's fall was unfortunate and I know that we are all wishing him a speedy recovery. In allot of the reports about the course and the layout of said course, the general comment seemed to be that it was easier this year and more of a generous track. From a personal soap box I must reply with this, a four star is a freakin four star! I realize that to some extent the technical stuff may have been a little less than years past but the heights, widths, distance, and atmosphere is still that of a four star. After Vaunted and I jumped around Rolex in a confident, quick, and overall pleasant way, (in my personal opinion of course :) ) I was lucky enough to then travel over to Badminton with Bonnie. When I walked around that course I will say that it was a bit trickier with a few combinations and it never really let you take a breather. However, Badminton is known to have the reputation of being one of the hardest four stars in the world. Rolex, mind you, has the reputation of being the "largest stage" of the four stars. All that being said, when I heard people saying that Rolex in 2009 was like a 3.5* I must say it was a hit to the gut in some small way. The guts that it took for me to go out there on my little OTTB and jump around with all those people watching and warming up for the first time with the likes of Lucinda, William Fox-Pitt, Tim Lipps, and all the other big riders from all those other countries, was huge! To walk around the xc course Saturday morning with my number on and have people taking my picture, who mind you have no idea who I am, and then to walk up to the Normandy Bank and have Lucinda ask me what line I'm taking....almost made me vomit! The moral of this "rant" is that I want to give a MONUMENTAL high five to everyone that even entered that little event they call Rolex! I hope to cross that finish line a hundred more times in my life but I can only imagine that nothing can replace the feeling of crossing the finish line for the first time aboard my best friend. Non-the-less I will be sure and test that hypothesis out many times over and let you know my findings.

It was a bit hard to be at home this past weekend. I must give a big thanks to EventingNation. John did a great job covering the event and even though my internet at the farm is rather slow, we were still able to get his reports. Eventing is a much different sport than most and for that I know that we are all grateful! It is such a emotional and mental roller coaster. Which leads me into the title of this blog. You see I am a massive Jimmy Buffett fan. My parents are parrot heads and I guess I just grew up with it. I have a few major goals in life; aside from the glaring one, I want to live in a fancy hotel, and have the lifestyle of Jimmy Buffett. That means operating on island time! Oh, and get little umbrella drinks with every dinner, but that is just and insignificant detail. Not having Vaunted at Rolex this year and making the decision to let him do his thing for a bit has given me a bit of time to try and bring everything back to the big picture somehow....insert Jimmy. I must copy some of the lyrics from his song Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes;

I took off a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year

All of the places and all of the faces

Wonderin' where they all disappeared

I didn't ponder the question to long

I was hungry and went out for a bite

...
Chorus:

Changes in latitude changes in attitude

Nothing remains quite the same

Through all of islands and all of the highlands

If we couldn't laugh then we would all go insane

Reading departure signs in some big airport

Reminds me of places I've been

Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure

Makes me want to go back again

If it suddenly ended tomorrow

I could somehow adjust to the fall

Good times and riches and son of a bitches

I've seen more than I can recall

...

Oh, yesterdays over my shoulders

So I cant look back for too long

There's just too much to see waiting in front of me

And I know that I just cant go wrong

I mean, if you are an eventer, you have to be able to relate to at least one line of this song! We change out "latitudes" just about every weekend, nothing remains the same with horses, and we are often times being asked to change our outlook on any given day! For goodness gracious everyone knows how much I love to laugh!! The louder the better. At the risk of over analyzing I really do think that we cant look back for too long, like good ole Jimmy said there is just too much to see! It is so easy to get caught up in the what's hot and what's not thing. It is so easy to see who likes who and who is the new kid in class. It is so easy to blame someone else or worse the horse your sitting on. Now I am not saying that I have a specific reference or anything at all with this, but it is for my own mental clarity that I say this. As in any profession, you have to "play the game" to an extent to roll with the big dogs. That being said the scoreboard and results don't lie and you know what...if something suddenly ended tomorrow, we could all adjust to the fall. Being apart of a couple upper level event teams, I know how easy it can be to get wrapped up in the right now, the visions of good times and how much you want something. However the thing that makes the good things so much better, the speed bumps along the way. Oh that Jimmy Buffett, he is such a wise sailor and a savvy business man! So the next time you are eating a cheeseburger at a horse show, holding your best steed, take a moment and try recall the whole year and all those faces...(insert umbrella drink)...then give a laugh

Here is a fun link to this song live in the 70's: Jimmy