Planet Rolex

My feet have been back on Tennessee soil for nearly three days now, but my head is still very much in Lexington.  All of the standard aerospace metaphors apply:  in orbit, over the moon, in 7th heaven, walking on clouds...you get the idea.  In the last nine years I've made it to Rolex six times, but this year was a little different.  I was able to arrive a day earlier than usual and therefore experienced the event from beginning to end.

It started on a warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon with a horse inspection:

Parklane Hawk and William Fox-Pitt

Once past inspection, horse and rider completed a dressage test:

Andrew Hoy aboard the stunning Rutherglen,
 practicing before their test.

After two days of dressage, I woke early for the cross country test and arrived at Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday at 8:00am.  Cross country day always fills me with trepidation because it is a jumping test over mostly fixed and immovable obstacles.  I've seen a few crashes, one of which was fatal for the horse, and the possibility of serious injury to horse or rider is always at the back of one's mind.  This year I positioned myself at the coffin jump first thing and much to my surprise watched the stellar Andrew Nicholson retire there after his horse Calico Joe refused both routes of the jump.  When Andrew Nicholson walks home, it tends to get your attention. The course was tough and took it's toll on a number of riders, but no serious injuries were reported.

The view every rider hoped to see between
his horse's ears:  the last obstacle on course.

Clark Montgomery heads to fence 7 aboard his
wonderful Loughan Glen; sadly, Clark and Glen
were eliminated when Clark took a tumble
just three fences from the finish.

Sunday morning dawned cold and blustery, and at 7:30a.m. I hustled to the second horse inspection thinking that in addition to mad dogs and Englishmen only horse people would bother to stand out in such weather.  By noon of course everyone had peeled off their layers as the sun began to bake the park.  The last test of the event began at 1:00p.m. and tens of thousands of spectators jammed into the stadium to watch the final jumping test.

My boy Eddie clearing the last fence before
galloping to an 11th place finish, and
netting the Bank One Trophy for owner /rider Peter Barry.

This year I stayed for the awards ceremony as my favorite horse and rider finished in the ribbons.  I was hoping to make it home in time to give my horses their evening feed, but I was delayed a bit and didn't get home until after dark.  As I drove down the lane, I thought about stopping by the barn, but the horses were turned out for the night and I decided not to bother them.  (But it took several minutes of internal debate while idling in the lane before I made my decision.)

Early Monday morning I pulled on my boots and headed to the barn.  Both my boys stood near the barn, waiting for breakfast.  Momento came right to me, sticking his muzzle in my direction everywhere I moved, saying "hello" and being the perfect, wonderful horse that he is.  Hero was of course cool and standoffish.  He barely looked at me and didn't get close until I sat his feed pan down for him.  After eating both horses stood in the barn aisle, resting and aloof, and I stood there too, looking them over.  All at once, I noticed Momento's expression change from relaxed to submissive, and in the next second Hero took two steps forward to stand between us. Apparently, I was now officially forgiven for leaving him, because he dropped his head in front of me.  I rubbed his neck and forehead and stroked his ears (which he loves more than anything) and soon enough he was yawning and stretching his neck and then he shook himself.

All the aloofness and stress evaporated, and once again I was standing in the barn next to my two favorite boys, and it was then that I finally started to feel like I was really back home.