Mary-Anne's News
August 30, 2006   We're Home
Robin, Liesa and I arrived in Calgary Sunday evening. Liesa's Randy met us at the airport and whisked Liesa away. Robin and I stayed in Calgary. We'd been up for 24 hours by the time we landed so we opted to stay. We were also hoping the horses would be out of quarantine Monday. 
Monday morning we headed out to Bob's only to find that there had been a delay with the bloodwork and the horses wouldn't be released until Wednesday (hopefully). All the horses looked good. Bob's wife said they were all tired when they got to the farm and it was raining so she put them all in stalls in the barn. By morning they were all bored and full of energy so she turned them out where they all enjoyed rolling in the mud. Shadow enjoyed rolling the most, going back to the puddle several times. They have all settled in at the Thompson's well. We loaded up our gear and headed for home. 
Our cats were very happy to see us. We've never been away from them this long and I'm pretty sure our very old cat Mitch was starting to think that he'd outlived us. We picked Smoke up from the dog hotel & spa and he was likewise very glad to see us. 
Yesterday and today have been laundry days. What a job. Phew! Washing all the wet, stinky laundry and horse gear is not for the feint of heart!! I managed to get everything that was clean unpacked and put away but my washer is still going non-stop.
Bob called today and the horses have been cleared to go home so I'll head back to Cochrane tomorrow to collect Shadow. I'll pick up the other two from Barb Fleet's place on the way home. It'll be good to have all the critters back home.

Mary-Anne
August 26, 2006  The Rhine
Hello again. Its august 26th at 2200 hours. Mary-Anne Liesa and I spent yesterday morning dropping off cards and saying goodbye's in Vaals, then headed to Maastricht (on the advice of Linda,Julias and Ruth!) The shopping core is a 10 or 15 square block area that is all walking, streets 10 feet wide, and wall to wall people. Liesa went into 'shoe store overload' and we had to help her to the car! (well almost). We also visited a Castle in near Heerlen, which is whre we stayed after the event actually started. I wish we had found this sooner as it wold have been a great tour for the whole group to experience. 
Then it was off towards Frankfurt via the Rhine River. We made it most of the way, stopping in a samll town called Villip and stayed for the night. In the morning we found ourselves at anther castle, above the Rhine, and the only hill top castle in Germany that has never been destroyed. It was amazing, and for me the labour that went in to making walls 14 feet thick is mind boggling.
Then down to the Rhine itself and spent a couple of hours looking at monuments and statues along the river. The constant flow of river traffic, barges, commuter boats was pretty cool. The history of the region is such that a 3 day trip would be better.
We then zipped down the autobohn, with the audi station wagon doing just fine, and are spending tonight outside of Frankfurt in Dormstat. Tomorrow we fly out at 6:30 pm, and get into Calgary at 8:30 pm, 9 hours flight time. We#ll grab a hotel, and hopefully pick shadow up on Monday as long as the blood tests are back! more later, Robin
Aug 17, 2006
Hi all, 

This has to be quick, almost out of Euros...
All is well. Had the first trot out for the team vets and Shadow looks great. I think he's realized this IS a race; he had a little nap while waiting his turn to be seen by the vets. He's storing up energy!
More later.
Mary-Anne

Aug 14, 2006
I went for a short ride on my own yesterday. I saw several other people on horseback, even a couple with western saddles and saddle bags, lots of hikers and cyclists. The trails are beautiful and well used.

Robin convinced me to rent a bike so Saturday we toured the countryside a bit. I did better than I thought I would-didn't fall off even once. No plans to trade Shadow in for wheels though.

The pace is picking up. We had a team meeting at our place this morning after enjoying a Canadian-style breakfast cooked by Robin. We move to a hotel and the horses move to the site at the end of the week. 

From Robin: Drove around with Ewan yesterday (Sunday pm), to 6 of the 8 crew points and the hotel we're moving to. The crew points will take some getting used to as they are in urban settings and all are on or very close to roads. That means I was in Germany, Belguim and Holland in the space of two hours. Still a little strange to think of that.

The locals at the stables have taken a liking to us and we are looking forward to thier help on race day. Today is the day that I start the planning and detailed work for the race day logistics, using the scouting the team has done with my travels will give me a good feel for what the best way and places to crew M and Shadow will be. mary-Annes sister Liesa has been awesome with looking after shadow and us. 

I've only had one conversation about Oil and Gas since I got hear, and that was trying to get Ewan to take gas money for driving me around.

August 11, 2006
Hi everyone,
Linda Riley, Ruth and I went out to The Point today. It was a good ride. We had a little excitement when a runner spooked the horses but once the dust settled everyone was ok. Robin, Liesa, Kathy and Jane met us there. It was different being able to walk over to one of the restaurants for a coke while our grooms took care of the horses. I could get used to riding like that!

We are settling into a routine now. We are all sharing a tack stall so it took a bit of organizing so we weren't tripping over each other but I think we've got it worked out. A BIG thank-you to the ladies at A Ride in the Park Saddlery in Sherwood Park for the tack box. All my stuff is right at my finger tips, no digging for stuff. What a treat! 
Plans are starting to be made for race day; 
More later. 

Mary-Anne

August 8, 2006
Settled and Unpacked
We're unpacked, settled in and caught up on our sleep. The bungalow has become home.
The "Park" is a family resort facility with swimming pools, tennis courts, fishing ponds and restuarants. It's like a small village. Cars are only allowed on Mondays and Fridays, for check-in and check-out. It's very nice. 

Our horses are at Otermans Ruitersportcentrum. It's a wonderful family owned facility. The barns are large and very bright. The stalls are about 14' x 14'. Ivan and Nicole (his girlfriend) are wonderful hosts, very kind and generous. The night the horses arrrived Ivan and Nicole, along with Engeline and her family stayed up with us until our horses were settled and our gear was unpacked, then Ivan drove us back to Aachen (at 0400 hrs). He was up looking after the horses by 0800. 

Their stable is busy with lessons and boarders coming and going. They have a Kantina where we can get a cold coca-cola or beer, after our chores are done, of course. 

Otermans is a 5 minute walk from our house, so like the locals, we've been doing a lot of walking. The horses all look good and have settled into stable life quite nicely. The pace is more relaxed than at home, no one seems to be in a big hurry. 

We couldn't have asked for better accomodations for ourselves or our horses.

Mary-Anne

August 4, 2006
Hi everyone,
The horses arrived late, 0200 hrs Friday, safe and sound. They were happy to hear a familiar voice and have a warm stall that wasn't moving. The folks that own the stable were fantastic. They stayed up and waited with us for the horses to arrive, helped unload the horses and all the gear then the owner drove us back to Aachen to our hotel.

People have been wonderful and kind to us the whole trip. The hotel we stayed in last night is owned by an elderly woman. She told us that if we went out, we must be back by 0100 hrs because she locks the door. When I told her our story about the horses coming in late etc, she gave us a key to the building so we could let ourselves in. This am her daughter filled us in on the local attractions and kept us entertained while we enjoyed breakfast. 

This afternoon we moved in to the bungalow that will be our home for the next couple of weeks. The complex here is huge, lots of people. Lots to do. 

Kathy Irvine (Linda R's groom) Julius, Linda N, Karen and her daughter arrived today.

After the horses ate, drank and slept we tended to them. The countryside is beautiful and Shadow enjoyed his walks so much he didn't want to go back to the barn. The stalls are huge and bright. 

Tomorrow I'll unpack and get organized and get a routine set.

More later.

Copyright:  Alberta Equestrian Federation
5/13/2008 : 10:53:04 PM