January
After a short family visit and the obligatory H&Q conference and festivities, we dashed off to Hawai'i enjoying sea, sand and beaches. Upon return the rainy season finally started. Various circumstances turned the ranch into a red-cross center: vehicles broken, horses coming down with various injuries and diseases. Finally we also received the official stable permit exemption. Why would you need though an exemption from a permit to be permitted ??
February
TMT '07 came and went without major success, except that desert rides are really somewaht boring. Fadzki finally underwent surgery to fix a sore splint, which went well. Although he is confined to stall rest and looking at a long recovery, he benefits from a horse equivalent to your tempur-pedic soft bed. Sage, although doing fine in exercise is still recovering form an eye condition and needs attention otherwise as well. On the upside we had more rain which should bring us well through the year and temperatures are at times already quite summery. The Truck is in the shop, so other mayor landscaping has to wait.
March
March brought the first warm - actually hot days, T-shirt and shorts weather.... Daniela took Louie to a 50 mile ride at the Quicksilver Park in San Jose, which both of them enjoyed despite the heat (Louie still has his winter coat). A EHV-1 outbreak north of Half Moon Bay kept us all busy and at home for some days - and our guys got vacine and immune boosters just to be safe. Fadzki is recovering from his surgery, but reacted to the vacine booster - poor guy, this year didn't start too well for him. On the day Silvia left the sky started crying, Argos carried her left-behind slippers with him the whole day and the horses were lined up waiting for her to come out! Daniela also made a short trip to Europe and had the chance to meet her ten day old godson and reunite with family and friends in Germany and France.
April
April passed without major events. Sage was certified as a Mounted Search & Rescue horse. This high strung ex-racehorse surprised all of us with how relaxed he went through all the desensitization challenges. On the other hand, Louie, who had seen all of this before, was a real wimp. Louie's training schedule intensified to get ready for the Californios 100 ride in May and Fadzki's leg is healing well....We had some more rain, but this year's precipitation is still lagging annual averages and our creek is low for this time of the year.
May
The impeding arrival of two more horses caused a flurry of activities for us - viewing of the hillside, selecting of a barn and fencing material etc. - we won't be idle for the coming months.
Louie finished two rides in top 5 (Lost Padres I 50 and Californios 65), which is rather unusual but he is in really good shape and it "just happened". We never really ride for a placing, just for fun and if the scenery is nice we often spend time "sight-seeing" even in a race. We got to know many nice folks on those rides - are Southern Californians easier going??
Louie also demoed at Cal Expo for Jec Ballou - he was very courageous, the crowed of ardent admirers didn't bother him and he took the applause like a pro! We now started our specific Tevis training which means we power walk up the hills (instead of trotting) and look for extra hot training days or trails...
June
June passed by very quickly. Daniela took Louie to the Tevis educational ride where they pre-rode 60% of the trail in preparation of the of the Tevis Cup at the end of July. Our second foal, Anisa, was born at Arrowhead Ranch in Oregon - she seems to be the cutest of the three fillies and we can't wait to meet her.
July
Silvia is back to help us with preparation and crewing for the Tevis Cup. Michael went to Europe for a week to work on a new venture and to reconnect with friends in Germany and Switzerland. Tevis became a key driving force in Daniela's ride year - the preparations last for months, and then, miraculously the big day arrives earlier than anticipated and after a short 26 hours it is all over. The Tevis trail takes horses and riders over 100 miles from Lake Tahoe over the Sierra's to Auburn. It is supposedly the oldest, toughest and most venerated endurance ride in the world. Usually, less than 50% of the starters finish the grueling ride over the mountains and through the hot canyons for which finishing riders are awarded a buckle - a coveted price in the equestrian world. Louie and Daniela earned their second buckle this year - two starts, two completions. Given the statistical probability of not finishing, they should probably stop right here and call victory - but Daniela already started planning next years Tevis ride. Not sure what it is, but somehow this ride seems to have a magical attraction for riders - not sure whether the horses feel the same (mind the often forgotten crew..."You liked it too, didn't you ?").
October
So, October brought us both back to Europe where we celebrated Daniela’s mom’s 70th birthday in Deidesheim, a little wine town in Southern Germany. We also visited Idar-Oberstein, where Daniela’s maternal family is from and it was strange to be in a place where we are related to almost everyone. At the end of the visit we were completely exhausted from meeting relatives we hadn’t even known existed. We also spend a short week in Switzerland. Switzerland was a surprise in sofar as it was crowded, traffic was awful, and everybody seems to smoke!
November
Somehow fall came and went so fast, that we did get to up-dating our log. Both, Daniela and Michael got drawn into new ventures. Daniela left Visa and joined a-connect, which she had really been planning on doing for the last five years or so. Michael went back to his roots and got involved in a biogas business.
December
The horses are doing fine. Sage is coming back in force and we will take soon take him to his first endurance ride in three years. Louie is healthy and bouncy as always. Fadzki’s leg didn’t heal as well as we had hoped for and he had to undergo a second surgery. This time we brought him to Alamo Pintado where they did an MRI before the surgery. Pretty nifty as the results took away all the guessing left by x-rays and ultrasounds. The two foals are still with Marion in Oregon. From the pictures we can tell that they are growing like weeds and we will certainly pick them up soon.
We are now wrapping up the year, rushing to buy a Christmas tree, getting ready for the Holidays.
