Friday, August 31, 2012

Quincy getting in a little snooze before boarding the plane...


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Pre-Game Preparation

The common question the past few weeks seems to have been "How excited are you?" or some version of that...honestly, I've barely had a moment to really think about anything more than the day at hand. Last night, while packing, the enormity of what we are about to do started to sink in (especially due to the enormity of the trunks needed to pack all of our gear) and I finally started to feel the twinges of excitement. Until you are preparing for a trip of this magnitude I don't think you can really appreciate how all-consuming the weeks prior can become...being that this is my first overseas competition I thought I'd share some of those details:

  • It takes a village - Literally! When we began to plan our Blenheim adventure I had a small enthusiastic group that had great plans to raise the money needed to ship Quincy and I to the UK... In the works were eventing camps, jumping derbies, and a raffle just to get started. All of my amazing sponsors supported us by donating prizes for the raffle as well as for the derbies.  Then came the offers from family and friends to host a couple of fundraising dinners.  Before I knew it we had scheduled something for every week from mid-June through mid-August. At one point I truly wondered how I was even going to have time to ride and prepare for this event that we were doing so much to raise funds for... Fortunately I did have a very good group helping to keep things running smoothly.  Quincy was very good to go with the flow since there were days when I would ride him at 5:30 am (before teaching camp all day) and then again at 7:00 pm (since the light wasn't good enough at 5:30 am to jump...). The long days were certainly worth it but I must say the most amazing support was from individuals that simply want to give us this opportunity.  Over 175 individuals helped us make this a reality by either attending a fundraising dinner, sending a donation, or participating in our raffle. And that does not take into account all of the people that were behind the scenes making this work... I cannot thank you all enough! 
  • Hire a travel agent! If anyone wants to know how to arrange the flights and lorries and stabling and cottage and phone service....I will have to direct you to my travel agent, Jeff Beshear.  If it had been left to me I doubt we would actually get there anytime this year!  The amount of time needed to organize and make all of the pieces of the puzzle fit is very daunting.  So I happily took on the task of packing..because that will be easy!
  • Is anyone capable of packing without having to sit on every single bag and trunk to make it close? After days of organizing and consolidating I thought everything would easily fit into the 2 giant cargo trunks that were loaned to me by Chris and Michelle Adamson.  (Actually, the first thought was that I would only need one of the giant trunks... ) But it never seems to fail that there's always "one more thing".  Katie Shipplett gave me the great advice to get the storage bags that shrink wrap everything.  It's amazing how small coolers and blankets can become once you suck the air out...unfortunately I learned quickly that the bags are fairly sensitive and not really meant to be shoved in with objects that may have rough edges. Let's just say I'm hoping the duct tape will hold otherwise people may want to stand back when the trunks are opened...
  • Don't forget all of the horses and critters at home...critter #1 being the 9 year old Nicholas that is  being forced to stay home since his first week of school happens to be the week of Blenheim.  Jeff got to add the title of "handler" to his resume... I "handled" the horse plans by being clever enough to have Katie in the barn and giving her a vague wish list of what the horses should do while I'm away.  I think my plan to compete them right after we return will be good incentive... more on my exciting new additions after this journey!
  • # 1 lesson learned this summer - I'm actually pretty good at delegating but I'm still too much of a control freak to have a groom travelling with us :)!

So now the preparation is over and the journey has officially begun. JFK is an hour away then we fly to Amsterdam tomorrow evening followed by a 12 hour lorry ride to the Taylor's yard (arriving Sunday morning while they are having a horse trial!).  I only know all of this because I am sitting beside my travel agent and I'm able to share it with you because he also happens to be my driver! I promise to have fun from here on out because otherwise Jeff may never want to go through all of this again and I certainly can't do it without him :). and let's all hope he decides to add "paparazzi" to his list of titles this week!  Follow us here or at www.emilybeshear.com.