SHARON'S NOTES:
TUES. MAR 23

At the airport I didn’t recognize Donna at all. Keep in mind, the only picture I’d ever seen of my cousin Donna was of her and Brian at Uncle Bill’s house; but when she sent me a picture of her new cat there was a big stern looking woman, with hair only about an inch long, holding the cat in the picture. The woman didn’t look like she had Donna’s personality, so for a second I felt confused. I mean, Donna said she had put on a lot of weight and had a haircut, but took off only an inch. I thought WHAT did she start with? There was only an inch to begin with!!! But, I kept my mouth shut, & just felt real confused!

As we approached the airport I called Donna on her cell to let her know we were there. She said she was wearing a pink sweater. When we saw her at the baggage claim, Mom asked: “is that Donna? I said “NO” Well, it definitely wasn’t the person in the picture Donna sent me. Then I saw the pink sweater and said “YES” but thought: huh?? Soon as she got in the car I said “You’re the person in the picture with Brian… who the heck was the person holding the cat?” LOL! Turns out it was her friend Susan. We had a good laugh!

Donna fell in love with the horses and they fell in love with her, especially, “Eclipse”, Gary’s horse. Eclipse kept nudging her until she gave up and gave him another horse “cookie”. He was relentless! We laughed and giggled which just encouraged him to continue. What a loving clown.

Then, there was Wulffe. I told Donna she would ride him because he’s the most educated and she’ll have the most fun with him. She was not a happy camper! Because Wulffe was so big, Donna kept saying she was NOT happy about riding Wulffe, (This proved to be a running joke the rest of the trip as Donna fell head over heels in love with Wulffe.)

Wed. Mar. 24 & Thurs. Mar. 25& Fri. Mar. 26[later]

Sat. Mar. 27

It rained all day Saturday so we rested! Just as well, I was exhausted. Today was the last Foxhunt of the season, but I wasn’t disappointed to miss it. My wish was to be “invited” by the staff and I was invited. So my wish came true! Besides, it turned out that Jorge had his crew out to my barn to surprise me. They striped the stalls! What a great surprise! What would have taken Donna and I the entire week, and what would have crippled me, the guys did in a couple of hours. What a blessing! We lounged around all day and spent Saturday night at La Barn Hotel!

Saturday night was more eventful and less restful. Every time we would begin to fall asleep the horses would do something to wake us up. Wulffe had our full attention on Saturday night. He slept, standing in the middle of the aisle at the end of our bed.. I told you about his dropping a whopping load of POOP when everything was sooo quiet {PLOP!! PLOP!!! PLOP!!!} We laughed so hard we cried and Wulffe was actually SMILING... never seen him smile before... He seemed happy and content to stay in the aisle, rather then his own stall . . . that is until he decided to join us IN BED.

I was just falling asleep when I felt the weight of his foot near my foot.... The first time he put only his foot up on the bed covers to wake us. After I got him to remove his foot and was sure he wasn't going to pull that stunt again, I started to fall asleep. Just as I felt myself sinking into the bed, I felt his foot up on the bed; opened my eyes and this time I saw him lift his entire body up on that foot as if he was going to walk onto the bed. I SCREAMED!!!! He backed off. THANK GOD!!!

That did it! We were now scared.. Donna got up; grabbed the rope and tried to lead Wulffe outside... or actually into Eclipse's stall which had an open door to the outside.. HE DIDN"T WANT TO GO!! The prankster wanted to stay.. He was having a good time! Awwwwh!

But at sunrise all the kidz were right at the door, at the head of our bed. Shetan tried to wake me by nuzzling my hair... and putting his face in mine.... his nose came close enough to my face that I kissed it. *smile*

Then he started eating my bed. Digging his nose into the bale of hay and twisting it gently. As he pulled the hay out, I’d shoo him away and he'd stop for a while; then try again. He finally gave up, because I was dead to the world and not responding. Not even to shoo him away.

Well, I shouldn't say he 'gave up”. Let’s say, he relinquished his role to RockinRita. She, I must add was less gentle in delivering her message. She was going to show him how it’s done! Lol! She wanted Breakfast, so she wanted me up and out of bed! Hehe. I have to admit, Ritakins added much more vim and vigor, plus sheer determination to each of her efforts.

When Ritakins dug into the bale of hay under my head and yanked, my entire bed shook!! LOL! Mind you our bed was two rows of hay, 3 bales wide, covered by a tarp, two thin blankets, and two quilts topped by two of Shetan’s wool Melton coolers and dress sheets. We slept on top of the tarp & all the thin blankets

She wasn't intimidated by my attempts to stop her either, NO SUREE! She did it a couple more times, I gave in; got up and fed them. LOL!!

The horses were so proud of themselves; especially Rockin Rita. She walked with her head held high; she was Queen for the Day. They are so funny.

Sun. Mar. 28

SHARON: I just read Donna’s comments about the foxes being bigger in the USA. I wonder if that’s because the Fox Hunts rarely catch the foxes over here like they do in England; so the foxes get a catch to develop.

We rode to the park on the other side of Montevideo Road today. I rode Shetan; Donna rode Wulffe! It’s been years since Shetan has been out on the trails alone with Wulffe. They got along fine. We saw Seneca Creek, couldn’t cross it because of a fallen tree, but, we saw it... Donna got hung up in a branch; dragged her right off of Wulffe. Broke her fall too! That was lucky! We were lucky. We had beautiful weather everyday of the week. The day after Donna left it got cold again; dropped 20+ degrees and rained everyday for a couple weeks. The whole trip was blessed! What more can I say.

SHARON: we slept out at the barn again Sunday night. I know, I know, we're crazy, but it was fun! Joe Lorenz, my landlord, was out of town and I knew I wouldn't have a chance to do this again; besides how often does Donna visit? So I grabbed the moment.

It was a whole lot colder Sunday night but we were prepared; we wore winter coats with hoods and left our clothes on. We just slipped off our bras then slipped on the hoods over our heads, since our heads were exposed to the outdoors & that kept our heads warm. Besides, the fresh air does wonders for my skin combined with Vaseline.. I put lots of Vaseline on my face and my skin feels so soft in the morning. Vaseline doesn't work the same when I sleep inside. Inside, it leaves a greasy film on my skin. Yuck! Go figure!

We arrived back @the barn late that evening, around 11pm, because we took Mom out to dinner @Houston’s. Only Shetan was waiting for us in Eclipse’s stall.

Donna asked where the others were and I said “Oh they’ve probably got orders to chase Wulffe so he can’t come near the barn” Sure enough, didn’t we hear the sound of galloping hooves. Didn’t we see Wulffe high tail it past the barn, chased by Ritakins and Eclipse? What a bunch of little sh*ts! *smile*

Donna and I were so tired it wasn’t long before we fell deep asleep, regardless of the cold. Shetan was quietly munching on hay in Eclipse's stall which was right next to our makeshift bed complete with milk crates for end tables... hehe

Shetan was content for a while to just watch us from the stall. When he got bored he left & joined the herd. Sometime during the night I heard or felt rumblings almost as if aliens had landed! Donna said my eyes popped WIDE OPEN! I turned to see what was happening, not knowing what the heck I would see; I saw Wulffe trotting down toward the barn. He was sneaking away from the herd to join us. Isn’t he the sweetest! This folks is the infamous “rogue” dressage horse! NOT!

I don't remember a lot of what happened, if anything, during our attempt to go to sleep, except for Wulffe sneaking away from the herd and joining us at the barn. He stood outside at the head of our bed and quietly munched on hay under my pillow; slipping his nose, occasionally, under the tarp to get a mouthful of hay. Guess the hay under my head tasted better then the hay I threw out for him. Or the company and the memory of our laughter the other night made it taste sweeter.

Mon. Mar. 29

Monday morning we got our last ride in before taking Donna leaves for the airport. Donna rode Wulffe, I rode RockinRita and of course, Shetan and Eclipse led the way or I should say stayed between Rita and Wulffe on the trails. Shetan does not like Wulffe getting too close to Ritakins!

But, the strangest weirdest thing happened.. While we were riding I told Donna this was the most I'd ridden in years and that if I were lucky enough to keep it up maybe Ritakins and I could get fit enough to start jumping again. Especially since I had access to all the cross country jumps already set up. Well, on our way back to the barn Ritakins turned off the trail and headed in the opposite direction of the barn. I turned to Donna and said I was going to just let her go and see what she was up to. She walked all the way to where we started our cross country phase 10 years ago.

It was almost as if she was telling me she wanted to jump again too! So I picked up my reins, did a couple of circles at a trot to balance her and took a small jump. I grabbed her mane at the last minute coz my leg muscles just aren't there. I didn't want to slip and hit her in the mouth... But I was fine and she was terrific! It felt wonderful.

Ah, wonderful memories!