2023 International ~ A Party of the 45th Kind

Hello. Remember me?  It’s been a long time since I blogged my horsey adventures. In fact, April 2019 was my last blog entry…..it was PC (Pre COVID).  Wow 4 years! A lot of crazy stuff has happened in 4 years. 😷 

My last post was when I had just acquired John Wick. And this morning I rode him for practice and Jessica mentioned it’s his fifth year being here.  The first time was when he made his world debut as one of the very first 15 maiden contenders!!! Time flies!  The maiden competition has totally caught fire….bringing 64 entries this year!  (The maiden class is for 2 year old colts that have never been shown - it’s like a debutante ball for young walking horses.) Since then, to catch you up, today John is 6 and we call him WC 2xRWC John Wick. He’s got titles. 🥰.  I also have a 4yo, Machine Gun Kelly. And the “boyz” are here at Miller and the 45th International is commencing.  My plan is to blog about the week’s shenanigans - so stay tuned.  

I flew in yesterday with Terry and we moved into our fancy glamper, unpacked and provisioned. Oh and we picked up our $820M dollar lottery ticket “opportunity” - just in case. Ya gotta be in it to win it!   (Reminder to self-I need to pull out my tickets and check my numbers. I heard that while the big pot is rolling forward, a number of $1M winners did win. I’d be happy with that!). Lol. 

Last night, after a quick yummy mango crab dragon roll sushi 🍣 dinner, (I know, delish!) we watched a special new adp challenge, which offered a nice purse. It was very well received, with 20-some entries and a nice sized audience!  Jessica and Kyle have once again breathed new life into the pleasure show circuit - first with the maiden and now the adp versatility challenge. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next. If YOU have an idea…bring it forward!

Walking around the grounds there is already tons of activity. They sold out of all camper lots and stalls and are setting entry records already as well. The Tennessee walking horse pleasure division is hot right now and it’s so exciting to see this return. AC (After COVID) era is looking great and the horses are pretty amazing too, from what I could see out in the practice ring this morning. 

So,  I’ll stop here.  It’s the morning of Day 1 of the 2023 International.  The week’s weather forecast will be low 90s and sunny skies. The center ring looks amazing, the winners circle ⭕️ looks like an envious place to land, and there’s great energy in the air. 

Yeah!  Let’s go do this thing!