Vacation.
Just got back from Omaha Nebraska. Whee! lol
My sister and I went to the 2017 FEI Dressage and Jumping World Cup which was in Omaha this year. We've been going pretty regularly the last 10+ years when it's in the US (it's held all over the world).
Bullet points:
*my trip started out at 4 am when I was supposed to get up to get my flight, only to find out said flight had been canceled. was able to reschedule to another flight that would get me there at 6pm instead of 10am, but had to route through Dallas AND Chicago instead of just Dallas. joy.
*I knew it was going to be cold-ish and rainy most of the time, but damn, it was cold that first day. after that it wasn't too too bad. my sister was freezing her ass off (she lives in AZ).
*they did a great job with the sales floor-lots of room to walk, and the warm up arena was in that same section, so you could watch the riders warm up if you wanted. Also, it was outside the main arena (but still indoors), so you could walk in anytime you wanted to shop.
*neither Kerrits nor Smartpak were there. :( And the official t shirts were all in the newly popular thin material instead of a good weight. :(
*there was this OMG awesome saddle maker from Germany that had Iberian type saddles and bridles that were just gorgeous. Perfect leather, some tooled, with very cool adornments. almost bought a bridle. And a saddle. And a saddle. and a saddle. lol Yeah, no, they were not cheap. and I think JP (KY trainer) might kill me, so I didn't).
*one of the horses in the dressage competition was a lusitano (Iberian). yay! In general the dressage section was really good, although our top American got second. But Isabell Werth got first, and she's awesome, so yay anyway!! lol
*the jumping was very good. in the first session we had one person fall off because her horse stumbled, and another horse rear like crazy because it was upset about something. But one of our guys went clear every day and won. !! woo!
*they did a pretty bad job of choosing the session starting entertainment. the best was the Omaha symphony. the worst was a local school's drama club. for realz.
*they also changed the format some, what was good and bad. the good: since there were only two actual dressage sessions this year (instead of three), they had a dressage showcase that included Isabell Werth giving a master class on different ages of horses and their training.
the bad: not enough time for Isabell, too much time for western dressage, and other people that we didn't really care about.
more bad: instead of having just one round the last day of jumping (like it always has been before) they had two, with a 40 minute wait in between. WTF? It had already been 2 1/2 hours, which is the usual session. We left. Weren't going to wait 40 minutes, then sit for another 2-3 hours. I think a lot of other people did too.
*Omaha has a very cool zoo/aquarium, even when it's frakking cold. and the hotel took us there and back for free.
*Omaha has some very nice park areas, and a cool Old Town area with cobblestones.
*unsurprisingly, one of our best meals was a steakhouse.
*surprisingly, three of our other favorite meals were Persian, Indian, and Vietnamese. lolol
*And now I'm home. The dogs were happy to see me. The horses were unamused. The cats were cuddly. :)
My sister and I went to the 2017 FEI Dressage and Jumping World Cup which was in Omaha this year. We've been going pretty regularly the last 10+ years when it's in the US (it's held all over the world).
Bullet points:
*my trip started out at 4 am when I was supposed to get up to get my flight, only to find out said flight had been canceled. was able to reschedule to another flight that would get me there at 6pm instead of 10am, but had to route through Dallas AND Chicago instead of just Dallas. joy.
*I knew it was going to be cold-ish and rainy most of the time, but damn, it was cold that first day. after that it wasn't too too bad. my sister was freezing her ass off (she lives in AZ).
*they did a great job with the sales floor-lots of room to walk, and the warm up arena was in that same section, so you could watch the riders warm up if you wanted. Also, it was outside the main arena (but still indoors), so you could walk in anytime you wanted to shop.
*neither Kerrits nor Smartpak were there. :( And the official t shirts were all in the newly popular thin material instead of a good weight. :(
*there was this OMG awesome saddle maker from Germany that had Iberian type saddles and bridles that were just gorgeous. Perfect leather, some tooled, with very cool adornments. almost bought a bridle. And a saddle. And a saddle. and a saddle. lol Yeah, no, they were not cheap. and I think JP (KY trainer) might kill me, so I didn't).
*one of the horses in the dressage competition was a lusitano (Iberian). yay! In general the dressage section was really good, although our top American got second. But Isabell Werth got first, and she's awesome, so yay anyway!! lol
*the jumping was very good. in the first session we had one person fall off because her horse stumbled, and another horse rear like crazy because it was upset about something. But one of our guys went clear every day and won. !! woo!
*they did a pretty bad job of choosing the session starting entertainment. the best was the Omaha symphony. the worst was a local school's drama club. for realz.
*they also changed the format some, what was good and bad. the good: since there were only two actual dressage sessions this year (instead of three), they had a dressage showcase that included Isabell Werth giving a master class on different ages of horses and their training.
the bad: not enough time for Isabell, too much time for western dressage, and other people that we didn't really care about.
more bad: instead of having just one round the last day of jumping (like it always has been before) they had two, with a 40 minute wait in between. WTF? It had already been 2 1/2 hours, which is the usual session. We left. Weren't going to wait 40 minutes, then sit for another 2-3 hours. I think a lot of other people did too.
*Omaha has a very cool zoo/aquarium, even when it's frakking cold. and the hotel took us there and back for free.
*Omaha has some very nice park areas, and a cool Old Town area with cobblestones.
*unsurprisingly, one of our best meals was a steakhouse.
*surprisingly, three of our other favorite meals were Persian, Indian, and Vietnamese. lolol
*And now I'm home. The dogs were happy to see me. The horses were unamused. The cats were cuddly. :)