KENTUCKY!!!

Okay. So we're here. Finally. We left yesterday, 4:45am, flew out of Sacramento, arrived in Lexington around 3:30. Had a great dinner at The Cracker Barrel (they don't serve alcohol. Not that I should care, but it was a bit of a surprise. I guess I'm too used to California!) and then saw that Angelina Jolie movie, Salt, with my dad. He let me sleep in until 9am this morning, what a gentleman! We got to the Kentucky Horse Park around 10am with the trailer- found our stalls, and let me tell you we are SO LUCKY! Our stalls are in the very first barn, out of a little cluster of dressage barns, on the East side- they're in the shade from about 11am on. SCORE! And there's a pretty little berm with beautiful grass right next to it, oh yeah the grass here! It's always green! And mowed! I don't think I've seen one bit of dead grass yet. Again, I must be too used to California. So we unloaded all of our stuff from the trailer and set up Nash's stall and the tackroom, went and got lunch, and returned to wait for the horses to arrive. Nash flew out of Oakland early this morning (many thanks to Lyn and John for taking care of him and bringing him to the airport, you can read details of that on her blog) and he arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park at 6pm. He was "jet-lagged" I'd say, a little tired and wide-eyed, but very well behaved. Marly and I hosed him off and walked him around the park for awhile, letting him see everything for the first time. He seemed relaxed, probably pretty worn out! We went to dinner after settling him in, then Dad and I went out again to walk him around. The grounds were pretty dark, and not a lot of people were there, so we got to wander all around the place without distractions. Nash was eager and alert, looking at everything but being very respectful and well-behaved. I'm so proud of how well he is handling all his! We walked over to our show arena, it's a HUGE stadium arena with a lake with fountains in it across from the bleachers. Absolutely gorgeous. I feel so lucky to have gotten here. It seems like such a long time ago I was watching other girls ride, wishing and hoping to be where they are someday. And I absolutely couldn't have done it without such a team- Lyn and John, my parents, Kim, Steve, Sandi and Sue Roberts, all the "barn ladies" and other people who have helped along the way... I have a few more pictures, I'll put them in the next post!