Thanks to the tireless organizational work by Jenni Armstrong and Tammy Makela, a fun-loving group of Electronic Equestrians gathered at the Kentucky Horse Park for the 1996 Rolex Kentucky 3-Day Event. Some of the more memorable events are documented here. Click on any of the links on this page for a picture.
Thursday and Friday were dressage days, and your fearless correspondent is not much of a dressage fan, so no bandwidth will be wasted on that. But Friday also provided an opportunity to eat junk food, watch the sheepdog and police dog demonstrations, and spend some money (and dream of spending more) at the trade fair, where one could buy anything from a hoof-pick to a 6-horse slant-load gooseneck. There was also a YoYo contest where Jane Day almost won a trip to Las Vegas.
Also, on Friday, a group of us trekked around the x-country course. First stop was the E-L jump (known to the rest of the spectators as Horse Thief's Nemesis), where obligatory group photos were taken. Notice the sign indicating the sponsorship by Equine-L. The sign endured the weekend, despite the fact that it was attacked by Reese during the photo session.
After the photo session at "our" jump, we did the traditional mass jump off of the Lexington Bank . Notice the lack of synchronization, indicating a remedial counting course may be in order. Don Hayes, who didn't take the plunge, had another interesting experience with the jump. In his words: " I didn't jump off the "bank" for the picture shoot, but I did find out how fast you can go when sliding down those boards on the other side of the "bank", wearing a waxed coat."
After a full Friday of activities, the group gathered at Good Old Days BBQ for dinner. The food was great, but the restaurant was not exactly prepared for a group of our size, so we won't say much more about that. Our fearless organizers have already scouted another location for next year .
Saturday, of course, was x-country day, what we all came for. The weather was beautiful, and most of the day was spent trekking the park watching some awesome jumping. There were also a couple of reported Sven and Olaf sightings. And somehow, amidst all the excitement of horses, riders, and Swedes, Jane Day managed to make these observations on fashion and other topics.
Saturday night, we gathered at the Horse Park Campground for a cookout, and we have several pictures of that.
Cookout Picture 1
Cookout Picture 2
Cookout Picture 3
Cookout Picture 4
Cookout Picture 5
Cookout Picture 6
Some brave indivuiduals participated in a hula-hoop contest, hula-hoops provided by the ever-energetic Julia, who is apparently as at home on a Harley as on horseback. Your intrepid cameraman caught Kendt in action.
And the folks who made this whole thing happen relaxed with a well-earned drink and surveyed the fruits of their labors. Rumor has it that later in the evening, they really tore up a dance floor at a local watering hole.
Sunday morning, we were all up bright and early (relatively speaking) for the stadium jumping competition. The weather was miserable, damp, and cold. But thanks to Tammy's wheeling and dealing with the sponsorship deal, we had a sponsor parking pass for my car. And the sponsors parking lot turned out to be at the edge of the stadium jumping arena, so we watched from the cramped but warm comfort of my car. Unfortunately, no pictures of this part of the event. But many of us were pleased with the final results, with some personal favorites placing well. Tammy's heartthrob, Stuart Young-Black, was third, and Lexington local favorite Dorothy Trapp and her jumping machine Molokai placed ninth.
Speaking of awards, Michelle Furr announced some unofficial awards, as well as some general comments about the horses and riders in the competition.
All in all, a good time was had by all (and that's a lot of alls, y'all).
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