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Showing posts from October, 2010

Lengthening The Leash - Sort of...

On October 6th, I had my one and a half years post-chemotherapy CT scans. Six scans later I left the hospital feeling quesy (the combination of barium sulfate and injectable dye gets harder to stomach every time). My follow-up appointment with my new oncologist, Dr. B was not until the end of the month, so I emailed Andrea, my nurse, a couple of days after the scans. No Evidence of Disease, see you at the end of the month! On October 27th, I headed back into Farmington and met with Dr. B. First I met with the resident. I truly believe that the job of a resident oncologist is to scare cancer survivors. Did you know there was swelling in my bronchials that showed up on my CT scans? Neither did I. But she sure listened to me breathe for a long time before checking my prior scans and deciding it was always like that - residual scar tissue from the cancer. The joys of being a human science project :) Dr. B came in and he did a shortened version of the results talk and exam that the

NEATO Trick or Treat Ride

Last Saturday, I loaded John onto the trailer and drove out to the Hartford County 4-H Camp in Marlborough for the New England Arabian Trail Organization (NEATO) Trick or Treat Ride. It was advertised as a 13 mile pleasure ride with two river crossings, numerous brooks and rocky footing where shoes or hoof protection were recommended. I was eager to take John on a "fun" ride and it has been years since I rode the trails at the 4-H camp. Trick or Treat with NEATO sounded like the perfect opportunity. I arrived at the campground and parked next to Jim and Esther (who also ride Morgans on the competitive trail circuit). The next trailer into the lot was one of the riders I met at Fun In The Forest the previous week. Its a small world! NEATO does a great job organizing rides. I went to register and there was a huge breakfast spread, including coffee, candy (makes sense, it was a trick or treat ride), fruit for humans and apples and carrots for horses. I grabbed another cup

Pictures from Fun In The Forest - Part III

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More Pictures from Fun In The Forest

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2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride A Success

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The 2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride to benefit First Descents (www.firstdescents.org) was held on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at the Silvermine Campground in Natchaug State Forest in Eastford. Short story - it was really windy from leftovers of a Nor'Easter but we had a lot of fun and raised $800 for First Descents. For the long story, keep reading. It was windy and cold. Only nineteen people rode. Some came, walked around and decided it was too windy for their horses and then went home. The nineteen that did ride had a great time. I usually don't ride the rides I am organizing - its just too much to do. But my good friend Debbie was driving an hour and a half down from Massachusetts with a three year old gelding that had never been on a trail ride before. I decided to ride with Debbie. Dice K (Debbie's gelding - nicknamed after the Boston Red Sox pitcher) got off the trailer and walked around pretty calmly. So far so good. We tacked up our horses and off

Marking Trail For The Fun In The Forest Trail Ride

We went out on Thursday afternoon to mark the trail - 10.5 miles in a local state forest, the same state forest I used last year. We rode out of horse camp at 2:25 pm. I started marking trail by myself and then Janeen and Maureen joined me. Janeen had picked the trail and also organized the scavenger hunt. In addition to putting trail markers up, she was placing scavenger hunt items. Now that there were other horses with us, my gelding decided it was a race. We stayed anywhere from 100 to 500 yards in front of the other two at all times. I would ride back to them to check trail routes (turn right or left) and so that we did not get too far ahead and then ride off on my own marking trail some more. When I stopped to put a marker up, he gave me 2 seconds to get the marker onto the tree, if I didn't get it done, I had to try again at the next tree. Luckily Janeen was behind me to fix my "oops" moments when I could not get a marker up fast enough. I ran out of mark

An Easy Way To Help First Descents....

Start "Good Searching" and Say Goodbye to Google - Round #2 - Download the Good Search Toolbar there is $15,000 on the line!! The toolbar race is on with thousands of non-profits and schools spreading the word about their customized GoodSearch toolbar in hopes of winning the GoodSearch Giveaway grand prize! In the month of October, we're giving away $15,000 to the non-profits that have the highest number of toolbars downloaded on behalf of their cause! $100 bonus will be awarded to each of the first 100 organizations that reach 100 toolbars downloaded $1,000 Grand Prize will be awarded to each of the 5 organizations that have the most toolbars downloaded in the month of October! If you have not set up a FREE custom toolbar for your nonprofit organization, you can still do it now in time for this giveaway. Simply fill out the form here: http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbarapp.aspx This contest begins on Oct. 1, 2010 at 12 p.m. EDT and ends on Oct. 31, 2010 at 12 p.m. EDT. Ple

Volunteers Wanted!

I am looking for volunteers to help with the 2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at the Silvermine Campground in Natchaug State Forest. As many of you know, the trail ride is a benefit for First Descents (www.firstdescents.org). First Descents has had a major impact on my life and I am looking forward to hosting the trail ride for them again this year. Volunteers Needed For: Marking the Trail - Janeen (rode at Fun In The Forest and Spring Fever) is going to help me pick a trail this Sunday. We need to mark the trail on Friday. Pick up apples - Chaplin Farms has donated apples but someone needs to go pick them up Thursday or Friday (October 15th). We have a volunteer - thank you Kelsey! Registration - it starts at 9 a.m. so volunteers would need to arrive around 8:30 am and be there until at least 10:30 am - We have at least one volunteer - thank you! Photographer - we need more pictures this year! I have a lot of prizes being donated and the dono

Warren Tessier

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My last competitive trail ride of the season. And I am kind of bummed about that, but I was really looking forward to this ride because I have heard so many good things about it. The Warren Tessier 30 mile Competitive Trail Ride is hosted by the Hartland Riding Club at Connie Tessier's house in Hartland, Vermont. Once again, Megan picked up John and off we drove (in the pouring rain) on Friday afternoon to Vermont. When we arrived at Connie's house, no one was there. For a minute I had foxhunting deja vu and worried that we were in the wrong place or the ride was cancelled! Once again, I was glad to be wrong! Soon more trailers and horses arrived. We set up our paddocks and unloaded the horses and settled them in. John had spent the past two days in his stall because of the heavy rain at home so I took him for a walk around the riding ring and back. I walked and trotted him and then trotted him in circles. He was pretty spunky to start but he settled down and was trotti