Update from Valerie

February 20, 2016

I packed an overnight bag, collected Stella and Peter and we drove up to Reno to enjoy the wonderful AERC convention at the Grand Sierra Hotel!  It was an amazing eye-opening experience and I met several great riders and very well noted people in the endurance industry!

Peter found some great ideas on saddles for the mighty Solar Express and one of his choices is a BOZ saddle.....so funny because that was my nickname all through my junior and senior high school years due to of my love of Boz Skaggs growing up!

I saw polyurethane bridals that are popular in endurance and several different kinds of pads and breastplates and saddlebags offering water bottles and the necessities for a long days ride.

I was so incredibly fortunate to walk right into the Easy Care Easy Boot booth and there was the owner himself Garrett Ford and his coworkers Kevin and Christopher!  They showed us how to put on glue gloves and the different products Easy Care has offered to donate on my entire ride for both horses!  I felt very honored and gracious to be a part of their team and appreciated how much they cared about the welfare of both my horses feet completing my ride in the same healthy and comfortable manner as I started!  This has been an education for both Peter and I and gluing the shoes and trimming feet for balance and fit has been no exception!

There are still quite a few items that I need one of them being a GPS system and a Go Pro that I could even borrow for the duration of my ride.  I still have to get my 4 horses relocated to daughter Laine's barn before I depart.

I have my PayPal account up and running and I've had some incredible people already donating to my ride!  Those donations are so greatly necessary because they will cover the cost of my team and horses throughout the 4 to 6 month journey!  I believe my mother is putting her eye on a trailer with a living quarters for me and I am bowled over by her generosity in seeing me successfully reaching my goals.  I have purchased pipe paddocks and if I am able to get the Gore trailer,  I need to put on a hayrack, buy a generator and walk-through door from living quarters to horses in order to keep us as safe and comfy along the Hwy. 50 corridor.  All of your donations are GREATLY APPRECIATED and go directly to my crew and horses for daily food and necessities! 

In the next two weeks I will be working on more of a detailed plan of my stops for the first part of my ride and delivering horses on a timeframe between Rolex and my departure date.

I received a lovely invite from Steuart  Pittman of Retired Racehorse Makeover asking both Laine and I to talk on a prestigious panel of Hagyards veterinarians after Saturday's XC at Rolex regarding our OTTBS in Eventing!  What an honor and what a delight especially before I set out of my  gate the week after for my ride!

Lots to do but "2nd Makes Thru Starting Gates" is coming along quite nicely!  Thank you for all of your support!

Valerie