From Angie: Onwards to Verden!

Tomorrow we leave Munster and head for Verden and the first day of the show. We head out at 7am and will arrive in Verden about 3 hours later. We leave a beautiful city with awesome food. Albert is more than ready. He was wild this morning when David rode him and he worked with Scott Hassler. They had moments of complete harmony, brilliant movements, then suddenly the arena would be filled with exuberant leaps and bucks and the sound of David grunting to stay with his happy dance partner. Needless to say, Albert and David went out on a wonderful trail ride this afternoon with Jessica Tate and her horse Donnermuth, competing in the 6-year old division.

Michael Klimke was a wonderful host. He opened his beautiful facility up to us with open arms, giving the Americans a welcome BBQ upon our arrival. After just a few beers, the stories started to spill out. It was great hearing Scott and Michael share so many funny horse stories. Mr. Klimke's farm is surrounded by lush green, and huge trees. He has 2 indoor and 2 outdoor dressage arenas along with a jumping ring. The oldest building was built in 1545, it is so cool.

I believe our team is ready to compete. Everyone looks great and their horses came through super and are revived. It's been great have a few days of relaxed fun, after a hectic departure from home. Tomorrow I'm sure the tension will begin to grow as we near the show grounds.

From Angie on Sunday: Hello from Munster

David and Albert arrived yesterday around 6:30pm. They both looked happy to be here. The truck that brought them in from Amsterdam was outrageous. It looked like a deluxe fire truck just shy of having a full-size pool and spa in the back. Albert looked like he belonged on the rig and looked stunning as he came off the ramp. We put him in his straw-filled stall, where he immediately had a big 'ole pee, a huge drink of water then he began to fill his belly with grass hay and the straw he was bedded in.

Klimke's barn if wonderful. The oldest buildings date back to 1545, so cool. There are three large brick barns were the horses can stick their heads out the back of their stalls. This morning when Sam and I arrived to feed Albert at 7:30, a bunch of the horses had their heads sticking out of their stalls letting the raindrops stream down their faces. This morning was definitely jacket weather. There are two indoor arenas and two outdoor arenas. His barn is surrounded by lush trails for riding. So beautiful! Leaving Sam to tend to Albert's needs I went back to the hotel (only about a 5 minute drive) to get David so he could work with Scott.

WOW what a horse, everyone loved him! Susanne, Scott's wife has never seen Albert and had one compliment after another. She and Scott were well aware of Albert's story and were very impressed by the way David has trained him. It was wonderful to watch. Lars and his 6-year old stallion, Mixmax, were also wonderful to watch. Scott was extremely encouraging about our team's chances this year. The show, they say, is like nothing we've ever been to before. We can hardly wait to get there.

Here's how they place the horses. On the first day of competition (08-02-07), all the 5-year olds will compete, between 40 and 50 horses. They break them down into groups of 5, and the winner of each group goes to the finals on Sat. After the winner of each group is determined, the remaining horses compete the following day, Fri., in a consolation class and the top 3 from the consolation class are also moved into the finals on Sat. So if you don't do well on the first day, you still have a shot at the final. Cool!

We watched Buggati, Bimmer's daddy, go this morning. He is so stunning. Scott worked with Michael Klimke and Buggati on passage, so great to watch. They have so many beauties here. They also have a full riding school with school horses. And amongst the school horses are several Fjord. Sam and I fell in love with Garfield, a 3-year old Fjord and such a lover. I'll attempt to forward a picture of him.

Tonight will be an early night as last night was not. Then it's back to the barn. I only wish I could ride--I'm dying to get in the saddle!

Love to all,
Angie & Sam

From Angie: We're here!

We're here safe and sound. We arrived right at 9:05am on Friday morning. The airport was amazing: so beautiful, with a full shopping mall in it. We rented a small run-around car and got a GPS system to go with it. I'm so glad we got the GPS--it told us exactly how to get here with no problems whatsoever. Sam was delighted when I handed her the keys. I fulfilled her dream to drive the autobahn. The drive was awesome! Nederland is so green and beautiful with the prettiest COWS (yes, I said pretty) you've ever seen. Maybe it's because it's so green and the cows are so clean and FAT that makes them so beautiful. The drive from Amsterdam to Deutschland was nothing but farmland, but the second we crossed the border the landscape changed from flat, open, green farmland to rolling hills and trees, trees, trees. Nestled amongst the trees were horse facilities, all with indoor arenas. Again, it's so green and beautiful.

After checking into the hotel, Sam and I headed off to Munster, a small college town. It's a beautiful town with a ton of great shopping. We stopped for dinner (which Sam slept through). The pasta was all handmade with this terrific light sauce and the best mushrooms I've ever had. It was topped with turkey so moist it melted in your mouth. We shared that along with a salad of greens, pears and strawberries and a dressing that made every bite fantastic. Sadly, on our way back to the car I was hit with the worst stomach cramps and by time we got back to the room, it was all over. There goes my pasta, I cried and my wonderful salad, booo hoooo!

After a not-so-great night, I woke up refreshed and ready to go. Sam and I went downstairs for breakfast here at the hotel. The breakfast comes with our room and I'm telling you, it's quite a meal. A full buffet of anything you want from lox, raw hamburger, fresh-baked breads, fruit, omelettes, bacon, sausage, and on and on. I was empty and ready to eat! From there we headed out to the barn where Albert will be staying until Wednesday. So old and so cool! We met Scott Hassler there and they're bringing in horses on Tuesday for me to try! I can hardly wait to ride. I'm going to post some photos for everyone to see.

Now we are waiting for David: he has landed and they are on their way. Sam and I will meet them at barn, help him unload and then we'll all go out to eat.

Love to all, we'll be in touch.

Love, Angie & Sam

Baby Stallions

We are having a great time with the Stallions at the ranch. We are incredibly lucky to have three very talented stallions in the barn. We, however, have our work cut out for us as all of them have been commissioned to get approved.

Bimmer finishing his free jumping training was our focus yesterday. We have the privilege of being next door to Sandstone Farms, a wonderful jumping facility. "B" (Bimmer) needed to run a mock trial. We also needed to practice trailering him, so we hauled 1 short mile to Sandstone. He jumped very nicely, we are thrilled with his progress.

Bimmer has matured into a very impressive Stallion. He shows extreme ride ability coupled with a very athletic conformation. This will be a wonderful horse in the near future, both as a sport horse and a breeding Stallion.

15 Days

Well, we're 15 days out and the nerves are really starting to set in. I'm glad I made a game plan before everything became too intense.

The greatest part of all of this and what keeps my nerves grounded at times, is that this level of success with Albert was never really expected. At least not this quickly.

I was simply happy to be competing at Flintridge, I wanted to continue to get Albert acclimated with showing. We would have been thrilled with 3rd place, and now here we are. Some serious nervous tension has started to weigh me down. Over dinner tonight Andrea reminded me though of what I said when we first started this journey. That it's an honor and a privilege just to have been invited and that no one expects me to win the worlds. We're going to there to get our feet wet and see what we can do.
She's exactly right and always knows how to calm my nerves.

Thank you all once again for your support and encouragement.

Good night.

Hey everyone:
It's been too long since I have written, but for everyone who knows me, my literary sense by no means equals my mothers.

I am so amazed with amount of donations we have received. I am so thankful to have all of you in my life. A dear client of ours, Zada, was incredibly generous to Albert and I this week. So generous, in fact, that Angie breaks down a little every time we talk about it. This is all so thrilling, I can not begin to describe how wonderfully things are going for me these days. I could never have accomplished what we have so far, if not for the amazing people in my life. I thank you all so much, you mean the world to me.

Sorry to change the subject so dramatically, but I can't stop thinking about my weekend at Steffen's. The thing that keeps going through my head is that; yes, I may have a small percentage of his physical ability, however my brain does not work as well as his. In short, the man is a genius when it comes to our sport and he has the most amazing ability to stay with the incredible movement he creates from his horses.

Steffen seemed to enjoy Albert and he was, of course, very helpful. Now, if I can pull off what he wants, we're in business. Albert is doing great, he still amazes me everyday. The privilege of riding him is all mine and he reminds me of that continuously. What a cool horse .

Speaking of cool horses Catapult is really filling in the gaps in his FEI work. He is becoming the horse I dreamed of when I first saw him.

Again, I can't thank everyone enough for your generosity and support. I hope you enjoyed another blog entry as much as I did good night.

To Be - By Andrea

To be proud isn't enough,
to simply be honored would be unjust.
To be grateful is closer, but still falls short.

To be moved, to be encouraged. To be breathless and humbled.
To be inspired, to be in awe, to be privileged and to be motivated would better begin to describe what I feel when watching David.

To be in the presence of a dreamer, whose drive could move mountains has taught me something about life. His passion is addictive and should be captured in a bottle to share with the world. If we all had an ounce of this mans humility and a touch of his talent. If we just had a pinch of his strength and a handful of his heart; we'd all be in a better place.

To believe again is to be with David Blake.