[drivingpairs] Texas Tidbits #1 (sort of long)
- From: "Helen Roeder" <helen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Pairs List" <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2005 07:53:00 -0500
Here's a msg from Team Texas aka Jerry and Mike McLennan, et al. As before, we
would welcome info from any of the others that compose the US Pair Driving
competitors.
Helen
Helen Roeder
Sunshine Pony Farm,
El Hasa Sport Ponies and
www.drivingpairs.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry McLennan
To: jerrymclennan@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 6:45 AM
Subject: Texas Tidbits #1
This is a test run to check e-mails before we leave. If this is TMI, let me
know and I'll remove you from the list. If you are one of a "Group", like the
choir, handbell, horse committee, etc., please forward to your group.
Thanks a million for your support.
June30, 2005
Friends,
I'll try to keep yall updated as to what is happening on the CDE European
circuit.
Let me begin by thanking you all for your support!!! We appreciate it more
than we can ever tell you.
Now.. First you should know our itinerary. First know that it all changes on a
daily basis, so everything is understood AT THIS TIME!!!
Equipment ships out of HOUSTON on Monday, July 18. Horses, Mike and Jerry
(Jerry has a ticket - Mike and horses are iffy) on Tuesday July 19, all ending
up in Amsterdam.
Through all of this we have met via Chester Weber and LOTS of e-mails, a
wonderful couple names Gerard and Saskia Leitjen who live in Beerse, Belgium.
They will pick us up at the Amsterdam airport and take us to their place. See
pictures of their place at http://www.blakheide.be/
From what we know of the Leitjen, they are pretty much like us. Stay in their
trailer on the show grounds, drive pairs, do the work together with no help.
We should get along great!!! They will be taking us to the 2 shows and we'll
stay in their trailer. I think they may be competing as well, don't know for
sure. The first show is a CAI-A at Beekbergen, Holland (Netherlands).the last
weekend in July. We will go back to their place on Sunday after the show and
leave a couple of days later for Riesenbeck, Germany for another CAI-A. Both
these events are for advanced pairs and four-in-hands only and as I understand
it AT THIS TIME have over 100 entries. The following website is a German site
that lists all the show dates, results, etc. It is in English and quite
informative. Each show on the calendar can clicked on and the "omnibus" type
information about that show is available. Go to results and it will have
details posted pretty quickly after the show
www.hoefnet.nl/pages-eng/index_eng.html
We'll rent a car upon arrival so we are mobile. Hopefully we'll have a phone
with international service before we leave. Not looking too positive right
now, but I'm sure with another week I'll find something.
After those two shows, we will stay in Beerse to train. We've learned that
every Wednesday night the pair drivers in the area meet at The Leitjen's to
practice cones. Gerard was very upset after last weekend's show. He told us
he knocked a ball down - the first one in TWO years. We told him we hope and
LOT of his cones expertise will rub off. Hopefully we'll get better while at
Beerse.
On Sunday, August 29 we head for Landstetten, Germany just south of Munich to
meet all the other drivers at the US Training Camp. I've not found this town
on my map, but the Haertlein's are sending us good road maps. (Talk about a
small world, Tricia's company has a large office in Beerse, so she's in the
process of getting all the "scoop" we need to know while there. I hope we can
take several one or two day trips from Beerse to see the countries. Every time
we ask how far things are, it is always just "a couple of hours". We haven't
had the courage to ask how much things cost.)
The US camp is at the training facility of Zeitler Kutschbock
www.zeitlers-kutschbock.de/kutschbock.html we will all drive and train
together here until we leave for Salzburg on Sunday, September 4 ready to "kick
butt" as Beth Fischer says.
Lisa's truck and trailer went with the ponies so she will have it to work out
of. Alan Aulson has also shipped his stuff. He and Lisa are staying in
Beekbergen while we are in Beerse. Fritz has been in Europe (Frankfurt I
believe) since winning the National Championship. He did have a serious
accident at the Saumur show in France. He broke ribs and punctured a lung.
Mike has talked to him and he's feeling great and will be ready to compete at
Beekbergen and Riesenbeck. He is back in California to complete his physical
therapy and celebrate the July 4 holiday before going back to Frankfurt.
http://www.caaonline.com/pdfs/salzburg05_online.pdf
is supposed to have all the information about Salzburg, but shows "This page
does not exist" right now.
We've been told there will be 10,000 spectators at EACH HAZARD. I have a hard
time believing that, but will let you know when we get there.
Currently, I'm loading suitcases - some with cold weather stuff and some with
hot weather stuff. September in Austria could very easily be 40 degrees.
Right now, with it being 100 in Texas, I'm READY!!!, but yall know me and I'll
have on BOTH pairs of silk long handles. Mary Mott, you better bring that
snowmobile outfit you loaned me for the Bromont show. Sounds like I might need
it again. You should have heard those French Canadians laughing at me. It's
spring. They had on shorts and I had on the snowmobile outfit. Of course I
didn't KNOW it was a snowmobile outfit until they told me. The barn stuff is
being packed; the dressage stuff is being shrink wrapped onto the dressage
carriage. The 27 bags of feed and the supplements are being put into those
rolling Wal-Mart coffins so it can be rolled from one place to another. They
didn't like my suggestion of shrink wrapping it on a pallet. No way to move it
once we got to the airport(s). We'll have to purchase oats, or barley or
whatever grain they have when we get there and mix our own feed so they will be
pretty much eating what they are eating now.
Other than that and the tons of paper work that comes across the e-mail and fax
machine, I'm just trying to fix fences, mow pastures, wean babies, get an
orphan colt we have onto solid food before we leave (first mare in 38 years of
breeding horses that we've lost in foaling). I'm going to a Houston Symphony
Patriotic Concert on Sunday that is being held at Festival Hill, the training
facility for the orchestra that is about 20 miles from the house. Gotta get
away from the paperwork. I had a dream night before last that was so real I
had to get up at 5am and check the e-mails to be sure what I dreamed had not
really happened and I'd not gotten the correct paper work turned in. Oh, There
is some disease in Austria that has proven to be a problem for our spare
(Ready). She is the only mare on the whole US team and the disease prevents
mares from re-entering the US. So it was leave here in quarantine there for 3
months or do something else. Chester is loaning us Campino T, one of his
horses that is already in Europe. Since we only use the spare as a spare, we
want everyone to pray that it continues that way. God has blessed us in not
having to pull that spare to date. We are asking for His continued blessing in
that regard. He has really worked miracles in our lives and if we have not had
the opportunity to tell any of you about what He means to us, we want to. His
daily guidance and presence is awesome and is irreplaceable in our lives.
Guess this will get you started. Since I'm sure I won't have this much time
once things begin moving, hopefully the remainder of these Texas Tidbits will
be just that "tidbits"!
Love to you all.
Serving the Shepherd, Loving His Lambs,
Jerry McLennan
3000 Pecan Mill Ln.
Brenham, TX 77833
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