Wednesday, June 2, 2004

On The Scene at Zada Enterprises Detroit Dressage, LLC

We Made It To Detroit Dressage and the Rest Was A Great Time!

When organizer, Patrice Schreiber invited us to come to Detroit Dressage, we jumped at the opportunity to discover a new territory in this huge country we had never been to.

It wasn't easy. The truck broke down in Tennessee, and after three days and three tries, and a $3,500 transmission, it was back on the road. Good thing JJ. had started early on the 1200 mile trip. I flew up on Wednesday, and holed up in a hotel for 24 hours till he got there, then we had a tire blow during the last 85 miles of the trip. But we made it, and are glad we did.

And, we were warned - the weather has a reputation there. It is Michigan which is a vertical peninsula close to Canada with two big lakes on each side. Announcer Nicho Meredith, the consummate weather watcher, was on-line with his computer, as an occasional tornado ventured around us, and the rain, as promised came in buckets. Luckily, it was mostly at night, and the show went off without a hitch.

The show was great. We loved every minute of it. Michiganders are a hearty friendly bunch, who take the rain in stride (hey, it wasn't snowing which it had done the year before!). They were prepared; everyone had the perfect kind of boots and rain gear, as we slogged around in hiking boots that were wet all weekend. There weren't many scratches during the three full days of scheduled classes, and there were many lovely horses to photograph. The footing was the best I ever saw, handling all that water. The Dillman's, our hosts for the weekend at Willow Ridge Farm could not have been more accommodating, providing us with a great spot for our 33' camper, and a wonderful competitors party in the indoor arena, which was full of vendors, and an awards table that was 24' long.