There will be a moment of prayer this afternoon at the Palm Beach Derby at 11:00. Mary Phelps told me yesterday that it will be led by a minister and I will be sure to be there along with everyone at the show to collectively ask for a miracle for her. Miracles are happening in every moment of our lives and the combined power os so many peoples’ thoughts cannot help but move the universe in the direction of our common desires and wishes. If you are not present but would still like to join us in that moment, you may do so.

Love to all!

RD

RD

Check out this campaign to raise money for Cancer Research and also we have added an amazing new horse to our market place…Lover Boy

Can you guess what they are???

We are talking screw-ups that actually helped humankind! Let’s see if you now any???

This man, halfway through an experiment with bacteria went on vacation. Slob that he was he left a dirty Petri dish in the lab sink. When he got back, he had found the bacteria had grown all over the plate, except where an area where mold had formed. That discovery let to two things? What were they and who was he?

In 1943, the war years, a General Electric engineer combined silicone oil and boric acid in an attempt to find a cheap alternative to rubber for tank treads boots ext, What was his name, and big discovery???

In 1870 this man was experimenting with the sap from a South American tree, as a substitute for rubber, After mounting failures, The dejected inventor popped a piece into his mouth . He liked it. He discovered what?

At the end of world war two, this engineer was looking for forms of magnetron, which generated the microwave for radar systems. While he was standing next to the device one day, a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. This magnetron worked better on what? Who became very rich from this?

In 1856 : this man was interested in finding a cure for one of the deadliest diseases, Malaria by replicate Quinine in his laboratory he inadvertently discovered the color mauve instead. As a result he forgot about malaria and made another product establishing what?

In 1987 This couple were using small does of a deadly toxin to treat “ aspasams and other eye spasms when they noticed another interesting side effect, wrinkles magically disappeared What did they discover & who were they?”

Today ended the Palm Beach Derby with an underwhelming Freestyle class, sorry to say. So many times I can remember over a thousand people there to watch a hotly contested class while a full tent of people dined at lunch. Today, due to most of the strongest combinations having gone for the Special, the field was not as strong and this could be seen as well by the lack of spectators. My Canadians placed 2nd and 3rd for which I was happy.

I will say that the highlight of the day for me was the prayer vigil held for Courtney as well as the presentation by Carol Lavel of the prize of $25,000 which was to be given directly to Courtney for having won. Instead, a very tearful and emotional Lendon Gray accepted the award on her behalf and told us that there has been no further bad news as to Courtney’s recovery, but reminded us again that we must not be impatient. It will be some time for sure before we can hope to see real progress. We will keep up our daily prayers on her behalf as well as the other friends of our: Charlie Weaver, Rebecca Howard and Jan Bynny. Nothing is more powerful than our minds when we put them all collectively together to produce any result we can dream of, including the healing of the world and all who inhabit it!

Cheers!

RD

There will be a moment of prayer this afternoon at the Palm Beach Derby. Mary Phelps told me yesterday that it will be led by a minister and I will be sure to be there along with everyone at the show to collectively ask for a miracle for her. Miracles are happening in every moment of our lives and the combined power os so many peoples’ thoughts cannot help but move the universe in the direction of our common desires and wishes. Later this morning I will post the exact time of the moment of prayer so that, if you are not present but would still like to join us in that moment, you may do so.

Love to all!

RD

There will be a moment of prayer this afternoon at the Palm Beach Derby. Mary Phelps told me yesterday that it will be led by a minister and I will be sure to be there along with everyone at the show to collectively ask for a miracle for her. Miracles are happening in every moment of our lives and the combined power os so many peoples’ thoughts cannot help but move the universe in the direction of our common desires and wishes. Later this morning I will post the exact time of the moment of prayer so that, if you are not present but would still like to join us in that moment, you may do so.

Love to all!

RD

So here’s the thing. I know that everyone can get the scores and placements on pretty much any website out there, so I’m not going to go through them all again, but rather am going to discuss the high (andnot so high) points of the day from my perspective. If you are not sure where to find the scores, go to Dressage Daily and they will al be there.

First, I want to say how much I admire Jacquie Brooks for her decision to ride both her Grand Prix tests with her crash helmet instead of her top hat today. And here is my prediction. Within a couple of months, some enterprising person is going to create and market a helmet cover made out of a nylon material over a semi firm but crush-able mesh which will fit over the helmet with velcro or elastic and will look like a top hat. the only difference will be that it will look a bit big andhave a chin strap. Men will be allowed to give a military salute which will be so much nicer when riding hot horses which don’t like to stand still easily. FYI, in case you are out there ready to create the prototype and want to make me a partner in the business, I’m ready to invest.

It was interesting to me that, though normally the Grand Prix which goes to the Freestyle is the more heavily contended at the Derby, this week was not the case. I think it was simply because of the number of shows which occurred leading up to this show made more riders decide to do the Freestyle at the last show at Jim Brandon. Therefore, they needed to do the Special here to follow the criteria for qualifying for the WEG’s for both America andCanada whereby the combination must do a minimum of 2 Grand Prixwith one Special andone Freestyle. At any rate, the Grand Prixfor the Freestyle did not impress me as a class, over-all. Like the first day’s Grand Prix, however, the Special had some major highlights, especially by the 1st and 2nd placed finishers, Tina Konyot and Belinda Trussell. Tina’s stallion, Collecto, has made enormous improvement in the last year and even in the last month. Lars has been tremendous help to her in finding the right amount of pressure to keep him engaged and lowered in his croup, while allowing him to express himself in an elegant posture. Tina has beeen having a lot of back pain but she is a chip off the old block of her Dad, and rode as if she were in perfect form. Only the end of the test showed the stallion still has to confirm his pirouettes and become slightly stronger to be fit enough for an even higher score which I believe will come in the near future.
Equally impressive for me was the combination of Belinda Trussell and Anton. This was their first time achieving over 70% and I am very excited because there is still so much further they can climb score-wise. Anton and Belinda have a wonderful rapport together and both are just now finding out how easy it is for them to dance gorgeously in the air as they move along.  I loved their test!

A few of the other Canadian riders were doing their first ever Special with their horses and the greeness showed a bit but this does not concern me because I can truly see the wonderful potential yet to be unveiled in these combinations. One or two more shows will do it for them and they will be proving why they are worthy of making our squad. And I can honestly say the same for a few of my fellow Americans who were not quite as successful today as yesterday. Their days will come very soon as well.

I have to commend the staff of the Derby who are once again doing a great job and making it look effortless. We also need to remember to thank Walter and Mary Anne McPhailwho year after year are the most incredible hosts anyone could ever wish for. They have always been two of the most special people in my life and I love them and their family.

And finally, I just have to say something quick about one of the show’s sponsors, Matt Johnson. Many years ago, Matt worked for me as a groom and then also worked for a client of mine, Linda Cameron. Now, Matt is one of the most successful Realtors in Wellington and was the sponsor of the Prix St. George. Don’t you just love America?!

Cheers!

RD

Courtney update as of 3am.  you may post this.

Courtney is holding on.  She remains on a ventilator and some mild sedation.  The sedation has been decreased because they have started the weaning process to get Court off the vent.  Sedation needs to be decreased so the patient will be able to breath on her own.  They have turned the the breath rate on the vent to 8 and Courtney is breathing on her own over the vent rate.  The bolt that measures the intracranial pressure remains in place, along with a ventricular drain.  The ventricular drain has been clamped.  They have not had to open it to relieve any brain pressure.  Concerns are that the sedation has been decreased and there has not been more activity on Courtneys behalf.  The brain needs a long time to heal…so keep praying!

RD

Let’s keep adding to the prayers in the post below and see if we can turn 100’s into 1000’s before the end of the weekend! I believe the prayers are working. Not fast enough for ¤e, but I’m not the most patient person, eh? But there are hundreds of thousands of riders and dressage people around the world and the power of all their prayers will surely do it. So PLEASE keep taking one minute to send your prayer for Courtney. Thank you again!!

RD

The first day of the Palm Beach Derby is over and it was a very long day indeed. The Grand Prix went from 10:30am until 4:40pm and so I was at the show from 8:00am doing morning warm-ups.  First, let me say that I was very pleased over all with the Canadian riders’ progress since the last show. We have quite a few very green, young horses in our group and they all looked much improved and had considerably higher scores, with Belinda placing 3rd with 68.6 behind Liz Austin with 68.9 and the winner, Tina Konyot with right around 70%.  No one is showing the degreee of excellence necessary to beat an Ashley Holzer or Steffen Peters at this time, but I do see a few amazingly talented prospects among the group that could someday soon be up in the low to mid 70’s, provided that their training is consistently of a high caliber.

Two things that caught my attention were: 1) How many people were wearing helmuts today, and 2) That was good since it was cold, windy and people were lunging galloping horses in the middle of the field next to those riding and warming up. I really wish that there were a dedicated area, properly fenced in, only for lunging which would be somewhere completely separated from the rest of the areas for warming up.  I also think that the vet checks at all shows should take place within a fenced in area so that, should a horse get loose, as one did yesterday, it could not run away and injure itself or anyone standing in its way, including members of the ground jury.

Tomorrow is another big day with both the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix for the Freestyle to be held one after the other. I want to congratulate all the winners today at every level and wish them all the best of luck tomorrow. (Especially the Canadians!) 

Cheers!

RD

I wish I could report better news but as of an hour or so ago, Lendon said that there has been no change in Courtney’s situation. She remains in a coma but I just want to remind everyone that I personally know more than a few people who have come out of this state after many days and even months with little long-term deficiencies. So keep the prayers coming because Courtney is a fighter and needs us to go on fighting for her!
I was amazed by the number of helmets I saw being worn at the Derby the last 2 days. God works in mysterious ways and I do not believe that Courtney is at all finished with her journey in doing amazing things on this earth.  So please keep posting your “I believe in a miracle for Courtney” messages on the post below this one. I hope that Lendon will share all of your messages with her family.

Love to all.

RD

RD