I know you’ve been wondering where I’ve been with my July Update. I am so sorry but life just got away from me, as did my webmaster, Julian, whose vacation I totally forgot was taking place at the beginning of the month.

Anyway, June turned out to be another month full of ups and downs. All in all, while I would love to say the ups had it, I have to be honest and call it a draw.

I’ve been enjoying finishing the Grand Prix training of 3 young horses, 2 of which I have brought along myself for their owners from the beginning. All of them are absolutely lovely and have given me a great deal of joy to ride.

I also had a great time conducting a symposium in Cincinnati where I saw both terrific horses and riders and had a lot of fun with auditors as well. To top the weekend off Chris Federer, who organized the weekend, also put on a lovely benefit for the USEF High Performance Dressage Programs. Sweet!

I spent the week of the Festival Of Champions in Gladstone watching our National Championships and, along with our acting Chef d”Equipe, Jessica Ransehousen, held a critique clinic for interested, long-listed riders. We commented on their rides and discussed with them how they might earn more points as well as advising them on what they might want to consider as smart future competitive plans. As always, I tried to be up front, honest, and helpful, and I truly hope they felt I was.

Robert and I moved into our new condo in Miami Beach and spent a couple of weekends down there which, even without a lot of furniture, was great. The views of the bay and ocean are breath-taking and make me really happy. I am so blessed that even the fact that Joe Zada has yet to live up to any of his multitude of promises to pay us back our life savings, Robert and I are moving forward and recognizing we very well might never see it again. We instead have now spoken to the authorities and will leave the rest up to our Justice System and God to deal with.

The end of June has been a sad time for other reasons, primarily the deaths of several stars including Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson. They both held a special spot in my heart but Micheal’s passing affected me much harder than I ever thought it would. His songs and incredible talent had dotted many milestones in my life and the world will never forget this genius, regardless of the turmoil in his later years.

The one good thing about being tardy with my update is that I can finish by saying how thrilled and proud I was by Steffen Peters and Ravel’s amazing Triple Crown Win in Aachen! They were nothing short of awesome and America owes them our heartfelt gratitude for a job gorgeously done!

To my readers, please remember to let me know what you are thinking about any and every little thing. I love to hear from you!

Cheers!

RD

Dear Rhonda, I recently took a job as a Personal Assistant for a high profile celebrity and am baffled by her lifestyle. For all the fabulous restaurants and shops I follow her around to she never once pulled out her platinum card -ever!

Apparently, the shop owners all feel obliged to comp her so as to ensure she will keep coming back. Well, she invariably gets liquored up to the point of no return, which puts her hours and yes, sometimes days late for her obligations to her business associates. Can you please shed some light for us mortals as to what is proper etiquette for those starlets like yourself who seem to play the game by a different set of rules?

Jealous P.A.

Dear Jealous,

The word that you seem to glaringly misunderstand from your own question is the word game. That is exactly what life is my dear. Your boss clearly understands this and knows exactly how to play it and you seem to be distressed (or shall I say bitter) by the fact that you don’t.

Now I am not condoning being drunk and rude, although they can work very well independently or in conjunction with other bad behaviors. What I am saying is that everything is relative. Now, I don’t know exactly who your boss is, but she obviously makes a lot of money for a lot of people. And I would imagine that a large part has to do with her persona. Whilst her behavior may seem unacceptable to you in the context of your world, she obviously delivers for the retailers, restaurateurs and business associates in hers.

Some people win at the game Monopoly after four or five or six long and boring hours of strategic and careful rule playing and others win in less than two by stacking FREE PARKING with tons of cash. Is either one less of a winner? I guess it depends on which rules you are playing by!

Regards,

Rhonda

So Stfeen and Ravel were 3 for 3 in Aachen - a feat rarely done by anyone and never before by an American!
The U. S. A. should throw him a parade and would certainly do so if Dressage had the popularity I hope it one day will have in North America and around the world.
Thank you to Steffen and everyone with Team Peters for making history this week again!

Cheers!

RD

Hooray! Steffen and Ravel did it again. Anky gave him a run for his money this time scoring only a fraction of a percentage behind our American hero.
I must say that almost as interesting has been that no German was in the top five of the Grand Prix. Next week I will be doing a full analysis and give my opinions as to why this and other interesting stuff are happening.
So watch for it and respond, OK?

Cheers!

RD

It is that time of year again when we Americans bring our red, white and blue out of moth balls and parade it up and down main street. Ours is an undying pride in all those who helped to make our country great and free. So I am proud of many things, most definitely one of them being the enormity of having our first African American President who just may also be the absolute smartest president as well.
State by state we are seeing the defense of marriage act falling by the wayside as younger and more liberal and modern thinking people are coming finally to the belief that maybe, just maybe we are really are created equal and have absolute and inalienable rights which under law may not be taken away.As our United States copes with both the great highs and the deep lows it is dealing with at present, one thing is for sure for me - there is definitely no place on earth I would rather say I’m from!
I have one other little thing I’m proud of. Well, maybe he isn’t so little, especially not his mouth usually, but my friend, Sjef Jannsen, made me very proud when he spoke out at the press conference in Aachen in defense of, of all people, his and Anky’s arch competitive nemesis, Isabell. Like I mentioned on my blog the other day, Sjef reiterated that Isabell deserves her day in court. He also said, and I agree, that the press, especially in Germany are being very hard and many times unfair to Isabell. Afterall, she has been one of the greatest equestrian stars from Germany of all time and has usually conducted herself in a very correct and appropriate display of character. So we’ll be lighting off a special firecracker in Sjef’s honor tomorrow.
Mostly, I am so proud of our great winner from the Grand Prix, Steffen Peters, and we all wish him and Ravel all the best of luck for indipendence day - may Steffen keep the trophy and 1st place ribbbon indipendent from all other riders in Aachen!

Cheers!

RD

I could not be more proud of our fantastic combination of Steffen Peters and Ravel! I admit that a couple of months ago I was very worried that there was a definite risk in meeting Isabell on her own turf in Aachen, particularly as the Germans were preparing to name their team for the European Championships. There would be great pressure brought to bare to put Isabell back up on her thrown after the World Cup which she felt should have gone to her anyway. But, as we all know now, fate had other plans and the German team had to due without their anchor, leaving the door wide open, and Steffen and Ravel did not merely step through it; THEY BUSTED THAT DOOR STRAIGHT OFF ITS HINGES!!!!!!! Let me tell you, they put enough room between them and the next placed combination that you could drive a semi through there! Stefffen is sitting  up in the clouds right now, as well he should be, and when they play the U.S. National Anthem in front of 60,000 people in the Aachen stadium,  he will feel like the king of the world. I know that feeling since the last time our flag went up for dressage was in 1987 and I was lucky enough to be the one standing there on my wonderful horse, Federleicht. It is exhilarating and humbling at the same time knowing that, were it not for the amazing gifts of the mount we were on, we could never be standing there with our hats off and a tear of pride in our eye.
I salute Steffen and Ravel as well as his owners, support team, our Chef, Jessica Ransehousen and Director of Dressage, Gil Merrick, and wish them all the very best of luck as they prepare to win the next two tests as well.

Cheers!

RD

Well, Gang, it happened again. After the last few weeks of several more roller coaster rides with Joe Zada saying he was in “total control” of his money and payment was imminent, three separate dates came and went and today brought more of the same talk. So many people have now met in person as well as on the phone who have been impacted that of one thing I am sure, justice and the truth will win out in the end.

Cheers!

RD