WARNING: This Blog is a Waste of Your Time!!!!!

I have to leave for the barn in a few minutes, but I suddenly felt the urge to post a blog, even though I have nothing to say. I have considered, however, posting the article I wrote for the equine newsletter at my college, just to see what you guys think about it. And also to tranquilize Cindy and Shawna, who want me to post a blog about my trip to Florida. So here it is:

"On the last day of February this year, I and a few of my fellow students from Intro to Equine Activities went on a wonderful adventure. With Chelsea Olsen and Sarah Arpke as our guides and chaperones, we left the dreary, snow-swept runway of the Cleveland airport and took off for 6 days of warmth, sun, beaches, and horses. Whole bunches of horses.
"I had never been on a plane before, so that was a novel experience for me. But you are not reading this article to hear about the plane trip, so I will sidestep that portion of the trip and get on to the horse parts.
"On Tuesday we had arrangements to meet Betsy Steiner at her barn for some Equilates. For those of you who are not yet familiar with it, Equilates is a Pilates-like workout that emphasizes positions that the average horseback rider would find useful. It promotes both strength and flexibility and is reputed to strengthen that “core” part of one’s body that Professor Olsen is always talking about. The “posting trot” exercise was an especially wonderful one that left us grateful that none of us had to ride the next day. We completed the session with only a minimum amount of groaning.
"We spent some time at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, which is this HUGE (like, so big that it has its very own road) facility in Palm Beach that dwarfs anything we have in Ohio and features numerous rings, arenas, warm-ups, vendors of all sorts and at least one really nice bathroom. We happened to be there during the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (January 7 - March 29, 2009), so we were in the midst of an absolute flurry of movement. I had never in my life seen so many horses in one place before. Now, being a strictly Western rider (indeed, I knew less than nothing about any English discipline before coming to Lake Erie), I unfortunately cannot satisfactorily explain what was going on around me at the equestrian center. I can say that we watched jumpers in a massive outdoor arena with gorgeous jumps that we definitely need to think about designing for our own shows.
"Friday saw us at the International Polo Club of Palm Beach, setting the dressage and practice arenas for Saturday’s show and meeting up with Mary Ross, the founder and chairman of the Challenge of the Americas. The Challenge is an annual show, 8 years running, that benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
"The Challenge itself was a surprisingly brief show. Exhibition rider Susan Jacoma started the evening off with a patriotic routine and was followed by Oded Shimoni and John Ingram’s “Dressage v. Reining” face-off. I really wish I’d been able to see more of that, but our first duty was as volunteers at the event, not spectators. Teams USA and International, at 6 members apiece, competed in a sort of equestrian dance-off to a medley of songs. It was difficult to see over the crowds of slightly inebriated socialites, but from the oohs and ahhs of the crowd, I would say it was pretty spectacular. We did see the Purina Mills (USA) team practice the day before the competition, and oh, yeah, it was pretty cool. Six horses performing half passes in opposite directions, through one another’s ranks and lining up in tandem; gaits matching changing music wonderfully; synchronized piaffes and passages that were way cooler than anything I can do on a horse.
"And so I would like to state for the record that I spent a night brushing elbows with the elite of Palm Beach.
"We did eventually have to come back home, however. But next time, I’m thinking about leaving that part out of the plans."

And I haven't heard a single thing from anyone about it. Chelsea, Brittany and Amy all read it and liked it, but Sarah and Karen, the people I sent it to for inclusion into the newsletter, have yet to respond. At all. It worries me a little. I mean, you'd think they'd at least tell me what they think of it, you know? So I'm listening to Bon Jovi on YouTube, and is it just me, or does the acoustic guitar music in "Blaze of Glory" sound a lot like the music from the "Firefly" theme song?And lookie at that! It's only ten after 9... I still have 20 minutes to putter around here... huh...
"I want to laaaaaaaaaaay you dowwwn in a beeeeeed of roooooses...
But toniiiiiiiiight I sleep on a beeeeeeeed of naaaaaaaiiiiiils...!!!!"
Again, I would like to apologize for this.
But hey, the blog title should have warned you well enough.
Maybe I'll post again soon.
TTYL