Flying South for the Winter

Somehow, it's already been nearly a month since I got to Wellington. WEF has been so busy that the time has flown by. Nine weeks of horse show left seems like a long time, but I also can't believe I've already got three weeks finished.

I got to Florida much earlier this year (and in a much more organized manner!) and this is finally my second time being somewhere, so it's been nice to have a sense of familiarity instead of having everything be entirely new (which was the theme of 2013). I did get the opportunity to go to the Trump Invitational, which was on Palm Beach Island at the Mar-a-Lago. I was particularly excited about this because the average spectator there is slightly above my pay grade (someone casually dropped $40,000 to play golf with Donald Trump. But hey's it all for charity!) so it's a pretty rare opportunity for me to be able to go to an event like this. The Mar-a-Lago Club was beautiful (especially the dessert table) and despite ominous looking clouds, the day started out great.

I was in love with the decor for obvious reasons

Setting up for the poolside reception (I did not attend). The Mar-a-Lago is to the left, which in retrospect I should have probably included a photograph of.

Right on the water!

The best part of the "VIP" section, obviously

This was all great until it started raining. And I don't mean a light drizzle.

The rider in the video is Brianne Goutal, who trotted right into the ring after the break mid-way through the class in the middle of everyone saying "No one's going to go in...they'll wait out the rain." Wrong. Brianne is awesome.

Eventually it stopped raining but not before everything got pretty soaked (including myself). The event was still amazing despite the weather. Hunter Hayes performed before the class started and Ivanka Trump was there, looking just as fantastic as she does on TV and wearing awesome shoes. I also got pretty close to the Donald, and stood next to his wife for a few minutes. The jumping was also great--I couldn't believe how fast Kent Farrington and Todd Minikus went in the jump off as it continued to pour, and I was happy to see Kent win on his fantastic mare Blue Angel. 

After Trump, the real fun started as we kicked into high gear for WEF. This is our busy season, so to the say the least we've been quite busy. I'm still doing hunter and equitation coverage (jumping judged subjectively on either horse or rider for all un-horsey people) but also going over to the dressage show every week to cover their CDI (internationally ranked) competitions. The AGDF (Adequan Global Dressage Festival...so many acronyms!) has given me a new appreciation for dressage and I actually prefer being there sometimes-it's a lot more relaxing! We have big comfy couches, better Internet, and classical music playing softly all day. What's not to like?

And great views! It's a gorgeous facility.

For anyone interested, there are a ton more (and much better quality pictures) of both shows here:
AGDF Facebook Photo Album
WEF Facebook Photo Albums

If you're ever interested in anything I write, like the pages to see all the press releases!

I promise this is not a shameless plug for the social media pages I help manage for the shows, more that Lexey Hall,Elena Lusenti, and Sue Stickle take fantastic pictures. If you are interested in amateur photography, though, both shows have Instagram that I contribute to.
AGDF Instagram
WEF Instagram

Ok, that's enough rambling about the horse show for now! Apologies to anyone who does not care about horses and sat through this post hoping to get an update on Billy. He's enjoying life back in Denver, and had an awesome weekend with his dad skiing and showing him around Colorado. I'm really happy they got some father-son time and can't wait to see Billy and be back in Denver with him!

Hitting the slopes!

Slightly different scenery than what I'm working with in Florida!