A few months ago I had no idea that I would leave my friends and family behind, take two weeks off work, and travel 2,700 miles one way from Tenino, Washington to Magnolia, Texas with relative strangers and my pony, Pippin, to compete in the Haras Cup Working Equitation National Championships. Alas, here we are!
Travel Itinerary
Day 1: Tenino, WA > Warren, OR > Portland, OR > Baker City, OR
Day 2: Baker City, OR > (via Idaho) > Erda, UT
Day 3: Day clinic in Erda, then Erda, UT > Moab, UT
Day 5: Moab, UT > (via Colorado and New Mexico) > Amarillo, TX
Day 6: Amarillo, TX > Magnolia, TX
We left Nayborly Farms on Friday, November 16 early in the morning. Kelsy graciously drove us (and picked up Caitlin’s horse Milagro on the way) to a truck stop south of Portland, OR where we unloaded and reloaded into Julie Alonzo’s rig. And what a rig it is!
Pip met his new (famous!) friend and traveling companion, Endo the Blind Horse, who is owned and trained by Morgan Wagner. We all hit it off! Pip and Endo are the same age as are me and Morgan. We’ve both had and worked with our horses for their whole lives. Morgan and Endo have an amazing partnership and show that fantastic things are possible if you work together–Endo no longer has eyes due to medical complications from Uveitis.
We spent a day in Utah introducing working equitation to a fun group of horses and riders who are new to the sport. We also were able to get our horses out for a ride to stretch their legs…
Somewhere in New Mexico we survived a severe thunderstorm and a Tornado warning. After that, any nerves about the upcoming show seemed to dissipate along with the receding storm clouds. It’s not every day that we Oregonians and Washingtonian have to face a tornado warning!
And somewhere else along the way Milagro passed through Milagro…
On our last night on the road we stayed at The Big Texan motel/horse hotel/steakhouse.
And after driving through the never-ending state of Texas, we arrived safely at Haras Hacienda on Tuesday afternoon!
Though we may have had a slight parking mishap due to driveway construction issues…
After five days of driving, and chatting, and eating at gas stations, and watering the horses at truck stops, and sleeping on a mat on hotel floors, and many more traveling adventures, Pip and I made some new friends for life! What a great start to our Haras Cup adventure. Many, many thanks to Julie Alonzo for driving us all safely to Texas. 🙂
* Photos above by Chesna Klimek, Morgan Wagner, Carmen Elisa Franco, and Julie Alonzo.