Ok, coffee in hand... wearing my long underwear (its about 2 degrees now, with
wind chill advisory for the day, wind chills of 15 to 30 below expected).... it
was tough to leave CA... of course, it was tough to get there, with the snow &
ice we had here...

so, my snynopsis of being an incredibly lucky Ruth Arvanette Grant winner... the
grant pays for convention registration & airfare & 1/2 of the hotel... a very
generous grant indeed, and made my CA trip possible. I would not have gone if
it were not for the grant... and the amount I learned made me realize how
important that every single one of us try to come to convention in KC next
year!!!

Some highlights... and I'll post more details as the week goes on... lots to
catch up on yet (I got back to my house about 1115 pm sunday night, and had to
be to work... bummer! lol)

I was pretty star struck, standing next to the Balkenhols... hearing Hilda
Gurney talk about the double bridle (she put together an amazing video about
fitting & use of the double, part of the educational session), and watching
Steffan Peters ride in the symposium & in warm up!! and his wife Shannon. wow!
then to walk outside & see Leslie Morse doing a press interview... wow! Not
something that happens in every day life in SD!!! ;-)

Thursday night at the Gala I got to briefly meet the other Ruth Arvanette
winners... and am humbled! Scarlet is helping start a GMO in AZ, and they are
only 1 year old!! Sarah Blanchard is the author of two books, and a member of a
GMO in Haiwaii, on the big island. Sarah B. and I had some talks about
logistics within our GMOs... nice gal! I did not get to talk to scarlet much
though...


I learned so much, in so many directions, from show management, volunteer
management, to work in the double, to the sessions with the horses bones drawn
on & then watching him work... later I'll post in depth stuff...

More soon!

Joann Messersmith

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away
from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover."
- Mark Twain



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