Football fans wait for the Super Bowl, baseball fans plan for the World Series and with appreciation to the USHJA, show hunter riders/fans now have the Pre-Green Incentive and International Hunter Derby Championships held during the same week in Lexington, Kentucky. As I fall into the latter category, I purchased my airline tickets, booked hotel and rented a car several months ago to attend both of these events. All summer I have been looking forward to a solo "Kristin" trip to surround myself with the best of the hunter world, cheering on one of my dearest friends in both classes, meeting with colleagues, and also sharing my observations and findings with the Street to Stable community.
Planning
Based on past experience when visiting the Kentucky Horse Park in the summer, I expected clear skies, heat, and humidity. I had planned a perfect "chocolate and navy" mix and match wardrobe that I had pressed and pre-folded for travel at the dry cleaners, ready for travel. This list was inclusive of summer weight boyfriend style chinos, light linen shirts (Alessandro Albanese and Gap), Luke and Lyla hunter inspired leather bracelet, large Oughton tote, C.S. Simko traditional Southern bridle leather belt and comfortable shoes (Katharine Page and Tom's leather) and a North Face rain slicker "just in case."
My original expectations were wrong. The forecasts were predicting thunderstorms and rain all week...this factor started to make me ponder a bigger change in plans than just travel attire.
Change of Plans
I then started to watch the weather more closely as my ticket was in to Cincinnati; basically a straight shot 70 mile drive to the KY Horse Park. Forecasts were showing an 80% chain of rain and thunder storms on both my fly in and fly out dates. Most people would say, "pack a rain coat and you are good to go." My situation is slightly different, though. My home town of Boise is a commuter airport and traveling to the East typically requires at least 1, if not 2 connections. I am CONSTANTLY missing these (including my last trip out of Lexington Airport) and have been stranded multiple times overnight in airport hub cities. Just two weeks ago, my husband missed his connection traveling to Mexico and had to pay an extraordinary amount to catch up with the rest of his group one day later in Mexico for an annual surf trip.
Additionally, if an 80% chain of rain is predicted in the Pacific Northwest, we plan for heavy downpours ALL day. Lexington, on the other hand, can have an electrical storm for a half hour and then bright skies immediately following. I contacted USHJA about the weather and they were fantastic about educating me about the storm situation, but I still was not decisive as to travel due to my experience where I live.
Yesterday I had to make a final decision as the first leg of my air travel was scheduled to leave this morning at 5:15 am. My decision was made when I was watching the live stream and the officials called for a weather delay and sent the last twenty horses back to the barn due to thunderstorms. At this point, too many factors were working against flying across the country for an event that I did not necessarily need to attend in person.
Not Missing any of the Action
As I sit here writing this story, I am watching the live stream of the second round of the pre-green incentive and I know I made the correct choice for my situation. The weather is raining in KY and I would have been trying to fly into these storms. Instead, I am warm, rested and cozy while enjoying crystal clear audio and visual coverage via STREAMHORSETV.com. By watching through this site, I can also follow tweets pertaining to the event, check the order of goes and results, and even toggle over to Olympic Coverage as this free website has all of the links for the RIO show jumping coverage, unlike NBC.
Am I disappointed I am not attending? Yes, but only because I am missing my friends, colleagues, shopping, coverage for our Street to Stable community and "stalking" the warm up ring/back gate to further my understanding of the hunter ride. In the spectrum of truly learning and watching from each round in crystal clear detail, STREAMHORSETV.COM ensures that all of us spectators are provided with the best coverage and we are not missing a moment of the action!
Salut!