GOBIBLOG #4
Greetings
Mom returned last week from the USEA Annual Meeting in St Louis,
and I must say, she looked like twenty miles of bad road. What in God’s name do
these silly humans do to amuse themselves when they get together? You’d never
catch a dachshund staying up until all hours “having nightcaps.” (What does
“having nightcaps” mean anyway? An activity that involves
groups of people drinking lots of funny smelling stuff and talking louder than
other groups of people who are doing the same thing? Ugh! It sounds
awful! They don’t even eat cookies along
with their nightcaps! What’s the point?)
Before I write about the meeting, I have to report that I’ve
temporarily turned over a new leaf, probably in keeping with the Christmas
season. You’ll recall from my last posting that Mean Dan tried very hard to
make me like him and offered me cookies which I uncharacteristically refused.
Talk about driving a stake through a guy’s heart! Well, he came over to Mom’s
house on Tuesday after the meeting in St. Louis, and I decided to give him the
greatest Christmas gift of all – my affection. I greeted him joyfully – or with
as much joy as I can ever muster– at the back door, wagged my tail madly and
ate the cookies he’d brought along to bribe me with. He was very pleased.
(Actually, it was kind of pathetic!) Mom said that he had asked her a couple of
times while they were in St Louis (probably having nightcaps) to give me a good
review on his behavior so I’d praise in my Blog.
Well, Mean Dan, you did O.K., but you’re not entirely out of the woods. Keep
the cookies coming! There’s a long cold winter ahead!
Mom is still a bit incoherent, probably from having all those
nightcaps, but in essence, here’s what she reported about the weekend. The
general theme of many of the meetings seemed to revolve around rider and horse
safety and what to do about dangerous riding. This is apparently a great
concern held by anyone involved in the sport no matter in what capacity. The
people I have met (and who incidentally I rank in importance commensurate with
the number of cookies given me) come from a lot of different backgrounds. I’ve
even entertained a couple of Olympic riders which is a pretty big feather in my
little dachshund cap (not to be confused with a night-cap of course). Whenever
a group of people involved with the sport of eventing
get together, I’ve noticed that when they aren’t gossiping or having nightcaps,
seem to talk about safety at one time or other, and I guess that’s a good
thing.
At the meeting, Mom also learned that Captain Phillips will be
coming here next year to look at the Maui Jim and AEC cross country courses.
This is a real news scoop for me. I’ve met him, but at the time, my importance
was overshadowed by (dead) Hampton who stole the spotlight by biting him a
couple of times. Now that Hampton has gone, however, it will rest solely upon
my capable shoulders to carry on the tradition. Captain Phillips has already
been warned about me and is trying to put on a brave face for which I commend
him. I can’t wait! I hope he gives me cookies before I bite him (because I’m
sure he wont feel like doing so afterwards!)
I was very pleased to learn that my great friend Jon (who gave
me pizza when he was here) won a prize at the meeting. It was something called
the Posthole Digger Award and it’s given to honor great course builders (NOT
coarse builders as I learned last month). I guess he must be pretty good at
what he does. I just hope he doesn’t get too grand to notice a small, very
hungry dachshund named Gobi! I expect to see a lot of him next year because
he’s one of the cross country designers for the AEC’s.
I’ve been around a whole lot of eventing
conversations, and I finally am starting to understand what these people do
(beside have nightcaps). Let’s see if I’ve got it right.
ORGANIZER. That’s what Mom is. This means that she
makes the decisions about the competitions she runs and goes out and raises
money so that jumps can be built and people like (Not So) Mean Dan and Nice Jon
can get paid. She bitches a lot that about not having enough money, and
sometimes she whines to us about how hard her job is. At those times, we do
really cute things to get her to stop complaining and pay attention to us
instead.
TECHNICAL DELEGATE. Of all the ones I’ve met, I like Malcolm
the very best because when I had my first back surgery, he sent me a beautiful
plant (which sadly enough, Mom eventually killed). He gives me cookies and
scratches my ears when no one is looking so he definitely rates a 10 in my
book.
GROUND JURY AND JUDGES. I’ve met quite a
few of these people, but they all kind of blend into one person. When they
arrive at an event, they run the show. Even Mom stops bossing people around
when they are here, and in fact, her only job ends up refilling the toilet paper
holders in the porta potties on the cross country
course. What an icky job! The only one who stands out in this category is Ana
who lives in Texas because she is my Grandmom and is
responsible for my being here. I was born in Oklahoma, and when I was a little
puppy, she sent me by way of Tennessee to live here, and I’ve been very happy.
I do however make a huge fuss over Ana, and it really pays off in good cookie
providing! (I mention all this only so you’ll realize how well traveled I am!)
Enough of all this. The holidays are coming, and
already, packages have been arriving here, many of which smell strongly of
cookies. I’ll write again when there’s news. Have a wonderful Christmas and New
Years, and remember your Blogster when you’re doling
out treats!
Lots of love,
Gobi
.