It's a lot of fun to be in the spotlight. Getting there, on the other hand, can be a bit more tedious. Luckily, the WEG-bound HOW members were used to practicing and working to get where they wanted to go.
In the spring of 2010, practice began for the riders. During the end of our Sound of Music skit, the riders would come together and perform a small drill team, or ride a pattern together. Drills look really swell when they're done well, and that was our goal.
Now, keep in mind that the riders (Stefanie, Katie, Elisa, Ashley, Stevie, and I) have ridden together practically since the first HOW drill team years ago. This proved to be extremely helpful, because not only did we have a faint clue of what was going on, we could holler at each other for our mistakes and still be friends the next day.
Over the years, we've learned a thing or two about how to get a drill done. And the process begins with everyone running around on foot in someone's yard, generally with neighbors looking warily on, half-tempted to call the police on these deranged people walking unitedly in circles on the grass. While we might look strange, walking the drill without horses limits the amount of chaos during our first mounted practice. After all, Stevie probably won't kick me if I run into her, but the same can't be said for her horse.
We practiced dutifully once every two weeks for months, running through the drill three or four times each practice. Every session would inevitably begin with an absolutely terrible run-through, no straight lines, 10 meter circles, or regulated trot speeds in sight. Now, you'd think that we wouldn't have to go through this horrible first drill at every practice, but like clockwork, it happened at every single practice. Even (or maybe especially) at our last one. I'm beginning to think it's some unwritten rule of mounted drill teams: the first practice, regardless of circumstance, will be dismal. But just when our creative genius, Brenda, was hanging her head in her hands and ready to cancel our entire show, we would pull it together and look quite nice.
One thing to know about our journey to WEG is that, for the most part, your ticket to ride on the HOW train was nonrefundable. Essentially, we had to pick out the horses we were taking by January 1, 2010, because that was when we needed to start documenting their health and obtaining special vaccinations required by WEG. There would be no last-minute substitutes, so thankfully, a few members ensured that some "spare" horses were kept up to WEG standard, as well. The same goes for people, but in a different way; we were allowed only a certain number of credentials, or passes to be by the horses and performing. The credentialed people had to turn in a bunch of personal information so that Homeland Security could do background checks, and once we turned in our final guest list, that was it. So the horses and people chosen were final.
As any horse person knows, nothing is final in the horse world. Horses get sick and injured all the time, even with excellent care. That's why we made sure we had the spare horses, and it's a good thing we did. That summer, one of our most trusted equines, Bill (belonging to Ashley and her family), developed insulin resistance and foundered. When it became clear that Bill would still be recovering by the time WEG rolled around, we had to switch some things around, and the only logical and safe option was to put Brenda's niece, Hali, and Brenda's "spare" mare, Cameo, in the drill. Ashley would thus be an alternate and accepted this heartbreaking news with grace and class. It could have happened to any of us; it's just the way of the horse. Another personal problem caused another WEG performer to step down, so another spare was called in.
So when the September of WEG arrived, we were running desperately low on spare horses, but had managed to retain the quality of our drill with the new member. Our lone group practice came and went with a large amount of disorder, but we pulled it off anyways, and by our final group run-through, it looked WEG-ready, more or less. Costumes were distributed, travel plans were made, and suddenly, WEG was upon us.
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