Since my degree is in geography, I should be able to figure out a map, right?  We got to the hotel last night via taxi and now have a rental car to go and pick up various things today. Last night I thought I’d look at a map and figure out where some things were. (I would have used the internet, but it’s one of those outrageously overpriced things that I finally gave into this morning, due to the story that’s going to transpire below).

So I pull out the phone book, flip to the map section and stare.  There are no names on the streets, well, in my mind, numbers don’t count as names…..everything is numbered, such as E 71st St S, N 31st Ave E. Then there is this note:

The following applies to most, but not all roads in the Tulsa Area.
Main Street and the Arkansas River (South of Woodward Boulevard) is the East/West dividing line for most streets running East to West.
Examples: “E 1st St” is located East of Main Street. “W 1st St” is located West of Main St.

Numbered Avenues, Courts, and Places that run North to South are also sometimes suffixed by a E or W designation.
Examples: “N 28th E Ave” is located north of Admiral Blvd and east of Main St. “S 25th E Ave” is located south of Admiral Blvd and East of Main St. “N 25th W Ave” is located north of Admiral Blvd and west of Main Street. “S 25th W Ave” is located south of Admiral Blvd and west of Main St.

HUH????? And when you look at a map, the streets aren’t continuously running. For example, 12th St will be on the map, dead end, then a few blocks later pick up again….and then repeat the same stop/start a few blocks later, so you really can’t follow directions staying on 12th St, because you have to know when it stops, what roads to take to get to the next block where it starts up again.

This morning I added the internet package and now have happily found some directions via google maps.  I’ll take a taxi to get back to the airport….but that’s another story too….The taxi drivers speak very limited English and were fighting over passengers last night when we arrived at the airport. The parking security guard told them to break it off, or she’d call backup.

About a month ago, right after the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals, I dropped off WF Angelina at Willow Hill Equestrian, Sarah & Tommy Doyle’s place, for dressage training. Sarah has 2 of Angel’s half-siblings in training currently, so Angel should fit right in. I’ve been thrilled with the progress that Angel has made while she’s been there, and this past weekend Angel made her under saddle debut at a show.

But first, we entered a sport horse in hand class. Tommy did an impressive job handling her and ended up with a score of 77. This resulted in Reserve Champion Half-Arabian Mare Sport Horse in Hand honors….reserve only to Sarah’s other horse, WF Goin Dutchm who scored a 79. Tommy also showed another 3 year old Dutch cross to a score of 77 and this gelding, WF Incognito, ended up as Champion Half-Arabian Gelding Sport Horse In Hand. WF Goin Dutch finished up with the highest score for the entire sport horse division, and WF Incognito and WF Angelina were tied for the reserve spot overall.

 The following day, Sarah and Angel made their under saddle debut in Intro dressage. I figured it would be a good start to do a simple dressage test. They did great and finished up with a 67.5 and 2nd place out of 9. Their second ride later that day scored a 66.5 and also a 2nd out of 9 entries.

 Needless to say, the debut was quite a success. The bad part is that the bar is set pretty high now, so hopefully we can keep it up next year!  Pictures and video to come!

I’ve uploaded a quick clip of Angel’s 1st week under saddle on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3kqNCQOqLs

Angel spent October and November at Bill Heizer’s training facility in Staunton, VA. She was worked regularly in long lines and made excellent progress in her 2 months there. I’m anxiously awaiting for warmer spring weather so I can start working her some more myself.

Angel is progressing nicely in her training.  It’s hard to believe that she’s just a few months past 2 years old, as she’s so smart and sensible. 

Today’s lesson consisted of getting her accustomed to a surcingle, which quickly progressed to a saddle and girth tightening.  Since that went fine, we took her to the ring and I stood on a mounting block and leaned over the saddle to feed her treats.  Then I trotted her in hand some to get used to the saddle on her. She was fine with all of this.

This picture is from her first day at Sudandi Arabians. You can view more pictures of Angel here:
http://karamorris.smugmug.com/gallery/1406455