Babe of Ballisodare

One of my friends, Michelle Donlick of Avalo Farm in Wagener, SC, has allowed me to ride her horse Babe of Ballisodare often since 2003.   Last year, he had an injury and is just now coming back into work.  Before his injury, he was Michelle's prelim eventer and a level 4/5 Parelli horse.  I was supposed to ride him at WindReach in Canada last year, but he was injured 2 weeks before we left.   The other day, I drove up to Wagener and we took him to an arena down the road from Avalo Farm.  This is that ride.  I did not ask him for more than he wanted to give and basically just allowed him to pick how much effort he was willing to offer.  This was a first-time-back, go-at-your-own-pace test.  He did beautifully, I think, for the first time in a year.  This test was turned in to our international para judges and was scored a 62.86.  Not too shabby for a first time back test.  Thank you to everyone for hauling, grooming, loaning arenas, encouraging and helping me that weekend!

Errr scratch that.  I've tried for 3 days to get it to upload and it will not.  Dang it all, lol.


Because that video does not load, here is another of me riding Babe for Walter Zettl 3 years ago.  This is part of our warmup, the video is grainy and jerky.  But you can see how nice of a mover BabeMan is here:

Michelle has lots of horses for sale so check her out!

Silent Auction

Shhhhh...Silent Auction

Recently, Amy Young put on a silent auction (in conjunction with putting on the Middleton Place Hunt Trail ride and BBQ to celebrate their grand opening) to help raise funds for my Olympic bid.  Thank you so much to Amy and to all the businesses below for donation items.  I'm humbled by all the community support!

 Thank you to each of the businesses below for the following donations!:

Medicine Wind- Shirt

Black Bottom- gift certificate for Danskos

Linwood Bed and Breakfast- 2 nights and 3 days

Broxton Bridge- hog hunt, clay shooting, camping 2 night rv stay

Amelia Main- equine massage

Holiday Inn Summerville- wine basket

Dr Shambley's office- fall shots and barn call

Brad Hager - house painting

Michelle Donlick- 1 month of training

Trish Russo- lesson package (1month)

Rachel Donnelson- photo shoot

Palmetto Primary Care Physicians- Tiffany Mckeel, FNP- 150 gift cert for the MEDISPA
Jan Taylor - photography session w Capturing Occasions Photos (www.capturingoccasions.smugmug.com)
Agency Owed Realty - Nancy Heide, Property Manger - weekend at IOP condo
Dave and Jennie Irvin - 2 weeks at IOP condo
Owners of CASA condos, Jennifer O'Shields - 4 days/3 nights weekend IOP condo

If anyone wishes to make a monetary tax deductible donation for this quest, please click HERE, click the donate button, and specify under "special instructions" that the donation be made to 'Kim Jones'.

Thank you all for your support :)

Post and Courier Write Up at the Rardin Farm in Mount Pleasant, SC

Photo by Grace Beahm of the Charleston Post and Courier

Jeff Hartzell did THIS write up in the Post and Courier on Tuesday, 6/21/11 (Equestrian Jones Makes an Olympian Comeback).  Thank you, Jeff Hartzell!  The pictures are of a 23 year old horse I have been riding for about two years.  His name is Classic Star.  His owner is Beverly Rardin of Mount Pleasant, SC.

She contacted me a couple of years ago and asked if I'd like to start working with Star on dressage.  She knew he was getting up in years (although we did not know his exact age until we just found and updated his passport) and thought it might be better for him if he lowered him jump height and started doing more groundwork.  We do not know how much dressage training he has had, but he has obviously had some - albeit he hasn't done it for many years.  He's been doing hunter/jumpers for youth and young adults since around 2000.  He was getting better muscle tone for his 1/2 passes at the trot for me in an FEI frame and could do 3-4 steps of a 1/2 pass in an FEI frame before he would get tight and stiff and needed to be allowed to straighten or stretch.  He loved tempi changes and would do 2 tempi changes in a hunter/jumper frame when he was happy in his work.  I was hoping to be able to ride those tempi changes in an FEI dressage frame one day!  Oh! And when we received his passport, we discovered that the Starmeister was a Grand Prix jumper in his younger years!  Go Star man! 

On a side note, Bev has bent over backwards to help me ride Star, to make it to WEG with another horse who was not even her own (Ollie), she has boarded Star at her own farm (Rardin Farm), paid for his vet bills and farrier bills - done anything and everything to help me reach my goals.  I can't say enough good things about her.

However, two weeks ago, Star decided it might be fun to kick the snot out of his stall wall and break the splint bone in his left hind.  Because of a previous, chronic injury to his left front, the decision was made to retire him at the young age of 23 years.  I am sure Beverly will see how he does, and it may be possible for me to ride him again, but for now, we all are looking into getting his leg healed and finding a retirement "job" that he will enjoy.   While he heals, the hunt is on to find another horse for me to partner with.

A very huge thank you to Nicole for helping me saddle and mount all those many times & to Beverly and Jamie Rardin  for allowing me to ride this special horse and bring his dressage prowess back to the forefront in his old age over several years.  It was an honor and a priviledge.

Thank you to Michelle Donlick/Avalo Farm and Dori Derr; Aiken, SC

A big huge thank you to Michelle Donlick, Dachia, and the whole Avalo Farm team for measuring arena sizes, filming, hauling me to a regulation arena, filming, saddling, unsaddling, hosing horses, helping me mount, etc, etc, etc.  You guys rock.

Another huge thank you to Dori Derr for allowing us to come and use your arena at a last moment's notice.

Thank you all.  I'd never be able to continue without the generosity and support of such wonderful friends!

LowCountry Live Segment

I'd like to thank Tessa Spenser, of ABC's Channel 4 Lowcountry Live for including me in her segment on
Friday 6.23.11!  Thank you for allowing me to get the word out about my quest for the 2012 Olympic Games.
I have searched the site high and low for a link to show the segment, but alas, it is not there.  However, I am thankful for any opportunity to share my dreams.  Thank you!

Bubble Wrap Needed

Ok.  I've been told lately I need bubble wrap.  It might be true.  The above pic is one of MANY bruises I obtained while attempting to be a poptart (to be explained later in this post.)  Don't try this at home.

The past two months have been the most difficult physically since my horse accident in 2001 that put me in a wheelchair.  It started with strep throat.  This led to a sinus infection.  Not long after that, at a clinic with Jean Luc Cornille in Pennsylvania and while training with my coaches Missy and Jessica Ransehousen, I started having excruciating pain in my abdomen and fevers of 102-103.  I figured it was all related to the sinus infections, was pretty sure it wasn't strep again and kept going.  When I got home, my temp was still 102 - 103 and it WAS strep.  Despite antibiotics for strep, fevers continued, so I was referred to an infectious disease doctor.  My spleen was enlarged, my liver was enlarged, my platelets were 30 (very low), my liver enzymes were elevated, I had a virus that was diagnosed with lab work, as well as mono.  I have even less energy than usual, which is pretty low.

ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD that's not all.  Fast forward a couple of weeks - still tired at the slightest activity, but pushing forward with riding and training.  My wheelchair decided that the above stuff was not enough.  It has a mind of it's own sometimes.  Sooooooooo, I am attempting to go over a ledge of a horse's stall.  My wheels get stuck and then decide to rotate backwards instead of forward.  I fell backwards and got a pretty little goose egg and  a nice little concussion to go with all the above.

Next, one of the horses I've been riding decided it would be cool to kick his stall (a lovely habit of his when he gets frustrated) and break his splint bone in 3 places (we THINK this is what might have caused it).  I had just tracked down his passport, after it being lost for 11 years, had it reinstated for possibly competing him, and discovered that I've been riding a ex-Grand Prix jumper for the last two years.  He is now on stall rest and is being retired from competition.  I will do a whole post dedicated to him soon.

If that is not enough, let me tell you how I've now been dubbed "Poptart".   I'm at another barn, different than the above 2 barns, lol.  I am watching the leadrope of attached horse pretty well, I think.  But no, I get distracted by all the other beautiful horses and look away for an instant.  Somehow, in that brief moment of inattention, the lead rope gets wrapped around my wheelchair somewhere, said horse raises his head suddenly and forcefully -----------> my wheelchair and myself go flying upwards.  Somehow, in the air, I become airborne while my wheelchair falls to the ground.  The people who witnessed it said I looked like a poptart coming out of the toaster - complete with a ping noise.  Thus, the nickname, Poptart.

The above pic is one of many bruises, bone bruises, and one possible very small fx in my elbow.

I think I need to invest in bubble wrap. :(