Our Recent Florida Horse Adventures.

It's a Wrap

I wrote about our (Jill and I) upcoming road trip to Florida with three horses a week ago. Traveling with us were Lusitano stallion Jade and two young mares, both of whom needed inspection by a Portuguese official before they could be bred.

To say it was a busy week is the understatement of the year.

We began with the 11.5-hour drive, which turns out - after road construction stops and gas station breaks, was closer to 14.5 hours. Due to a naughty mare that refused to load (could you blame her?), we did not pull out until 9:00 PM, so we arrived at 11:30 AM. The temperature had already climbed to 80 degrees, so we unloaded as quickly as possible. The horses were a little sweaty, very exhausted, and glad to bed down in their stalls. We put the two half-sisters together in a single stall - as they have always lived together.

Then we had to unpack a week’s worth of horse feed, show gear, exhibition gear, and all the other stuff that goes into showing horses. Check into the hotel and bring up all of our suitcases, books, show and exhibition clothes. The day was gone before we knew it.

The next day was spent watching Rafael Sotos do his magic in the arena, taking care of horses and writing.

Rafael Sotos won the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and was the head trainer of the Royal Equestrian School in Spain for decades. He is also a brilliant showman and clinician. Jill was lucky enough to ride with him on Wednesday and that night we sat with him for dinner at the Lusitano Gala. Of note, Rafael and his adult son, Rafael Jr. worked with Jade on his passage and piaffe in-hand. Afterward, Rafael Jr. told Jill that he wished his father would buy Jade - as Jade is truly an amazing horse. High compliments! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch that ride between radio broadcasts and writing.

Then the following day, Jill rode with Pedro Torres, who was many times previously the world champion working equitation rider and one of the most renowned horse trainers in the world.

His clinic was about getting the best performance possible out of one’s horse, and much of that has to do with elastizing the horse and learning to free up the thorax of the horse. We have known Pedro for many years and Jill has trained with him in Portugal. To have him ride Jade (photo below of Pedro getting Jade to stretch into his body) was a real honor. We had dinner with Pedro, his team and others that night.

The following day, Pedro used Jade to demonstrate to the audience more techniques. Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos or video of that. But it was something. Later that day, a trainer came up to me and said that her client was so impressed that she was willing to spend almost any amount of money to purchase Jade. Of course, we refused. Jade is beloved.

That night was the Gala event for the Iberian Horse owners, held at the Golden Ocala Country Club - wow, talk about lavish! Another wonderful evening and Jill, as co-founder and board member of the US Lusitano Association, gave a short speech.

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Below, Jill training with Pedro Torres.

The speakers for the Medical Freedom Conference happening the next day, had a private dinner on Friday night, organized by Dr. John Littell at the World Equestrian Center. Jill and I were in and out of that for just a short time as I had to ride in the Iberian Horse Spectacular.

After the Spectacular, we headed to the bar at the World Equestrian Center, where we hung out with friends. It was a cray night to be sure - and so good to catch up with Dr. Kat Lindley, Dr. Lynn Fynn, and many other old friends in the medical freedom movement.

The Medical Freedom Conference was the next day, and although Dr. John Littell had planned to make this the last one, there is a general outcry that we all expect it to happen again next year, as the event was so well received. At least 500 paid attendees! I gave a talk in the AM on PsyWar and the self-replicating vaccines.

That night, there was a VIP banquet for the Medical Freedom Conference and I also had to be in the spectacular, where I carried the Portuguese flag in the opening and then rode in the cast closing. It is hard to be in two places at once. Below is a short video taken from Jill’s cellphone of the cast riding at the show's end. Out of the entire week, this ride was the highlight for me and Jade - well, he was slightly big-eyed by it all but thoroughly enjoyed cantering around with the other horses!

We also wanted to ensure I was present for the medical summit banquet - but no time to change clothes! So, I made a brief appearance at the dinner in Bullfighter attire! Jill got up and explained why I was dressed in costume, and also the importance of the Lusitano (the horse of kings in Europe), military dressage, and the bullfighting tradition to European history.

I think the audience was greatly entertained by it all.

Below are photos from the Conference banquet. To the left, is Dr. John Littell and I, to the right is Jill and Lynn Fynn: this is what strong, healthy woman look like!

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The next day, Portuguese officials inspected our two mares and both passed! So, they can now be bred with the stamp of approval from the Portuguese Lusitano Association (APSL) and the Portuguese government.

Then it was packing it all up, loading the horses - which wasn’t too bad, although one mare was a bit troublesome. However, both mares went to Florida on the bit feral side and came back as changed animals. Particularly, Robin, she is an alpha mare and “aggressively friendly” - now she understands that humans are in charge, and she completely accepts that she doesn’t get to push us around. This makes her very happy - although now she is territorial about not wanting her best friend to get attention. She places herself between us and the other mare, to get the most attention. Horses and dogs have much more in common than one might think.

The ride home was a bit of a nightmare. South Carolina had a 15-mile back-up due to a major accident involving two semi trucks and multiple cars. We heard some banging and shudders from the trailer but couldn’t do anything about it, until it was safe. When that cleared out, we needed diesel - so pulled off to check on the horses at a truck Marathon station that was closed (diesel still is in short supply throughout the south), and then found a small station that we could fit into with our 30-foot trailer. Jill immediately checked on the horses and found that Rosalea was down. Although this was a sketchy area, we pulled out of the station to a quiet bit of pavement and began working to assess the situation. The mares are in the typical horse trailer stalls with about 3-foot by 8-foot each. Rosalea had fallen down and was “cast” - with her legs in between Robin’s legs. This is critical for both the horse’s safety and our own. If Robin, the mare standing - had freaked out - the situation could be life-threatening for all. At that point, we didn’t know if Rosalea had broken a leg or had injuries, she was stuck, and would slip whenever she would attempt to stand, and no amount of coaxing or mild harassment would get her up.

Jade - (an intact stallion) was up in the larger stall up front. The only way to get the mare out was to open up the stalls and hopefully out of side door of the trailer. First, we had to take out the other horses - in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night and only hope that 1) we could get her up, 2) the horses would behave and 3) if we got her up, that we could load the horses back in. At that point, it was pretty late, Jill and I are stressed, and the horses were stressed. It was a mess.

Robin - had to back-out of the back door. This is a mare that a week earlier, took a full hour and sedatives to load into the trailer. The trailer ramps are scary things to horses. They are dark, are slightly unsteady and make noise. But Robin handled backing out like a pro. We tied her to the side of the trailer. Again, another risk - we are in the parking lot of a gas station in the middle of the night.

Jade came down the ramp like a prpfessoinal. However, Robin was in heat - so Jill had to supervise the two horses. She ended up tying Jade also, and firmly told Jade “no” to his romantic intentions. He listened and put whatever toys he had out away into his pocket. My goodness, what a fantastic creature he is. Getting between two horses that are feeling amorous takes a certain amount of bravery. Something my wife has in spades. But as usual, Jade listens to her and behaved himself - this is a rare thing in a stallion.

Then for the Rosalea mare. I tried to get her up. Then I opened up the front stall door, we yelled and smacked her, she tried a couple of times - crawling forward about ten feet on her belly. At the loading ramp, she got her front feet in a crack, that gave her some traction, and up she came! Whew- what a relief! We got her down the ramp with a little patience- as we needed to assess her injuries. She was covered in sweat, shaking, and scared but did not have any injuries. Hooray! I walked her out while Jill continues to supervise the others. Robin is upset that her friend is leaving, so I made the walk short.

Jade gets right back in the trailer. Robin almost jumps in. Rosalea takes some coaxing - but gets in also.

Jill and I are convinced that the other horses knew that Rosalea was in trouble and did everything in their power to help us. Robin had to contort herself into a corner to not step on Rosalea during the travels while Roselea was down and then also waiting for Rosalea to get up. Then, Robin got off the trailer quietly - careful not to step on her friend. Stallion Jade could have been a problem, and although frightened of what was going on, he did everything he could to cooperate. Then he behaved himself around a mare in heat. Even Rosalea - as shocky as she was, got back on the trailer. They all knew to trust us.

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All of these events were held at the World Equestrian Center (WEC) which has become a premier venue- perhaps the greatest horse palace/show complex. There truly is no place like it in the world. The five-star hotel rivals anything we had stayed at throughout the world, the horse facilities are amazing - with many indoor and outdoor arenas. There is shopping, a new conference center, golfs courses, high-end homes - I could go on and on. Ocala has come a long way from its days as a backwards and overlooked Florida roadside stop.

What Jill and I particularly enjoyed at the WEC was the artwork.

The trend in hotels is to eliminate any landscape, natural or animal portraits. Abstract art is found in almost all the high-end hotels throughout the world now. The hotel colors are reds, oranges, greys, blacks and whites. The colors of nature are rarely used. Patterns and stripes have replaced landscapes in design elements. Furniture tends to be modern. Frankly, it is anything but romantic or historic. It is as if hotel designers have become anti-human. Which I believe is the trend in art these days. Jill remarks on it in almost every hotel we go to. She has actually starting taking photos of the truly expensive and ugly hotel lobbies that have crept up through out Europe and the major hotel chains.

The WEC is different. the sculptures are of animals, the paintings are of dogs, horses and landscapes. The artwork is often patriotic, truly American - without being obnoxious. Yet, the furnishings are as if one were in a palace in Italy. The lobby is a thing of beauty. Finally, the vast grounds and landscaping are exquisite. Around every corner is a surprise, such as the almost lifesize sculptures of King Arthur’s table. This is one example of the whimiscal art doting the inside and outside or the WEC.

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To sum up - today we are home. Safe and sound.

Not sure I have another long road trip like this in me though. Jill and I agree that our days of traveling with horses long distances to participate in horse shows is over. I think I am glad we did it this time, but it took weeks of planning and with just the two of us, way too much time and energy!

Next year is one to spend on the farm, writing, broadcasting and working on some new projects to be announced soon!

Hope you enjoyed this first person account of these adventures and misadventures.