Vini Vidi Vici

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2107599330216.131463.1252551837&l=a9bc5dd632

Visit my FB photo album from 36 whirlwind, winning hours in San Diego.

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."

It's my favorite quote by another writer, Hunter S. Thompson. I don't know how many, if any, of my fellow equestrian journalistas count the king of gonzo journalism and unabashed author of the 1970 classic The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved as among their literary inspirations, but when it was time to decide about going to San Diego, I decided that I would embrace my inner Raoul Duke, buy the ticket, and take the ride.

I haven't seen the West Coast since I was a kid. Now I'm coming up to one of those hallmark birth dates that serves as a reminder that sooner or later, we all have more days behind us than we probably do ahead. So it's about time to go back, and this time, among peers and friends who share that same commitment to an animal and industry that compels us to choose this career.

Not that I'm forgetting to bring along my inner child. I've collected horse models for almost 50 years. I still have about 350 of the original herd. So of course I asked to join in on the paint-a-model contest. I'm making time this weekend to start painting my Reeves/Breyer horse. I've got a beach theme all picked out. Oh yes I do. But you'll have to wait to see what it is. And I'll find out if I still have a tenth of the eq artist in me now that I did back when I drew mustangs and Arabian heads at the top of my elementary school homework notebook paper...

Guess we'll find out together. If you've bought the ticket, let's start the ride.