2002 Spring Euro Tour

Gladstone, New Jersey - Home of the USET

Tuesday, June 19 - Off to work, heading for Gladstone, New Jersey, home of the United States Equestrian Team, and location of the annual USET Festival of Champions where we were the official photography and video company of the Dressage Championships, June 20-23.

A field at the farm of our good friend's Cathy and Frank Morelli was our location for the next five days, just 5 minutes on a wooded back road to get to the Team headquarters. We are easy houseguests, as we bring our own house. Still, I need "land lines" wherever I go. We thank Cathy and Frank for their generous hospitality, warm friendship, and phone line, for without them we would not have been able to update the websites as conveniently as we did for the Festival coverage. There are visual treats from the pasture. A mother dear and her triplet spotted fawns were our companions, as they grazed peacefully near Cathy's dressage arena in the setting sunlight.

Cathy and Dianna Rosenberg's BeSe, a young Dutch gelding by Fleming, performed the test ride for the Prix St George, the first day of competition. Unable to ride in the Open Prix St George due to a Doctor's appointment, Cathy appreciated the opportunity to get her young horse in the arena. A breast cancer survivor for the past fours years, not even riding in the Festival of Champions can keep her from this visit, a routine check-up. With a clean bill of heath, Cathy and BeSe won the Open Intermediare I later that weekend, with her new Grandson, Colin looking on (sort of).

After the Festival was over, we left our truck and camper in the Cathy and Frank's field, boarded the dogs at the Harvest House Kennels in Long Valley, New Jersey, which was highly recommended to us by USET’s Maureen Pethick, and flew Monday, June 24, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for a two-week trip to Europe, to cover Aachen, and visit friends and clients.