Short Visit Home

In October I flew to Washington to visit my parents and the pets we left behind. Mom had her surgery and came through beautifully! Alas, my time was short and month flew by and I was on my way back to Spain.

Royal Spanish Riding School

Royal Spanish Riding School

The Spanish Royal riding school is located in the town of Jerez (Her' Eth). It competes with the Riding school of Vienna. Durring the weekdays, visitors can watch the horses while they are schooling (for a nomial fee of course) and tour the school grounds as well. I went and completely enjoyed myself touring the stables, tack rooms, and show facilities.

At any one time, there are 400 Andlusian stallions in training at this school. I got some wonderful pictures, however, no pictures were allowed durring the schooling session. :(

Ole!

For Ray's birthday we ate on the Cliffs of Ronda. The resturant sits on a sheer 300 foot cliff. Very nice!

Then went to a traditional Spanish Bullfight....not really something I would like to go to again...but it was a cultural experience!

In Spain

Hola from Spain!

We arrived July 11th and are starting to settle into our new house. We live off base in a cute house and have our own private yard and pool. Ray had to get busy at work right away, but I was able to start doing some travel recon. The pics are from my trip to Cordoba. I found a great place to eat paella and a very nice Arab tea house that was in good supply of apple tobacco! I can't wait to take Ray there for some traditional Moroccan mint tea. Because of the terrorism situation, American military aren't allowed to travel to Morocco which is just a few hours south of us. I traveled there the last time I was here and it was scary then!

HALO & DIVA doing Agility

I had a blast training my weimaraners in obedience and aglity! I would recommend anyone with a dog, no matter the size or breed, to do this! Your dog will love you for it and you'll have so much fun!

Susan & Teddy - Team Penning

If you ever get the chance to team
pen...WOW...it's a blast!

Our Filly!

Born at Cinco Acres Ranch (My parents Ranch)

Cinders was pulled from the womb by Ray March 7, 2004. Seen here with Jim, she was such a honey-pie!

She grew into this darling 2 year old! Right now, she is away at college...getting her saddle training in Canada.

ABRA World Championship

In 2003, we finally struck gold with our first world championship. The class was showmanship (the one I hate the most)...but oh well...it was a LAND SLIDE WIN! 1st under 3 of 5 judges -0h yeah...all you other 20 lossers I beat can go home and cry!

But, honestly, I'm very humble. It took years and years and YEARS....not to meantion...many $$$ to finally get our just-deserts! Thanks to Mellissa Buckley, our wonderful trainer and Rick Pyke, our other wonderful trainer...and a BIG WOOPPING thanks to Mom and Dad - who wanted it just as bad as I did! Oh yeah...Thank you Jaz for not fucking up for once - you handsome devil!

PF Chang Marathon - Scottsdale AZ

Ray ran in the PF Chang "rock & roll" marathon!

He ran the whole 26.2 miles and finished in 5 hours!

This was his first marathon, but it won't be his last.

Wedding Day

February 1st, 2003

First Blog Post!

Susan and Ray are now in the world of blogging!