Let the games begin!

Yesterday marked the first day of practice for the Florida Grapefruit League. Funny how it coincided with the need to harvest last years fruit off of the tree. Here are some highlights.

These kids spent a good part of the evening removing grapefruit pulp from their hair.

Feelin like summer...

This is a portion of the latest news on Ralph's care page:

"Ralph's condition continues to improve. He has been moved to his family's home for the interim of the 8 weeks until he begins his long term therapy. His family is continuing to work with him on regaining his mental clarity and right now this can best be achieved in a home setting."

It was determined that his head injury was worse than originally thought but that the injury was something he could recover from. It will be a long process but somehow I feel if he is on the farm in Kentucky with his family, horses and dogs he is going to feel better.

Ashley remains true to the idea that he will return in due time and she sends him letters regularly to keep him up to date with things.

Hello. My name is KT. I am 6 weeks old and looking for new lodgings. It is a little crowded here at Lucky Trail and while I love my roomates I would prefer to be more the focus instead of one of the crowd. I like climbing, pouncing and sleeping. Trust me I am really cute.

The fateful jog...

Ashley recently went to Pony Club Eventing Rally. She was scrambled on to a team of girls from Tallahassee and south Georgia. She had a really nice dressage test and clear stadium round but her hopes for Pony Club Championships in Kentucky were dashed when Retto was pulled out of the vet jog with a sore leg. He has been seen by our vet and it appears that it is a minor injury and will be back in action soon. The pair has still qualified for Area III championships in Georgia so that may be in the future.

Andrew is flying through Kathryn Lasky's book series titled The Guardians of Ga Hoole. The main characters are owls so it seems fitting that he chooses to read in the tree.

OK not sure what is going on with Miss Squinty Clutch here but "don't we look proud of our handsome boy?"
( I'm actually standing in a hole in case you are wondering.)

Lucky Trail Stable News:

Hats off to Jessica and Tara for passing their D1 rating! They passed with flying colors and then presented their trainer with a bouquet of flowers.

A Boy and his Dog
Andrew has discovered the value of having a retriever around when you are practicing your serves.

The latest on Ashley's trainer Ralph is that he is continuing to improve. Tomorrow he is being transported to the Drake Center in Ohio. It is supposed to be a state of the art rehabilitation center renowned for its work with multiple injury trauma patients.

The Kids: Easter 2007

Funspot
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Thanks!

I wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive about Ralph. So many of you have been there when Ashley and I needed to talk. We are lucky to have such caring people in our lives. The last update on Ralph's care page said:

Today was a good day in Ralph's recovery process. Ralph is now off of all the pain medications and showed much progress today. It is still a slow process but today was the first day of significant change in his activity and response level.

This was posted on April 3rd so we are optimistic that he is continuing on that path. I have decided to post Ashley's photos from the show. She works so hard that I feel I need to share these. Thanks again to all of you!

Our study of Japan prompted Andrew to design his own Zen Garden.