Meeting Peter Leone & Kim Jaussi

First off I want to show you the Picture Collage Miranda made for me on her Ipad (someone is really bored). So nice.

I placed it on my sidebar, but here is a larger version. As for the Cowboy hat look: I used to show Pippi in Western Halter classes as they were the first classes of the day, she was new to showing and it helped calm her down and gave her some show experience before being thrust into the arena. I felt rather foolish. The Cowgirl gear felt like a costume, a borrowed one, and as a "weedgie" I just felt silly. Kind of how you would feel in a Bunad I'd wager.

Back to Equine Affaire:
After the clinic on Friday I wheeled Miranda around the building, and we spotted Peter Leone talking to a small group. Miranda introduced herself when they dispersed, and he was warm, kind and very gracious. She explained who she was, that she was unable to attend due to her injury, and he said she should be proud to be picked "because she was picked from a lot of great videos." (Miranda took this to mean she was picked from a pool of great applicants, while I decided it meant that Miranda's videos were great (Proud mamma syndrome)) He did not seem happy with the clinic he had just put on, the time constraint was hard to deal with, and hoped that Miranda could perhaps attend a full clinic at some point. I told him that he should not feel too bad about this clinic as I had taken four pages of notes! I also told him that Amy, from "A work in progress," had taken one of his clinics a while back, and that she raved about it stating she was still learning from it. Leone asked Miranda to stop by his booth later to take a look at his new book, as it covers a lot of what he goes over in a clinic setting. We promised to do so, and parted ways.

Later that afternoon we did stop by the booth, Leone was not present at that time, but after checking out the book Miranda bought one. The seller explained that they are not for sale anywhere else yet, (pre-order available from Amazon, where you can peek inside the book too) and that a limited amount of copies had been sent to Equine Affaire from the printer in Hong Kong. At that time they had four copies left. She told us that Leone would be signing books again in the morning and we decided to definitely come back for that.

The next morning we arrived early for the book sigining, and had the pleasure of meeting Kim Jaussi, the co-author of the book. She was kind and talkative, and wrote a beautiful inscription in Miranda's copy of the book. She took down Miranda's contact information stating they would be in touch if/when they have a clinic or an event anywhere near our neck of the woods.

I missed the meeting with Peter Leone, but Miranda told me he was all smiles when he spotted her, saying "there you are." They chatted, he signed her book and they took a picture. He also made sure that they had Miranda's information.

As for the book, from what I have seen of it (Miranda is hogging it) it is really good. The lay out and diagrams are amazing, and according to Miranda the first hand account of his journey to the Olympics is fascinating. She is reading through it with relish, and taking her time, which must mean it is a great book. We both hope to attend one of his clinics at some point, and we are willing to travel to do so.

Before leaving Equine Affaire Saturday Afternoon I stopped by the Eclipse Aluminum Trailers,(use link to sign up to win) and took a look at the Trailer I hope to have some day. I picked up the code for 50 more points and was able to enter the "Win A Trailer" contest five more times. Sure wish a Trailer could pull itself. I would buy one right now if that was the case, but still need time convincing hubby that he needs a bigger truck. Our little Tacoma just isn't big enough. Any ideas on how to get hubby on board ladies?