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The Spanish Evolution Tour II
After a very successful Inscription and Revision tour of California and due to an overwhelming request for service in other parts of the country, LG-ANCCE arrived back in the US On April 9th 2008, USPRE’s sponsored Inscription and Revision Tour II including, Florida, Texas and the state of Washington commenced Beginning in Lake City, Florida at the sprawling Royal Horse Farm facilities A USPRE Breeder record was set for the highest number of foals inscribed by a single Breeder Today, with 160 horses, the Royal Horse Farm, managed by Jennifer Stewart and her family stands, by far, as the largest PRE breeding farm in Florida The LG-ANCCE team, headed by Dr Ana Grangera Slikker DVM spent some time, in the first day, conducting a LG Veterinary inscription orientation session, approving two veterinarians to conduct inscriptions Dr Cristina Anzures DVM and Dr Juan Manuel Lopez Zertuche DVM The benefits of this exercise quickly yielded positive results as Drs Anzures and Lopez headed south to service inscriptions in other counties starting in Dade City for Daniel and Susan Long After a second long day of work in Ocala servicing passionate PRE breeders, the LG-ANCCE team, Dr Slikker DVM assisted by Maria Morgado, flew to Houston to continue the tour across the Lone Star state “Everything is bigger in Texas” and distance between sites not the least of that statement Driving across the expansive state of Texas servicing breeders at ten 10 sites proved to be challenging yet gratifying Distances were demanding, and adding to the picture was the daunting, big city, rush hour traffic The traffic caused the team to deliberately make all overnight stops in small Texas counties Once at the designated sites, the hardships of road travel quickly dissipated as all Site Coordinators and friends greeted the team with big Texan hospitality No sooner had the plane touched down in Houston and baggage not yet collected that Paul Vasquez called to say that he and Reynaldo Guajardo were waiting in the airport car rental facilities What was originally meant to be a leisurely travel day turned into an unscheduled but pleasant site visit to process approximately twenty horses, an abundance of pollo, an hysterical rush to locate a locksmith Yes, the keys got locked in the rental car! and a late night drive to reach San Antonio, Texas The second leg of the Inscription & Revision drive had begun! Jennifer Stewart volunteered to accompany our LG-ANCCE team and to help Breeders at the various sites who were unsure of how to fill out the paperwork Issues like horses with Cartas that were not Carta’s cropped up A legitimate Spanish Ministry “Carta” is required to revise your horse, papers/Cartas from other registry’s can not be used to revise your horse with the official Spanish Stud Book Breeder codes not issued by the regulatory authority in Spain cannot be used for services with the LG ANCCE Little did we know how Jennifer was going to make paperwork administration and logistics so much easier as her devoted Mom, Katie, acted as the team’s remote personal Concierge - every step of the way… Mom, we need to change hotel reservations Mom, where’s the closest restaurant Mom, where’s the closest UPS Flippant moments in the car… Mom, what’s the origin of “there’s more than one way to skin a cat Who skins cats anyway…” Seconds later, Katie had all the answers Some efforts can not be measured, Katie, the measuring stick is not adequate! Ah, another issue, if you are measuring your horse to adhere to studbook requirements, use a proper measuring device While only one horse was declined, solely, for height requirements, a number were marginal These requirements are published and it will save you time and money to confirm that your horse will meet the minimum requirements The next few days two hundred and fifty horses later saw us meeting wonderful families like the Marroquin’s, Henslee’s, and Denham’s…many new faces… Sitting down to a few delicious home cooked meals hosted by new friends The Probson’s Krista makes awesome deserts, and Dieter, we now know you really moved from Germany to master and faux finish the Texas barbeque… the steaks were perfection! Danken Sie ! One can’t also forget the Terri Meador culinary spread on our last day in Texas Lunch was served for 30 people We will carry with us the memory of Eddie Rodriguez’s face when after revising his horse he walked into Terri’s house, went to the computer, paid his Revision service fee then walked away with his stamped Carta… we were on a roll! During this leg of our tour another veterinarian was approved for inscriptions, Dr Paul Morris, DVM of Pilot Point We thank him for spending the afternoon with the team and going through orientation at Terri Meador’s On April 19th, microchips in hand, we boarded our Delta puddle jumper in Dallas and headed for frosty Pasco, Washington We now understand why Washington asked to postpone Inscription/Revision during our previous trip ! From the moment of arrival until our departure 36 hours later, Ami McHugh had everything organized We were greeted at the airport by the welcoming Kim LeFebre and went directly to Jackass Mountain to start processing the horses of Breeders that needed to head home that night Ami had a Doma Vaquera clinic that weekend and breeders that attended the clinic stayed for “Carta’s” We saw an amazing array of horses and Breeders from as far as Idaho, Nevada and Oregon To manage the higher than expected number of horses 72, Miguel Nunez gave the LG team an added boost by dispatching Dr Elias Jimenez from Los Angeles Many miles, mountains and rural directions found Dr Elias a little lost searching for Jackass Mountain “Where is the mountain” Amy laughed, “You are standing on it, all 920 feet of elevation!” The day coasted by enjoyably with some memorable moments, seeing beautiful Spanish foals running free in the arena, the amazing jet fueled heater in the barn, the endless cherry blossoms, Jackass Mountain Ranch is surrounded by 1000 acres of cherry trees The pleasant demeanor of every Breeder, noble horses, Amber McHugh’s homemade bread and roast topped with a bottle of Washingtonian wine Thank you Ami, we will be back! Ami McHugh wrote:
We were honored to have the LG team come to our facility They got off the plane late Sunday afternoon and headed straight to the ranch to facilitate the needs of some owners that needed to travel a long distance to be back to work on Monday morning They started in good time on Monday morning, although Elias found himself lost in the wide open spaces of Eastern Washington and arrived just a bit late It was a very well organized team that wasted no time in processing a lot of horses, a long day We all truly enjoyed getting to know this group, hoping to be able to see them again on their own turf!
The USPRE sponsored LG-ANCCE Inscription and Revision Tours I & II have set another milestone for its volunteers, over 1600 services processed to date and nearly 100 new Breeder Codigos issued ! Our PRE community, committed to our time honored Spanish horse, is growing!
Next stop… Fiesta Midwest!
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