Basejumper.com - archive

Well, my maudlin post regaring Niks birthday sure has stirred up a bit of sediment from many directions. While it's good to hear some voices I haven't heard from in far too long, I've also had more than a few folks ask as to my whereabouts. At the risk of boring to tears the assembled audience, I shall forthwith offer a summer synopsis.

In May of this year, I moved to Canada. Packed up my car, loaded up the dogs, sold everything that wouldn't fit in the trunk, and off I went. The States have just become too shrill and taut and generally police-state-ish for my tastes, and I don't see that changing for a decade or so. I'd initially planned to go from here to Switzerland, but fate intervened.

Some horses I used to own live up here, so I started hanging out a bit with then after my arrival. One thing leads to another, and now I'm trainer in charge of three Holsteiner showjumping stallions, one Holsteiner gelding, one mare, and one quite nice little colt. . . plus a Percheron stallion. How I went from being a casual observer of my used-to-be-owned-by-me horses, to their full-time trainer is a long and somewhat drama-filled story. Suffice it to say that I grew up riding competitively, and apparently I've been unsuccessful in flushing the equine bug from my system.

My re-acquaintance with "my boys," as I generally refer to the lot of 'em, has been simply blissful beyond words. Folks who know me, know that my relationships with my dogs and "my" horses are the touchstone of my existence. So, this process of stepping back into an active training/managment role of the stallions has been wonderful. Admittedly, it has involved a great deal of sleep deprivation, countless hours of grueling work, lots of schooling in the heat of the summer, thousands of kilometers of driving them to and fro in horse trailers, many dollars out of my not-so-deep pockets and resulting cash crunches, and yes plenty of drama. Now, however, they are all safely settled into a gorgeous barn in the foothills of the BC mountains. It is, quite simply, a lifetime dream come true for me.

Additionally, my lead stallion (Capone) really set the world on fire in the showjumping ring after my summer of training and preparation with him. He ended the show circuit this year with a 9th place in the Keg $50,000 Grand Prix here in Vancouver, followed by a double-clear 4th place finish at the Masters tournament at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. The latter was in the 1.45 meter division - roughly five foot high fences, with some of the most competitive classes in North America. I wasn't able to ride him myself in most of his classes this summer due to an old ankle injury - yes it is from BASE, of course.

In large part due to his performance in these shows, Capone has been invited to join a national showjumping team at the Olympics in Athens 2004. I don't know if we'll go through with it - doing the Olympics means skipping lots of other events that offer huge prize money, but on the other hand it's the fucking Olympics. Time will tell. . .

I did only a bit of jumping due to time constraints, but I've had some beautiful exits this summer to boot. I've got scouted out over a dozen 1,000+ foot, virgin alpine faces in the North Cascades - on both sides of the border. Sometime, when I have time away from the horses, I'll actually open some of these new exits.

In sum, I'm buried in paperwork I didn't complete over the summer. My US driver's license expired and I have yet to get a Canadian one. I've put down some roots up here and expect to stay for a very long time, and I'm tired so now I am going to sleep.

Hope everyone else out there had good summers, too. I didn't make Lauterbrunnen this year. That sucks, but I'm looking forward to Petronas for sure - that is, if Slim will take me ;-)

Peace,

D-d0g

Hi Doug,
It's nice to hear from you and I am really glad to hear that you are settling in a new land, hopefully a more free-from-police-country.
Yes, it's true, also we, here in South Europe, are experiencing these new "gift-from-God-to-the-world-of-BASE" newbie BASE jumpers that once they have survived few tens of BASE jumps, they think they know it all and moreover they can do wahtever they want and jump any sort of objects, regardless of meteo and hours of the days, absolutely neglecting the call-the-local rule, so dear to the tradition of BASE jump, and, from a practical point of view, quite life-saving attitude.
Our small group is slowly increasing (yes, it was a dream to remain 5 or 6 active BASE jumpers in this part of the world) but, because FREEDOM is to choose both your friends and your BASE jumping mates (who immediately become your close friends), our group still remains a group of friends that enjoys jumping together in safety and enjoys to meet other foreign jumpers as well.
Yes, I know that time and money (more money, in my case... ) refrain us from travelling worldwide and meet you and other friends we have all over the world (possibly #726 has an idea of making it to the Petronas...), but please, Doug, consider that whenever you want you have a place to stay and sleep here at my place, and, moreover , now we have 7 objects not so far from my place that can be jumped any time of the day (=much preferably sunset time/night time ), 4 of which can be jumped with any wind direction, so that, if I am packed, a friend shows up in the middle of the night, possibly coming from a long journey, we can go and have a little flick in the night together
Take care my friend, I wish you all the best for your life, that does not include only BASE, and don't forget that you have got a good friend here in South Europe.
Hope to see you soon

D-dog, if you're ever in Ky., email me. We've got 3 show horses as well, paso fino breed. My wife has this fantasy of me making a daytime jump from an east coast object, jumping on horseback, and eluding the "officials" on a fast trail ride. Sound good?
Ciao
Remembering Nik

Hey Dog - wife o' Spiderbaby here. The husband just told me I had to come read your post - after being forced to give up riding 18 years ago, I will be getting back in the saddle tomorrow only a lovey T.bred mare. 16.2 hands and a big ole rump - just how I like 'em!

Anyway - Spiderbaby has been trying to understand what it means to me to ride again, to be at the stable, to shovel sh*t and generally return to the life of a horse person (which means I'll be spending less time as "BASE Hostes"). I think your post helped to get my point across that horse people are as fanatical about and displaced w/o their horses as BASE'ers are jumping.

If you can, come out to the Turkey Boogie and enjoy some good old fashioned bro time with a helluva bunch of folks. I'd love to say thank you for your post in person and talk some equine.

-SpiderbabySpouse

Hey Doug-
Good to hear your enjoying life up north! I should be good to get back into the swing of things in a month or so. i would love to join you with jumping some new walls. I have a few new ones myself. I wonder if we have had our eye on any of the same walls. Oh yeah, I heard you got to jump the big one down here!! It is about time!! That one didn't seem to like you !! Congrats! C-Ya soon
-TODD

I'll be at the turkey boogie for sure, so we'll have a chance to do some jumping there.

Open invitation to BASE folks: the proverbial red carpet is rolled out to come up and visit the boys here in Vancouver BC. If you know how to ride, you can hop in the saddle and do some flatwork with a couple of multimillion-dollar international showjumpers. If you know how to jump, we'll build fences until you say "uncle" or we hit 1.80 meters ;-)

Oh, and we might even find time to get some BASE jumps in as well!

Peace,

D-d0g