Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Hoosier State...and their hospitality

I just returned from a trip to the Hoosier State.  Specifically, Edinburgh, Indiana at the Johnson County Horse Park (or the Hoosier Horse Park, site of the 19_ _ something and the facility was built for the  Pan Am Games.  In it's day it was a beauty and it is still "servicably sound" more or less, but dang it is dusty and dirty.  The maintenance crew does the best they can with what they have to work with, but (or maybe not) the last day was the kicker.  I had to ask that the manure bins located in the front (10 feet away) of the stalls be emptied, as it was overflowing.  In the process of emptying the large bin (the size of an enormous pasture water trough) the bobcat and it's operator drove over our hose.  Said hose was connected to the hydrant at the end of the barn and lying next to the chain link fence that separated the horse park from the road.  As Sarah was leaving the ring on Saturday after showing a horse she noticed this bobcat driving down the road with a strangely familiar looking green hose attached to it's underside and trailing lots of feet of hose behind.  The driver appeared to be oblivious to this phenomenon and went merrily on his way.  Sarah chased him down, other exhibitors were yelling and waving their arms to no avail.

A heated discussion led to "I will have you banned from showing on these grounds"! (I think not) and then the feud calmed down due to Sarah's negotiating skills kicking in, and shaking of hands occured.  The hose was wrapped four times around the axle, torn from it's coupling (thereby rendering the other hoses worthless with no way to shut off the flow) and so we were "Short Hosed" for the rest of the day.

The next day the young man appeared at the stalls, new green hose in hand and apologized for the incident etc.  He said that when he got home and told his wife of the incident, she yelled at him too!

A new green hose is better than no hose as the story goes....

Women everywhere unite!

1 comment:

Jo Ann said...

I've never had a good experience in Indiana -- pledged about 15 years ago to never go back and have stuck to it.

Glad you're safely home in beautiful Ohio.