An emotional moment
Being awarded the National Emergency Medal today for my work during Black Saturday is an extremely huge honour and an extremely emotional one. Obviously, I don’t do what I do for honours such as this but I appreciate and humbly accept Victoria’s kind thanks. I volunteer with my CFA family because I have a deep-seated desire to help people, especially in a time of need. I am very proud to be a part of CFA. I am very proud to serve my community and be part of my Brigades – Panton Hill and District 13 Headquarters Brigade.
To those of you who supported me during this terrible time and know the emotional impact it had on me (and still has on me to this day), I thank you. I thank you for your support, your hugs, your ears, your love and your kindness. Thank you for keeping me strong over those 7 long night shifts and subsequent weeks and months.
Some of you may or may not know that I was dealing with people who were trapped in their homes or cars while trying to flee the fires. Some of those people died while we were talking and it was a very tough time. The smallest things can still trigger nightmares four years on and the impact is still being felt out there in the communities. People are still struggling.
To those of you who didn’t make it during that terrible time, I hope more than anything that I was able to give you some comfort and love before you passed over. You are always in my thoughts and I will always remember.
To Daniel Nolan (The amazing Captain Pineapple!), Peter Langridge, Peter Baker, Frank Roach and Janina Carter, thank you. Thank you for being my support and my wonderful friends. You earned this as much as I did (although I don’t really feel I earned it) and thank you to CFA and the people of Victoria. I love you xoxo
BSP looking very chilled out
It’s been a very busy time since Friends of Werribee and I am still on cloud nine from completing my first Intro event. I haven’t been riding much and BSP has lost a fair bit of fitness as my two scholarships are coming to a close and I’ve had seven assessments to get in by November 30th. My brain is totally fried! I did have a super show jumping lesson after our amazing TTT SJ win and have entered the Valley Dressage competition this weekend. I am also about to set my next batch of goals for the rest of this year and for the start of 2014 when things will be a little more, well, normal. I am really missing my riding and competing! I have been doing quite a lot of dressage judging too which is always fun. I love seeing the smiles from riders at the end of their tests and some of them even come and thank me for the positive comments I give them along with something to work on. To often we get a test back and it’s just full of negative comments. It’s not hard to write a comment in a positive way and I would like to see more judges do this.
BPS looked quite happy to have the Equissage machine on his back
BSP was very spoilt this past weekend with Emma Spencer-Gardener coming from Geelong to show us the Equissage in action, as she’d mentioned about including us in her local rider sponsorship program. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical of the Equissage, as I have a deep tissue masseuse that works on BSP after events and he does a fantastic job. I had the impression the machine really just sat on the horse and made it feel nice.
Emma arrived and was greeted by a smoochy BSP and a big hug from me and she and I had a chat about BSP and where he mostly feels sore. Usually it’s in his right hind which can transfer to this left shoulder or his back. Emma had a quick feel of him and then set him up with the machine. BSP loved it. He was relaxed and didn’t move an inch as Emma gave him a full treatment and almost went to sleep. It was so lovely to see. I was surprised at how much you could feel the vibration through BSP’s body. Quite impressive. I was keen to look into getting one as I thought it would be beneficial, but, unfortunately, the Equissage is completely unaffordable for me (even a second hand one!). It was very kind of Emma to come and visit us and I was so happy to finally meet her.
Is there an Equissage machine out there for me?
If anyone has an Equissage in the Cottelsbridge area that they would hire out on occasions, I would be keen for you to get in touch with me.
I am currently on call to go to NSW to assist with their fires and am proud of the job everyone is doing, especially the community members. Please stay safe and know that everyone is doing their best.
Until next time,
Stay safe and plan ahead!
Jenna and BSP xoxo
