Manao ahoana!

Hello there, and welcome to "I want to meet King Julien."  In one week, I will be on my way to Madagascar, and will be able to give you much more interesting posts than I can give right now!  I also, hopefully, will be providing some more snippets and phrases in Malagasy.  As an example, the title of this post means "hello."  I know about 100 words in Malagasy at this point (although whether I can spell them correctly or not is a whole new matter), but I hope to pick up much more during the 3 months I am in Madagascar.

I haven't blogged before, so I feel like I should introduce myself.  This is me:

I am 22, recently graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a B.S. in animal science, and I'm blessed with the most wonderful mare in the world, Nikki (alias Wondermare), or Seize The Moment.  WM and I have been partners for a long time, from the 3'6'' junior hunters in 2006 all the way up to the 1.50m Grand Prix classes for the past few years.  I could go on and on about Nikki, but I will save gushing about her for posts on the Chronicle of the Horse forum, where I have the ever-elegant username of supershorty628.  I also got married over the summer to my high school sweetheart and best friend, Steve, who is unfortunately not joining me on this voyage to Madagascar.

As an aside, I am really short.  Nikki is 15.3 7/8 hands high (for those of you who are not equine-inclined, she is 5'3 7/8'' at her withers, which are at the base of her neck.  You can guess at my height from there - it's not very substantial.

I can't wait to go on this adventure throughout the country of Madagascar, an experience that I am fortunate to get through Stony Brook University under the supervision of Dr. Pat Wright.  I'll be posting when I can from down there and I'll be sure to include lots of pictures!  Expect another post in about a week or so.

Cheers,

Emily / supershorty

P.S.  Since I introduced myself, any readers who want to comment and introduce yourselves, feel free!  :)