Dearest Backers—

We’ve looked up from the editing console and yikes, it’s already Autumn. We cheered Escaramuza Charra Las Azaleas and the California teams through another thrilling competition season. The sweltering heat of the Porterville and Woodlake venues in high summer was a test of everyone’s stamina, but in the end eight escaramuza groups from the United States, including Las Azaleas, qualified for the LXVII Congreso y Campeonato Nacional Charro in Puebla, from October 25- November 13. As much as we’re dying to go to Puebla, since we’re no longer shooting we can’t justify the expense, and so will be rooting for all our U.S. teams from the editing room.

We continue to make steady progress towards a Rough Cut. It’ll be a VERY LONG Rough Cut, but grabbing that bull by the horns, and wrestling from it a muscular story, is part of the fun of editing. We’re also eagerly anticipating the collaboration with our composer and music supervisor on what promises to be a stirring score.

Our fundraising efforts continue full throttle. To that end we’ve added a second Fiscal Sponsor. The passionate folks at The Latino Film Fund have given us a dedicated page on their website. You can check it out at http://www.latinofilmfund.org/home/escaramuza/. As always, feel free to share the link.

There’s more to tell, and we’ll begin folding all our news into an e-newsletter that we’ll send quarterly at first, and then perhaps more frequently once we’re closer to finishing and the news is coming faster. Since we’re still working on the inaugural issue, we wanted to get this brief update out to you all in the meantime. Backers have automatically been added to the newsletter mailing list, but if you’re not a backer and you just happen to be reading this, be sure and put yourself on our mailing list by visiting www.ponyhighway.com.

Also, to keep up with Pony Highway Productions’ musings and enthusiasms on a more regular basis, drop by and “like” our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PonyHighwayProductions.

Thanks as always for your support and patience,

Robin & Bill

When we thought about sending out a progress report on the project, Valentine’s Day seemed a most appropriate time, because it gives us another chance to tell all of you who’ve supported our labor of love how much you mean to us, and to remind you, dearest Valentines, that you have a very special place in our hearts.

We’re still in the midst of editing. It’s going swell, but as the filmmakers among you know, it’s a long, hard process, especially with so much great material to filter through. Fortunately we are just about finished with the interminable logging of the 175+ tapes, and as soon as Robin finishes the last dozen, she’ll be able to jump in to help Bill with the editing. That should speed things up a little.

Our website, www.ponyhighway.com, has been given a much overdue facelift and at long last includes a page for Escaramuza: Riding from the Heart. We hope you’ll poke around on the site, where you can view clips of our previous projects, add yourself to our growing email list, and connect to (and “like”) Pony Highway Productions’ Facebook page.

The new Escaramuza page links to a “Support the Film” page, which in turn links to our project page on the International Documentary Association (IDA) website, where we are a sponsored film, and where tax-deductible donations are processed. Happily this allows us to continue to fundraise for necessary finishing costs now that the Kickstarter campaign is over.

So as we return to the editing room for more hacking and hewing, we want to say HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO A REAL BUNCH OF SWEETHEARTS!!!

To our 88 beautiful backers: to the pioneers who stuck their necks out on Day One, to the believers who threw in when things looked rather iffy in the middle, and to those who stepped it up big time in the huge Final Week. To those who cajoled and nagged and begged, right along with us. To those who wrote articles about the campaign. To those who passed out postcards. To those who posted motivating comments on the site. To those who increased their pledges. To those who gave ten and those who gave a thousand. We thank you one and all, from the bottom of our hearts.

I showed the teaser to my neighbor this morning, and at the end she was dead quiet and her eyes were completely filled with tears. "They're so proud," was all she said. So this is why we are all in this together, to make more eyes well up with the beauty of this proud cultural heritage, and at the ferocious will and heart involved in maintaining it.

As for your rewards-- for those who pledged for the completed Escaramuza DVD, please keep in mind what it says at the end of the teaser: Coming 2011. Yup, we mean that. Remember, we are still editing. It will be awhile. Your patience is appreciated. But for the On the Muscle DVDs, the Wrangler certificates, and the books, we will be emailing you shortly for your addresses, and will get those out to you asap.

The project will remain up on the Kickstarter site, giving us the opportunity to update you periodically. We won't bother you, but will drop you a line every now and again about our progress, and let you know of any exciting developments.

This is the part where we SHOULD have an endurance horse metaphor instead of an ocean metaphor, but this is what we have...the two of us, in front of our ocean of footage, about to dive back in for a marathon swim. We'll see you on the other side!

Thank you,
Robin & Bill

WOW. After seeing the most amazing surge of pledges in the last week, it was a phenomenal birthday surprise to wake up and check the Kickstarter page and find that we had passed our goal. My sister was the one who made the pledge that put us over the top.

What? Are all you new backers going to plead innocence and tell me you didn't know it was my birthday when you made your super generous pledges? Seriously? C'mon...

All kidding aside, we are absolutely blown away by the generous support we've received. Thanks to all of you, we are going to be funded. My birthday wish has come true.

Also wanted to congratulate all the Escaramuza teams that participated in the Regional Championships in Porterville, California last weekend. Here's a shot of team Hacienda Miranda from a circuito held in Coachella last April. (Photo by Jodi Champagne.)

cheers,
Robin

We're really thrilled to report that we busted through the 50% funded barrier today. This is significant because the folks at Kickstarter report that there are almost zero project failures at 50 percent or more of funding. And they oughtta know. So we are keeping fingers and toes crossed that this really is some critical point in the balance of things, and that the momentum will carry forward.

We rely on all of you to continue doing what you have been doing--sharing the link with your lists and groups, keeping the posting high up on your Facebook wall, and tweeting away to all who will listen. Your ongoing support will encourage others to jump in.

Charro writer Memo Gracia Duarte posted a terrific piece yesterday, in Spanish, on charrousa.com. To illuminate the genesis of our project he quotes extensively from our email correspondence from over two years ago. Can't believe he kept those!

Read his article here:
http://charrousa.com/noticias2010/memo11.html

And on the other side of the country, Connecticut writer and horsewoman Ona Kiser interviewed Robin for her delightfully eclectic blog Global Horse Culture:
http://globalhorseculture.typepad.com/global_horse_culture/2010/07/new-film-explores-escaramuza.html#more

The word is spreading far and wide, and we're truly gratified that people all across the country are supporting the project. We even have backers from Europe!

Onward we go.