I will have a more detailed post later, but I wanted you all to know this:
We were third after dressage with a 29.5 (our best score yet this year... 1st was a tie with two 28.5s), moved up into 2nd after a PERFECT XC (!!!!!!!!!), then slipped in the sloppy footing on takeoff to the plank during stadium and had a rail to finish 5th (it took me a little while to realize exactly what had happened! I came out of it going, man I can't believe that crash, it felt like she didn't push from behind at all... well she did, she just lost her grip as she was pushing! I gave her a decidedly bad ride to the fence and she did her best to get us out of there, but couldn't. There were marks by the fence from two hind feet losing their grip as we were taking off, and I looked and saw them and was like OHHHHHHH I GET IT NOW! The girl who was in first also had a rail, so had we gone clean, we would have won it. D'oh!)
Even though we moved from our potential 1st place down to 5th, I don't care. That rail was nobody's fault but my own (and Mother Nature's... it rained and rained and rained and rained and RAINED the night before, and during the day too!), and she tried her heart out. She was foot perfect on XC during a very loooooooooooong course with some pretty tough things on it for a horse who just a few weeks ago wouldn't even approach a simple upbank without losing her mind. I am SO proud of her and feel without a doubt that there will be nothing at the AECs that she can't handle.
I also had several people - the winner of our division included!! - come up to me to tell me how much they love this blog and that they're so glad she's back to her old self again. So to everyone I saw and met this weekend, THANK YOU for following and supporting us, and congratulations to our winner and to everyone else this weekend. You guys are the best!!
I'll write more later... as for now, off to work!
Proving her heart of gold and guts of steel at the 2009 American Eventing Championships
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7 comments:
Congrats! Clear cross country rounds are the BEST!
Congrats. Success isn't always defined by the color of ribbon you come home with. Good to hear your mare is back to her normal self.
Guess that means it was her hocks after all. This just proves that it wasn't the jumps themselves that she was shying away from, but the pain she had learned to anticipate with them.
So will you have to keep injecting her in order to keep eventing her?
Hey, winner of the division on the little chestnut with the outrageous ears here. I still can't believe that crash--totally didn't see it coming! (And this is totally tongue-in-cheek, but I may be to blame. I'm coming off the worst week of my life, basically, and I obviously don't _really_ think that win was the universe's way of throwing me a bone, but y'know.)
It was fun to get to see you guys and I'm glad she's feeling good again. We'll be at Valinor next weekend and hopefully GMHA in September...maybe we'll see you around sometime!
How cool! Can't wait to see how y'all do at the AECs!!!! Gogo sounds like she's everything but unprepared.
Glad you have your mare back!
CONGRATS! Glad she's feeling good again! Any pics or vids??
Starrynights; Actually, no, I don't feel like it was her hocks after all. I don't think she was shying away from jumps because her hocks were hurting. I think she was shying away from jumps because she was violently spooky from her tummy hurting and nasty Lymey bacteria surging through her system. She was genuinely scared of random stuff for no good reason. Once I got those two things squared away, her attitude totally changed. The hocks came later, and while she felt more comfortable, she didn't feel all that different attitude wise after them. I will likely have to keep injecting her, yes, but I will do my best to maintain her as long as possible between injections. They are expensive and invasive, and I don't think they are the miracle I expected them to be. We still cross-cantered, chipped, slipped in the footing, and got the same old comments in dressage - "needs more activity behind." Essentially, nothing changed except I feel like she's more comfortable on pavement. Which, in the end, is worth it.
Buymeaclue; Hahaha, well I totally buy into the karma thing so I concede to you. I won't be at Valinor or GMHA - the AECs are next for us, and then maybe Walkers and Kent - but you never know, I might catch you around sometime and have more of a chance to chat! XD
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