We're back in CT and okay.

Thanks to everyone who has been checking up on us. As some of you know, and as some of you don't know, Gogo went through XC feeling mentally awesome but a little unsure of her footing. As it turns out, what felt like footing uncertainty to me ended up in reality being big time tendon damage to both hind legs - we think she did it somewhere between fences four and six. But bless her little mare heart, she never said no and never gave me any indication that she was hurting in any way, even though it must have been excruciating. She just steamed right on, came in under the time and everything. It wasn't until later when both hind legs blew up that we figured out something was wrong. It just kills me to think that I had no idea on course. Had I know, I could have pulled up. But she just kept on going and I didn't know. When the legs started to swell shortly thereafter, we handwalked (didn't help), coldhosed (didn't help), iced (didn't help), and put her on the lunge, where she was very lame on both hinds. We subsequently withdrew and had the vet out the next morning to look her over and ultrasound both hinds. She strained her left hind superficial digital flexor tendon, and has minor tearing on her right hind deep digital flexor tendon and check ligament. But, the good news is that most the swelling was superficial edema, and with the fact that we caught it right after it happened and were very aggressive with drugs and cold therapy, she is expected to make a full recovery. Lots of stall rest, coldhosing, icing, drugs, and handwalking are in order for the next month (we have a very strict schedule), and we're going to reevaluate in two weeks to see where we stand. I've spent the last few days very slowly getting her back to Connecticut, and we are finally here and safe. Her swelling had gone down dramatically, and her comfort level has doubled. She was very, very sore that first day, but seems to already be feeling a ton better. We've got a long road ahead of us to recovery, but it should be all right in the end.


It realllllllllllllllllllly sucks. I don't really even care about the outcome of the show, I just care about the fact that she's hurting. I haven't even looked at results yet even. We were in 6th after XC out of 40 people, still with a 30.5, and I was the top adult ammy in my division - the rest of the people above me were pros, save for one very talented junior on a very talented horse. I was also the top Area I Adult Rider out of the whole show at that point. That course was grueling, harder than anything she's had to tackle before in her life, and she didn't look at ANYTHING at all, didn't question ANYTHING. She must have been in excruciating pain, and she kept going for me. It kills me that I didn't know. At the same time, I've never been prouder of her. That takes an outstanding horse with an outstanding heart to do that.


I'll have more about XC and the injuries tomorrow. Right now, I just want to sleep.


PS: I just looked at the results and we would have finished 4th. Out of 40. Behind 3 big-name pros. That's amazing. I'll tell you what though, I don't need big ribbons and prizes to know what an amazing horse I have. Seriously.