Well, well, well aren't I just the best little blog updater ever!? ....Just kidding! I have been super busy (as always) but excuses, excuses; there is none. There is so much to tell.
Since August 7th. . . . . . . .
Clif and Tess were both going quite well. Sharon left August 9th for her 5 week trip to England for the Blenhiem CCI***. While she was gone we had some great help! Jimmy Wofford was helping us a bit from week to week with our jumping, the great Gerd was helping us on the flat, and on a regular basis we had the help of Kristin Bachmann, who was very helpful as well.
Clif was very much starting to come into his own. I took him XC schooling the week before Loudoun Horse Trials and he was great! He jumped around most of the intermediate course at Surefire Farm, so I was feeling really prepared and happy with where we were. At Loudoun he got a 36 on the flat, which for us a bit on the high side, but that was with the same judge we had in April and we improved our score by almost 3 points. So, there is some good there! He was in 6th out of about 15 after dressage, which was nice because I saw several lovely horses floating around the warm up! He also show jumped quite well, it need a bit of polish on both our parts. However, he was totally up to the challange and jumped really well; we did have one rail due to a big lack half halts and bit of wildness down the hill to a vertical! EKK! He jogged sound Monday, hacked and felt a bit sluggish on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I had a quick jump school with Kristin and he was the best he has ever been. The vet came out later that day and I told her I thought he felt a bit unlike him even though he was going so well, and she also wanted to get some base flextions so she knew him better going forward.....turns out those flextions were a good idea! He jogged up a bit sore, about a 1/5, bummmmmmmmmmmmer. After I put him on the lunge my first thought was "welllllll that looks like a nice high suspensory!". Sure enough, he has a strain to the origin of his suspensory. It is a strain, no lesions, no holes, nothing terrible, just annoying. He had some treatment to help strengthen his suspensory and is now on stall confinement for 30 days (translation: run for your life)! He is almost done with it though, he is soooooooo very excited everytime I take him out 2 times a day, he's so busy eating grass he doesn't even act so wild anymore! I must say this is a good/bad thing all around. It has made me realize several very important things. First, you know your horse better than anyone, trust that. Second, I adore Clif; I honestly miss riding him every single day, he is my best friend, we just know what the other one is thinking wich works both to our advantage and our disadvantage....something to know going forward to help with our riding communication! Also, when he is on his road to recover he will be getting several things to help build more muscle, especially behind. He cannot stay sound if he cannot support his front end properly. Learning experience 1, processing.
Now on to learning experience number 2!
Tess had been quite the little monster since her return to competition! She was going great on the flat and jumping really well. She is a wondeful jumper. She had a very uncharacteristic elimiation at her first event of the season. I had the vet look at her since she was heading out for a competition the following weekend as well; we decided after her hext event she could an ankle injection. She then headed back out to Seneca, where she jumped her around super and then stopped and refused to jump a smaller jump near the startbox. I was absolutely livid, what a mare to not want to go any where except home! And, I should have known better! I took her XC Schooling and that took some serious riding to get her jumping well. She jogged up sound on Monday, but when the vet came Tuesday it was a whole different ball game. She was about a 2/5 lame and had swelling in her ankle. Turns out, when it rains, it poors. Tess had about a 20% core lesion in her lateral suspensory branch. Tears...lots and lots of tears is about that happened that afternoon! All of this reconfirmed my paranoid nature, now you can't get me to sit on a horse until I have multiple witness's to it's soundness! AH! Bad news for Tess is that the injury is such that she will have a limited chance to every being a true upper level horse, but that said, there is a chance. What's the fun of trying to do something you know you can do?! Tess will need nearly a year to heal before she can come back into work, so we have decided to breed her. Her new hubby is going to be Fleetwater Opposition (father of the stunning Opposition Buzz). Tess is quite unhappy about her change in attention level, but is having a good time eating all day every day!
I now have every so cute Tuc staying with me at LFF! She is super sweet, incredibly brave, and loves to hack alone; 3 year old weirdo! She is learning to jump and loves it. She isn't very amused with faltwork, but the more you ask her to do, the more she seems to enjoy it (with ears pinned mind you). She is most definitely princess #2, but she is not nearly as stuck up as Tess; she's a pretty laid back lady! If you know anyone who wants to get their hands on a LOVELY 3 year old that will make her competive debut in the spring send them my way! She's already quite clever, and I think she is going to be quite the catch!
I promise to be better about updating!
Hillary
