I haven’t written for a while, mostly because after Inmidair got hurt right before the final outing at Great Meadow, I had my head in the sand like an ostrich. It wasn’t so much because of his injury and my disappointment in canceling my European plans, but because when your horse gets hurt, and you really enjoy riding them every day, it’s like a black hole appears. The thing you’ve been working toward for so long is all of a sudden its gone, and the loss of the day-to-day partnership with your horse is really hard.
JR’s in a small paddock right now. We treated him with PRP and he has a medical plate to protect his hoof, which will be on for a while. He’s lost so much weight, and is clearly not happy being a patient even though he gets hand grazed four times a day. He misses his quality of life!
In the end, what happened with JR getting hurt when we were so close to our goal of going overseas wasn’t completely tragic. He’s still in my barn, still demanding a million cookies. Every day, I miss riding him so much, but am grateful that he’s still here with me.
I’m pretty proud of myself and my horse, though it was hard on me and every single person who had supported me because they were excited as well. I can’t thank enough very single person who supported my efforts.
When I started last August with the whole adventure of trying to make the WEG team, I asked my parents if they'd be interested in going to watch in case I didn’t, and they were totally on-board. We don’t get to see that level of riding every day. Jr and I won Fair Hill last fall, were seventh at Kentucky, were alternates for the WEG squad and I still got to go to France, so how lucky am I?
I think the WEG is an interesting competition. I rode in the 2006 WEG at Aachen, where William Fox-Pitt had a run-out, so did Phillip, and a lot of people who were expected to go really well, didn’t. It was quite wet, and held at a small venue, but it’s supposed to be hard, it’s the WEG. Fast forward eight years to this world championships, wet and difficult! One of the things that really stood out for me was watching Michael Jung. He was so impressive, and watching him go cross-country was like watching a riding lesson. His mare actually didn’t have the most scope or a big step, but they had just an an amazing partnership.
People can be hard on the Americans for how our WEG went, but I felt it was great to be part of the whole process. All six riders and the alternates were fantastic. Things didn’t go as planned for New Zealand, either. For all our efforts, David’s hard work, the owners’ support—we came really close, so please don’t give up hope. We have really good people in the sport and we will be at the top again soon, especially with the efforts of our coaches, riders and owners.
Another thing that really inspired me happened ten days after I got back, while I was in Canada at a party for Jess Phoenix. It was great group of people and Jess is fun to be around. I was asking her about the WEG, and she told me that sitting in the rider tent among other riders on cross-country day, listening to some of them talk about how nervous they were, how they felt sick, how they hated that day, Jess told me her thought was, what are they talking about, I love this day! Everyone should be excited about cross-country! It was so inspiring to hear that. Next time you’re fraught with nerves, remember why you do it, you love cross-country day!
That’s all for now, I have an event to organize! We’ll catch up next couple weeks.
JR’s in a small paddock right now. We treated him with PRP and he has a medical plate to protect his hoof, which will be on for a while. He’s lost so much weight, and is clearly not happy being a patient even though he gets hand grazed four times a day. He misses his quality of life!
In the end, what happened with JR getting hurt when we were so close to our goal of going overseas wasn’t completely tragic. He’s still in my barn, still demanding a million cookies. Every day, I miss riding him so much, but am grateful that he’s still here with me.
I’m pretty proud of myself and my horse, though it was hard on me and every single person who had supported me because they were excited as well. I can’t thank enough very single person who supported my efforts.
When I started last August with the whole adventure of trying to make the WEG team, I asked my parents if they'd be interested in going to watch in case I didn’t, and they were totally on-board. We don’t get to see that level of riding every day. Jr and I won Fair Hill last fall, were seventh at Kentucky, were alternates for the WEG squad and I still got to go to France, so how lucky am I?
I think the WEG is an interesting competition. I rode in the 2006 WEG at Aachen, where William Fox-Pitt had a run-out, so did Phillip, and a lot of people who were expected to go really well, didn’t. It was quite wet, and held at a small venue, but it’s supposed to be hard, it’s the WEG. Fast forward eight years to this world championships, wet and difficult! One of the things that really stood out for me was watching Michael Jung. He was so impressive, and watching him go cross-country was like watching a riding lesson. His mare actually didn’t have the most scope or a big step, but they had just an an amazing partnership.
People can be hard on the Americans for how our WEG went, but I felt it was great to be part of the whole process. All six riders and the alternates were fantastic. Things didn’t go as planned for New Zealand, either. For all our efforts, David’s hard work, the owners’ support—we came really close, so please don’t give up hope. We have really good people in the sport and we will be at the top again soon, especially with the efforts of our coaches, riders and owners.
Another thing that really inspired me happened ten days after I got back, while I was in Canada at a party for Jess Phoenix. It was great group of people and Jess is fun to be around. I was asking her about the WEG, and she told me that sitting in the rider tent among other riders on cross-country day, listening to some of them talk about how nervous they were, how they felt sick, how they hated that day, Jess told me her thought was, what are they talking about, I love this day! Everyone should be excited about cross-country! It was so inspiring to hear that. Next time you’re fraught with nerves, remember why you do it, you love cross-country day!
That’s all for now, I have an event to organize! We’ll catch up next couple weeks.
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