My summer’s not gone quite according to plan. I was trying to get ready for the 4-star at Loch Moy and having a cross-country school on Storm. I was nearly done but just thought I’d trot the ditch to an angled brush when he got his feet in a muddle and somehow punctured his hoof wall and lacerated a deep cut in the front of his coffin area. We rushed to pick him up in the cross-country field with the trailer, and went straight to Piedmont Veterinary Hospital for Dr. Bolam to check that he’d not hit the joint. Out of caution, we did an intravenous profusion of antibiotics for his lower limb, and once Dr. Bolam was pretty confident the joint was not involved, she stitched Storm up and I took him home. He was in his stall for two weeks and was a really good patient, and it turned out it may have been too hot to run at the 4-star anyway since the temperature was 105 degrees with the heat index! Sometimes horses work out a way to give themselves a little rest and reset.
After time off, Storm started to do some flatwork, also aqua-treading and little jump school, and a then dressage show at Loch Moy. Meanwhile, Tate (Orientated) had some trouble with his shoes and I had to scratch him from Loch Moy and then Maryland because of an abscess. After his rest we had time to practice more cross-county basics, such as me being able to keep him in a balance that allows me to both jump multiple jumps or gallop a single jump with him keeping his ride-ability and confidence.
I’ve been lucky to have Sara Schulman compete my other sale horse, RF Blue Moon (Molson), as well as Lorna Stokes’s Prime Time, and both have been good and learning a lot. Unfortunately, Molson had to pull up at Hunt Club on cross-country because he grabbed a front shoe and stepped on the clip. Sara was smart enough to hop off, pull the shoe, and let him gimp back to trailer.
Prime Time did the young horse at Waradaca and qualified for the championships and Blue Moon did the Novice while I was away teaching.
All four horses went to Seneca the next weekend. Prime Time was 4th in the Novice, Blue Moon 2nd in BN, and Orientated was 6th in the Modified. Tate had some time because he’s not quite ready to go quickly, although he will be quite quick when he settles into his work. Storm was awesome in dressage, had a beautiful show jump, but never saw the in of the coffin and cantered right into the jump. He went right around and jumped it but it was quite unfortunate because he’d been so amazing otherwise, I don’t think he ever saw the jump because of the shadows.
After time off, Storm started to do some flatwork, also aqua-treading and little jump school, and a then dressage show at Loch Moy. Meanwhile, Tate (Orientated) had some trouble with his shoes and I had to scratch him from Loch Moy and then Maryland because of an abscess. After his rest we had time to practice more cross-county basics, such as me being able to keep him in a balance that allows me to both jump multiple jumps or gallop a single jump with him keeping his ride-ability and confidence.
I’ve been lucky to have Sara Schulman compete my other sale horse, RF Blue Moon (Molson), as well as Lorna Stokes’s Prime Time, and both have been good and learning a lot. Unfortunately, Molson had to pull up at Hunt Club on cross-country because he grabbed a front shoe and stepped on the clip. Sara was smart enough to hop off, pull the shoe, and let him gimp back to trailer.
Prime Time did the young horse at Waradaca and qualified for the championships and Blue Moon did the Novice while I was away teaching.
All four horses went to Seneca the next weekend. Prime Time was 4th in the Novice, Blue Moon 2nd in BN, and Orientated was 6th in the Modified. Tate had some time because he’s not quite ready to go quickly, although he will be quite quick when he settles into his work. Storm was awesome in dressage, had a beautiful show jump, but never saw the in of the coffin and cantered right into the jump. He went right around and jumped it but it was quite unfortunate because he’d been so amazing otherwise, I don’t think he ever saw the jump because of the shadows.
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 |  Storm and Tate at Seneca, photos by Janet Gallay |
Next up was a cross-country school for Storm with big Phil as a tune-up for the 4-short at Tryon and everyone else went to Old Tavern.
It’s always good to have a lot of plans—A,B,C, and D—and summer can be a good time to have a break, even if not planned. The breaks allowed me to go to Mexico and celebrate my Mom’s 87 birthday with my whole family, which was pretty special for all of us.
It’s always good to have a lot of plans—A,B,C, and D—and summer can be a good time to have a break, even if not planned. The breaks allowed me to go to Mexico and celebrate my Mom’s 87 birthday with my whole family, which was pretty special for all of us.
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