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I am so far behind I do not know where to start.
I guess I will just cover some of the highlights from the summer/fall
and promise to not get so far behind next year (again).
Having sold all of our upper level horses during the spring I spent most of the fall getting to know the new ones that arrived over the summer. Emily's Fancy and Renkum Redhill arrived in July and Sportsfield Supersonic arrived in August. I am thrilled with all three horses although they are very different. Fancy won her first event in the US with a dressage score of 28. Riley (Redhill) finished in fifth place not too far behind. Sportsfield Supersonic (Spot) arrived very thin and very stressed from the trip. We decided to let him spend the fall season gaining weight and strength instead of competing so he got a nice vacation this fall and looks very ready for the new season now. Fancy and Riley stayed on the fast track towards the fall CCI* in Kentucky and put in some very good performances along the way. Fancy had a minor set back when she lost her confidence after hitting her stifles hard at a drop fence at Poplar Place in September. Riley on the other hand is overly brave and I spent the fall trying to get him to be more adjustable and improve his somewhat exuberant flatwork. Both really came through at the one star. Fancy was unfortunate to be the first out on cross-country and we had two stops on course at fences that we were completely unable to see due to the rising sun. The subsequent next few horses out on course had problems at the same fences. I felt she was really super everywhere else and I was pleased it did not rattle her confidence to have to jump two fences (the first a log drop into water) being completely blinded by the sun. I am hoping they will rectify this next year for sure. Riley ran an hour later in great light and was brilliant. He was a little strong on steeplechase but ran around the cross-country like a star. He certainly did not feel like a six year old!!!! Unfortunately for him we were completely screwed the next day in the jog up. I am going to take a minute and go into what happened to us there as there were quite a few questionable calls at CCIs this fall in the final jog and I feel it is an important point. Sunday morning of the CCI* Riley came out with tight legs and a great attitude. I stretched him for a few minutes under tack in the ring and then went back to have our treating vet - Dr. Chris Newton - watch him jog. Riley jogged up super and off we went to the jog. Needless to say I was shocked when we were sent to the holding area after I jogged him up. The vet in the holding area informed us that the ground jury had seen a couple of slight unlevel steps on the left front in the jog up. The vet then proceeded to palpate his legs. Riley always objects to his legs being touched - anywhere, anytime. The vet determined that because he pulled away during palpation (on both legs mind you) that there was some sort of suspensory problem going on. He jogged sound in the holding area and because I knew my horse did not have a suspensory injury I chose to represent him. I rejogged him for the ground jury and he jogged sound. They asked me to jog him again and he jogged sound. I was then informed by the ground jury that they were not going to let him continue to showjumping based on the vet's determination that the horse had a suspensory problem. I was beyond frustrated as I knew the vet had made a huge error in diagnosing a suspensory problem on a horse that had been seen that morning by a specialist finding him absolutely sound. Immediately upon returning to the barn I had a complete work up done on the horse including radiographs, blocking, etc. It was determined that there was absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with the suspensory ligament and that there was absolutely no reason that the horse should not have been allowed to showjump. Since there is no way to appeal the decision of the ground jury at the final jog we were out of luck. Riley was sitting in fifth place going into showjumping. Even worse is the fact that he will forever have on his record that he failed a final veterinary inspection even though it was based on a completely wrong diagnosis from a vet who made a very rash judgement call. While Fancy showjumped brilliantly clean and finished in tenth place, I am still very bitter about Riley being spun. Fancy won 'Best Presented' by the ground jury but I would have rather been able to jump my sound horse that was sitting in the barn!!! Rant over and now onto other things. Ammanda Allain also competed Honest Tom in the CCI* and did a really great job finishing seventh in her division and fifth in the Championship. Tom seemed very happy to be back to upper level eventing again after a couple of years of doing dressage and low levels in Canada. The highlight of his CCI* was getting loose in the ten minute box and galloping around the horse park instead of spending the time walking and cooling out in the enclosure. He was finally caught shortly before his start time and he still came in off of cross-country on the optimum time and barely winded. He truly is the 'black night'. Ammanda and Tom had a great whole season leading up to the CCI placing in every event and getting qualifying scores in the four out of the four events she competed in so they could go to the CCI. If he does not get sold or leased they will be aiming for some Intermediates this spring. Our clients did very well this season as well. The AEC's had ups and downs but all of our clients ended up with great clear rounds and quite a few ribbons. My season on Stephanie Davis' Garcon ended with a fourth place finish in the Training Horse Championships. He was great fun and now he goes back to Stephanie so they can have some fun together. Christina won the novice rider division with Kristin in fourth and Rebecca in fifth. It was great fun! Rebecca, Nobie, and Stephanie went on to the half star in Ocala, had a great time and learned a lot from the weekend. For any of you who have not done one I highly recommend it as a goal. All of the riders came away with big smiles and every one of them wanted to do it again. So now we are looking towards our busy winter season in 2008. We have some new horses in for sale and some new ones to compete. My New Year's resolution (again) is to keep the website News updated monthly. We will see how I do! As a final note: Andrew and I were honored to win the Governor's Cup this year. It was a big surprise. There were so many people involved in the fund raising efforts we did this year that it seems unfair that they were left out. However, the greatest reward for all of us is seeing our fellow injured riders on the path to recovery. Please remember to continue to give to the Equestrian Aid Foundation as there are many injured riders out there that need our help to get back on track! ~ Ruthie ~ |
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