Monday, May 24, 2010

Plan changes can mean more open doors...

I feel like this year has been a lot of ups and downs and changes in plans.  Either I'm sick or hurt or something's going on with my horses.  That said, I'm still very happy with it all.  The bad things have ended up leading to something good.  I have great faith that things happen for a reason, and God somehow makes it all work out.
Last week, after finding out about Renn's injury, I was all geared up to try to make the most of things and head to VA with Bug to do the CCI*.  However, last weekend, we had about 4 days of horrendous storms with pouring rain and hail.   Monday morning, Bug seemed to have a bit of a belly ache and didn't want to eat his breakfast.  He wasn't in any distress, just not interested in eating.  For everyone that knows Bug, this is definately not like him. To make a long story short, I gave him Banamine, not really thinking about anything except making him better.  He was fine about 10 minutes after I gave him his meds, but I then realized that I'd probably just messed up my chances at going to the CCI*.  The FEI is very particular about drug testing, and Banamine stays in the horse's system for 6 days minimum.  
Once again, another change in plans.  However, I could still switch him over to do just a horse trial at the Preliminary level.  I took that option.  Renn went along for the ride, as Jeremiah is not good with leg wrapping and medicine giving.  He was a perfect gentleman stallion all weekend, though, even after all of that stall rest.  I was very proud of him.  
I learned yet another lesson with Bug...  He warmed up beautifully for dressage on Saturday morning.  As soon as I went into the dressage arena and put my leg on to trot, he squealed.  I knew I was in for it.  However, instead of being patient and just pushing him through, I got frustrated.  This is something I need to work on.  I need to just push him forward instead of getting frustrated and making him more tense.  Lesson learned.  We ended up with a 45.2.  Not impressive, knowing what this horse COULD be getting. 
After walking the XC course, I knew that it had a lot of really good questions.  The jumps weren't huge, but I felt like it was a decent Prelim course.  I told myself that I wasn't going to take anything for granted.
Of course, just as I went out to warm up for XC, the rain started coming down.  I had a hard time seeing through the rain, and the ground was pretty mucky in places, so I decided not to push too hard for time.  Bug jumped like a champ!!  I was thrilled with him.  We ended up with 7.2 time penalties which was pretty average for our division.  
Show jumping was a very cool course with a lot of turns and interesting lines.  I walked the course with Kim, and I was determined to try to ride the lines just as she explained them.  I made the mistake of using Bug's KK bit for show jumping, as he was feeling a bit wild.  I thought that I would take it easy on his mouth after XC the day before.  Apparently, Bug wasn't tired at all!  We jumped around double clear and way up over everything, but he was definately not in as much control as I would have liked!  However, I was very happy with myself that I stayed on the lines Kim wanted us to take, and I stayed with him in his exuberance.  We were one of only two double clears in our division.
Thanks to Bug's phenomenal jumping, we ended up with a pretty yellow 3rd place ribbon!  I'm very happy with my boy, even though we definatley have more work to do.  :)
The next big stop is the Lost Hounds Horse Trials in Erie, PA, June 19-20.  Bug's going to be making the big move up to Intermediate!!  The plan is to spend the next month getting lessons and competing in some schooling combined test and dressage shows at the Intermediate level to get ready!!  
Renn seems to be doing a lot better so far, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a minor strain, and he'll be back to work soon.
Hope all is well with everyone!  Kick on!

1 comment:

  1. I cannot wait until you guys get here!!! I want a shirt that says "Buglet's Groom" or maybe a sash..... :)

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