WW is a sucess
| June 1, 2010 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
Wild West was a sucess, even if “WW” should stand for “Winter Wonderland”.
I’m incapable of stringing words together in comprehensive and (more importantly) entertaining sentences so here’s the bare bones, with a more comprehensive “lessons learned” coming soon.
We finished all 3 days. Farley was SO STRONG the entire time. I kept her at a trot (I did let her charge up a hill once….) and we still flew. ~18 or 17th the first and second day, and a 8th place finish the 3rd day. Good enough for 2nd place overall for all 3 days. I had a LOT of horse.
She was very well behaved all 3 days. I made a point to ride with people every single day so we could both relax about it (riding in a group was probably more my mental problem than hers). We started in the middle/back the first two days, and went out with the front runners on the third day. She listened to me the entire time and was an angel.
We lost a glueon at the beginning of the third and last day. Not entirely suprising as they had been on for a week in mud, rain, and snow (ah yes, it snowed 8 inches the first night…). She did the first 20 mile loop barefoot and then I put on a strap on. The strap on worked perfectly for the last 30 miles – through mud, puddles that were more like river crossings, snow, single track, etc. Sizing really does make a difference….
I got 2 really great compliments – someone referred to her as a “war mare” and the vet on the first day asked me if I had even rode my horse!
So why am I not jumping for joy and boring you’all with my Tevis plans? By the end of the third day she was moving just a bit uneven on her RF. It was intermittent, but occasionally I could feel/see a difference. She vetted out fine but Melissa Ribley said she did see it. It feels and looks exactly like what she had after American River, which means her suspensory is slightly inflammed. At the time, the vet said that it was minor and looked like what is seen in jumpers after a hard round, and to keep her in regular work. I did, and all filling, soreness, and any indication of a problem was gone within a week. However, because this is the second time I’ve seen it, I think it’s time for a second opinion with the (more expensive) vet who specializes in performance horse lameness. Truthfully, it looks better than American River and by the next day I couldn’t even see anything, but I will not take a compromised horse to Tevis, so I will be awaiting the vet’s opinion.
I don’t think Tevis will be as hard as the 3 days I just completed. The mud and snow and slush on the first day was AWFUL and HORRIFIC. More on this later. For now, just take my word that it was tough. The second day was better footing with 85% of the trail being single track and technical. The third day was the same track as last year. Fourteen miles of down hill on a wide jeep road. Uggg.
That’s it for now.
hooray!
Well, not about the lameness. But about the 3 completions. We’ll just stay tuned with the rest….
Just made an appointment for June 15th. Works out perfect. She’ll be getting this week off anyways (hand walk etc.) and next week I’ll be in Alabama, so she’ll be getting about 2 weeks off anyways. By waiting until the 15th, it gives her a chance to work out of any stiffness etc from the ride, but if there IS anything wrong, it will show up without being obscured by….you know hwat I mean. (my brain is fuzzy and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to finish that sentence)
I have a feeling that she’s going to look good and hopefully I’ll get the green light….or if there IS a problem, its still minor enough to only have a month or two of rehab.
Melinda (who is suprisingly not stressed about any of this as I’m perfectly happy with out the season has gone so far).
Way to go…all three days with great finishes! Bummer about the lameness…hopefully it’s just a minor thing.
Thank you so much for the biscotti! I just had one with an iced latte…delicious!!!
Whoo hoo! I’m glad it made it there. It was rainy and NOT a good time to make it, but I figured your dry arizona weather would make them edible again. 🙂
Well done! Now see, I wanted to get Hank in ASAP while he was still a tad off from our ride, to make sure the vet found it. I was worried it would go away, and then come back another day, because I did not take care of it now. Guess I need to update the blog about our vet visit today.
Glad the boot thing is getting smoothed out for you
You guys need to get a really BIG club and start beating the @#%^ out of those Tevis Gremlins before they find my horse!!!!
Oh, hey, does that mean Karen is gonna actually send in an entry? 😉
And if I could find those flipping Tevis gremlins, I’d stir fry the little buggers and serve them up for dinner…to the DOGS!
First, my condolences. Alabama in June is hellish. I’m sweaty just thinking about it.
Grats on finishing so well! When you lost the one boot, did you pry the others off and go 20 miles barefoot all around, then strap on all around? Or did you leave the rears glued on?
Congrats on a strong 3 days. Hope the lameness issue turns out to be nothing…
Sounds like you are ready to come to do a ride in Montana… that kind of weather you experienced is an every day occurence , or atleast a good chance of occuring , even in July!! Kinda sucks, doesn’t it???
Keeping my fingers crossed for you both!