We are finally on the road to Michigan for the mandatory outing at Richland Park. We were supposed to leave yesterday morning, but Monday morning Rox had broken out in hives and his legs were swollen like stovepipes. We have no idea what the allergic reaction was too, but thankfully I got the okay to give him something that should be fine with FEI drug testing. We pushed our departure back 24 hours because I didn’t want to put him on the trailer; he didn’t have a temperature but he wasn’t acting like himself. It’s possible that he ate something or breathed something in – there was nothing on his body, just his legs, so hopefully it was just a rare thing. It seems to have gone away now, so we left early this morning. I ride at 8 something tomorrow morning!
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks – two weeks ago he had a couple of joint injections and a week later his leg swelled up. Again it turned out to be nothing but a little reaction, but preventively we put him on antibiotics and it was a little bit of a scare.
Last week we had truck problems and it took 7 hours to get home from Phillip’s. My truck and big trailer were in the shop so I had borrowed a truck and the brakes went out – luckily my trailer brakes were working! Thankfully nothing major has happened but it’s been one thing after another at the barn.
Now we have brakes, we seem to have healthy horses and we’re on the road!
Rox has been great – I got up to Phillip’s for a couple days last week and he feels super. Yesterday when I rode him he felt fine; once the swelling was gone he felt back to normal. I took him for a sprint yesterday and he felt really good.
Joey is also coming along to do the CIC3*. He feels super and he’s happy to be back in work. I think I’m going to aim him for Galway Downs (CA) in November – I’ll see how it goes this weekend. He came back really well from his injury this spring so long term I’d like to try for Badminton again next year.
After Richland we’ll have vet evaluations on Monday and find out sometime after that who made the team for the Pan-Am Games. It’s a big week ahead!
The new horses from Ireland settled in so easily and have gone right to work. They were under muscled when they got here and they’re getting stronger every day. Last week I took them to their first schooling show, a combined test, and they were first and second so that went well. I’m hoping to get them out a couple times in September.
Yesterday Verizon Fios was doing a segment on one of our farriers, Jim Rauch, and the guy interviewing him was going to ask me a couple of questions but then it turned into a long interview with me telling him about eventing, putting a horse through its paces and explaining things, and showing him around the farm! It’s supposed to air sometime next week or the following week on a “community magazine” show for the New Jersey area! I’ll keep everyone posted.
Also we’re still looking for a full-time working student! This would be full-time in exchange for housing in a cottage on the farm as well as coaching. You don’t have to have a horse, since I have some horses we could do lessons on, but you can bring a horse if you have one.
Check back later this week for updates from Richland Park!
-Kristin
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