The CCI*** Bromont in Quebec turned out to be a great event! Rox turned out a super performance for his first 3-star. It was not the easiest weekend for me after having a nasty fall from a young horse a few days before. I was having a hard time sitting the trot, and by the time I got in the ring I wasn’t breathing well at all, so I was really exhausted trying to give him the best ride I could. My body was so tight from trying to hold it all together, I could create the gait but then I couldn’t do anything with it. I went in there really going for it but it was too painful for me to ride the gaits I created. In the end it was only four days after I’d fallen, and I had a few cracked ribs and bad bruising, and I think I strained the cartilage, which is really painful. I was bound up in Ace bandages, which helped a lot for riding and made it easier to take deeper, more controlled breaths. Also since I fell on pavement I was bruised and scraped all down my left side, so wearing anything except loose sweat pants was painful.
I was first
go to on dressage and cross-country, but the good part is that gave me all day
Thursday and Friday to rest, other than walking my courses. Thank God for
Vanessa and my mom and her husband – I couldn’t tack up or untack or do
anything around the barns, and they were a huge help! Of course it drove me crazy
because I’m not someone to hand my horse off to somebody and then lie down, so
I was completely frustrated! They were
so, so helpful – Vanessa is fantastic!
The cross-country was the biggest
challenge Rox had faced. I couldn’t do much at all with my left arm; I tested things out with a jump school on Friday and riding was a lot better than I’d thought it would be. Rox felt
amazing so I planned to go for it and just pull up on course if I had any
issues. I planned to keep my crop in my left hand, which wouldn’t be great if I
actually needed to use it, but I felt it would help me hold lines better if I
could just press it against his shoulder.
I think the adrenaline took over
because I didn’t feel pain or weakness or anything out on course, and Rox was
amazing, he didn’t pull on me once, I didn’t have trouble bringing him back –
it was probably the softest ride I’ve ever had and he hit every distance
perfectly. As soon as I got off course, I literally could tell when the
adrenaline stopped flowing! About 3-5 minutes after getting in the vet box I
realized Rox was catching his breath faster than I was, and I started feeling
everything again. I didn’t really realize just how strong adrenaline is before that!
He was
brilliant in show jumping too. I was stiff and sore from cross-country and once
again didn’t really feel anything while I was on course; he was jumping out of
his skin clearing the fences which was great but hard on my body…looking at the
photos I didn’t have the greatest form but I gave enough that I was out of his
way, and his was the only clean round in the CCI3* - he didn’t even touch a
pole. I'm so proud of him!
My entry is
in for Rebecca Farm in Montana, and I applied for the travel grant too, so I’m hoping to
organize enough funds to go out there for the CCI3* July 12-15th. I might also apply some of the funds from our
Badminton fundraiser to go out there – I think it would be a really good next
step for Rox.
-Kristin
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