From Lisa:
Our “Bit of Britain Challenge” journey started May 16th after winning the Jersey Fresh CCI 2* and unfortunately for Smartie and I it ended about 4 days too early. Personally I thought the challenge was to win the 3* at Fair Hill and $15,000, what I didn’t know was the challenge was to keep my “Smart Horse” from twisting a shoe out in the field and stepping on a nail. That was last Friday and that’s when the fun/stress began. Now it is said there are 5 stages of grief that people go through when they are trying to deal with the end of a relationship, the loss of a loved one or perhaps in my case the loss of a show. The stages are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Seems to me anyone involved with showing horses has clearly decided that these 5 stages are worth repeating over and over and over again. Most of us invest so much of ourselves into our sport and, as horses go (or don’t go), situations are continually presented to you that you have very little control over and as bad as you want it and as hard as you try, in the end, if your horse is lame, you just have to accept it. Well that is until your horse is hopefully healthy and sound once again and you can reinvest the time, love and energy (oh don’t forget the money) hoping that your fate at the next show will be different and that you will actually get to compete. My fate this weekend was determined at Fair Hill after doing In Barns. Smartie was actually 100% sound going into “In Barns” and as we left I noticed he was a little off and within 30 minutes he was 3 legged lame but don’t let me get ahead of myself, here is how it all unfolded.
Denial (“You did not just do that” or “if all goes well we can still make it”)
Last Friday….. Evening feedings typically see Smartie traveling at warp speed to get to his feed bucket but on this fateful day Smartie walked more like Captain Hook during the perfect storm. After just a few steps we knew something was wrong so we traveled up the field, met him half way, only to find his shoe had twisted and he had stepped on a nail. These are the days that my Pony Club A comes in handy, not that it solves the problem but gives me the ability and confidence to make good choices (Go Pony Club). After inspection I removed the nail and the shoe and called Trevor our farrier.
After pulling the shoe Smartie walked sound but there was a spot of blood so I knew the possibility of swelling was good. Now how amazing is my farrier–within an hour both Trevor and co worker James were on site and without going into details we did everything we could to clean, sterilize and wrap the area. At this point the chance of making the show…50%…. we would or wouldn’t make it, pretty simple.
ANGER (Smartie, seriously your timing sucks)
Having a horse go lame five days before an important show puts it all into perspective “REMIND ME AGAIN WHY THE %$&* I DO THIS” ….about that time I remember to take a deep breath and breath and that’s usually when the hurry up and wait scenario starts. You do as much as you can and want to do more but really there is nothing but time between you and your FEI jog. Times like this suck but it does show you how much the people around you care and how amazing and giving they are….kinda takes the anger and puts it into perspective.
BARGAINING/HOPE
I didn’t make any deals with the devil but I did pray a lot and everything we were doing was working. Everyday Smartie improved and come Tuesday evening he was near 100%. We finished packing the trailer and planned on making the 1 hour drive to Fair Hill early Wednesday morning. I jogged him before we left and he was perfect, I was sooo relieved! When we arrived at Fair Hill we unloaded Smartie, he did his “In Barns” and everything was fine…that is until we walked to our stall…in the 100 yard walk to the stall he went from 100% to sore. One of the experts we had sought help from was at Fair Hill and was kind enough to come (in 5 minutes, amazing) look at Smartie. Bottom Line : Smartie now had an abscess and unfortunately was not going to be doing much of anything other than rest. Years ago I had a horse with an abscess and a old time Ferrier told me the best remedy was to put him in the trailer and bounce him around a bit…apparently it works…just really bad timing
Depression/Severe Disappointment
We all put so much effort leading up to and competing at each and every show that it is really hard not to be a little depressed. I mean that’s why we do this. We love riding, we love the competition and we love the thrill of the three day, so when the chance to compete gets taken away right before the biggest show of your year it is understandably depressing…..I guess I could stay mad and disappointed or….
Acceptance
Accept it, realize it is not completely in my control, get on with it and start planning the entry of my next show…because we are eventers and that’s what we do…they say pain is only temporary, so I will take my lumps, be grateful that it is not worse, understand that this is part of the many disappointments presented to each of us as being part of this sport we love, and I will choose rather to embrace what I love about eventing and steer towards my positive goals for next year…probably still going to mope around this weekend, feel like I’m entitled to a little whining.
Bit of Britain
Thank you for such a wonderful opportunity. I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed blogging over the last several months. Thank you, John (BOB), John (EN) and Molly (BOB) for the opportunity and support and hopefully Bit of Britain repeats the challenge next year and we get another crack at it.
Thank You Trevor , James, Chris and Rose who is a specialist at New Bolton who took up Smartie’s cause on Friday and did not stop calling specialists trying to help better our care and chances. There are many others to thank and you are all amazing and very appreciated.
Till next time, Go Eventing
