Annoyed.

Every year I have this general plan: compete in 4 horse trials in the spring and 4 horse trials in the fall. The levels don't really matter. I just find that with 4-and-4, I can get into a rhythm without overwhelming myself and still have time to do other life stuff. Lots of people are able to fit more competitions than that into each season, but I've found that even aiming for 4-and-4 often turns out to be too high of a standard for me.

Since purchasing Leo in July 2010, I have only managed to complete 2 seasons with a full 4 horse trials:

• Fall 2010: Competed in 4 horse trials (3 BNs and 1 Novice) 
• Spring 2011: Competed in 3 horse trials (1 BN and 2 Novice)
• Summer 2011: Moved to North Carolina
• Fall 2011: Competed in 2 horse trials (2 Novice)
• Spring 2012: Competed in 4 horse trials (3 Novice and 1 Training)
• Summer 2012: Moved to Maryland
• Fall 2012: Competed in 2 horse trials (Training)
• Spring 2013: Competed in 2 horse trials (Training)

I am entered in the New Jersey Horse Trials this coming weekend and was REALLY looking forward to going. Leo's all fixed up: finished his 4 week GastroGard treatment, stifle injection appears to have worked well, and we have a new bit in place. Alas, life had other things in store this month. 

Let the annoyances begin....

The first weekend of June, Leo pulled his right front shoe. This is always bad news because his front feet are so damn sensitive. The shoe went back on and all seemed ok. 

The next week, I was in Chicago for work. Kristy was going to keep Leo in work for me but he had a bad reaction to her saddle and came up really sore. He ended up getting the week off. I came home and he went back into work for a week. 

The second week, I show up on Friday to jump Leo and discover that he got kicked in his left front fore-arm. He had a huge hematoma and a cut. He was sound so I was hopeful that I could go to the beach that weekend and return and go right back to work. My friend Jen kept the wound clean and applied surpass to the inflammation while I was away, but there was a big hoopla at the barn from people who disagreed with my directions. That was even more annoying then the fact that Leo got kicked again. 

This was how I was feeling by week 3 of June

The third week, I had the vet take a look at the kick wound in order to calm the mob. His left leg was fine (Yes, I was right). Turns out, she discovered he was lame in the right front. We hypothesized that he was developing an abscess from pulling his shoe 2 weeks earlier. So he went on stall rest on Monday and had his feet packed for the rest of the week. I started riding him again on Thursday. 

Leo loves not working. 

Then today, Sunday - the start of week four - he pulled the right front shoe off AGAIN while I was riding him. 

Seriously. WTF. UGH. 

I counted. Leo has been ridden 12 times the past 3 weeks. He has only been jumped 2 times. How can I ask this horse to run a full horse trial? Especially after I just spent over $2,500 getting him fixed up? I was contemplating going to New Jersey and just doing dressage and stadium, but oh god, the torture of being there and not running xc!!!! 

Which leads me to another compliant....

Scratching from horse trials without a chance of a refund. UGH. I have sponsored other events this way: Fair Hill May 2011, Carolina Horse Park June 2012, Marlborough Sept 2012. Why not just add New Jersey to the list? Is it better to go and add the cost of trailering to the mix in order to practice 2 of the 3 phases? Or is it better to fold and not throw any more money at it?

Not going to New Jersey bums me out on many levels. First, I really want to ride another xc course! I also know a lot of people who will be at Jersey and it will be a reunion of sorts. Jane is organizing so there is always a large Pleasant Hollow crew there (Diane, Jen, Gary). Plus, I'm sure Becca, Alyson and other people I know will be competing there. It also close to my mom and she has wanted to come see me and Leo compete....blah blah blah....whine, whine, whine. 

Whining. That's what blogs are for right?

Cats make everything better...