The “Off” Season

Thanksgiving is over, Black Friday took my money, and winter is fast approaching. The days are disturbingly dark at 5/5:30, and some nights leave me cuddled under my down comforter dreading the morning when I have to leave my warm bed. The Off Season is here.

Nom Nom Nom

Unfortunately Chimi’s Off Season started way to early and he’s been benched since October with the Abscess of Doom. Just when he was sound enough to ride some personal family crisises arose that I had to attend to (and lasted basically all of November.) So Chimi’s Off Season continued and I’ve ridden him once since the beginning of October. But thinking on it, all the time off has been a benefit to Chimi and I think he’ll come out of it for the better. Chimi isn’t that young, he’s not old either but he will be turning 15 in April and he’s a big horse (17hands of chunky cuteness).

Just look at his Chunky cuteness!!! 

Since I’ve owned Chimi he’s had a significant period of time off almost every year and came out of that time off even stronger and better than he was going into it. I think his warmblood brain needs the time to process all the info we worked on previously and his body has time to heal. He came to me with some health issues that I’ve been able to manage so far but I don’t think he would fair so well if he was on go 12 months out of the year. He has a chronic sore back that I’m able to manage with Back on Track saddle pads, squishy half pads, and a saddle that is fitted to him and checked 2x a year by a saddle fitter. He’s a hot mess but he’s my hot mess and I love him for all his quirks :)

Rocking the "Dad Bod"

Because Chimi lives at home I do still spend quality time with him… at least twice a day to be exact! He also lives outside 24/7 (unless there’s bad weather) so he’s kept himself in good condition with his random gallops around the field and having to walk up and down the hill in my front pasture. I’ve been trying to pack on the pounds since we’re going into winter with lots of hay/forage. So right now Chimi is sporting a lovely “Dad” bod (like Emma’s Charlie) and I’m ok with that.

Stop taking pictures lady... I'm trying to eat!!!

But the Off Season is about to end. I’ve look at the calendar and penciled in a few hopeful shows (let’s face it we’re talking about horses AND winter… both are very unpredictable) I'm not far from Aiken so I might try and start my spring season a bit earlier since we didn't have a fall one. My goals this year don't require a top 3 placing so even if I end up competing against all those professionals in Aiken I just need a completion and not a placing which is really helpful! Though I do love pretty ribbons.... even if Chimi doesn't hahaha.

I guess it's time to put down my fork and get to work.... ok. Fork down. It's go time!

Tally Ho!!!!!!

Last Saturday was Opening Meet for Green Creek Hounds, one of the two hunts in this area. The other hunt, Tryon Hounds, opening meet is next week on Thanksgiving Day. So November is a busy month for the Tryon area!






I have never been to a hunt, or heard of a hunt, that does Opening Meet quite like GCH. It is truly a party and ends up being one of the clubs biggest fundraisers of the year. Why you ask? Becauase of the Tally Ho Wagons, aka Party Wagons!!!! The Tally Ho Wagon started out as a way for the social members (the non hunting members) to follow the hunt and get a chance to participate in at least 1 fox hunt a year. There were light snacks and some form of alcohol served on the wagon and everyone had a great time. Word got out about how much fun the party wagon was and now there are 6 wagons, pulled by tractors, that follow the hunt. 5 wagons carry 18-20 people on them, and the 6th wagon has room for 48/50 people. Basically it is an epic party out in the woods!

Both hunts in this area are live hunts (which means they look for the scent of a live fox) but for opening meet GCH lays out a drag (someone ahead of time lays a trail of fox scent in a predestined area for the hounds to find) This guarantees a fast hunt and the Tally Ho Wagons will have a lovely view of the riders galloping by. It really is a fun day for everyone involved!!

After the hunt everyone returns and has a glorious hunt breakfast at this old house and the merriment continues. I'm going to leave you with a few more pictures b/c my brain is a bit addled with the impending holiday and I can't think through a well written paragraph :) Enjoy the pictures instead!

The Abscess of Doom

The month of October started out with so much promise and excitement only to end with basically a month off of riding. The Karen O’Connor clinic was out (thankfully just for Chimi, thank you for saving me Joe!) and after an initial time for 2pointober any hopes I had of winning the cool prizes were thrown out the window. And just like that I was soaking, wrapping, and cursing the damn Abscess of Doom. 

Chimi says "Who me?"

I think the Abscess of Doom started back in September when I was supposed to go XC schooling with KC and Pilgrim at FENCE. Chimi had come in lame the day before and I immediately started soaking and wrapping it bc I knew the KOC clinic was fast approaching. 2 days later Chimi was sound and I got a chance to ride a couple of days and get in my 2pointober time of 3:00 minutes. This summer killed my fitness bc I sat around and ate to much cake at work and didn’t get to move around as much as I usually do. So I had to come up with a “get fit quick” plan before the clinic, which involved lots of riding and two point. 2 days later Chimi was lame. 

Chimi did not like to keep his hoof in the bucket and proceeded to kick it over spilling all the hot water and epson salts out!!! Bad Chimi!

Normally when Chimi gets an abscess he stays sound and the only reason you know he had one is the blowout spot on his hoof. Occasionally he’ll get one and be lame but those normally last 2 days at the most and he’s fine. I was hoping that it would follow that same pattern bc we had just entered the week of the KOC clinic and I wasn’t getting a chance to ride at all leading up to the clinic! After 3 days of soaking and wrapping there was hope and Wednesday afternoon when I lunged Chimi he was mostly sound and I sighed a little bit in relief and thought “yes, we’re almost there”. Then Thursday morning rolls around and Chimi comes in 3 legged lame and refused to put weight on his left hind and I cried in frustration. 

As you know from previous posts Joe came to the rescue and we had a successful clinic. Chimi sat around all weekend probably laughing at Joe having to cart me around while he got a mini vacation and ate hay all day. 

Joe to the rescue!!!

The week after the clinic I was starting to freak out a bit. Nothing was blowing out and my horse was still really lame. I couldn’t decide if I should call the vet or not bc what were they going to do? Tell me to keep doing exactly what I was already doing? My farrier was supposed to come out that week so I begged him (it didn’t take much) to hoof test Chimi and see if he could figure out where it was. The day he came out Chimi came in with a huge tender bulge right at his cornet band and my farrier looked at me and said “there you go, that’s where it’s going to come out”. And sure enough 2 days later it did! 

The day it blew out

Much to Chimi’s relief the pressure had been released and he was sound. Unfortunately the day before it blew out Chimi developed a case of cellulitis that I recognized after the emergency/weekend hours started Friday evening. Trying to save my pocket book from an emergency call I started Chimi on antibiotics and wrapped his leg to help reduce swelling. Saturday afternoon the abscess blew out his cornet band right at the tender bulge. Over the weekend I kept watch over his leg and planned to take him to the vet Monday morning to make sure nothing was going on I wasn’t in control of. In the meantime I had another fun horseless cross country outing with KC and Sara and even got to hop on Gem for a bit! 

The day after it blew out his cornet band

Finally Monday rolled around and I called the vet to set up an appointment. I was feeling a bit of relief bc the cellulitis was going down and my horse was sound (at the walk). But I wanted to make sure it would stay that way so I loaded Chimi up and headed to the vet office. We were met by a vet tech and a younger vet while we waited for the more senior vet to finish injecting hocks on another horse. Chimi was not being a very good patient and kept insisting he walk around and the poor vet tech kept him going while I went over everything I’ve done and noticed with the younger vet. Finally the senior vet arrived and we went back over everything. Dr PJ (the senior vet) was amazing and used Chimi as a teaching opportunity for the younger vet (I feel terrible bc I forgot her name but I can recognize her face!) Dr PJ picked apart Chimi’s conformation, had him jogged to check on soundness, and asked younger vet (YV)  how to proceed and what she would do. She gave an acceptable answer but Dr PJ used this as an opportunity to talk about all the factors, including financial. YV wanted to do radiographs and clean out the area the abscess blew out and Dr PJ said yes that is an option, to make sure nothing else is there, or judging how sound this horse was (they were very impressed that he was sound at the walk and mostly sound at the trot b/c apparently horses with gravel abscesses (what Chimi had) are usually still lame after it blows out.) that his cellulitis was improving, and I was only 15 minutes away so if something changed Chimi could easily come back for a more in depth exploration. THANK GOD FOR DR PJ!!!!!! He looked at me and said "Radiographs and debriding the would would cost me $500-$700 or just wrapping it and keeping it clean would be much less and more budget friendly. I went with the more budget friendly option.

Chimi was pretty close to being a model patient and stood still but did lift his sore foot when they were cleaning it. But as the vets said "he's not trying to kill us so he's behaving wonderfully!" Dr PJ continued to use Chimi as a teaching opportunity and asked YV how you should wrap the wound. I'm sure at this point she probably started second guessing herself (I know I would!) and sort of answered questioningly. I really don't blame her b/c there's nothing worse being put in the spotlight and hoping you don't give the wrong answer. Either way Dr PJ showed YV how he wanted the foot wrapped to keep dirt and debris out of the abscess which was still draining. He layered Chimi's foot with so much padding that his hoof grew two sizes! One of the major things Dr PJ was very adiment about was no vet wrap directly on the skin, for 2 reasons. 1) Vet wrap can be an irritant and cause irritation on the skin for some horses and 2) if pulled to tight it can cut off the circulation to the hoof and cause the hoof to die. He then talked about how he's had to put down to many foals that were put in corrective hoof casts that were just vet wrapped onto the leg. And on that sad note... Dr PJ finished off Chimi's hoof wrap with elstacon and we were sent home with directions to keep the boot on for 48 hours and then rewrap it again for another 48 hours or until the abscess stops draining.

The vet's wrapping job.... it lasted 48 hours

Dr PJ's wrap lasted 48 hours and possibly could of gone another day but I cut it off 2 days later and OMG it smelled so bad! The animalintex (sp?) was soaked and smelly with 2 days worth of puss. Barf.

my wrapping job lasted 24 hours... vet did a better job but my was good enough! (I was very careful not to pull the vet wrap tight access his cornet band since I didn't have as much padding as the vet did)

Now a week or so has gone by and the abscess is growing out! Just hoping no lasting damage from the cornet band but at least Chimi's sound and happy. I've started riding him again and he seems no worse for the wear. My friend JP came over with her 4 year old to go trail riding and Chimi was very lazy! I think he's enjoyed his time off to much, but not anymore!!! It's time to RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's starting to grow out

Gallop....GALLOP!!!!!!!! Karen O'Connor on XC Day

Now it was cross country day!!!!!! Unfortunately the lovely weather we had the day before was a fleeting moment bc a tropical storm rolled in on Sunday. It started out ok, misty with a few gentle showers. In order to attempt to to beat the bad part of the storm everyone's lesson time got bumped forward and the plan was to power through the 3 groups (BN, Novice, Training/Prelim) and hope for the best. As long as it wasn't thundering and lightening the clinic was on go and the storm wasn't suppose to arrive until later that afternoon. Karen had another theory lesson at 8 am and talked about riding XC. I have notes and will try to write those down later but the basic gist was there are 3 positions on XC (Galloping, Prepping, and Jumping) with a 4th position for Drop Fences. Ride with a bridge in your reins, and your angles in your body change the speed of your horse (increased angles= go faster, more open angles =slow down) and keep your leg perpendicular to sea level.

(sorry for the large pictures, for some reason Blogger isn't letting me adjust the size today)

The BN group warming up around the bank complex

BN was the first group to go and I was able to watch most of that lesson. She was really into fitness and had the group canter around for 5 minutes without stopping in their various XC positions (she would call out Galloping! Prepping! Galloping!) and the riders had to either speed up or slow down by changing their positions. She did spend a lot of time working on their positions before moving on to banks. A lot of the BN horses or riders were very green so they stuck to fairly simple exercises and worked on jumping off the bank and turning left or right to the verticals she had set up on a bending line after the down bank. After they got that they headed over to the ditch and worked on jumping a ditch and then adding the coop after and making it into a half coffin. I had to leave at that point to go get Joe so I missed the end  and the Training/ Prelim group.

As soon as Joe arrive at the clinic the bottom fell out and it was serious torrential rain falling. The poor Training/Prelim group was still out there riding during the rain and I heard that they stopped when the riders were struggling to stay in their tack (it was at the end of their lesson anyways so they got a lot done) The footing held up really well so the horses were fine but not so much the riders! Our lesson was temporarily postponed bc the weather map was showing the rain stopping around 1:30/2. And sure enough the rain stopped and we were able to have a lovely lesson. 

Gives you an idea how steep the hill was that we had to canter down. Bank complex is to the right just out of the picture

As soon as we all got out there it was time to work on our XC positions. While our horses were warming up at the trot we were practicing our different positions and learning how to balance correctly. We were on the side of a hill so we had to practice going up and down and making sure our horses were balanced. The footing was pretty torn up from the earlier groups and the rain so part of the lesson was being aware of the footing and changing our track to be on better footing. Though all in all I was really surprised how well the footing was holding up. None of the horses slipped going downhill even when we started to canter. We continued to work on our XC positions in the canter and we would stretch up and balance down the hill and close our angles and press down on the withers and gallop up the hill. It was awesome for really finding your balance and I thought to bad I’m not getting a time right now bc this would be a beastly 2pointober time right now!!!!!

This was the bank we dropped off of and did a bending line to a vertical and then circled back to another vertical and back up the bank

After that we went straight into banks and course work. She had us jump down a bank 2/3 stride bending line to a vertical, loop around to another vertical, up the bank, turn right up another bank, 2 strides down a bank landing on a downhill decline and 2 strides to a skinny chevron. Joe was so good until the skinny chevron and I think I froze and he said nope! You're not with me so I won't do it! Karen asked if I was nervous about the skinny and I said yes and she very calmly said channel that nervousness into determination and ride forward to the skinny. So I did. And guess what? WE JUMPED THE SKINNY DOWNHILL JUMP OF DOOM!!!!!! I wish I had it on video b/c it was probably the most nerve racking jump (for me) that we did at the clinic. I'm not a fan of skinnies and downhill jumps when it's been raining but I really had nothing to fear with Joe. He knows where his feet are and isn't going to slip b/c he bolted down a hill or anything. He's to clever to do something stupid like that :) I didn't get the bank complex on video but some nice spectators I guess felt bad for me and took some videos of the next thing we worked on, ditches and water.

So now it was time for ditches!!! We ended up struggling a bit with the ditch and when we started to string together a little coffin exercise I almost fell off. But I was in my trainer's Devecoux that had grippy calfskin leather and omg I get it!!!! I lost my left stirrup and never felt like I was going to fall off b/c my pants were stuck to the leather (and Joe's back is about as wide as a bus so yeah, wasn't going anywhere) and if I ever need a new saddle calfskin might be in my future... (I love you grippy wonderfulness!) But either way we finally got our act together and strung together the coop, trakener, skinny, water, vertical together! I had to overly exaggerate my elbows b/c I kept locking them and thats when Joe would stop. The final question of the day with the vertical in the water and we only had to do it once b/c I remembered to stay soft in my elbows and Joe was like "FINALLY!!!! OK lets do this!!!!!" So many smiles and pats afterwards!!!!!!!

After we were done Karen asked us if we had any questions and I really couldn't think of anything. I was so happy with the clinic as a whole and loved that my weakness were highlighted the entire clinic so I could work on them. My riding was far from perfect but I felt like I progressed and actually improved. I know what I need to work on and felt like I was given tools to do it. I know my overall fitness is at an all time low right now and that makes me a less confident rider. My confidence is related to my fitness and in the past I wouldn't of blinked at the downhill bank to the skinny but right now I'm not there. So this winter needs to be dedication to getting myself back on board so I can give Chimi the ride he deserves and we can come out swinging this spring!!!!!

He's a 4 Star Horse, but Not in a 4 Star Body- Karen O'Connor

Me with Joe the Wonder Horse!!!!

Finally it was time for my lesson! Joe arrived with minimal dirt around lunch and I quickly sprayed the spots with Green Spot Remover to make him look clean enough. I had Trainer and Trainer's Husband helping me get Joe ready so it took no time at all to head over to the ring. As soon as they were finished dragging and watering the arena (we hadn't had rain in eons) we headed in and Karen asked us about our horses. I told her that my horse was lame and I'm borrowing my trainer's horse who has competed up to Novice but isn't very fit. She looked at him and you could tell she's going "What the hell is this in my arena. It's a giant white blob. Can this thing even get off the ground?" She asked "When was the last time this horse jumped?" I called over to Trainer who said "It's probably been about a year". Karen looks at me and says "You know this is a jumping clinic right?" I replied back "Yes, but this is my only option. I will do what I can but my horse is lame" She sort of nodded her head and went on to the next rider and horse combo.

One of the few moments we looked decent over the poles!

As soon as she went through all the horses and riders to find out about their experience and horse's experience she sent us off to warm up. I was struggling with keeping Joe from tossing his head and being generally pissed at me but somehow we made it through the warm up. After that the first exercise she has us do was canter over 2 poles set 2 strides apart. We had to get 2 perfect strides and then we had to shorten our stride and get 3 in between the poles. OMG this was so hard. I've practiced this exercise plenty of times with Chimi and it's very easy us but not so much with Joe. Not b/c Joe can't do it, I was struggling to keep Joe in a nice canter without getting to tight in my arms which would annoy him so he'd flip his head and charge around (clearly he thought I was an idiot who needed to learn how to ride again, thanks Joe) Finally we got it well enough that Karen deemed it ok for us to continue.

Karen had a gate set up and had everyone canter over the gate which was the first jump in a 5/6 (?) stride line but we had to stop before we jumped the oxer out. When it was my turn Karen calls out "Here he goes, first jump in a year!" and not going to lie I was nervous as hell. The jump wasn't big but I was hoping we would of started with a tiny cross rail instead of a 2'3/2'6" vertical!!!! But I had no reason to be nervous. As we cantered to the jump I kept my leg on and Joe was PERFECT. He was so perfect I almost forgot to stop b/c I was smiling so much and thinking "OMG WE DID IT I DIDN'T DIE JOE YOU ARE AMAZING OH SHIT WE HAVE TO STOP" (very much a run on sentence thoughts going on in my head!)

After that we did various exercises that worked on bending lines and keeping a nice canter through the entire exercise. Sounds easy but it wasn't. There was one girl who I felt really bad for because she had just bought a really nice horse and was struggling to ride him. I caught Karen mumble under her breathe that the horse was to much horse for the rider but she did a good job of helping the kid through the lesson on her very high octane horse. In truth the horse really was to much for the girl and I can only hope that she somehow figures out how to ride him b/c it was not looking good during the lesson.

After everyone jumped around then bending line exercise we moved on to a course. By this point I'm not pissing Joe off as much but I'm still working on keeping a good canter pace without getting to stiff in my elbows. So HARD. I didn't realize how locked in my arms I get until I rode Joe. Chimi obviously ignores me but Joe did not. We had a stop at the 2 stride that was completely my fault but we came around again and I had soft elbows and Joe jumped through it beautifully. After that we were done! 2 plus hours had passed and even though we didn't do any crazy grids or new exercises it was a very successful lesson. Sometimes going back to basics is the best lesson ever because you realize you aren't very good as those basic exercises!!!!!

Joe getting some last minute wisdom from Karen

As we left the arena and everyone was riding high after a very positive lesson Trainer came over with a huge grin on her face. She was so happy with how everything went and it was all pats and hugs for the big white dude. Karen came over and asked us if we had any questions and no one did and then she looked over at Joe and said "That is a 4 star horse, but not in a 4 star body" Trainer and I laughed because it is the perfect way to describe Joe. He is massive and looks clunky if you just see him standing around but he is very sensitive and quite athletic! He is a full Irish Draught (or at least is mostly Irish Draught) and showcases the reason the breed is very successful. I know when Karen first saw him all she could see was a very fat white blob but after the lesson she seemed to really like him. Day 1 was over and we had Cross Country to look forward to the next day with a gigantic storm thinking about rolling in overnight too. But more on that tomorrow!!!!

The Novice group and Karen

Eventing Has Gotten Harder. Now You Have to Jump Upright Wine Bottles- Karen O'Connor

Karen's lecture- the only 8am one you actually want to attend! Picture Credit Shelley Contin-Hubbs

Saturday morning started early because Karen wanted everyone there for a mandatory 8am lecture. I really enjoyed this b/c so many people sign up for clinics and show up to ride and then immediately leave. I'm of the mindset that if you sign up for the clinic you need to be there and watch the other groups too. You can learn so much from watching the other groups and clinics are not cheap. Why not stay and get as much info as possible? Now I completely understand that sometimes this isn't completely possible, but you should still be there as long as you can.

Her lecture was a preview of her philosophy on riding and gave us an idea on what to expect her to teach in her lesson. I took notes so I'm going to give you the bullet points below. There was so much information that my bullet notes can't do it justice, but it'll give you an idea of what we talked about:

Riders Natural Aides: leg, seat, hands, voice, weight

5 Levels of Pressure applied with aides:
air, hair, skin, muscle, bone

Rider Responsibilities:
1. Direction
2. How fast you want to get there
3. Balance of the horse
4. Rhythm- everything happens in a rhythm, (even a horse eating is in a rhythm)

When Jumping:
1) Assess the shape of the jump (vertical or ascending)
2) what's behind the front face of the jump (is it a hogs back?)
3) What does the jump look like? What do you need to do to keep the horse in front of your leg (I think she meant is the jump scary and going to back your horse off, is it a giant wine bottle or just a simple log?)
4)What is around the jump? (Footing, people, other jumps, basically the environment around the jump)

Horses have to understand what they're doing.

They need to understand:
1) related distances/adjustability exercises
2) Bending Lines
3)Learn how to jump on an angle. They need to be straight but the jump is at an angle
4)Be able to jump skinnies

For the Rider Riding:

Horses have to have ridability. If you can not stop your horse you should not jump

In Dressage the most important part of your position is your seat (not just your butt but your thighs all the way up to your core, it's all part of your seat, if I remembered correctly that's what she said)

In Show Jumping the most important part of your position is your lower leg

Horses have to have impulsion and engagement. Rider needs a stable lower leg so will not interfere with horses needs

Best way to secure your lower leg is to take your stirrups away

3 Positions in Show Jumping:
Half Seat (3 point), Sitting, and 2 point

Shape and Power of horse is what allows the horse to jump clear

Horse has to be submissive by yielding to pressure you apply

3 Ways to Engage your horse:
1)Downward Transitions (within the gait or changing gaits)
2)Circles (it takes engagement to do a small ring figure)
3)Lateral Movements

There are 2 Turns when jumping
1) Point of Turn (the turn before the jump)
2) Departure Turn (the turn after you jump)

If you don't land over the fence with options you don't have balance (I think she was talking about can you send your horse forward, bring them back, do whatever you need to do to get to the next jump safely. If your horse lands and takes off with you you don't have options, you just have a run away horse, so you need to have options but you get them with balance)

Show a horse what they can do, not that they can't (such a great quote from the weekend)

It's the consistency of the contact. Sometimes you'll have a lot of movement in your elbows (THIS was my theme of the weekend, I did not have soft elbows and had to work really hard on keeping them moving so I didn't piss off Joe)


Her lecture was over an hour but it was so engaging that it felt like time flew by. She kept the audience involved and didn't just sit there talking. She kept asking us questions and even opened the floor for any and all questions at the end. Some of those topics ranged from injections, soundness of horses, arena footing, appropriateness of mount for rider.

Riders, auditors, and helpers, all listening to Karen. Pic credit Shelley Contin-Hubbs

Even though I kinda knew the basic gist of everything she said in her lecture it was so helpful putting words to correct riding. It was also helpful just thinking through and understanding the whys for correct riding. I don't know if that sentence makes sense but overall I really liked that she took the time to get everyone on the same page. I learned a lot from her lecture and couldn't wait to get out and ride!!!

Tomorrow I'll talk about the actual riding part!!!

Getting Ready for the Karen O'Connor Clinic

This past weekend my local Pony Club hosted a Karen O'Connor clinic and of course I had to sign up!!! I had no idea what to expect but figured it would be a good experience. And it ended up exceeding my expectations and I LOVED it. She is tough, she is direct, but if you listen she really has a lot of great things to say that will make you a better, safer, and more efficient rider. So if the only thing you read of this post is this paragraph; if she's in town go to her clinic!!!!! (Audit or ride, doesn't matter, you'll learn a lot either way)

Chimi being a pain in the ass about soaking his hoof

Leading up to the clinic I was doing my best to work on fitness. With 2Pointober in swing and great healthy eating plans in action I was going to be as ready as possible for the clinic. HAHAHA. Damn it horses. On the Sunday before the clinic I headed down to the barn to feed and notice Chimi didn't look quite right. I stuck him on the lunge line and sure enough he's lame as a ghost. My horse had a damn abscess brewing in his hoof. So back to the barn we went and I started soaking and wrapping his hoof. I quickly texted Trainer b/c we were supposed to have a lesson the next day and I had to cancel. She replied back, "If Chimi's not sound for the clinic you can borrow Joe"

How I felt when she said I could ride Joe

I might of squealed a little bit because Joe is this really cool Irish Draught that Trainer competed through Novice. He's kinda perfect and super adorable but he's been sitting in a field and goes on monthly train rides with Trainer's husband. Basically he's semi retired. I had no idea how intense the Karen O'Connor clinic would be so I was still hoping Chimi's abscess would blow out in the next day or so and be fine. But it was nice knowing that I had a backup in case Chimi didn't blow out the abscess.




Wednesday rolls around and Chimi is SOUND. He'd take a funny step every so often if he was walking across the rocky driveway but other wise he looked pretty good and I was hopeful that all would be well. Thursday morning rolls around and Chimi comes into eat his breakfast completely 3 legged lame. He wouldn't put weight on his foot and was being completely dramatic about it. A quick text to Trainer and said "Look like Joe's going to have to come out of retirement! Chimi's lame again" and she replied "I'll up Joe's grain to 1 cup today, he'll be excited to get more food!" We made plans for me to come over Friday morning to clip him and take a quick ride on him since I've never ridden him before!!!!

Yeah I have no idea. It's creepy and hysterical all at the same time!

My great plan of working on 2pointober and getting fitter was thrown out the window and I didn't even ride the week of the clinic until Friday. After giving Joe a quick Irish clip I hopped on him and found him to be surprisingly sensitive. He responded really well to any leg aide and would move in any direction I sent him in. Ok I thought I can do this. When I asked him to canter he zoomed across the field but I was able to regulate his speed and felt comfortable enough. Trainer had a jump set up and I couldn't decide if I should jump it or not. It wasn't very small but also wasn't to big (2'3/2'6"ish) but I completely chickened out and figured I'd do better tomorrow when I had no other option except to jump!!!! Plus Joe was pretty sweaty and I had to head back home to move Finn to a new barn (His leaser had a really cool opportunity to be a working student for a local dressage trainer and it helps that I'm down to 3 horses for the winter YAY.)


When I got back to the barn Trainer and I made plans on how to get Joe to the clinic and we were ready for tomorrow's 8am mandatory lecture from Karen!!!!! And whatever else Karen would throw our way!!!!!!