Grinding my Gears

Boy, horses sure do keep us humble, huh?

After Lucy's super XC schooling round that I last updated about, she went to an unrated schooling 3-phase at Azrael Acres in Uxbridge, MA. In true Lucy fashion, she walked right out of a hind shoe getting on the trailer, but the foot looked perfect and she didn't seem to care, so they opted to go ahead with the show plans. Dressage went better than it ever has, with some beautiful moments. Overall still kind of a tense test, but miles ahead of where she came from.

I was very worried about both jumping phases. Lucy's division was first, so the ground was still quite wet from the night before, and they were both on slick grass. I know how sensitive she is about her feet and I was worried she wouldn't feel secure with one missing hind shoe and not a lot of traction.

Sadly, I was spot on. She had a very tough time getting around SJ and after three XC jumps, told her rider that she was done. We were all so disappointed, but not really in Lucy, just in general.

One XC jump from faaaarrr away

Morgan went back to basics that week, rebuilding Lucy's confidence. They went to Apple Knoll to school in the jumper show on Wednesday and did 2'9" and 3'. Lucy jumped very well. She has never jumped under the lights but she did that day, and it didn't phase her! She had a rail in the jump off in the 2'9" class and just missed the ribbons because of it, and the height in the 3' class surprised her a bit so she pulled two rails very early on, but jumped clean the last half of the class (funny how you actually have to pay attention at 3', horse!) so overall I was very very happy about all of that.

The day after that, they went XC schooling and while it started out great, Lucy got combative with her rider, E, and E kind of decided enough was enough, and got off. I don't blame her. Morgan got on and schooled Lucy and Lu did a lot better. They made the decision that Morgan would ride her at Valinor this weekend, not E, and they dropped her from Novice to BN. I was totally on board with that idea. BN set Lucy up for success, not failure. I was very hopeful that it would be a great event. Plus, it was set to be her first rated show!

Then Morgan found her in her stall with a giant swollen knee this morning. UGH how frustrating!!! So she's scratched for the day and Morgan cold-hosed her. She's a bit ouchy at the walk but sound at the trot. Morgan thinks it may be a bee sting or other insect related injury. Fingers crossed that it goes down asap.

On a happier note, have some Hannah and Cairo pictures:

Lucy kicked butt today

Lucy went XC schooling today and I think she impressed all of us. One of Morgan's students rode her in preparation for an event they're doing this weekend. She was originally going to take the horse she has been riding all summer, but that horse has unfortunately been feeling under the weather, so Morgan asked if it was ok if she rode Lucy. I thought about it and decided it was alright with me, but I was curious to watch E ride Lucy today, and see if they were a good team.

Well, they certainly are a GREAT team. I was so impressed. Lucy had quite a bit of work to do because E had actually entered the Novice division with the other mare, so that's what she was planning on doing with Lucy. The main goal today was to get Lu re-exposed to all of the XC jumps that she may encounter on a Novice course. Keep in mind that I only ever did weenie eventing at the Elementary level, so the jump to Novice is quite a big one! But Lucy was a machine out there today, and no one is particularly worried about how she'll be this weekend.

Warming up

Ditches: no problem! 

And, the final few jumps of the day (Hannah was ready to go home at this point):

Lu update

I visited Lucy on Wednesday. She had most of the past week and a half off, because her feet got too long and due to the 4th of July holiday and the farrier's full schedule, she had to wait to be reshod. I was very worried about this, though I did my absolute best not to be a hovering nut case. I just had worked so hard to get her feet in great condition, and she is so sensitive when they get long, especially on hard ground.

Anyway, they are done now, and they look fine. She looks totally beefy. Her neck looks better than it ever has, and her shoulders are really bulking up, too. Her hind end still has a ways to go but her trainer and I were joking that she actually has to use her butt for her muscles to develop (ha ha).

I had planned to be there to watch Morgan ride, but due to traffic, I missed basically the entire ride. I couldn't stay long, either; I had a doctor's appointment to rush back to. Oh well, at least I got to see Lulu for a few minutes. I even hopped on and cooled her out for Morgan.

A very cute thing that happened was when I first got there, I called hello from across the ring, and Lucy pricked her ears at me and more or less beelined over to me. Morgan even commented that before I got there, Lucy was just trudging along at the walk, cooling out, but when she saw me, she walked as fast as she could over to me. That pretty much made me melt.

This week, Morgan plans to go to the Apple Knoll Jumper series on Wednesday night, and then take Lu XC schooling on Thursday. Lucy is going to a dressage show this weekend with one of Morgan's students. Lucy needs all the dressage experience she can get, as she and Morgan have a 3 phase event coming up on the 20th.