It's hard to believe it's been almost 8 weeks since surgery and I get to jump in 36ish hours! My last post was 3 days after surgery and the 6 weeks ahead seemed like a very long road, but I have to say, it really hasn't been bad at all. I was up and moving around very quickly, which meant I could spend time in the barn and teach which kept me from getting too bored. I have now been riding on the flat for almost 3 weeks and it feels great. Of course a few little logs may or may not have gotten in my way while cantering around the ring... shh, don't tell my surgeon;) This probably sounds corny but I have been reminded over these 8 weeks that I really do love horses; whether I can ride them or not, it makes me happy just being around them. I guess that's not such a bad reminder to have had.
While I am now healthy and ready to go, unfortunately Uno is just beginning his much longer road to recovery. After extensive diagnostics including scoping, we discovered an injury to his stifle that will require the rest of the year to heal. He has been a super patient and is handling stall rest as well as can be expected. He stall is cluttered with various attempts to keep him amused including a hanging jolly ball, a traffic cone, a hanging salt lick and an Uncle Jimmys Hanging Ball (which the birds are more interested in that he is!). I hate having to coop him up, stall rest is so unnatural for horses, but hopefully he understands that it's what he needs right now. Uno had his scoping done at OSU and while there I received a phone call that there was a horse on the track that I would love and should look at. Was I looking for a horse? No. Did I buy him? Yes! I picked him up on the way home and have since enjoyed getting to know him in the field while brushing, feeding and admiring him as he squeals and plays in circles around his two senior pasture pals, Aspen and Linus! He is only three so will enjoy several months in the field before starting his new eventing career, though he got an education on Satuday with front row viewing of the derby rounds!
We were very sad to say goodbye to Claire on Saturday. Claire has been at Aspen Farms since last June and is now off to travel around Europe for 6 weeks before heading to Quebec for college. While I'm very sad not to have her with us, I am equally excited for her future! My next blog post is going to be a list of "canadianisms" in her honor. Whenever I said something that received strange looks from surrounding americans, I would look to Claire for back up that I wasn't making it up, that really is what we call it in Canada! Claires confidence in her riding ability came a long way in her time here, especially in the last few months. We miss you Claire!!!
Also on Saturday was our last derby for the spring. The weather actually cooperated and we had a somewhat dry, nice day! Thank you to everyone who came out and rode, we had a great turn out and a safe, fun day. Hopefully everyone is feeling a bit more ready for the first event of the season at NW this weekend. Thank you to our great set up and volunteer crew: Jay, Lauralie, Lauren, Cindi, Rick, Gail, Marney, Chelsey, Mike, Laramie, Claire, Lindsey, Vidal, Roz. Thank you to Joanna for judging and Jon for designing great courses.
We are sending a small group of horses to NW this weekend, normally I feel like a horse taxi running horses back and forth each day but this time it will be one trip with four horses! Jon has been riding Patagonia for me while I recover so he will compete him Novice this weekend. They have been having fun together and I have enjoyed watching Gogo progress with Jon. It's different for me to be the one on the ground while Jon is in the saddle but we make a good team either way I think! Laramie and Wally are competing preliminary to get a nice smooth, confident start of the season so they will be ready to upgrade at our event if all goes well. Chelsey is competing Cindi Carrells two lovely girls, Stormont and Israels Surprise. I will be proudly coaching two of my students in their first trainings; good luck Alisa and Jess!
What else? That might be it for now! Though I must say that in the time that it took me to write this, it's now thursday which means I can say........ I get to jump tomorrow, yay!!!!!!
Good luck to everyone this weekend!
Suzy
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