MIA...

I've been MIA since just before we left for out trial in Tryon. To say the least the weekend did not go as planned. Togey did not take well to riding in the trailer for 5 hours with a mare in heat. I think he torqued his back during the ride as well. He came off the trailer a different horse. He was hot, looking at everything, and just unruly. We got unpacked and headed to the hotel, hoping lunging in the morning would help.

I don't think Togey got any rest Saturday night. Sunday morning his stall was totally banked and he had obviously been turning donuts all night. He was also trying to climb the wall into Em's stall. Katie was an amazing groom. She took care of everything with out me asking her for anything. She may have a career as a professional groom ahead of her.

Kaijsa had an okay dressage ride, followed by my disasterous one. Togey's hind end was not working right. I couldn't keep him tracking, and he refused to bend. My second level dressage horse went down to a poor quality Intro horse. After our ride we went back to the warmup ring only for him to LAUNCH me 20 foot in the air. KJ reports that my feet were above Togey's head. I landed on my feet the same way you just step off a high dive and weight for the water to make contact.

Kaijsa headed out for cross country, which was set to be a very challenging course. You basically went up the side of a mountain over 5 fences, across the peak over another 5 fences, and back down over the final 5 fences to the water complex. Kaijsa was really looking forward to going cross country. She headed to the starting box, while Katie positioned herself at the first fence to take pictures, and KJ and I went on up the hill to get the best perspective of the majority of the fences. Kaijsa got out of the starting box in great style. About 5 strides out from the fence it was obvious there was some hesitation on the pairs part and Em broke to a trot. One stride out Kaijsa realized that the jump wasn't going to be there, but by the time she had an opportunity to react Em had stopped. Em gave Kaijsa her heart and all and tried to jump the fence from a stand still. She did get clear, just rubbing the top of the 3' fence with her hind feet. But Kaijsa got left terribly behind on take off. The concussion of landing popped her right off the side and she landed badly on a hip. Since mom wasn't with us we aired on the side of caution and scrapped the day. We headed to the ER to have x-rays taken, and pick up a set of crutches.

KJ and Katie were fantastic they took care of getting the horses settled, and squared away then brought the truck over to the hospital to pick Kaijsa and I up. I did learn one lesson I am not travelling without at least one other licensced driver. I'm not sure how we would have gotten home from the hospital without KJ to bring the truck.

When we got home we put the weekend behind us, and started looking towards a trial at Carolina Horse Park near Southern Pines, NC. This time Katie will be showing Jazz. Katie doesn't like to event because cross country is nerve racking for her. But, this course is where her pony club rally is held, so it's a fantastic opportunity to practice. I was planning to compete on Togey if he started behaving better, and if not I would take Riley. When we got home Togey continued to act a fool under saddle trying to buck me off with each canter attempt. I opted to give him a week off, which made a world of difference. I got him yesterday for the first time in just over a week. I have my horse back!!!! I have decided not to compete him in Southern Pines though. I'm going to take him along and stable to see if he travels better before planning to compete. One difference with eventing compared to hunter/jumper shows is that you have to prepay for your entry. I don't want to spend $100 to discover that I have a nut coming off the trailer. So, he'll just come to be Jazz's travelling companion this time.

CRA has a crazy month and a half ahead of us. It doesn't seem to matter how small our team is we keep busy enough. This weekend is the 4-H show at Mullet Hall. Chipper will be competing on Riley, and I may take Togey down for some under saddle classes.

Next weekend KJ and I are heading to Cherry Point, NC to bring Storm home. KJ has purchased him from Mary's daughter.

The following weekend is the trial at CHP. Followed by Thanksgiving. The first weekend in December "the boys" (KJ & Randall) and I will be going to a hunter pace in Ehrhardt, SC. I'm really looking forward to this one, as they are doing an oyster roast for lunch. If anyone else is interested in joining us we'd be happy to have you. This time out we are planning to do the trail division (at a slower pace) and see what the boys think of competing.

Then the second week of December is the Christmas show in Clemson. It looks like CRA will have a large turnout for this weekend. At this moment we have Gia, Bailey, Katie, Olivia, Lily, Sadie, and Myself showing. The boys will travel, and if there's trailer space we'll bring some horses for them to trail ride while we're there.

Then finally we have several weeks home in a row. We'll be using this time for Katie to prepare Togey to compete in the spring shows, and I'm sure I'll be doing some much needed trail riding with the boys in Jamestown.