We had the horses 'vetted' in that evening so we wouldn't have to rush around in the morning. Susie and Joanie were had also come to the ride. Susie is the only one of us that has done a CTR before. It was the vet judge's first time judging a CTR. She had the personality of a wet dish rag. She told Joanie that she would have to have her horse, Porsha, re-evaluated in the morning for a suspected lameness. She hemmed and hawed over Susie's horse, Cody, claiming she was seeing some lameness in him. Bonnie's horse, Shannon, passed with flying colors. She didn't really say anything to me so I figured I was good to go. Joanie was really worried about Porsha but no one could see any problem other then the vet. We have all worked so hard conditioning our horses for this, not to mention the $50 non-refundable entry fee.
Bonnie and I have a real nice portable electric fence unit that packs up, nice and neat, into a duffle bag. It sets up into a turnout plenty big enough for both Shannon and Marie. And we both know from personal experience that the electric charger is working just fine! I am glad we purchased it as it allows for a good nights sleep.
Bonnie hauled our trailer with her truck and I drove my truck with the slide in camper on it. We were really appreciating the camper by morning as it got down to 32 degrees! Burrrrrrr. We were quite cosy in the camper.
Susie and Joanie were in a tent and they didn't have sleeping bags rated for such cold temperatures. They said they both got a bit cold during the night. If I had known, I'd have invited them into the camper. Though it only sleeps three. We made sure to get coffee ready for them when they got up to help get them warmed up. The camper does have a heater in it but I've never used it. I'd rather try it out at home to make sure it's working properly. With my luck, I'd blow it up and burn the truck and camper to the ground.
Joanie took Porsha up to her re-check while the rest of us were tacking up. The vet said Porsha was still lame and pulled Joanie from the competition. Poor Joanie was so dissappointed, though more from worry about her horse as not being able to ride. She was such a good sport though and kept her spirits up and helped the rest of us get our horses ready. Since Susie had come with her and was planning to ride with her, she wanted to pull from the ride but Joanie would not hear of it.
Then...... we hear someone yelling, "number 8, where is number 8...". that was me!! The vet was calling me back to have Marie checked again for lameness. She had not said anything to me when I vetted in the previous night so there I was with my horse all tacked up. I went over and the vet, of course, told me I would have to untack Marie. I then told her if she had let me know I had to have Marie re-checked I would not have tacked her up to begin with so she could just deal with it. She did. She had me trot Marie out once, and then a second time. She hemmed and hawed and finally decided that she would let me start the ride, but told me she would be watching me closely and would likely end up pulling me from the ride at the hold. I know Marie and I knew she was not lame and at this point the vet and I are both pretty disgusted with eachother. Marie does not have perfect conformation. She is built heavy in front with a large head, heavy neck, massive shoulder and little withers. And she has hindquarters that are too small for the rest of her, so, she travels heavy on the front and is close and 'stabby' with her hind legs. So, she is not a pretty trotter like all the Arabs that are the horses of choice for this sport. Nor did it help that my horse seemed to be as fond of the vet as I was and was acting very badly every time the vet came near her. Marie pranced, danced, reared and even kicked at her once. I have never seen Marie kick at, or even look like she was thinking about kicking at anyone in the 7 years I have owned her. I was so embarassed and I wanted to thrash her for such bad behavior. But, the vetting was the only time the whole weekend that Marie acted badly. She didn't fuss with anyone else around her such as the lay judge or the P&R crew.
The ride was very nice. The trails were lovely and we actually had more then enough time for such easy terrain. Bonnie and I had to walk the last six miles and even hang around and let the horses graze on some grass in order to not finish too early and take a time penalty. We could have easily done the ride in about three hours. Bonnie and Shannon placed 3rd in their division. Marie and I placed 5th in our division. I thought that was very good for our first ride. There were 26 riders. I would have done even better but the vet took off points for Marie's bad behavior but she got a perfect score otherwise. Sigh.
I made an appointment with my vet to get a complete lameness exam a few days after the ride. Marie is completely sound. The vet judge at the ride was seeing just what I thought, that Marie is not a pretty mover and that is just the way she is and will alway be. My vet did suggest a few things I could do to help develop Marie's hindquarters such as dressage work or driving her. I felt better after seeing my vet as my next competition has an entry fee of $140. I don't want to spend that kind of money just to have my horse pulled for lameness. There is a different vet jude at the next ride so hopefully I won't have this problem again.
Bog Brook 25 5/16/99 26/S 23/F
1 Linkk / B Zeiga
2 High Country Pepper / M Deleware
3 FR Midori / M Batt
4 Izusu / S Niedoroda
4 WB Precious / L Crowley
6 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
7 Cormac Duke / P Snow
9 Shannon / B Hinz
9 Xavier Sunnyacres / S Reinheimer
11 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
14 Especial Edition / L Prentice
14 Kineo
16 Thunder / M Veinneau
17 Marie / C Ross (score 89.25)
Comp Rolling Stone / H Moss
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