Horses. Competition seasons. Probably the greatest source of unknowns and curveballs in the average rider's life. Case in point: our recent adventure of "Madison's First 50 Mile Ride."
Spoiler: There was no 50 mile ride. Not for the Wildfire family, anyway...
Madison and I had been bouncing around all week looking forward to the ride on the weekend. Madison's first 50! Sasha's first ride this year! Gorgeous weather! We loaded up Vienna and Sasha on Saturday morning and arrived in Perth in early afternoon, registered, set up our tent and canopy, and prepared lunch for the ponies.
Spoiler: There was no 50 mile ride. Not for the Wildfire family, anyway...
Madison and I had been bouncing around all week looking forward to the ride on the weekend. Madison's first 50! Sasha's first ride this year! Gorgeous weather! We loaded up Vienna and Sasha on Saturday morning and arrived in Perth in early afternoon, registered, set up our tent and canopy, and prepared lunch for the ponies.
And that's when the Sassy White Dragonpony came to life... Vienna kicked Sasha in the electric corral, and caught her right on her butt cheek.
A new electric dividing line was set up (never mind that we hadn't needed a dividing line for the last three years) and the horses were segregated, and after they finished eating we went over to the vet area to vet through.
Only... we didn't. Neither horse passed the pre-ride vet check.
A new electric dividing line was set up (never mind that we hadn't needed a dividing line for the last three years) and the horses were segregated, and after they finished eating we went over to the vet area to vet through.
Only... we didn't. Neither horse passed the pre-ride vet check.
When Sasha had been kicked she tucked herself under and tweaked her lower back. She was fine on the straight trot-out, but unhappy on the circle. As for Vienna: A deer or moose had pulled down one of our electric lines last week and so the ponies wandered over to the neighbour's property; a property that has semi-buried barbed wire fence. We noticed that Vienna's back leg was covered in surficial scratches, but had no serious damage. She was not lame, and we went for a lovely ride this past Thursday. By Saturday's vet check one of the scratches had apparently become infected, and her leg was warm and slightly swollen. She, too, was fine on the straight trot-out, but did not want to extend that leg when trotting on the circle. Second horse: also out.
Talk about disappointed! We called our trailer guy, and he set back out to Perth to pick us up. Meanwhile, we had checked with the ride admin staff and been told there was no refund available. Even more disappointing! However, after chatting with a couple of experienced riders we discovered that we were almost definitely entitled to some money back, which would at least mitigate some of the sadness we were experiencing. There was some confusion when we went to talk to the ride admin staff, but it turns out that there were some misunderstandings and that we will likely get some of our ride entry fees back. So that's a small bright spot.
But... a SMALL bright spot. We are still out money for trailering, not to mention incidentals (food, gas etc.) for the weekend. I've never not been able to start a ride before, and it SUCKS. Bringing two horses to a ride and neither being fit to start? Talk about feeling like an ignorant horsewoman! The worst part for me is knowing that Madison's first experience with the sport is disappointment (and expense with no return). I love my horses, who are now injured (although not grievously); I love this sport, which I want to experience more; and most of all, I love to bring new people into the sport and have silly fun and watch them become as excited about Endurance riding as I am. My last chance to do that this year will be at Lopin' Larose in October... here's hoping we actually get to ride!
Just par for the course for Competition Season 2017... !