You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you just need smelling salts!

Yesterday we went to the Chagrin Valley Farm Schooling dressage show for some practice with the alphabet in the white rectangle.  I was very excited because four of the five horses were horses that I purchased with the owners, and it was either the combinations first dressage show or the first show back after a long break.  The only thing I was a little nervous about was hauling four horses with the truck for the first time since it broke down, and getting up the hill out of the valley.  "Big Momma"  was a champ and she hauled like a dream; especially since on the way to the barn I drove her like a bat out of hell trying to "tune up" the tranny!   Cindy and Bill brought Promise in their own rig for the first time too, and safely there, we started preparing all the horses.

Cindy and Promise

I had Promise up first as I was riding him in a test before Cindy.  Cindy and I found Promise last year while we were in Aiken at Silva Martin's farm.  He is a home bred Thoroughbred that was owned by Nina Fout, who competed him in the eventing world up to the two star level. She had hoped him to be her next Olympic star as he is the brother to her famous partner Three Magic Beans, but decided to send him to the dressage world as he has very special talent for dressage.  This was Cindy and Promise's first competition, and they didn't disappoint!  Cindy rode him to a 60 and 63% , and we were all very excited!!! I personally can't wait to take these two to a rated dressage show!

Margot and Toro

Margot Luria and her lovely Welsh Cob TB cross "Toro" were next, competing in the dressage arena for the first time. Margot was previously a hunter pony rider, and she and her Mom thought they would like to take a stab at some eventing this year. We searched high and low for a suitable mount for Margot, and came home with Toro aka "Hastening Patriot" a talented little guy we bought out of Virginia.  After working out a few kinks in the first test, Margot rode Toro to a 38.5 in Beginner Novice test B!  I was so proud of her; did I mention she is only 11 years old?! If this is our starting point, then these two are going to be very competitive out eventing this year! 


I took the schooling opportunity to take Captain out for a spin, and we did the eventing test Training A...he was a bit spunky in the warm up, but the test rode very well.  This is a bit of a stretch for him still because I am just starting to get him loose over his back and swinging, so the trot lengthenings are still a work in progress.  He enjoyed the canter lengthening though, and was a good boy coming back to me in the working canter.  I am still figuring out his "formula"... how much warm up...what kind of warm up... so this was a great way to try and work some of that out.  I have no idea what our score was, but I was VERY happy with how he performed and handled the scary window in the indoor.

Our next combos were Sanae and her beautiful mare Leggs, and Stephanie and sweet Miss Killian.  I hopped off Captain and started warming the ladies up.  Leggs was her usual horse show self, showing off her fancy gaits and being much easier to ride than at home! Killian was also working well for Stephanie, and we took a break to discuss how we would go in the ring as they were riding two tests each back to back.  Sanae and I proceeded to the ring and she had a good trot around past the judges stand and went down the center line.  In her excitement, Sanae forgot to salute, and cruised right past "X" turning left at "C" and then the unthinkable happened.  Something startled Leggs, and she bolted out of the corner between C and H.  Sanae did her best to stay on, but unfortunately fell and smacked her head pretty hard on landing.  For those of you that know Sanae, she is probably the sweetest lady I have ever met, and really tries hard everyday to be a better rider.  She has had much success with Leggs, with the high point being Training Level Reserve Champion at last year's Prix de Ville at Lake Erie College.  Stunned, I quickly realized that Sanae had been knocked out and we called for the ambulance.  She woke up before the medics got there, but we took the ambulance ride and spent some time in the ER getting her checked out.  She kept telling me she was so sorry,(obviously this was NOT her fault) and I told her I always wanted to ride in an ambulance, just not like this! I'm not much for telling jokes, but I managed to keep her smiling through it all.  Sanae's husband was travelling from Japan to Cleveland, so we were able to get in touch with him at a layover,(orchestrated by her daughter Utako who is in Toronto and her son Yu in NY city)  and had a car waiting at the airport to bring him to the hospital (THANK YOU CLEVELAND LIVERY!).  Believe me, that is one of the worst calls you have to make.  Luckily, Sanae is no worse for wear, although I'm sure she will have a monster headache this morning.  Instead of earning a 70% in a dressage test, she got a night in the hospital and some one on one time with me, which I would have much rather spent with her some other way!  I am so thankful she is going to be fine, and it just goes to show you can be on the most quiet horse at a dressage schooling show and the unexpected can happen!

I owe a huge thanks to Cindy and her husband Bill, Stephanie and Al, Javier, Liz, Jami, Sara Welsh, and all who mobilized and got the horses home, dropped off Sanae's car, and picked me up at the hospital.  We have an awesome team at White North!  As for Stephanie, she and Killian called it a day and we will just have to go the next time. 

Horse training has always taught me to be prepared.  It teaches you to be calm, patient, and quick thinking in the most trying circumstances, but I never thought it would have prepared me for this.  As a trainer, you hope that nothing will ever happen, but at some point you know that there is a chance a student can get hurt, and you just hope that you will have the wherewithal to deal with the situation with a quiet sense of urgency, fast response, and a little grace.  As for me, I think I will be adding smelling salts to my horse show med kit!