Jodie's Blog : The Highs and Lows of this wonderful sport…
It can’t always be smooth sailing, and everything can’t always go swimmingly; unfortunately for Clover and me, it hasn’t been either.
The week before Floors, Pops just wasn’t feeling her usual self. A few very uncharacteristic stops and run-outs in training and my alarm bells were ringing. She has recently been using a demo saddle and, on palpation, her back was tender. I treated it as such and she seemed to be feeling happier after lots of TLC (ice packs and hot water bottles in the ‘wee’ hours of the night for a week).
We arrived at Floors on Thursday and did a very lovely test. She was hot and on her toes, but that’s nothing unusual. I continued to treat her back with hot water bottles back at the yard where we were stabled and we headed off for the showjumping very early on Friday morning. Alarm bells rang once again when she stopped in the warm-up - anyone who knows this wonderful horse knows she is far too cocky to stop in a showjumping warm up! I said to my family and friend who warmed me up, if she doesn’t feel right, I’m retiring. She started off well but as we approached a full up oxer and the first of a decent treble at fence 5 she stopped and I slipped off her shoulder. Elimination or not, we were heading home to investigate.
A few days later and we were in the vets, my stomach in knots at the prospect of what had happened. You can imagine my devastation when there was talk of reaction to palpation of suspensories. Cue lots (and lots) of crying. I’m not ashamed to say I feared, and prepared for, the worst - as soon as I heard ’suspensories’ our hopes and dreams vanished, and her stallion had been picked. 24 hours later, after no sleep, we scanned her legs and found inflammation rather than holes or tears to the ligaments or tendons. A massive relief but the start of a journey to get her back to full health.
Fast-forward 6 weeks and we are well on the way to recovery. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Loch Leven Equine Practice for leaving no stone unturned in the diagnosis and treatment of my darling girl. She is now bored and ready to get back to the job she loves so much (as am I!!). Thank you also must go to my AMAZING family and friends who have picked me up when I felt the lowest and kept me positive that I would get the chance to event my horse of a lifetime again.
This sport and our horses can be tragic and can break your heart. I have such empathy for those going through this sadness, and encourage you to keep your chin up and believe one day, no matter how far away, you will be back to doing what you love again. Until then…cry, be angry at the world, eat lots of chocolate, then dust yourself off and re-build.
I hope to be able to update you all next time with far happier news, until then, I hope everyone is having a brilliant season so far!
Jodie and Pops x
