I have been dealing with Mr. Wexford's soundness issues. Before we went down to Florida last winter, Wexford had some down time to reset and recharge his mind. When the time came to start preparing him for the shows, Wexford was happy and glad to be back in work. Wexford started out doing training for the first couple of shows, then I bumped him up to Prelim once again. He was definitely liking the prelim dressage tests, versus just going in circles in the training test. It challenged him and made him think more. The sand footing down in Florida is great for cross country! Always soft. On occasion it can get too deep, but when it rains, within an hour or two it has already soaked through! Completely different from Oklahoma. Wexford was doing well at Prelim. When we came back to Tulsa mid March, both horses had about a week off to regroup and hang out before the next event. Our first show back, was Holly Hill Farms H.T. in Benton, Louisiana. It was the second weekend in April. Galway did Intermediate and won his division and Wexford did Preliminary and finished 3rd in his division. On XC, Wexford had a second look and tried to put in another stride at part A of the sunken road, which made the distance way too short. He scrambled across it and I lost my reins for a moment. Fortunately, it was a two stride, so I had time to grab my reins. Two quick smacks with my whip and we finished the rest of the course with a double clear. When I got him back to the barn, I noticed he smacked his knee cap pretty hard and there wasn't any hair there. Thankfully, it was a national class, so I was able to give him some bute for the swelling. Sunday began with Show Jumping. He was stiff in warm up, but worked through it to jump a double clear round! Great job Wexford! When we got home on Sunday evening, he was stiff coming off the trailer. I called my vet that week, to inform him what happened. Since it wasn't getting any better, I wanted to know how to treat it. All along I thought it was his knee or shoulder that was bothering him. Multiple X-Rays later, we found he had over stressed his coffin bone. We let him have three months off with no jumping or hard dressage work. To keep up his fitness, I was able to hack and trot on a straight line. Before Young Riders, I received the ok to put him back in work. He traveled to YR's with Galway, so I could continue riding him. When we came back home from YR's he was doing better. After a couple days off from the trip, I rode him and he took a couple of bad steps. Oh Joy! After many reevaluations from my vet, we figured out a better way of managing his precious little legs! He has fluid build up above his coronary band. Yikes, that would hurt! My vet injected him this morning and will go on Adequan. Wexford will have the rest of this week off. Let's pray this helps him! :) I guess if it has to happen, this is the time for him to recover, so he can be ready for the winter show circuit.
Galway is getting geared up for our Area V Championships down in Weatherford, Texas in four weeks.
Good Luck to everyone in the fall show season and those who are competing at Feather Creek this weekend and AEC's next weekend!
I'll be going to Feather Creek on Saturday to volunteer and jump judge.
Have a fun, safe, and Happy Labor Day everyone! :) Go Eventing!
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