This is Foxwood High who just hangs out looking handsome.
Selena is not competing this weekend. With two of the three star horses belonging to ourselves, the competition budget is tight. No optional extras. However, in this instance it was just as well. Selena was out riding Solo a couple of days ago and sneezed and put her back out. Go figure, all that cross country riding at high speed and she injures herself sneezing. She has not been able to ride for a couple of days. However, she said she was going to ride today and do some ride and lead trot sets with the boys. She rides one and leads the other in the Pessoa lunging device. It means the led horse gets a bit more of a workout.
Rocky had his teeth done in this gap week. The team vet Christiana Ober suggested we put him on Omega Alpha’s new Muscle Gro. He started on it just before Red Hills. Woody is his usual happy self and Solo is going back into boot camp with Gerd Zuther and Bruce Davidson keeping a sharp eye on his progress. It is certainly paying off, he has improved immensely this winter. This week there is another Training Camp with Canadian Team Coach, Clayton Fredericks. Selena can still hardly believe her good fortune at having lessons from three such international superstars.
The horses came out of Red Hills in good form. After XC, they all have their legs poulticed with Sore No More clay poultice and we pack the soles of their feet with Omega Alpha’s Tetda liniment mixed with Epsom salts. A size one diaper and some duct tape and they all wear pretty little silver bootees on their front feet. We wrap the legs with Draper Therapy’s wraps which encourage circulation. Draper Therapy products started helping us in 2008 when they offered us one of their special saddle pads for Colombo, whose back had always been a bit sensitive. It made a huge difference, and we never rode Colombo again without his Draper pad.
The one star horse that Selena was lucky enough to ride is going to Rocking Horse next week with her very own rider, Angie Huber. Wisher and Selena did not have a great dressage ride, after a super warm up, she got anxious and upset when she had to leave the other horses and go off by herself to do her dressage test. However she made up for it with a wonderful cross country and double clear show jumping. Wisher and Angie have been apart since Wisher left for Florida on Feb 4th. Wisher is going to be so happy to see her very own person arrive next weekend.
Rosein, our lovely young Irish cross mare is also going to Rocking Horse. She should have made her debut at the last Rocking Horse but of course the self-imposed quarantine restrictions surrounding the recent EHV1 outbreak at HITS, meant that she missed her outing. We will be advertising her and letting everyone know that she can be seen at her first big competition at the end of this month.
