It was terrible Fred. Milesy threw a shoe Monday night before I left and tore up his foot pretty badly. My farrier wouldn\'t come out to trim his foot and put the shoe back on, so he had to stand in the horse trailer for 11.5 hrs heading to Virginia on 3 shoes. He was so foot sore by the time I got there Tuesday evening that he didn\'t pass the first vet inspection. So that was a waste of a whole summer of preparation, not to mention an inordinately large entry fee for the competition...
Cole did alright. Decent dressage test. He was UNBELIEVABLE on speed and endurance day- we had to trot and canter 16.5 mins (called roads and tracks- you basically go down dirt roads and across fields), then 3.5 mins of steeplechase, then 30 more mins. of roads and tracks, then an 8 minute cross country jumping course run at 560 meters per minute. He was under the time in all 4 phases and was perfect to every jump- didn\'t get a single penalty. However, he tore his shoe off somewhere on Phase D, and was a bit sore for showjumping on Sunday. He stopped at one of the jumps, I think because of his foot. He was great for the rest of the course though. Just completing a CCI* is an accomplishment, so I\'m pleased with him all in all. Didn\'t place too well though- it\'s hard to compete against Olympians on 80 thousand dollar horses.
Pictures of Cole from Virginia (proud mom syndrome
): first one\'s from Steeplechase...
