Friends and I jump judged at Poplar Place Farm yesterday. We got there at 6:45 am and did not leave until 6:30 pm, there were at least 150 riders that ran cross country. It went all the way from CIC 3* to beginner novice. So many wonderful rides but then also lots of scary near misses. Only had to have the EMT's out to pick up riders three times, most of the other riders just bounced back up.
We were at the prelim fence 7 a/b comination, it was a bounce combo so you had to be very accurate coming up to it. There were so many that didn't get the strides right but they had wonderful horses who tried their hearts out. Only one rider came off, she came in too fast and jumped into the combination too long and the horse never had a chance to get up in the air for the second element. Poor thing face planted into the fence, causing the rider to flip over his head. She landed facing him and they both had this look of shock and confusion. Then the horse took off back to the warm up. There was hair and blood on the fence from the horses head. He was ok, just a little bruised and shaken. It is mandatory for horses and the riders to get checked out by the EMT and the vet before they can continue.
One horse was hurt very badly and had to be euthanized on course, he shattered his back leg above the hock.Poor horse kept trying to get up but when they put the tarp up to block spectator view, we knew it was bad. The horse and rider had been having some really hard rubs on the fences. The pair got into trouble at the water complex, and they crashed. All hell broke loose then, officials, EMT's and vets flying to get to the complex. I have never seen so many people move that quickly, I am impressed with the Poplar team, very thankful that they know their job and love the horses. The rider is devastated, she had ridden this horse at Rolex within the last year or so.
I feel so bad for her, it has to be heartbreaking to lose a horse that way. I don't know that I would be able to handle it. It is going to break me when I lose Buggs, he is my heart.
School is going ok, I had to drop my history class. It was just too much for me, I couldn't keep up. Trying to keep everything read and written plus my lessons and riding my own horse was wearing me down. I can make up the class if I need to next semester or in the summer, it isn't the end of the world.
Was going to ride today but it rained all day, I am NOT complaining. We haven't had rain in several weeks and we desperately needed it. Arenas flooded, so may not be able to ride tomorrow either. Although it is supposed to be raining again.
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