PrintIn this series, the Chronicle follows six riders as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams in Hong Kong in 2008. Click here to read Kristin's first installment from our March 7 issue.
Just about the same day the Chronicle came out with the last story about me (March 7, 2008), I found out that Gryffindor was injured.
He has mild tendonitis, and it’s best to rest him and look to the future. It came up after we’d done a cross-country school at Gibbs Farm in South Carolina. It’s sort of mild, and not any one thing did it. It’s a fantastic facility, and it had rained so the footing was good. I’m at a loss as to why it happened.
Like we talked about before, this is the downside of having all of your eggs in one basket with just one horse, because suddenly I wasn’t going to Rolex Kentucky [for the Olympic Selection Trials].
I was fortunate that the day after the cross-country school was the day my veterinarian was coming to do overall checks, so we caught it pretty fast, and there were no lesions or anything. It’s a very recoverable injury.
That was right before Southern Pines Horse Trials (N.C.) in March, which was going to be our first event of the year. So we came back to Lovettsville, Va., which we’d been planning to do right after Southern Pines.
We’ve been hacking at the walk the entire time; it’s important to keep the tendons moving.
I’m not going to push it and try to do a three-day this fall. Maybe I’ll do some horse trials. The Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in October would be a possibility, but I’d rather play it safe and plan on being out next winter. We’ll get to work on our dressage and show jumping, which is never a bad thing. I’d love to take more show jumping lessons with Laura Kraut, and I’d love to work on my dressage with Silva Martin. We’ll be really ready to come out and play next year.
On The Road To Recovery
Gryffindor is not liking it. He’s hacking on the roads and sees cows every day, and he thinks they’re the scariest things in the world. He’ll run and jump over anything, but he’s scared of another four-legged creature. He’s bored, and he’s gotten pushy and demanding. He was pretty fit when he was hurt.
He’s just kind of cranky. He’d much rather be out in the field and out jumping fences. But spooking aside, he’s been a total gentleman. He’s still not naughty.
I’m going to try and put up a small grass pen, but this is the part where I get to be an overprotective mom. Any bucking and playing makes me nervous. I want every step to be perfect and just right, but they’re animals and feel good. That’s the hard part, letting them be the animals they want to be. I’ve seen what he does out in the pasture, and thank goodness he never does that when I’m on him, because I’d be gone in no time.
Just about the same day the Chronicle came out with the last story about me (March 7, 2008), I found out that Gryffindor was injured.
He has mild tendonitis, and it’s best to rest him and look to the future. It came up after we’d done a cross-country school at Gibbs Farm in South Carolina. It’s sort of mild, and not any one thing did it. It’s a fantastic facility, and it had rained so the footing was good. I’m at a loss as to why it happened.
Like we talked about before, this is the downside of having all of your eggs in one basket with just one horse, because suddenly I wasn’t going to Rolex Kentucky [for the Olympic Selection Trials].
I was fortunate that the day after the cross-country school was the day my veterinarian was coming to do overall checks, so we caught it pretty fast, and there were no lesions or anything. It’s a very recoverable injury.That was right before Southern Pines Horse Trials (N.C.) in March, which was going to be our first event of the year. So we came back to Lovettsville, Va., which we’d been planning to do right after Southern Pines.
We’ve been hacking at the walk the entire time; it’s important to keep the tendons moving.
I’m not going to push it and try to do a three-day this fall. Maybe I’ll do some horse trials. The Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in October would be a possibility, but I’d rather play it safe and plan on being out next winter. We’ll get to work on our dressage and show jumping, which is never a bad thing. I’d love to take more show jumping lessons with Laura Kraut, and I’d love to work on my dressage with Silva Martin. We’ll be really ready to come out and play next year.
On The Road To Recovery
Gryffindor is not liking it. He’s hacking on the roads and sees cows every day, and he thinks they’re the scariest things in the world. He’ll run and jump over anything, but he’s scared of another four-legged creature. He’s bored, and he’s gotten pushy and demanding. He was pretty fit when he was hurt.
He’s just kind of cranky. He’d much rather be out in the field and out jumping fences. But spooking aside, he’s been a total gentleman. He’s still not naughty.
I’m going to try and put up a small grass pen, but this is the part where I get to be an overprotective mom. Any bucking and playing makes me nervous. I want every step to be perfect and just right, but they’re animals and feel good. That’s the hard part, letting them be the animals they want to be. I’ve seen what he does out in the pasture, and thank goodness he never does that when I’m on him, because I’d be gone in no time.
