Ralee had a “spa day” scheduled for today. Laura Scherr-Stilhaus came by to work on him, and I had just put his magnetic blanket on him and given him lunch when he choked. It scared the daylights out of me. Thankfully my fellow team members reacted incredibly fast, and we had two FEI vets at the barn within four minutes. They lavaged him and were able to coax the blockage out almost instantly. Ralee was calm and quiet throughout the entire ordeal and was begging for food as soon as the tube was removed !
The vets asked me to take him out for a walk, and we meandered around the showgrounds for about 45 minutes—he was fine. I sat in front of his stall for a few more hours, not wanting to leave him, even though the others grooms and riders were all nearby.
After that I bicycled over to the vaulting and the driving. Here are two short video clips—one of the top female U.S. vaulter:
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And here is one of Chester Webber coming out of his dressage test with a stunning four-in-hand team:
The FEI vets did come back after I had already left the barn area to check on Ralee again. They gave him a clean bill of health.
