Highs and lows of life

Well two weeks ago I ended my weekend on a great note and very excited to move back up to the advanced level at Burnham Market.... well as most eventers know we have a plan A plan B plan C, D and sometimes even plan E. Well plan A has been crossed off the list and now onto plan B sadly. Ahlerich came up pretty sore on monday morning after his gallop on sunday and I completely blame myself for this I decided to gallop him on some pretty hard ground I told myself as long as a go slow he will be fine.... well I couldn't be more wrong. I have to thank this amazing chestnut pony for putting up with all my mistakes and from now on I will never gallop him on hard ground again instead he will go swimming or go to the proper gallops! Lesson learned! But on a good note to this pretty bad one my farrier came to check his feet my oh my they were so uneven that poor Ahlerich was putting most of his weight to the outside part of his foot. So we reshod and the poor boy had bruised outside heels on both feet. So now he is enjoying new shoes so he is better balance and the rest of the week to recover. I have had to withdraw from Burnham Market which is a big bummer but there is always another day to play. We now have a little over 2 weeks to get ready for our next outing at Withington I will be very excited to get back into the start box again! On another sad note my family dog Gunner past away this morning at 18 years old he was the cutest thing in the entire world and he loved tennis balls more than anything else on this earth. I think when I go home in june is when it will really hit me that he is not alive anymore :( Also my sisters new horse Just Jealous aka James has to have surgery on his knee to remove a bone chip that happened about a month ago. I am so sad for Charlee she and James were just starting to bond. I hope he has a quick recovery and he and Charlee can be out on course again! Until then I think my step dad Britt could use the help getting his polo ponies back into work... she may be a very busy girl! Well this has been a pretty sad week for all of us. Hopefully next week will be a better one.

miss you and love you forever Gunner
Meaghan

Belton Park

WOW is my response on how Belton went! Ahlerich and I were entered in the OI I was lucky enough to catch a ride up with Matt Heath and his groom for the day Sam. Sadly Matt first ride was at 8:20 so we left the farm around 5 am poor Ahlerich had to sit around all day and watch the others have fun until he got to come out and play at 3:50... well it sure did work! Ahlerich felt fantastic in the ring I was actually enjoying doing dressage right up until the last two movements which is disappointing because he was going so well. But he still scored a 37 I was a proud mom at this moment my hard work this winter with Tor has finally started paying off it also could have been a little bit of magic ;) Next was the show jumping and Ahlerich was finally fed up with waiting around he started hoping up and down not going forward and I was thinking if I make it through this round it will be a good day! Well we went into the ring and got the job done sadly with 2 rails I am really going to try much harder on riding a show jumping course and each jump instead of just getting the job done! Its time to leave all the rails in their cups! Then came the cross country we had all the right gear this time and as I was warming Ahlerich up I was thinking this is going to be a good ride, fast and clean I had brakes and a gas pedal that both worked! So in the start box we went... oh wait Ahlerich didn't want to go in so we started about 4 seconds late..... silly boy! But after that it was the best ride I have had in such a long time we were truly galloping and going for it and jumping well. I am so proud of my chestnut boy he tried his little heart out for me, we came home with 9.4 time penalties the fastest I have gone in the last 3 years! On the drive home I was thinking how amazing that ride was and how it has taken me 3 years to come over my fear of riding a XC course. People around me may wondering why I have been at intermediate for so long why I wasn't doing the CIC*** this weekend and my response to them would have to be, I have not felt how I felt sat afternoon in over 3 years. To go out there on a horse you trust your life with, to run and jump huge crazy things and to cross the finish line thinking WOW I just had the ride of my life! I am so lucky to have Ahlerich he may not be everyones cup of tea but he is my everything and means the world to me! The next stop on our adventure together is Burnham Market advanced! Until next time!

Meaghan and the Flying Piglet!