Setback....

     It seems like setbacks always come right when everything starts to feel like its going well. After winning my first event of the season with Phil, then Karen doing well with him at Red Hills, and then planning on moving him up to intermediate at Poplar (this weekend), of course something needs to bring us back down to Earth. Phil has just had surgery last Friday. :(
     He had a funky little growth (almost like a cyst) of scar tissue in his right front leg that had been there for about 5 weeks. It was not affecting his soundness at all, and we had even ultrasounded and x-rayed it, and decided to let it go down on it's own since it was not effecting any ligaments, tendons, or his soundness. We continued working and competing him, but then after the one star at Red Hills, it got a bit larger, and Dr. Ober decided it was time for it to come out before it did any damage to his tendons or ligaments. Phil was still completely sound, which is why it was so hard to make the decision to make him undergo the surgery, but I am so thankful to have Phil around such great professionals like OCET, and Dr. Christiana Ober to make the initiative decision to take it out before any harm was done.
     This has set us back a few months, as Phil is currently in stall rest, but Dr. Ober has been checking up on him, and she is very happy with his status, and says he is doing better than expected! He can be under saddle again in less than 30 days, and slowly get back into full work, so I am very happy about this news of a quick turnaround time! As long as recovery goes well, this is not going to affect his level of performance, and I am so happy that we got all of this taken care of and taken out of his leg before it actually caused a problem that would inhibit his performance in the long run. I'm sure Phil doesn't mind having a bit of time off, as he is a huge fan of taking long naps in the warm Florida weather. The girls have been sending me pictures of him looking quite happy during his grazing time each day too! :)

pray for little phil's speedy, safe and successful recovery! :)

Blog Creation

     Hello everyone! I'm creating this blog site for my family, friends, and colleagues that want to follow my journey as an event rider! I also had an assignment in my visual rhetoric class at UMW to create an e-portfolio, such as a website or blog to claim our online identity..so I thought what better way than to start up a blog about my eventing?!?
     For this first post, I'll give you all a little background on where I am now in my life full of horses. (You can also click on the 'About Kate' tab and the 'My Teachers' tab to learn more). I am finishing up my last semester at the University of Mary Washington, and trying to keep up with my eventing career. After spending many years working for and learning from prestigious event rider, Sharon White, and then spending some time with top rider Emily Beshear, I am now working for and riding under the O'Connor Event Team (OCET). Karen and David O'Connor are very accomplished Olympians in the sport of eventing, and I am so honored to be working there! Their summer/fall home is in Middleburg, VA, which is where I had my horse, Phil last summer and this fall semester of school, but their winter home (or farm) is down in Ocala, Florida. I have been lucky enough to keep Phil in work with Karen O'Connor down in Florida during this spring semester, and I have been flying down just about every other weekend to work and ride (and get sunburned!).
     Karen has been competing him and has been doing great with him, and right now I'm all smiles because I just competed him for the first time of the year this weekend...and we WON!!!! I'm down here in Ocala, FL for my spring break away from school right now, and a few of us from the farm went to a local event this weekend, and Phil was a superstar! We won the first phase (dressage), and jumped clear and under the optimum time in both the stadium and cross country jumping phases, and claimed our blue ribbon! yippeee!!
     Karen, Hannah and Max are over in Wellington for the weekend because KOC and Hannah are on a team for the Derby Cross--which is going to be awesome! I was going to drive down and watch, but have instead decided to go grill out with everyone at the farm and watch the derby live online at 5pm tonight (http://www.iequine.com/events/pro-derbycross).
So that's all for now! :)

Phil (right) and his pasture mate, Danny - in Florida