Fun In The Sun this year was the race that didn't go well for us.  We all have one of these epic weekends from time to time!

The first day I didn't ride.  Jeremy rode Errow.  They were doing the 1*.  I left the race to take one of our mares to get bred while Jeremy was riding.  When I returned it was already over, Jeremy had been pulled. We aren't really sure what happened but Errow had stepped in a hole on the first loop so Jeremy was thinking that was most likely the cause.  Lucky for us Ann Christopherson was the treatment vet and she examined Errow and to be super cautious she took an ultrsound of his leg and it was clean...One day down.

Day 2 we both rode, or tried to!  I rode Sudden on the 25 and Jeremy rode Fiddlin on the 75.  Sudden has had a recent sore back so I was only doing the LD to see if I had fixed our problem.  I had so much fun on Sudden.  I made my debut by winning my first LD only to get pulled at the finish for a lameness (his back got very sore again and it shows up as a mild lameness).  The best part was the vets decided to vote on my first trot out.  I thought that was fancy for an LD and happily accepted the three vet vote.  After my trot I knew I would be pulled (which was a total bummer as he had felt great out on trail).  I was informed by the steward that I had "unanimously failed".  Too funny.  I think it was maybe a steward in training.  At least I knew that I had epically failed, not just failed but unanimously done so!  Later that day Jeremy and Fiddlin were also pulled.  The only horse we had left in the ride was RB Code doing an LD with our friend Sarah Engsberg.  Luckily they finished!  Man what a bummer day.

The third day Jeremy rode our new mare SWA Kellora on the LD and I rode King on the 1*.  I was supposed to ride King in the UAE at the Crown Prince race on March 21st.  We weren't able to go to that race when the FEI sanctioning was removed.  (The UAE race that was cancelled from FEI was a big disappointment.  We have always had a wonderful experience going to the UAE and we have many friends there that we would have loved to visit with. I also want to say that we have not seen the horse abuse when we have been there.) The big bummer was that I had just ridden King hard this very week as I was preparing for the 2* in the UAE that was three weeks away.  Entering him in the FITS was probably a mistake but I really wanted to ride him.  The night before the ride Jeremy re-did his feet as he was long (not scheduled to do FITS).  The next day King felt great but at the last check he was off.  It was later decided he was sore from having his feet done so close to the ride...What can I say, I'm an amatuer;)

Kellora finished looking great.  She has a great mind!  She ate and drank well all day and seemed to enjoy her career change from track to trail.

So as you can see we had a GREAT weekend, funny it didn't feel like over $1000 dollars worth of fun:)

2 for 6 finishing and both finishers were on the LD.  Better luck next time.  

Tomorrow we are riding the Still On The Edge LD on Liger and Kellora.

Heather