Fair warning, you’re about to get a bunch of crotch pics of Henry, so if you’re not okay with that, back away now.

I got out to the barn on Tuesday and everything seemed normal. Henry was turned out in the round pen, because it’s been raining non-stop here (I can hear the rain on the roof RIGHT NOW) and their turnouts are too slick. I brought him in, shoved him full of cookies, and started brushing him. I made it through the neck, the shoulder, the back, and was halfway down his belly before I caught something strange out of my peripheral.

Swollen junk. Awesome. The day before opening day for the N3D, naturally, because who needs low blood pressure and a stress-free life? I couldn’t find anything obvious… no scrapes or bites, no heat, sheath was cleaned in February, he didn’t seem to mind me poking and prodding it, temperature was normal, he was acting totally normal if even a bit more perky since they’ve been stallbound. I’ve dealt with this once or twice before in my life with other horses and moving around always helps, so I tacked him up and went out for an easy 30 minute walk/trot. When we got done it looked a little better, so I cold hosed it (my life is glamorous), gave him some bute, and asked BO to let me know how it looked the next morning.

Still swollen yesterday, although some of the edema seemed to have moved from the sheath to the belly. I couldn’t shake the visions of either a tree lodged in his sheath or some kind of rare South American weiner flu (because logic). So I texted the vet (poor man), included some pictures (you’re welcome), and we chatted. He wasn’t particularly concerned, but since he knows how crazy I am ($$$I’magreatclient$$$) he said he could come out that afternoon and check Henry out.

First he got drunk, then molested. The vet checked all around the outside and the inside, cleaned it again, but couldn’t find anything super obvious either. There was a little dimple on one side of his sheath that hadn’t been there the day before – it looked like maaaaaybe a sting or bite of some kind but it’s tough to tell. Overall nothing alarming going on, so a shot of Dex and $105 later, that was it.

Henry gets to go on long walks and have his junk cold hosed for a few days, and hopefully it’ll clear up. If not, I’m armed with more Dex.

Because if any horse in the world is going to have a weiner injury, of course it’s Henny.

written by Bobby C. Yes, THE Bobby. No autographs please.

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I know…  you haven’t heard from me in a while and you missed me. Don’t worry, I’m back, and I’m here to help. You’ve heard a lot about Amanda and her favorite things, but I’m sure, like me, you’re thinking the same thing I am: WHO CARES WHAT AMANDA’S FAVORITE THINGS ARE! So to spare you from another post from Amanda about herself, I am hijacking her blog for the day to share MY favorite things! Well ok, not all of them are things. How about “Bobby’s Favorites”?  Let’s go with that. Not necessarily in order of favoritism, of course:

1.     My “ensemble”: The saddle (le sigh)…. Thank you Dustin and Silhouette Saddlery! The gloves (le sigh)… Thank you Amanda and Roeckl! The Helmet (le sigh)…. Thank you Charles Owen for donating a helmet to AEC and Halo for winning it!

2.      Obviously Halo – no matter how many times I drop him in front of a jump, or pull to the base where he has to climb over a massive table, or run him past our distance, this sweet soul always goes and always takes care of me.  I fear the day I lose him, so I cherish every day I have – I do think he may be my ‘once in a lifetime’ horse.  He’s goofy, he’s so sweet, his personality is priceless and he tries his heart out for me every.single.time. Sweet Jesus, I just made myself emotional!  There aren’t words for how much I adore this sweet kind horse – his talent is as huge as his heart.

3.     Amanda Chance – no need to adjust your monitor, I did write Amanda Chance, the very same one that is the usual author of this blog.  She has gone from being the girl I yelled “YO CHANCE” at across the barn yard (which would always result in me getting flipped off. Actually still does.) to being one of my closest friends.  She’s pushed me to push myself (mainly through insults and trying to emasculate me) and surprisingly I am very grateful to her for that. With a little courage and a lot of hard work we are actually running Training (and having a blast!) when I truly never thought I would ever compete at that level again. Although I could do with less insults.

But she’s literally played ‘straight eye for the queer guy’ and transformed everything I own from cheap and tacky to classy and top notch.   She’s my partner in crime and we usually come up with the same wild ideas almost simultaneously. Go big or go home. The genius of the truck bed tent was totally hers though, credit where credit is due. And who else is going to give me coordinating black and red gloves in a glittery princess gift bag for my birthday?  And when I have a tire blow out and am running seriously late for a show, I get to the barn to find my horse already braided and bathed – who does that?  She secretly loves me.  I have to say, she’s pretty damn lucky I found her at a very rainy MeadowCreek HT in November of 2014. We have a pretty freaking amazing time in whatever we’re doing and are pretty gifted at entertaining ourselves and those around us by proxy – lucky bitches!

4.      Dr. Norton of Elgin Vet Clinic because she has literally and I mean literally (you have no idea) been keeping Halo alive since 2007. It hasn’t been easy.

5.     Sherri and Charlie – the dynamic duo who own the barn (and are long time friends). Sherri has played vet tech with me for years – I think she and I are more versed in the names and application of equine pharmaceuticals then we ever wanted to be?  Little side note there… she literally held Fabel (my old eventing mare I’d had for 29 years) while she died because I was traveling and couldn’t get a flight back. Wow – made myself tear up twice in one post.  As for Charlie, every barn needs a Charlie.  He tirelessly works to make the barn the best it can be and he’s always there to help with our mechanical incompetence!

6.      Amanda Merritt of Anchor Equestrian (I have way too many Amanda’s in my life) for being the most badass instructor.  She found me some big girl panties and strapped them onto me with duct tape.  She’s taught me to trust Halo at the higher speeds on XC, and she’s just so damn smart, insightful, and talented.  Yet another Amanda that is very lucky to have found me.

7.       My rig.  I’ve NEVER had my own rig. I still love saying “My rig”. My beloved little 2016 Toyota Tacoma named Link (from the small but mighty Link from the Legend of Zelda) and my beautiful “antique” 1997 Brenderup trailer (affectionately named Wynona – look at the picture, that’s a Wynona).  We easily fit just about anywhere and she’s lightweight so I don’t need a behemoth truck.  Freedom is such a beautiful thing!  To quote one of my favorite movies: “I say who, I say when, I say WHO!” – name that movie!

8.      Zephyr’s Garden Anti-Fungal Spray. I know I did a dual review with Amanda on this one but Halo is STILL fungus free.  After clearing up the fungus with regular use, I now give two sprays a week to prone areas and nothing has grown.  This stuff is MAGIC.  As you can see from my list of favorites, I don’t go crazy for products. If it’s a favorite thing, it’s awesome.  After years and years of the fungus battle, I’ve finally won!  HOLLER!

9.      Equicare Flysect Citronella. I really love this fly spray but not for any functional reason, its mainly nostalgic.  Don’t get me wrong, the lanolin sticks to the hair and repels the pests very well but I’d never laud it as the best ever because I’ve not done a comparison.  I remember my mom used to buy this brand for the horses way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s and they still haven’t changed the label in all these years.  That specific smell of citronella takes me back to when I first started riding, when my mom used to ride, to when I first rode Fabel – it’s funny how smells can take you back. I buy this so I can travel back in time. Again HUSH – MY FAVES, not HERS! Logic need not apply.

10.   Always save the best for last: Dustin. He puts up with me, he puts up with my love of Halo, he tolerates my required horseback ride in every country we visit, he supports me unconditionally AND he bought me that amazing custom saddle – need I say more?  NO you cannot have him.  I will sell hair follicles for cloning though….

So, there you have it. Maybe not your traditional ‘favorites’ list, but at least be grateful you were spared, for a day, the typical boring ramblings of Chance.

While Henry has had a couple of chiropractic visits, he’d never had a massage before. Not for any real particular reason… I tried to make him an appointment with someone in the area a couple of times, but both times the scheduling just didn’t work out. Then Patently Bay posted about Eli’s massage from a mutual friend of ours (I didn’t know she had started doing massage!) and boom – within the day I had made an appointment for Henry with Kelly of The 36 Equestrian. Supporting a friend’s business while also benefiting my horse, that’s a win-win.

I wasn’t really sure if Henry would like a massage or not. He generally doesn’t really love being touched or groomed, so I kinda just thought he might stand there and let it happen, but not particularly enjoy it. I was wrong.

He’d had a pretty hard week leading up to his appointment – a fairly intense dressage ride, two jumping days, a hard conditioning day, and XC schooling. As soon as Kelly put her hands on him she said “Ooo, he’s crunchy.”. That’s what you want… a crunchy horse. Poor Henny. He’s working hard these days.

At first he was a little bit unsure of her intentions, but as she starting working on him his head got lower, then his lip drooped, then his eyes closed, then he started drooling. A couple of spots were particularly tight and he yawned repeatedly until she worked them out, then would just lean into her. He was totally blissed out.

She worked on him for what felt like forever, and he seemed to love every minute of it. Totally worth it! I’m surprised but really happy that he liked it so much. We’ll definitely be adding regular massage therapy to our repertoire. And for anyone in our general area – I highly recommend Kelly (you can email her at The36equestrian@yahoo.com)! She did a great job.

On Saturday evening after Jersey Fresh I was chatting with a few different people about the tragic accidents that had occurred that day. Everyone I talked to had opinions, which varied both in intensity and subject matter, but when they asked me for my own thoughts I really struggled to put them into words. It’s easy to know how I FEEL about it; I’m completely devastated and heartbroken for the family and friends of Philippa and for the owners and connections of Ouija. But feelings are one thing and thoughts are another.

 

My honest answer at the time was a very dejected “I just don’t know”. Two lives were lost on the same cross country course in one day; one equine, one human. That’s as bad as it gets, truly the darkest kind of day for any sport. But at the same time, it’s my sport, the sport I live and eat and breathe. Your knee jerk reaction is to defend it to it’s critics, but this day was pretty indefensible. I spent the whole weekend mulling it over.

I believe that having horses and riders die on course on a regular basis is totally unacceptable. I can’t comfortably stand beside the people saying “at least she died doing what she loved”. While I don’t disagree with the sentiment, to me the words feel a bit empty, a bit naive, and somehow seem to lessen the enormity of exactly what was lost. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s my time, I’d rather go out doing something I love. But that doesn’t mean I want to die at a competition in a rotational fall that could also kill my horse and would undoubtedly leave permanent scars on the psyche of everyone unlucky enough to witness it. On the other hand, I also can’t join in with the people that are lambasting eventing in general, saying that it’s too dangerous and the sport – especially the cross country – needs to end.

I truly love and believe in the sport of eventing. Call me an optimist, but I think there is a middle ground here. There is a way to keep the sport intact and true to its roots, and still make it safer. I don’t know what that is, obviously none of us do yet, but I have 100% faith that it exists. I also have 100% faith that we can find it.

Note that I said “safer” and not “safe”. This sport will never be safe. No horse sport will ever be safe. There is an inherent risk involved any time we choose to be around or throw a leg over the back of a very large animal with a mind of it’s own. There is simply no way to prevent every single accident, and that’s something we just have to recognize. But we certainly can make improvements to minimize the occurrence of them, and the severity of them when they do occur.

I have seen a lot of comments on Facebook and horse forums saying that the “powers that be” in eventing, specifically the USEA, have continually turned a blind eye to the fatalities. Setting aside the fact that JF was an FEI event, I still don’t think that’s a fair statement. Studies, reports, and data-gathering have been happening for years. In most recent memory, USEA has been trying to raise money for a collapsible fence study.

The first question is “Has any of it made any difference”? In some ways no, obviously people and horses are still dying. In some ways yes, we’ve seen frangible pins help prevent countless possibly serious accidents. The next question is “Are we doing enough”? Personally, I don’t think so. But I also recognize the fact that a lot of it comes down to funding, and the fact that studies take time. So do solutions. Changes take even longer.

This is a multi-faceted problem; finding the answer is going to be incredibly difficult and ongoing. In order to fix the problem, first we have to understand what’s happening. No small task when every single fall has a completely different set of circumstances surrounding it and completely different things that possibly could have been done to create a different outcome. I don’t think there is only one answer; I think there are several. We just have to find them and put it all together.

That brings me to the next line of thought: what can I do to help? I’m not a scientist, I’m not an engineer, I’m not an upper-level rider, I’m not a course designer. I personally can’t fix this problem. But I do know one thing: change requires money, and I’m 100% capable of controlling where mine goes. Really want to help the sport of eventing? Let’s support the organizations, the events, the venues, the officials, the course designers, and the course builders that are dedicated to making everything safer for horses and riders. Let’s give constructive feedback to our governing bodies. DONATE TO THE STUDIES. If we really want to save our sport and help make it safer, let’s figure out what we can do to help, educate ourselves, and put our money where our mouths are.

There are a lot of people out there screaming that something has to be done. Unfortunately, that’s all most of them are doing – screaming.  If all the people screaming and arguing on social media were willing to donate even just $20 to a safety study, how much better off would we be? How much more could we accomplish?

To those who look at the tragedies of this weekend, or really this whole year so far, and say “never eventing” – I get it. Once the fear of something overcomes your love for it, it’s no longer the right thing for you. This isn’t the right sport for everyone. Horse sports are already risky and this is perhaps the riskiest one. But I still love it, my horse still loves it, and I’m not ready to give up on it. For everyone out there who feels the same way, I ask you – what are we going to do about it?