Blogs - Emma Ford

Thanksgiving has been and gone, and Christmas is nearly less than a week away. The two new boys have unfortunately been held in quarantine due to other horses on the flight not passing some blood work. I hope they get released at the end of this week, as I’m sure they will be pleased to get some turn out and personal attention.

Phillip took a couple of days off to go to the convention, and now we are back in full swing getting horses into work before we head to Aiken. I can't believe we will be competing for the first time of 2011 in less than two months.

The past week has been a slow one. With all the advanced horses on vacation, this is my chance to work on clipping and trimming up the younger horses in the barn. I am not sure that the yearlings appreciate my attempts at making them look tidier!

Wednesday was an unusual day in the barn. Cosequin representatives and a camera crew were at the barn to shoot a commercial. Phillip had to cross-country school a horse and then do an interview in the barn aisle. A couple of our working students got in on the action having various video shots taken of them.

I guess Fair Hill wouldn't be the same if we didn't get one really wet day. When the rain started coming down on Thursday, groans could be heard all around the barn. Not again! Glad to say it did dry up, and the ground on Saturday for cross-country could not have been any better.

Boyd, Andrea, Kathleen and I are all squashed into the truck driving home. The mood has now lifted a bit, but the feeling of disappointment will stay with us for a while. Saturday night we thought we could come home with a medal, and 24 hours later we were left with nothing.

Sunday morning was an early one to ensure the horses were sound and happy for the jog. Comet had to be withdrawn when he went into the hold box. He will live to fight another day, but my heart goes out to Becky and crew who were so close to gaining a medal.