I guess there will always be ups and downs in dressage and in life. So we need to celebrate the good times as much as possible, right?!
Last weekend was one of those times to celebrate. I’ve been ecstatic to have WakeUp back and working, but last weekend was a milestone. He went back to the show ring earning a 71.70 percent in the Developing Grand Prix and a 72.8 percent in the Grand Prix.
WakeUp came up extremely lame for the first time in his life on Jan. 7. It was three days before our first show in Germany, so it was obviously not good timing.
In May we finally figured out that he fractured his coffin bone. I have to send a huge thank you out to Dr. Phil Hammock in Tennessee, who finally put the pieces together. Wakey was sound again, but I wanted to know why he came up lame and if he could come back to full work! So I took Wakey to this highly recommended lameness specialist. I did not know Dr. Hammock but he had given me his cell number and seemed to take a personal interest in Wakey. As you can imagine, that meant the world to me!
He was straightforward, didn’t try to sugarcoat anything, and was so extremely knowledgeable, but made me feel like Wakey was a priority. (I know Dr. Hammock sees horses worth millions in the racing world all the time, and I know Wakey is just one of his many clients, but when he was with WakeUp or talking to me, it seemed like he thought Wakey was the most important horse in the world. That’s HUGE!)
Just over the phone, Dr. Hammock laid out several potential scenarios, one that included surgery and up to a year off! Eek. So when he found the small fracture in his coffin bone, the news was too good to be true!
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When I simply posted on Facebook that I had great news (knowing that many people knew I was with Wakey trying to figure things out) rumor started that I was pregnant! I didn’t want to go into detail thinking I may jinx it!
Many people have asked me if not having WakeUp in work made me appreciate him more, but I don’t feel that is the case. I have always appreciated WakeUp and what a special horse he is. But maybe you can’t appreciate a horse like him enough!
He is truly my dream horse! However, his injury and time off did make me appreciate the fact that I have other nice horses; it made me appreciate training for training’s sake, and that you can truly learn and grow from and with every horse. Still…words can’t describe how happy I am to have WakeUp back, and I sure think he is happy too! I think most people in the horse world will be able to relate.
And thanks to everyone who sent positive thoughts! We all need them.
Blogger Emily Miles shows and trains dressage horses out of her family’s farm in LaCygne, Kan. Her WakeUp is one of the rising stars of U.S. dressage, having won the 6-year-old national championship in 2011 and winning the Developing Prix St. Georges national championship in 2013. Read all of Emily’s blogs.
