"Wow" only partially covers the roller coaster ride we were on the last days. Remy had a sore throat/infection, but it got nipped in the bud right in the beginning and his temperature went back to normal within a day and stayed in the 99F range. Remy was his perky self again so we decided to take him to Waterloo on Thursday for schooling and "to see how it goes".
Ah, as to "see how it goes"... schooling didn't go so swell. The lower warm up arena is not for the faint of heart as it is lined by dense forest on one long side, facing the road on the other long side, and the short sides sport the food vendor on the left and several Porta Johns (toilets to you Europeans) on the right. Now add a bunch of horses to the mix and you get the idea. Remy got rattled by some 'fire-breathing' heavy warmbloods cantering up behind him and not surprisingly chose to save his hide by jumping out of the way. That, of course, didn't help Judy with her well thought out training plan. The traditional German training way would be to push (sometimes force) the horse through the issue and make him listen no matter what. However, Remy is Mr. Sensitive, therefore Judy chose to stop, reassure, and then go about business as usual. The question was: Would this help Remy overcome his issue with feeling crowded? Time would tell...
As usually, Remy handled all the other commotion on the showgrounds exceedingly well. The warmup on Friday was better, and he did very well in the large open training classes: Winning his first one with 69.3% and scoring 67.8% in his second class. I, of course, was a Nervous Nellie the entire time. I never thought that I could be more nervous watching that riding. Well, now I know better: My broken nails are proof! Poor Remy: his 'reward' for doing so well: a huge injection in his hamstring with the final dose of antibiotic.
Saturday Judy didn't even longe him in the warm up, on she went and rode another two beautiful tests, culminating in a score of 72.5%!! So, yes, WOW!!
All four of us (Judy, myself, JP and Remy) were VERY relieved that her strategy in the warm up was the right one. Of course, it's always easy to say after the fact "I knew it", but really, I did. There is nothing wrong with questioning your approach, and actually it's the right thing to do, but you also have to have faith in your gut feeling. Yes, Jude, your gut was right on :-)
The weekend also helped me bonding with Remy more, without riding I could focus on really pampering him, as I was his groom. At home I am always watching that Saumur doesn't feel left out (OK, yes, they are horses but they do have feelings! It's no fun when your sibling gets all the attention). So away from home I don't have to feel guilty about spoiling one of them individually. I might have taken it too far, though: Remy now digs through my clothes in search of cookies and I got 'reprimanded' for letting him do this as evidenced by me sporting a shirt with horse slobber all over.
I also got to watch Judy ride Benise in the PSG, and here is another WOW!! "Beauty and Harmony" came to mind as they danced away from the competition -in a snaffle- with almost 75% despite a spook caused by two dogs. Remy and I sure have a long way to go, but it's great to have a role model to emulate right in front of us. Said role model even makes me look better off the horse - no shirts sporting horse slobber allowed :-)
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