Bumps in the Road

Well 2014 has proven to be difficult thus far.  First, we have had to deal with the winter from hell that is now becoming the spring from hell.  My plan was to open at Morven Park last weekend to get a Prelim run in and then move up to Intermediate at Fair Hill in 2 weeks.  The week leading up to Morven brought a few inches of snow and then a downpour/hail on Saturday causing the event to turn into a CT!  Luckily we had decided to scratch on Saturday and didn't make the 3.5 hour drive for a Prelim CT.  Then came the rejiggering of plans...I took over Seth's entry at Plantation for next weekend and will run him back to back weekends to try and get back in the groove.  Seth is going to Full Moon Farm starter trial this weekend to get an outing and plan his move up to Training.  At this point we can save a few bucks with him going to schooling trials until he's comfortable at Training...we know he can dominate the Novice world but he's got bigger plans for Jango! 

Through all of this I was still concerned with Hobbs' breathing so we decided to have Kathy check him out.  We thought he was just struggling because of the extreme cold, but now that we are actually getting 40+° weather it didn't make sense.  Unfortunately, she found that he does have some asymmetry that has developed in his airway which is causing the noise.  He's not fully paralyzed yet, but it certainly could progress.  Surgery will be an option, but with only 70% success rate it's a risk.  Our plan of attack is to run him and see how much it's affecting him by monitoring his heart rate.  He will need to be more fit now to compensate for his deficiency, but I'm hoping that his big heart and zeal for running XC will triumph.  Kathy showed us this really cool case, AliveCor for our iphone that can track all the data and take his heart rate, so we promptly ordered one on the way home.  I will be honest I haven't spent a lot of effort tracking his conditioning in the past since I felt he would become too fit and then was unmanageable in dressage.  But now I'm obsessed with it and feel like I want to ride him all the time and take his heart rate to make sure he is ok.  I'm freaking out a bit about it and of course every time he takes a deep breath or sighs I'm concerned.  It's also hard because I know him so well so I'm overanalyzing everything and trying to make sure he's still happy with his job.  He makes a lot of noise now when we're working and that's something I'm going to have to get used to, but it's hard to adjust to especially since I know something is wrong.  I don't feel like he and I are done yet - although this winter was rough, we are more in sync than we have ever been and I felt much more confident going into this season.  Then this comes up and my confidence is shattered for a completely different reason.  In this sport it feels like every time you set a high goal there are major obstacles to overcome and you are continuously tested.  It's tiring and frustrating, but I know from past experience that it is super rewarding if you can achieve your goals!

AliveCor - my new best friend