More SPII Video's

This time it's Tom's turn...he finished 2nd keeping his prelim top two streak in tact.

Southern Pines Report

As always Southern Pines was a true test for horse and rider at each level. The Carolina Horse Park is a beautiful facility. They have been working very hard and it shows. The cross country was in great shape. I was also told that improvements to the footing are to be completed to a few of the galloping lanes this spring. I'd expect that the park will be a fixture for years to come.

We had a number of horses competing this weekend, 6 to be exact. Dressage day started out well. The horses all preformed well, frustratingly, I did have a few stupid errors which certainly put a damper on the morning. I had changed up my routine, I've learned my lesson and my routine is back.

The fun began with a few horses cross country on Friday. Socks was very good in his first training. Not sure it was the best move up course, but when in rome... He was excellent, jumped around as if he'd seen countless courses in his past.

Saturday brought a bunch more XC. The highlights were both Tom and Running Order. Tom was very good, continuing his trend set in his first 3 prelims. He's a very talented horse, with limitless potential. I'm very excited to see where he ends up. Running Order went out strong on the difficult Advanced course. I was fully expecting him to be sticky jumping into the bounce into water. He was not in the least backed off. Later in the course I did have an annoying mis-communication at the second brush at 15b. I circled back and continued on without trouble. Coming off the course, I was annoyed about the brush but proud of how well he handled a number of the other difficult combination. Beau also show jumped on Saturday, he was very good finishing 2nd in his 3rd prelim.

Sunday concluded a great weekend for us. Tom finished up in 2nd, Stonewall 8th and Running Order jumped 1 of 3 clean rounds out of the 20+ competitors. Video below...I can't express how excited I am see what the future with him.

Arden and Michael were not as fortunate this weekend. My thoughts are with both of them, it's never easy to lose a partner. I've been lucky at this point in my career not to have to experience such a loss. I can't imagine...but again my thoughts are with both of them.

Running Order - Show Jumping


We have training sessions this week with Katie Prudent both Tues and Weds...Stay tuned...

Pine Top Spring Wrap Up...

The baby parade had an impressive weekend. The performances were lead by my personal favorite Royal Tribute aka the Prodigy. He secured his first novice win, finishing on his dressage score of 24. I can't express how excited I am for his future. He might be the most talented horse I've ever had the pleasure of riding. The most amazing thing about him is that his 24 had a number of green mistakes. Once he's consistent, I'm not sure there's a horse out there that will be able to stop him.

The other notables, Beau was excellent in his 2nd prelim. He's very brave and once the dressage is further along he too will be formidable.

Socks had a confident go, and should be ready for the big move up to Training at Southern Pines.

Popcorn, coming home with the red ribbon...how about that!!

We should have a short but relatively quiet week. The big guys are heading up to Southern Pines on Thursday.

Full Results and video below:
· 2nd Pine Top Spring HT - Popcorn - Beginner Novice -
· 6th Pine Top Spring HT - Beau Voyageur - Preliminary -
· 3rd Pine Top Spring HT - Farley Davidson - Preliminary-Training -
· 8th Pine Top Spring HT - Starship Beckett - Training -
· 7th Pine Top Spring HT - Absolute Faith - Novice -
· 1st Pine Top Spring HT - Royal Tribute - Novice -
· 8th Pine Top Spring HT - Rivertown Lad - Novice -

Beau's Show Jumping Round from the weekend:

Tali's Home!

Just a quick update. I just returned from U of Ga with Tali in tow. He's resting comfortably at home. I've got to say, if you didn't notice the slight swelling and patches from the scope you might not guess anything is wrong. He's walking very well, and wasted no time dropping to get a good roll in the fresh shavings. He's got 2 weeks of stall rest then the hand walking and light turnout can begin. I've been told that it's important to keep him moving during the healing process. Quite a good feeling having the surgery completed, knowing exactly what's wrong and how to make the most of his recovery. The 8 month's will go quickly, 2012 better watch out!

In other news, Running Order was at the training sessions today at 3 Runs Plantation. He was great...getting better by the day. I finally feel like I'm figuring out how to ride him. Better late than never! We're heading back tomorrow at 12.

Until then...

D

Red Hills CIC*** Video

Tali's Surgical Report...

Well as with everything there is good news and bad. Let me preface this with the fact that I'm not a vet, so I'm sure there are details I'm leaving out that might be useful for someone with a degree. Hopefully you can get the jist.

The bad first, is that he tore one of the ligaments stabilizing his Patella completely, allowing the Patella to shift towards the outside of his leg. He also strained his equivalent to our ACL. Dr. Peroni at UGa was optimistic on his prognosis, but it's going to be roughly 6-9 months.

The good news was that they were able to remove a number of clots and fibrous matter in the joint and debride the fracture line. This should allow for better quality healing. Also very good was the fact that the articulating surfaces of the knee are all in good shape. This should bode well for his future. The other bit of good news was that there were no bone fragments found in the joint.

I don't have the detailed info yet, but it sounds as if he'll be in a stall for the next few weeks. He then will be able to start to turn out assuming he's quiet and begin hand walking. Its best if we can keep the joint moving.

I should be able to pick him up tomorrow...so fingers crossed! I still can't help but feel bad for Tali. Such a small mistake, and what a production. I was glad to see at Red Hills the use of PRO Logs jumping into the water. They are basically large foam logs that look like wood. I'm a little gun shy about stifles these days, I was surprised how many marks and dents were in the logs by the end of the day. It'd be great if more events used such technology or brush etc. There shouldn't be such a large consequence for a green mistake.

Other happenings this week. Simon get's the call up for my XC training session tomorrow with Mark Phillips. 3:30 tomorrow at Paradise if anyone is interested. Running Order gets a lesson with Mark on Thursday at 11 am.

Pine Top is this coming weekend...the baby parade is going to be in full force!!

U of Ga...Surgery tomorrow

Red Hills Wrap-Up...

Today or should I say yesterday was the last day of Red Hills for 2011. I don't have much room to complain. All of the horses jumped great. Reggie finished up in 10th in the Prelim with 1 rail down.

Tom jumped a great round, to finish on his dressage score in his third prelim, again winning his division. Pretty impressive, being that he's won 2 and was 2nd once in his 3 prelim outings!

Running Order was last to jump of ours. He warmed up great, and frankly jumped better than he's jumped in his career. We did have one down, but I can't overstate this enough, he's one hell of a horse who will be making a name for himself in the future. I'm just very lucky to be along for the ride!

I was wearing the helmet cam for XC and SJ over the weekend. It was a bit frustrating, but for some reason it died half of the way through XC. Needless to say there is still plenty to watch, make sure to pay close attention to your head, or mine, through the teepee (fence #11). I also included the normal footage of show jumping as well as the helmet cam view. All of which is being made possible from our friends at Equithrive. Running Order, as well as all of our top horses are now using Equithive, with great results! Click to find out more.

The video is being uploaded as we speak, so I'll make sure to post a link when we're up and running.

Status update on Simon: I was able to unwrap him when arriving back in Aiken. You wouldn't be able to tell that anything is/was wrong with the leg. Frustrating that he was unable to jump around the Intermediate this weekend...but such is life. Southern Pines will have to be his 2nd OI.

Pine Top is this upcoming weekend. The baby parade gets another confidence building outing. It should serve as Sock's last novice before Southern Pines.

Check back soon for the video...

D

Red Hills XC update...

Well it was exactly as expected...far from a dressage show. Reggie started the day off in the prelim. He's still green at the level, so we didn't make a go at the time. He jumped around well and finished up in 9th.

Tom was next out. As always, from what I hear, the time was difficult to make. Being that we started the day in the lead, I didn't want that to change. He just keeps impressing me more with each run. This being his 3rd prelim I expected him to be quite green with some of the combinations, but he was far from it. He jumped around easily making the time, retaining our lead. He has a great gallop, I'm starting to think he might not have an upper limit.

Running Order was next. I was a bit nervous before going out. There was plenty to do, and a number of problems with the few who had gone out before me. But this is one bad @## horse! He jumped around very well, didn't put a foot wrong. Even got the EN plug for best jumping horse of the day. Couldn't agree more with John. We finished up with some time remaining in 5th place in the CIC***.

Simon was to be next out, unfortunately we had a bit of a scare. When tacking him up Meagan noticed some localized swelling on his LF. It was scary looking, so out of an abundance of caution we had it scanned and didn't run XC. Turns out that its just fluid, basically he kicked himself in the stall sometime around mid day. 48 hrs he should be good to go.

Jogs at 8 tomorrow, which is actually like 7 with the time change. SJ to follow.  

Until tomorrow...

D

Red Hills 2nd water

Red Hills Dressage Day Report

I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with Red Hill. There isnt a stone unturned. I hear there are massive crowds on XC day, I'm sure this year will be no different, perfect weather sure doesn't hurt.

Dressage started with Simon. This is his 2nd intermediate and one would think he'd have plenty of experience at this point. I keep having to remind myself how few actual events he's been to, and how much larger this stage is than anything he's seen. He was wild yesterday, so I decided to ride him twice today. The first time early this am to burn some energy as well as practice some of the movements in the test. He was up, but defiantly better than yesterday. Ride #2 was even better. He did get nervous when going around the ring. I'm sure in time he will be among the leaders.

Running Order was next to go. He was excellent yesterday and I was hoping to the able to replicate it in the ring today. the training sessions last week have help tremendously. He warmed up very well. To my surprise he was just about as ridable in the ring as he was in warm-up. He has been the most difficult horse I have at the barn in dressage. Needless to say I was excited. He did have a few mistakes he broke in the counter-canter and had one late change, but came away with a 46. 17 points better than Boekelo!!

Tom was next up. He has been very good. His record at prelim leaves little to be desired. He's been 1st and 2nd so far...he is now winning here. Can't complain about that!

Reggie was last, he's still quite green at the level. I might have warmed up a bit too long. He was getting tired and not quite as consistent as yesterday. He still came away with a 31 putting him in 8th. Not bad for his 3rd prelim.

I then went out and walked nearly until dark. There is enough to do and its not going to be a dressage show I can assure you of that. Fingers crossed, I can't wait for tomorrow.

Quick not on Tali. I spoke to his surgeon last night. Tuesday is the big day up the he U of Ga.

Updates tomorrow.

-D

Updated Agian...to Surgery Tali's Goes...

So I was able to speak to Dr Greg Staller, my vet, upon conferring with Brett they've decided to go forward with the surgery. Greg was not confident that there weren't micro chips, likened to an egg shell flaking, under the patella. If they are present they'd act like sand paper and destroy the joint. In the surgery they can go in and flush the joint, remove all of the chips and make sure all is in good shape.

Looks like we'll be taking him to the University of Georgia. The inflammation was down a bit today, and we're trying to get this done asap. Greg was upbeat on his prognosis. The good part about the surgery is that we'll know exactly what we're dealing with and all can be resolved in the best possible way.

So I think all is looking up in that we have a solution on the horizon. Stay tuned...

Tali's Vet Report

I have been anxiously awaiting today to come since Pine Top. We don't have a final resolution, but at least we have a diagnosis. Brett, Shanon's excellent vet was luckily down and able to perform the exam.

We're 9 days out from XC. For those not familiar, hairline fractures may not show up right away. A week to 10 days they should be clear on the X-Rays. At the time of the accident, no fractures were apparent.

The exam started with an ultrasound of the joint. All of the menisci look to be in good shape, very good news being that they would be very difficult to heal. Unfortunately, their appeared to be a significant fracture in the medial aspect of the patella. The news did not sound good.

This along with a significant about of joint fluid was not painting a good picture. We moved on to the radio-graphs. No fracture was present in the lateral views. The skyline view did however show the fracture. It didn't appear all that bad, not that a fracture is good. Our vet Greg Staller is on a plane at the moment to California, so were waiting for the morning to confirm a course of action. The tentative plan is to harvest stem cells for later injection. Tomorrow we'll drain the joint and inject PRP. We'll also continue the aggressive course of anti-inflammatory drugs, icing and lasering.

Tomorrow we'll have a vet conference to confirm the course of action, and execute it. The long term prognosis is guardedly positive. I can't help but feel sorry for the poor horse. He's about the most genuine type that you'll ever meet, the last thing you'd like to see is have him in pain.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Check back for updates.

Tali and Sporting Days Updates

First off Tali. Not that there is anything that can be done...but I can't help but feel bad for him. He's one of the most genuine horses I've dealt with, just not fun to see him in pain. On the up side. In the last two days he's made some big improvements. He was walking on his toe for the last week, if not hopping a on 3 legs. As of yesterday he was able to step over the threshold out of the stall and walk quite normal. Nearly flat footed now! I have to credit Meagan with his constant icing, bute and Lasering provided by our friends at SpectraVet. Our vet is coming out on Tuesday to check him out. Of course I'm anxiously awaiting his visit!

So on to Sporting Days. We had about as good of a weekend as you can get. Everyone at Sporting Days puts on a great event. From the food, to the smoothie lady (my personal favorite) to the rings and courses, it's a great opportunity to get the green guys out. The temperature was quite nice all weekend, we did have sporadic rain and consistent wind especially this morning that was less than ideal. All of the horses handled it well. As with any green guys they are more affected by blowing objects, falling dressage rings and show jumps than the older more experienced ones. They're not going to get any better without exposing them to it. So in that way I really don't mind. You can manage to get more out of the event with the extra distractions. They all will learn from it and be better next time out.

Tribute had two rails in his round, on of which was when we had something blow down behind us. He scooted, unfortunately we were just a few strides out from the third fence. Needless to say he was surprised by the jump that was quickly approaching. He couldn't get his 5' legs out of the way in time. Such is life...he was more careful from then on.

So the results were as follows, we had 9 horses competing. Of them 3 won (Socks, Reggie and Farley) 5 were in the top 5 (Beau, Popcorn, Beckett, Wauwinet and the Prodigy) Stonewall finish 9th. The weekend MVP is a tie between Beau who was 3rd in his first prelim and Socks who had his first win at his 3rd event in Novice.

We should have video's posted on the facebook page as well as some links to pictures...all found by clicking here.

Quick Tali update..

I can't help but feel really bad for the poor pony. He seems to be doing a bit better this morning. We're able to hand walk him. Once he's moving he's actually walking quite well. He is certainly still quite stiff in the first few steps. He's on bute, being iced, surpassed and lasered. Keeping my fingers crossed for a quick recovery!

-D

Doug Payne
PO Box 179
Pottersville, NJ 07979
www.dpequestrian.com
908.399.9112