The Curse Strikes Again

15 November 2011 4 Comments

Last week, I was standing in the barn morosely going over Ro when another boarder stopped and asked me what was wrong.

“She’s off,” I said.

Without pausing, the boarder asked, “Did you enter her in a show again?”

Sigh.

My show luck (or lack of luck) has reached epic status.

And for the record, I did enter her in a show.

Except this time, I really thought I had the universe fooled. I told everyone we were done with show attempts this year. Everyone. If you didn’t get the memo yet, the post office is probably just overburdened. It’s on its way.

Then I went home, shut myself up in a dark closet where even the cats couldn’t see me, and filled out my entry forms. I decided I wouldn’t even tell my friend who was going to come with me and keep me sane. I’d just go and announce our awesome scores later.

My plan was foolproof, but it turns out the universe is no fool.

And so, as I said, last week Ro came up… off. Not head-bobbing lame, but definitely not sound.

I watched her for three days, but there was no significant change. So - no show for us. Again.

I had the vet out last week, and the exam showed something a little unexpected (although it explains some things in retrospect). I decided to hold off on taking action until I got Ro to the chiro (which happened yesterday) and I could get a saddle fitter out (this coming weekend). At that point, she’ll have had two weeks off work as well.

At that point, we’ll reevaluate and decide whether chiro/saddle/riding approach will be enough to manage the issue that came up in the vet exam or if we need to get more aggressive.

Right now, I am feeling optimistic. I think Ro has had an awful schedule all year, going in and out of work because of the sinus issue. She’s only been back in a regular program for a couple months, and during that time we’ve found a whole near gear in her gait box. I’m hoping what we’re seeing is that I asked for too much, too soon and she’s just body sore.

And in the meantime, I can state definitely, unequivocally, no sneaky-tricks-up-my-sleeve-ly: we will not be attempting to show again this year.

We are clearly cursed. I mean, there’s such a thing as being unlucky at shows, but we can’t even get to a show.

Maybe I need to burn an omnibus or something, exorcise the bad luck demons. Too bad we’re still under a burn ban. Deleting the file from my computer just doesn’t have the same emotional cleansing effect.

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