In which Keebler is a sick pony

Got a call from Susie Wednesday evening that Keebler had a fever. Didn't think much of it, as despite horrifying blood counts in early January, he recovered quickly from a similar fever. Tom came out, took blood, put him on banamine, tucaprim, and gentycin. No improvement, so this morning he went off to New Bolton. He is still eating and all, but fever remains and he is weaker and generally "punky" The New Bolton folks are doing an abdominal ultrasound to confirm suggestion of GI involvement, but they don't seem to have any clearer notion of what is going on that does Tom (our fabulous vet). Hopefully, he will rally whether or not they figure out what is going on. We all know he is a tough little bugger - yeah for those Appy characteristics.

And this after his great performance at the dressage schooling show. It was one of those shows where you pick the test, so we did Eventing Training Test A once and Test B twice. He got 42 on the first two tests and 40 on the third with a judge who does both dressage and the recognized events as well. His best dressage scores ever! So, maybe having to be a dressage pony made him feel ill....

Back in the saddle

Well, I'm actually riding again. Later today, I will be riding Keebler for the first time since April 24th. On Friday, I borrowed a school horse and puttered around. It was very cute. One of the kids on her pony kept asking me if I had my confidence back yet. That felt good, so after volunteering at Plantation over the weekend (more on that later), I had a lesson on Del (a quiet young TB), doing some flat work and some jumping. That felt good also. Skipped riding yesterday (at 98 degrees, I couldn't face putting on breeches and a helmet) and lunged Keebler, who was very good. Lesson planned for today. Update to follow.

Plantation was fun. On Saturday, I scribed for Muffin Pantaze and saw several nice tests as well as some that were less so (preliminary level). The words of the day were "straightness" and "suppleness" good to see the basics being stressed in the judging. Then, I got another round in control with Dick, which was interesting as always. Sunday, I judged dressage - Novice, BN, and Elementary. I think the elementary test was hard. They had to halt at the beginning and they were actually supposed to make transitions *at* letters, not just between them. Both days had a big COM representation and some tack problems. Saturday, Rob had a stirrup band break and Sunday, Susie had a rein break - on D.G., up by the foundation, pretty exciting I'm sure. There were also good ribbons. Lesley and Tia won on Saturday, T and Teddy had a 5th at prelim, with a good dressage test. On Sunday, Amanda (Susie's daughter) did her first event, and finished 3rd on Issy. Sara Estabrook won that division on Dave. Betsy and Preston were 3rd in their division and Betsy is totally in love with Preston. Despite the heat, it was a lovely weekend. I'm really glad to be riding again. More updates to follow.