United States Eventing Association

A Milestone

I was recently looking through my horse Sam’s record when I noticed that it has almost 100 events on it. That seemed like a milestone to me, so I did some adding and came up with a few statistics. Since this is his USEA record, it does not include any of the unrecognized events, combined tests, or dressage shows he has done with me or his previous owner, so the number is probably well over 100.

Sam is a 16.2 hand Irish Thoroughbred by Bruce Davidson’s Babamist. He is 15 this year, and he started competing when he was five. I have had Sam since July 2003 when I found him through an upper-level rider while I was auditing a clinic. I was looking for a prelim packer, having previously ridden through training, and Sam was competing with an adult amateur at advanced and intermediate. According to his USEA records, which started in February of 1999, Sam had competed in 61 events with his previous rider between then and June 2003. Of those 61 events, he had two retirements, five eliminations and three withdrawals. He also competed in four long format CCI**s and three long format CCI*s. He did four advanced horse trials, 25 intermediates, and 25 preliminaries.

I did my first event on him in 2004, and since then I have done 35 events with him. Of those, we have had five eliminations (those darn cross country finish flags!), and one withdrawal. We have done 21 trainings, one Training Three-Day Event and 13 preliminaries.

I am always fascinated by his record because he has traveled so much more than I have! He has been to all the big events on the east coast from Florida to Massachusetts and even up to Bromont in Canada. His passport book has more marks than mine does!

Unfortunately, while I’ve had Sam, he has been battling soundness issues. On a good year, we get 10 events in, but he had surgery to remove OCDs from his hocks a couple of years ago and has also developed arthritis in his right hock. His last event was in March at Morven Park where he bounded around the cross-country quite happily, but now we are coming back from another soundness issue.

Of course, eventing is not all about the number of starts you have or how many events you complete. With Sam, I have learned so much about soundness and how to maintain an older horse. I watched my first surgery when he had his OCD lesions taken out, and I learned how to bandage a hock. I’ve learned how EKGs work and how his heart functions because of his heart murmur. I’ve seen him get stitches in his knee, on the inside of his leg, and on his forehead. I’ve experienced hock injections, coffin joint injections, hip injections and most recently, IRAP injections. I can read an ultrasound pretty well now, and I’ve learned a lot about shoeing because he has low heels. We’ve been up and down Virginia finding the best farriers and trying bar shoes, wedge pads, and glue-ons. I’ve learned about correct saddle fitting, acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic work.

He and I have really racked up the miles together traveling from our farm in Stafford, Virginia to everywhere from Middleburg to Maryland for weekly lessons, cross country schoolings, gallops, swims, and numerous vet appointments. I’ve learned to navigate the roads in Maryland and Virginia quite well!

Of course, he has taught me a lot about eventing too. Words cannot describe how it feels to be on a horse that knows his job and is just as thrilled as you are to be tackling a cross-country course. After an event, when I show my dressage trainer a video of my ride, she always says he looks like he “eats fences for a living”. I always know he will bring me home safely, as long as he doesn’t spook! He is by Babamist, so he was bred for long format eventing and galloping. He does have a distaste for show jumping though, so it is a constant struggle to keep the rails up. I have really learned how to ride a show jumping course tactfully to get just the two inches we need to clear a fence, but I’ve also had a lot of disappointments when he’s not in the mood to pick up his feet! He is not always the fanciest in dressage, but usually places well because he is so steady and calm.

I had always hoped Sam would take me to my first long format three day, but the stars never quite aligned. We did compete in the Waredaca Training Three-Day in 2006 and placed second. Of course, the one rail we had down lost it for us, but his dressage was a personal best. It was fun doing the “victory gallop” at the end and getting a fancy neck sash and prizes. That was a great experience and really prepped us for Lexington the next weekend where we won our preliminary division. We also competed at the American Eventing Championships in 2006, which was a neat experience. Show jumping caught us again. We were in fourth going into show jumping, but had two rails down, but just the experience of being there was exciting.

Currently, Sam is coming back into work after stressing his front suspensory ligaments this spring. He competed at Morven in March and then went unsound. The vet said sometimes the suspensory just gives on a horse with as many miles as he has. So, we are trotting now and aren’t sure whether he will jump again. I know he wants to; he lives for it. I took him off the property a few days ago to just hack around a local cross country schooling course. He has always been a spook, and that day was no exception. He does not want to trot by any cross country fence or go into any water jump unless he is jumping over it or into it. So I had my hands full, but I just laughed. It’s so much fun to just enjoy your horse sometimes without the pressure of preparing for a competition. If he is only able to do this for the rest of his life, I would be unhappy only because I know he loves competing and jumping. So for now, I will just look back fondly on all that Sam has taught me about riding and caring for an event horse, and hopefully carry that experience to my off-the-track Thoroughbred that I am bringing up the levels.

(All Photos By GRCPhoto.com)