A Brief Catch Up
I haven’t been keeping up with the blog as well as I should. After Broxton Bridge, I was getting ready for the next race with hope. I had secured a ride, got my new health certs, and then? My entire boarding facility went into quarantine.
One of the horses had competed in Wellington, and somebody at that facility brought in a horse that had influenza. A few days after the boarder returned home from that show, her horse started showing symptoms. The vet came out right away, and by the following day, it was confirmed to be influenza.
Now, we didn’t go into full lockdown immediately. The facility is very large and spaced out, so essentially a portion was quarantined. Theoretically, I could have left and attended the race anyways. But morally, I couldn’t. I’m not one of those people that would risk the health of others for my own gains. So, we pulled and stayed put.
Later, the facility did go into a full quarantine to make sure the virus was 100% fully eradicated. It took about a month to be sure, but we got it all stamped out. By late December, everything was back to normal.
Oh, and Roach, ever the gentleman, decided to have an abscess during quarantine. I mean, if you have to pick a time to go lame, when we can’t do anything anyways is the perfect time!
Filling Gaps
In the meantime, I did purchase a truck, so 50% of my travel issues have been solved. Now I need the other 50%. Between weather, quarantine, lameness, and travel issues, the 2025 season has not been what I had hoped. I made an effort to stave off the “woe is me” attitude and decided to start filling our time with other things.
My friend has been wanting to get into Western Dressage for some time, and this year she decided it was the year. She has committed to the whole North Florida Dressage Association season, and I figured, “Hey! A trailer ride!” So we jumped on the bandwagon as well.
I may not have mentioned it before, but my formative riding years were in classical dressage. I absolutely love it. Dressage taught me the biomechanics of the horse, and endurance has taught me the metabolics of the horse under prolonged effort. Between the two, I love the much more complete, holistic view of the horse I now have.
Absolutely, I would play dressage in the meantime!
The Mule Hates the Arena
Roach hates arena work. To him, it’s boring and circles are hard! The trail is much more fun, amusing, and Mom leaves you alone more often. She isn’t there saying, “Lift your shoulder, more impulsion. I said impulsion, not speed. Go left, go right, halt. Walk, trot. Bigger trot, smaller trot, circle trot.” On and on and on.
He starts to hear how the Peanuts listen to the adults: “Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa.” Instead, he quotes Lightning McQueen, “I’m built for speed. Ker-chow!” (Which he definitely is not, but I let him have his beliefs).
With his attitude and our horrid practices, I was very concerned and decided, “You know what? As long as I don’t go off the pattern, I’ll be happy.” After all, we can keep at this test all season if I want to.
A Consummate Professional
We got to the show grounds and completely bombed our practice runs in the arena. Wrong leads, squovals instead of circles, debated popping over the fence—the list goes on. I was not surprised. He did not move backwards from the halt, though. I was happy with that.
What I love about this mule is he can be the most ornery half ass that ever half assed, but when it’s show time, he puts on his game face and goes to work. I don’t know how he does it. I don’t know if I change or if he just “knows.” Every show, every race, he comes to play hard.
I wasn’t sure if that would happen in our first dressage show, but it did! We scored a 66.9% in our WDAA Basic Level Test 1 with one judge and a 63% in our Basic Level Test 2 with a different judge. I was thrilled with those scores, especially since the second judge has a reputation for being much tougher than the first.
It was enough to earn us a second and first place, plus reserve high point for adult amateurs.
He may not be Wallace the Dressage mule, but he’s got potential!
Photography by Seeing Spots Photography
