What really happened at Luhmühlen…

I suppose you have been wondering about what happened to me and Buddy during the cross-country course at  Luhmühlen, but I really needed some time to get over the tragic incident myself…

During the preparatory clinic everything went splendidly, Buddy was in a superb mood and in the evenings the atmosphere at the get-togethers of the team was optimistic and full of expectations. Everything seemed to be heading towards a high-flying season’s highlight. Being selected for the EUCH squad alone had already fulfilled all the hopes I had had for Buddy and myself, two years ago I would never have guessed that we could make it this far together!

The dressage test reflected our continual progress throughout the season, apart from a slight error just before the extended trot, and I was quite happy with 44pp (place 21 after dressage). The xc looked rather demanding, but I felt that it would suit After the Battle. Going early in the order promised to be an advantage this time, as the already quite wet ground threatened to get worse in the course of the event. Until after fence 12 Buddy performed phenomenally, absolutely great…

when on a sandy track between fence 12 and 13 he suddenly tripped and felt lame immediately. I stopped instantly and had him transferred to the nearest veterinary clinic for examination. The ultrasonic scan revealed a badly injured superficial flexor tendon of the right fore, I am not remotely sure how this has happened, I reckon he hit himself with the hind foot or else he twisted it in an unevenness..

Anyway, this will definitely put an end to his career, as he is already 16 of age… We plan to offer him a happy retirement, he has certainly earned it! I would never have believed that we could achieve such great successes together, he gave everything and has been fighting for me amazingly. He will always remain a  very special horse to me, I don’t know any other which is so determined about what he will do and what not… and whom he likes and whom he detests He deserves to be remembered forever as one of the fastest horses in eventing, if not the fastest, as a good gallop was his greatest joy, and felt just short from flying

On Sunday I watched the final showjumping, and I am happy to say that our team gave an unrivaled stunning performance! Team gold and individual 1^st to 4^th and further favourable placings..you couldn’t ask for more, I can but express my congratulations to everybody again!

These European Championships will certainly be remembered very specially by everyone in a different way. For me, they have proved again what a small gap there is between blessing and disaster… Alas! Things like these are part of our sport, and surrendering is not an option, therefore the following weekend saw me and Louis at the Breda CIC***, more about that in the next blog!

 Best regards, Julia

Dieser Eintrag wurde am 11.9.2011 um 00:30 verfasst und befindet sich in Julia, The English Blog. Sie können alle Antworten zu diesem Eintrag über den Feed RSS 2.0 mitverfolgen. Hinterlassen Sie eine Antwort oder einen Trackback-Link zu Ihrer eigenen Homepage.