Wow

I feel like my posts almost always have something tragic going on in them.  Today is going to be no different unfortunately.  Early this morning the eventing world lost an amazing competitor, Amy Tryon.   She died in her sleep today and as far as I can tell there has been no information out about the cause of death.

I'm sure anyone who follows eventing will remember Amy who recently competed on Poggio II (in the photo), the former race and trail horse, at the Galway Downs International Horse trials two weeks ago.  For those who do not she has also represented the United States in two Olympic Games and two World Equestrian Games, with team gold at the World Games in Jerez in 2002 and a team bronze from the Athens Olympics.  She was also named Eventing Horseman of the Year in 2006 by The Chronicle of the Horse.  Amy was also a firefighter for several years.  Besides being an amazing competitor she was also a mentor and trainer for several up and coming talented students and horses.

It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to yet another great competitor and champion for our sport.  My thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family through such a difficult time.

Seriously?!?

I came back outside last night after the horses had been fed to take the dogs out and the pasture gate was completely torn off the hinges, it looked like someone had blown it apart with a hand grenade.  I grabbed Bentley and ran back inside and hollered at Shawn telling him the gate was gone.

I put on boots and a coat and ran back outside first towards the highway because I just assumed the worse and I was going to find them both out on the side of the road hit or something or they were just gone....
When I didn't see them out there I went back over to the gate and looked down towards the back of the pasture.  Shawn saw her before I did and started to walk in that direction.  Buck was down there with her and as we got closer I noticed she was standing funny, with all her weight in the front end and her right back leg was up, I knew this was not going to be good...

When I got down to her, her leg was broken at the ankle.  I won't go into details but needless to say there was nothing anyone could do to repair it.  She had torn up the backs of her legs, I assume she got sided up to the fence and got shocked by the electric fence and some how got her leg caught in the pasture gate (it was just a galvanized gate).  There was nothing we could do but call the vet and have him come out and put her to sleep (it took him an hour to get there though).

When the vet finally showed I grabbed Buck and walked him back up to the top of the pasture and gave him some feed to distract him while Shawn was down with Dolly and the vet.  Buck kept watching her of course and was fine for a while until she started to go down.  When she laid down he got very agitated and made the strangest low whinny, I've never heard anything like it and I hope not to again.  It sent chills down my spine and made me cry, I know he knew what was going on.  He basically dragged me all the way down to where Dolly was laying.  When we got down there he snorted really hard and flipped out and dragged me all the way back up to the top of the pasture where he proceeded to dance circles around me and holler for her.

After the vet made sure she was down we decided the best solution for Buck would be to load him up and haul him to New Spring Farm (about an hour trip with a trailer, it was almost 2 in the morning at this point).  She was going have to stay out in the pasture over night until we could get someone to come bury her or something the next day and I didn't think it was right to leave him out there with her all night long, he would have been panicking all night anyway.  I was really afraid he might go through the fence in the middle of the night and get hit on the highway.

Once he was comfortably in a stall we left the trailer at the barn and went home.  I went to bed about 4:30 this morning.  We got up this morning and spent the entire day trying to find someone to help us.  Luckily we have a great neighbor who just happened to have a huge bulldozer with a bucket on the front, he took care of everything in about a half an hour, I was so grateful.  There are few people out there who will still drop everything and help someone just because they can, I don't know how I'm going to repay him.

I feel so guilty for what happened to her and right now I feel like I'm not fit to have horses...  This has just not been the holiday break I had been hoping for.  I feel like a horrible horse parent today...

Superstar Show-Jumper Dies Today

A world class competitor has died today.  Hickstead, partner of Eric Lamaze and Olympic medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Games collapsed after finishing a 13 fence course at a World Cup event of what they believe to be a heart attack.

According to one story from The Associated Press Lamaze stated they had just finished their round, knocking one rail and were circling to leave the ring when Hickstead collapsed of an apparent heart attack.  Vets tried to revive Hickstead in front of a speechless crowd at the Rolex FEI event in Verona, Italy.

After the veterinary service took Hickstead off the course the riders requested to have the competition abandoned and all held a moment of silence for Hickstead and Lamaze.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to experience something so devastating with Buck, who I've only had for 2 years.  My heart goes out to Eric Lamaze who has been working with the 15 year old Hickstead since he was 7 years old.

I feel the equestrian world has lost a once in a lifetime horse today.  Horses with the kind of talent and willingness of Hickstead do not come around every day and I believe thanks to this horse and Eric Lamaze the show jumping world will never been the same.

R.I.P Hickstead :'(

Apple Lovers Everywhere are Mourning

I'm sure it was as depressing to all of you Mac lovers out there as it was for me to hear the news of the passing of Apple's Co-Founder Steve Jobs today.

I remember the first Mac I ever bought (not to hard to remember considering it was only 3 years ago). I was so excited! I had to wait for almost 2 weeks because I had to add some different things to the basic model (better hard drive, more memory, etc.). When it finally came I ripped into the box and carefully pulled out the cute little while laptop. I couldn't believe how light and thin it was and I was skeptical about how it would compare to my $2,000 Dell laptop I had received for my high school graduation from my dad.

Needless to say I was instantly hooked, and have been ever since. Since the Macbook I have also acquired an iPod Touch and will, hopefully, soon have the latest iPad. I love Apple products and I fully intend to buy another Macbook when this one has run it's course.

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) passed today at 56.  He was a visionary and really a genius and he will be sorely missed.  The technology world was forever changed and bettered thanks to this man.

"You're time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life, don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary." ~Steve Jobs

Riddle Me This...

And slightly off topic...

A week ago Sunday my new dog (a 2 year old Rottweiler I rescued from the pound in the city where I work) slipped out the back door after my in-laws left the house and ran out on the road.  Tragically he was killed because the lady "thought he would stop" and never bother to hit the brakes.

Now mind you, my yard is about as long as a football field and just as flat... for miles...  There was no excuse for her not to at least attempt to hit her brakes and avoid the impending collision.  But she decided he would probably turn at the last second or something and she wouldn't have to worry about slowing down since where ever she was going was obviously more important than my dogs life.  Now don't get me wrong it is our responsibility to watch our pets and make sure they stay away from the road I am not trying to take away from that fact at all, but things happen and he was rather sneaky.

After said accident, my husband had to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening (Casino was killed at 12:30 PM) digging a 4 foot deep hole to bury the poor dog in.  He finished and we buried him at approximately 9 PM that night.  It was devastating and I still feel horrible about it and I think my husband feels even worse.

Yesterday, that lady had the nerve to show up out the house while my husband and I were gone and got a hold of my father in-law who, being the good person he is, exchanged our insurance information with her since of course now a week after she murdered my dog she wants to make us pay for the damage to her car.  There is no way I could possibly put into words how PISSED OFF I am right now!!  If it were the other way around and I had killed a family pet, I couldn't even think about going back to the people and trying and make them pay for my vehicle.

Also, she is claiming the headlight on her car fell out along with other damage.  I distinctly remember looking at her vehicle while we were standing on the side of the road and yep, the headlight was definitely still in it's spot.

So my question is, how do people have the nerve to do the things they do???  How could you, after seeing how devastated the family was over the death of their dog and WATCHING the dog die yourself, go back and try... well not try MAKE them pay for damage to your vehicle because you were too stupid or in too big of a hurry to slow down a little??  There was no squeak of the brakes, no nothing... I guess she just assumed he was the smarter animal in that situation and would yield to her before crossing the road.

Tell me you couldn't see him coming from a mile away??