February 27, 2025
I cannot believe we are already nearly two months into this year. With all of the insanity going on in the world right now, I wanted to sit down and take some time to put another brief blog post up as it's been a fair bit since the last one.
Sophie and I have been back on a consistent schedule and working on getting both of our levels of fitness up. I have started doing home work outs and forcing myself to take trips down to the little gym in my apartment when I can. Town Hill taught me how important it is to keep working on myself as much as I am working on my horse. The only thing bugging me really is my foot, as I am limited to cardio workouts that do not involve running - which is more challenging than I had anticipated! Because the injury involved tendons, they say it won't necessarily 'fully heal' until about a year after surgery- and even then I have been told care should be taken. In my case, the only thing I shouldn't be doing while I wait for the fully healed moment is running, which normally wouldn't bother me at all (I don't actually like running), although I find that to be the easiest way to get a good cardio workout in.
I've also been making sure to get Sophie feeling her best as we head into the start of the season. She saw the dentist, we've been starting some interval training in anyway we can using the indoor while we wait for it to thaw outside, I found a gently used Equicore band system on FB marketplace which I am also incorporating into Sophie's fitness work as needed which has been great, and she's seen the wonderful team at Northbridge Equine to get the proper maintenance work ahead of our first big show.
Sophie has had some mild arthritis in her fetlocks, which I've known about since buying her, and we've been keeping her feeling comfortable with annual joint injections which has been working for quite some time. This year, after speaking with the teams both at Piedmont when we were south and Northbridge up here, we have moved forward with IRAP for Sophie instead in order to hopefully have more long-lasting results. It has been fascinating to learn about just how many therapies exist for these kinds of things in horses, and we all came to the consensus that IRAP was the best option for Sophie (and my wallet) long term. If you own a horse, you know how expensive injections are!! I'll include a link to more information about IRAP here for those interested, but in summary, it is a therapy that uses the horses' own blood, spins it down to isolate the naturally occurring IRAP proteins, and then re-inject them into the joint of interest. It really is a cool process that uses proteins that the horses' body is already naturally producing as an anti-inflammatory response. We are almost through the process so I am looking forward to feeling great results!
We had originally planned to get to a schooling jumper show earlier this month, but the ice and snow storms got in the way of that. For anyone reading that does not live in New England, I can share that this winter has been brutal. The ground has been frozen for at least the last two months straight, and the snow is finally starting to melt as of this week. The next few weeks are set to have some days approaching the 50 degree mark if not beyond, which I know every horse person in the area is beyond thrilled for. I am hopeful to get off property for any type of schooling in the next few weeks to both get Sophie's head more in the game, and finally test out the new trailer which has had to just sit due to the horrific weather conditions.
I will add that In the last two weeks, Sophie has been so much more rideable than she has been during this entire dreary winter. I think she has decided she's also over the miserable weather and she's ready to get back to the fun stuff. She's also recently started shedding, which I am also taking as a good sign!!! I am so ready for her to look as good as she feels and get rid of that winter hair.
I officially sent in our first entry of the season the other week, and we have our sights set on starting 2025 at our favorite venue, Morven, at the end of March. I can't wait to get back to Leesburg and reconnect with Jacqui who will be there to support us and remind me of how to ride (yay!!!). And as much as we are doing what we can with fitness building and practice at home, I am keeping everything crossed that the ground thaws enough for us to get in a few good gallop sets and hill work before that time. Pull through for us, New England weather!
I will be back with an update after Morven - hopefully it's a good one and better than our last post-horse show update 🤣 In the meantime, thank you as always for your support, and I look forward to hopefully expanding some of my coaching and volunteering opportunities in Area 1 as the season approaches - please reach out to me if that piques your interest!
Thanks for reading 💚
K
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