Friday I brought the horses in at lunchtime as I had the saddle fitter.
I found Lexi was shaking like a leaf. She was warm - well rugged, felt warm to touch ect ect but shaking. Also quiet...temperature was fine but I was at a loss and called the vet.
Who found she has a heart murmur...
She took bloods as suspected a virus and said a virus may be causing the virus. The bloods came back clear and she came back today to check her again. The murmur was still there - its a grade 3 holosytolic murmur and she will be scanned sometime this week so we can see exactly whats going on. Its regular which is better than irregular and best case scenario would be that it needs monitoring and she may end up retiring fairly young if her heart changes shape due to it. Needless to say, I did not run her at Swalcliffe.
I took Squirrel and was gutted to see the 80 course would of been just perfect for Lexi - a little trickier than Aston but would of been very educational.
He warmed up beautifully and forward for his dressage, and did a decent test. It was on a slope and a bit muddy in the corners so I felt he lost a bit of power but he scored 31 so obviously didn't look bad!
Sadly in the show jumping he stopped at both max height oxers. Very much a Sorry Mum I just can't kind of way. It confirmed what I've been mulling for a while. I will no longer be eventing him. He's done, his body is finally admitting he's an older boy who's had an active life and is now just that bit too arthritic and knackered.
He can retire to doing fun stuff, maybe take my sharer round the odd BE80 or BE90 but never again will I ask him to compete at 1m or bigger. He has been the most incredible horse for me, he has taught me the world and given me so much confidence but I just know now the time is right for him to lead a quieter life.
So we'll have some fun and when that's too much we'll do the odd hack and finally he will retire to spend the rest of his days stuffing his face and I will love and cherish him every day. He's given me everything - from renewing my love for horses, changing the direction of my life, introducing me to BE...I will never forget when he ate up the XC at Borde Hill. That ride is forever ingrained in my mind because he made it feel so easy and that day, everything went right.
He will always be my wonder horse and his goofy face will make me smile every day.
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