28 – The Squad Vet Check and Stuff

With the North Island Champs Lace had clocked up her 3000 qualified kilometres.

Good news – the High Performance Squad had been reviewed in February and I was on the A squad!   The team wasn’t going to be announced until August 1 though, provisional short list at the end of June… Were we supposed to start fund raising or not?  Fund raising is hard enough at the best of times, but to have to say I might be, or even probably be, going to the World Equestrian Games… not so easy! And fund raising was not going to be trivial, it isn’t cheap to get a horse from New Zealand to anyway let alone Kentucky. In the past New Zealand eventers had had to sell their horses after events in order to recoup costs. If we were selected would we be able raise enough that Lace could come home again?

But we were prepared.  At this stage my sister, Mary, knew absolutely nothing about endurance but she is very organised, as is her very good friend, Jilliene.  So they became part of our fund raising team along with Nicola, Richard and Kerry.  Planning meetings with cheese and crackers.  One of our first successes was from Quality Presentations who gifted us rosettes to send along with the sponsorship request packages.  “LACE World Equestrian Games.”

One thing we had a problem with was having nice photos of suitable file size to use for publicity purposes.  Back in the days of film it was never a problem but with digital the nicest photos taken on people’s phones are often of small file size and not suitable.  So Richard and I set off to the beach one day to get a few better/larger photos.  A lot of them ended up being Lace pulling faces at Richard though!

• 

• 

• 

Meanwhile training continued after a well-deserved rest following the NI champs.  80km in April at Taneatua, and another in May at Pukeatua.  One of the selectors was at the May ride and noted that I had no crew… well sometimes your crew also like to ride their own horses… and as it was our club ride the rest of them were busy running the ride!

We also each got a Personal Review from the selectors – mine was very encouraging, things like “shown good consistency throughout the season and we would like to congratulate you on your solid performances.” !   They also made comment about the ride at Taupo and NIs showing that Lace was “capable of performing at the level required”.  Our Taupo fast ride had paid off!  They were also impressed by our team and Lace’s lag times.   However it was now May and these good performances were some time ago, so they were going to want to see us perform in a 120 at Taupo on Queen’s Birthday weekend.  (The first weekend in June, winter)

There was also to be an inspection of all the squad horses by the team vet, Nick Page.  Although Nick had no doubt vetted at some of the Champs rides I had been at, he was from Christchurch in the South Island and I did not know him at all.  I found the whole thing surprisingly stressful… was it possible that he would find something wrong with Lace?  Could it be, that after all the effort we’d put in, that the vet might decide Lace shouldn’t go?  And essentially there was absolutely NOTHING I could do about it.  There was a three page form to send in, mainly simple stuff – an ID page, rider’s contact details etc, Lace’s normal vet and questions about any recent treatment and supplements… and then promise (sign) that you will keep them informed about any and all health issues your horse might have.

We were meeting Nick at one of the selector’s properties in Pukekohe, this was also reasonably close for Sue and Angela.  Kerry came too for moral and groom-like support. 

The vet check went fine.  Flexion tests, all over checks – I was impressed that Nick could tell she’d had a sore eye over a year previously – he even managed to take her temperature!  Did I mention the last vet who’d tried that didn’t get far and could only then find half the thermometer afterwards?!  However Lace was to become as expert at having her temperature taken as I was to take it twice a day from then on… a bit dodgy to start with but she soon got used to it.  Me being me I then not only recorded the temperatures but also graphed them.

Then the next day I was playing a game on the computer – just mahjong, finding pairs, nothing too demanding – and was having real trouble, couldn’t see properly.  I was having my first ever migraine.  To this day I have only ever had two… both seem to have been a reaction to having been very stressed about something I had no control over.  Interesting, but a little worrying…

Life as a WEG squad member was all consuming, all day every day my thoughts would turn to, “What should I be doing today to help be selected?…. What needs to be done to have everything right for Lace?” and the increasingly common one of fulfilling the selectors requirements.  Not to mention leaving work early to train my horse!