I want to give a shout out & thank you to Katie who drove all the way from Virginia to help the BadEventer Team with the FEI vetbox & 10 rides in one day, all with a 101 heat index. 

When I retired at jump 4 cross country on The Zebrasaurus (See Part 1 for that Tale)

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I thought, “Oh no! Katie came all the way from Virginia to help in the vetbox! I hope the next horse actually makes it to the vetbox!!!!!

Riding more than one horse in eventing really is like cheating. This is a sport where you aren’t supposed to have the opportunity to “practice” over the course beforehand. But if you have more than one ride, that’s really what you’re doing.

I was pretty happy when The Zebrasaurus was going first in the CCI3* because I’ve been riding him “at the level” much longer.

Shannon Brinkman photography

SpiderWoman had an injury that sidelined her for a couple of years and we just haven’t gotten to put all those jumps under our belt yet.

Shannon Brinkman photography

As a matter of fact, we’ve never even competed at Intermediate before.

But you know, let’s test out our partnership “at the level” at a massive Ian Stark CCI3*, with significant terrain that we don’t have at home. Makes total sense. Right?

I thought I’d have jumped it on the Dino pony first so when Spidey came around I’d know what to expect. 

So when The Zebrasaurus decided 4B was his stopping point I was in unknown waters. 

My first thought was, “oh my, please let me get past 4B on horse #2”

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GRC Photo

GRC Photo

And then when I did, I thought, “oh no! now I have to figure out the rest of it!”

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Fortunately for me, SpiderWoman really did just “look for the flags” and I’m not sure how much role the jockey had in this outing. 

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We stormed around our first CCI3*S together with a clear show jump & clear cross country.

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GRC Photo

#Boomgoesthedynamite

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And yes, we made it to the vetbox!