Rea update- the one eyed wonder mare!

For those that read the blog you probably already know that Rea lost her eye in July.  We tried everything (as seen in previous post) and it just wasn't meant to be. During our wonderful trip to Germany it was evident she was very uncomfortable and I spoke with Dr. Jornigan and we decided that the best thing for her would be to remove the eye.

During recovery hay was the best medicine! She has a catheter that goes directly under the eye to deposit medicine. This was the week before she lost her eye. 

I had a breakdown I'm not going to lie. I had just bought this horse and it seemed that our career was over. Now I realize I was not being fair to her.  I hadn't even given her a chance to show me what she can do!! When I got home I got another jolt when I saw her for the first time without the eye.  But then things started looking up!  I rode her at Gale's for the first time and she was SUPER. No spook no nothing! Since then we haven't looked back! She did her first jump at home like it was nothing new and we have gone to our first jumping show and cross country school.

First Jumper show October 2015

 Then just in early December she did her first CT.  Due to jumping the wrong course- actually doing the 2'3" division course instead of the 2" division course after a mishap with the secretary we would have won our division! Her dressage score was a 29 and our test comments made me sooo happy!

Already jumping so much better- double clear doing 2'3" December 2015

 She is an absolute doll and now that we have found a wonderful dressage trainer that has told us we can reach the stars we have set pretty big goals!

Goals for 2016:
Go to two Horse Trials - 18" or 2'
Go to at least 4 schooling CT ending at 2'6" by next winter- be ready to move up to Beg novice HT in  early 2016.
Go to our first recognized dressage show- debut at Training.
Complete a first level dressage schooling show- score above 60%
Be ready to get our first scores toward our bronze medal in 2017.


I think these are all very attainable and will allow us to move up consistently in all 3 phases without risk of panic or *gasp* injury.

These will all lead to our lifetime goals which are ones I never thought I would do....
Lifetime goals:
Get my bronze medal- 2 different scores above 60% at a recognized show at First, Second, and Third level
Do a recognized Novice HT.