A week has gone by since Fair Hill and I am just now starting to feel the exhaustion lifting. To date I have been away from home 139 nights this year, so it was especially fun for me to teach a clinic right here at the farm over the weekend. Laurens Bissell brought ten of her students from the Charleston area for two days of lessons. It was a true delight for me to teach riders who were so well mounted and well started!

Kudos as well to Marie Treiber, who has spent the last several months getting her own horse Echo back on the right track. Marie and Echo finished second in the Prelim at Waredaca — well done! Congratulations also to Cashell Jaquish on a great showing at Waredaca. After an unplanned break from competing this summer, they competed in the Novice Championships, finishing on their dressage score of 35!

Last March, Craig was interviewed for Sidelines Magazine. I’ve been checking the magazine for the issue that includes, “Five Questions with Craig Thompson.” In September, we were introduced to the Editor of Sidelines and she assured us that it would be in an issue later this fall. A couple of days ago Lisa Malek left a message to tell us she read about Craig in Sidelines (and also to remind him that “he is the best!”). Here is a link to the article: http://www.sidelinesnews.com/new/2011/5q-eventing.html.

On another note, though we haven’t mentioned it on the blog, Lisa finished her year with Craig Thompson Eventing in late August. Anyone who knows Lisa realizes her absence has not gone unnoticed. We can’t thank her enough for all her hard work and good cheer. We wish her the best in all her endeavors, horse related and otherwise, and look forward to seeing Lisa and Finn back in Aiken this winter!

Hope to see you soon!
Sarah

It’s not hard to write about competing and training when things go right. Flush with the success of Plantation, Richland or Millbrook, reflection comes easily. It’s much harder when things go wrong. At Fair Hill things went wrong.

A career best dressage test, a near perfect trip cross-country, came to naught when Orion was not accepted at the Final Horse Inspection Sunday morning. He looked stiff but good Saturday night and jogged up well early Sunday morning after I rode him for a bit. But when we got him back out he had stiffened further. In consultation with the vets, who felt that he had a mildly strained muscle in his haunches, I presented him to the Ground Jury knowing that our chances of getting through were 50/50. I was confident in the vets’ opinion that Orion’s native stoicism and desire to compete would see us through the show jumping without exacerbating any underlying injury. It was not to be.

Having returned to South Carolina and further investigated Orion’s unsoundness, his return to upper level eventing is clouded; competing again is a minimum of 6 to 12 months away at best, competing at the highest levels of eventing again uncertain. Further veterinary evaluation in the coming days will provide a clearer picture. For myself and everyone who has done so much to help with Orion throughout his career, I am heartbroken. There will be no trip to Kentucky in the Spring.