Inside Track Eventing

Today is Friday the 13th – for many, a day associated with bad luck and superstitions. All I’ll say is 2020 has been bad enough as it is without throwing Friday the 13th into the mix too

But it got me thinking about bad luck, and how sometimes, bad luck isn’t actually bad luck – it’s good luck badly packaged.

Here’s my 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 story.

In 2017, Paddy fractured his pedal bone and had to have six months off work, ending our eventing season before it even began. 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸.

He still wasn’t sound after the six months off, but the pedal bone fracture had healed.  Further tests found that he was lame behind, and following an x-ray, it was found that he had a chip in his left hock. The chip had broken into fragments, which were floating around, and caused bone spurs – and the beginning of spavin. Or in layman’s terms, early signs of arthritis. At aged 7.

𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸.

Right?

WRONG.

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸!

Good luck, because without his original injury, it likely would have taken me longer to find the issue with his hock to treat it early.

Good luck, because I was able to get him the treatment he needed (keyhole surgery to remove the chip), and rehabilitate him successfully, with a great prognosis from the vet.

Good luck, because I gained a deep understanding of how best to manage his issues from a younger age, to give him a better chance of staying sound, happy and in work for longer.

And yes, it would have been nice for none of it to have happened – but life doesn’t work that way. Given he had the problems anyway, I’m glad I found them when he was young, dealt with them early, and learned a lot about how to manage him to maximise his soundness. With the chip removed, I have more control over slowing down the progression of his arthritis with proper management.

And who knows – in another timeline, maybe we wouldn’t have had that incredible season we had in 2018, or made it to the Dublin Horse Show

So that’s my 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 story – what’s yours?