My cute little tripod kitty, Hunter, has been diagnosed with diabetes.
I had noticed he was guzzling water and just soaking the litterbox, plus he was looking unkempt. And he had developed a hot spot by his ear that wasn't healing. So into the vet we went. I had the entire blood panel done on him ($$$), and sure enough he is diabetic. But not off the charts thankfully.
He isn't the first diabetic cat I have cared for. I fostered Simon, another diabetic, several years ago. He was a hot hot mess and I am hoping Hunter does not turn into that.
So, he will be getting a diet change and daily insulin injections.
Instead of dry food to be nibbled on throughout the day, the cats will now get breakfast and dinner and that is it. And only wet food. I have been learning all I can about cat diabetes, and apparently it's all about cutting the carbs. There is also a chance that with proper management he could go into remission!
I fear Buckley may revolt and possibly murder me but I sure as shit am not going to have multiple feeding schedules for two cats. Plus it's not like Buckley is skin and bones. He could use a diet, too.
Buckley says he is never fed and please send help.
Thankfully Hunter is very tolerant and will let me test his glucose at home. And the injections are just sub-Q so I can easily handle that.
If anyone has any other tips, tricks, suggestions on diabetic hairballs. I am all ears.
I don't know how these "special" cats keep finding me but they sure do.
Look at dem boots shine!!!
(also I'm not sure Hampton has ever looked this sexy)
I went up for my Indiana GMO year-end banquet last weekend. It was a lovely time, and I pounded a rum and coke way too fast on an empty stomach.
I was all like "Whhhheeerrre are my feeeets?"
Hampton had a great year, and earned me even more satin!
He was 2017 High Percentage FEI horse, and also took 3rd in the PSG Ride-Off Championships.
In addition, he earned himself a handful of USDF All-Breed Awards! This is my first time ever being in these rankings. Hampton deserves it, he is such a special guy!
What a year!
Meanwhile, Hampton is enjoying not really a vacation, but more like he is working part time through the holidays. I am working him 3-4 days a week, instead of 5-6 with more hacking days than normal.
After my soundcheck, and feeding Hampton and hanging on for dear life trying to walk around the horse park taking him for a nice stroll, I had a few hours to kill before my class.
I made a bee line to the Allech arena where it was HEATED.
I told myself, ok you get to buy one Finals jacket or vest. That's it. No other purchases. Except hot chocolate.
I did find a very nice navy blue vest with the Finals logo on it. Happy with my purchase, I thought I'd keep strolling and check out the other vendors. Although not many were open yet at 8 am. This wasn't Rolex Land Rover in terms of vendor numbers, but there were a fair amount.
The Custom Saddlery booth had all sorts of sparkly things I could barely take my eyes off of. Behold.
If only I had the sass to pull this off.
And then my two barn friends and I strolled back a place that had boots. And, as you do, we stopped to drool over them. I usually sigh to myself and say "One day. One day."
And then ... as I turned around to walk to the next booth ... something caught my eye.
It was a yellow piece of paper. And it said "$200."
I stepped closer. There were a group of boots in a pile under this little tag. Including a pair of God-like shiny Enrico Romitelliboots that made my heart skip a beat.
But you know how it is. Whenever there is a sale THAT good, it's usually the odd sizes that no one can wear. I'm a really common size so I figured they certainly would not fit me.
I looked a little closer. They looked like they MIGHT fit.
So I tried them on.
And then. The heavens shined a light down upon me. Angels began singing.
Going to split my Nationals experience into two posts. Part 1 will be about Hampton and our tests. And Part 2, equally as awesome, will be about THE SWAG AND MY PURCHASE OF THE CENTURY.
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*Cracks knuckles*
First. If you ever have the opportunity to attend the USDF National Finals, even if you stand no chance at a ribbon, you should make this a bucket list item.
In the 10 minutes it took me to go to the show office to check in, I saw Debbie McDonald and George Williams. And I knew I was no longer in Kansas. I do apologize as I was a bit stunned and did not break out my phone for creeper photos like a proper fan girl would have done.
Awards table
Guys this show is legit. It is the real deal. Six-figure horses strolling around everywhere. Absolute top notch riding. 42 states were represented here, so yes you see the best in the country. Ex-Olympic horses, international horses and riders, Gladstone winners, multiple CDI horses. People flaunting their money. It was like being in Wellington. Only it was 20 degrees. Ha.
Some of the trophies
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Hampton and I arrived late Friday morning and got settled before we rode a regular PSG class in the afternoon.
He warmed up great, although the footing was pretty sloppy and it took him a while to acclimate to it. We marched in the ring and put in what I thought was a solid test! He was obedient, and we did not make any mistakes.
They had electronic scoring so my score was up on the big light board before I even walked out of the ring! That's way cool! (They also text your score to you). Our score was a 57%+ - our worst ever at the PSG. I suppose that's what I get for trying to show in front of this type of judging panel! haha!
Check your scores at these stations
But also, here's why I cannot afford to make ANY mistakes with Hampton:
From my PSG test. hahaha.
So many 6s
So while other pairs can afford a bobble or two because they are a 7 or an 8 out of the box because their horse is just plain better, I cannot. This judge gave us several 4.5 and 5s, one was on Hampton's medium walk which HAS NEVER EVER HAPPENED. But on the bright side we DID get a 7 on the left canter pirouette which I had been screwing up all year! So there is that.
Here's the thing. If I want scores in the mid to upper 60s, I would have to go back to 2nd or 3rd level. That is just the name of the game now. Hampton is just not uphill enough, or engaged enough (or even "fake engaged" like you see in Fresians) to score much more than a 6 from most judges in PSG and up. The fact is that Hampton is a downhill, flat mover. However, he is a fantastic teacher and he is teaching me how to train a horse up the levels. So we will continue onward. Scores be damned. And he is quite happy to do the FEI still so we keep going! I was disappointed in the score, but happy with my horse and all the progress we have made.
What else can you do?!
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Saturday morning rolled around and I did my sound check at 6:45 am. FROZEN. It was barely 20 degrees.
6:30 am at the KHP
I did some shopping before my 10:39 ride time which I will post about next.
Teaser: I bought something beautiful. I went full out dressage queen.
Anyhoo, it was maybe a tick warmer around 10 when I got on Hampton to warm up for our championship 4th level freestyle class. He warmed up great. He LOVES this chilly weather. Meanwhile, there were many other fresh and naughty horses. Things were pretty interesting around the horse park haha!
Our time was up and I marched into the Murphy ring. Hampton was uphill, energetic. And stayed that way throughout the test. He was so on my aids, never dropped an ear.
I started grinning during the trot work, I was having so much fun. In fact our trot work got a little sloppy because I was like "weeeee hahahahahaha I love this!" But still, we hung right in there and got a 63%+. Which is about what we have been getting all year, and this was under 3 judges at the National level. Including Janet Foy.
Here is the full video! I don't have to analyze why we don't score that awesome. It's super obvious, but it's fun anyway!
And we didn't get stomped on, the scores (well, except for the top 2 horses I think) the scores were TIGHT. So Hampton really hung in there! We finished 9th. Out of 10 horses. hahahaha! I didn't even expect to beat anyone at this level but that's cool!
I was just so proud of him and how far he has come. He was so happy to be showing and also really showed how awesome of a horse he is when, at the end of our extended canter, two ring ladies flapped their blanket around mere feet from us and Hampton NEVER BLINKED. I can assure you probably any other pair out there would have been spooked. Not Hampton! Check them out in this clip of our freestyle. They are on the right hand side of the screen.
To me that kind of brain is worth far more than those leg flingers who get the big scores but their riders have to be to and from the barns by a ground person.
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We got all jazzed up for the awards ceremony. Again, it was chaos but Hampton stood there half asleep as if he does this everyday. lol.
Hampton: "Oh another awards thingie. zzzzz"
We took a lap around the Alltech and that was that!
weeeeeee
What an amazing experience! I'm so glad I went, and have a long list of people to thank for helping us not just get to Nationals, but all year along the way.
Waiting to go into the Alltech
Good boy!
The colors at the horse park were gorgeous
Can you spot my new purchase? hee hee
Fluffy posing for a photo
__
This completes our 2018 show season. We may be done showing, but we are not quite done collected loot because:
Hampton's boob has now gone down to a rather pathetic A-cup size and we are ready for Nationals! Thankfully it was nothing serious (not pigeon fever), but rather a scrape that got a little infected and because it's in a gravity-dependent spot, filled with some fluid.
Hampton is feeling fresh, bright and ready to go. He is body clipped and looks fantastic.
Now for the bad news.
Our class won't be live-streamed on USEF Network, but I do highly recommend you watch some anyway because the caliber of horses here is just phenomenal. Also, the judging scores are ALL OVER THE PLACE, so it does provide some entertainment in that regard too.
My judge at C will be Janet Foy who I ADORE, but am also nervous about riding in front of her! haha!
A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped us get here this year!
Remember how we were all entered in Nationals last year and Hampton came up sick one morning with a fever of 105?
Then we had to of course withdraw from the show.
So this year, I have been obsessing over him. No ticks yet to be found but Saturday he showed up with a man boob:
It kept getting bigger and was about to swell back into the girth area so I had the vet come out and hes got some antibiotics now to hopefully clear this bastard up before the show. I had fears of it popping open at Nationals and having blood and puss all over his legs. Any blood of course would get us eliminated.
So I was all like OH NO YOU DON'T horse and jumped on top of it right away, even though it's minor and just in a bad gravity-dependent spot where that fluid is going to pool.
.... I've been sort of keeping a low profile about the whole OMFG WE ARE GOING TO NATIONALS thing .... for fear of jinxing the whole thing. Also been obsessively checking Hampton for ticks. But here we are, just days away. We are going to head down on Friday and do a warm-up PSG (ha, who ever thought I would do a PSG class as a "warmup") and then our Finals class - our 4th level freestyle - is 10:39 am on Saturday.
You can watch all the action on USEF Network. I THINK our class will be live-streamed, but I'm not positive. You don't have to be a USEF member to watch for free either, Sign up for a FREE Fan Membership using promo code usdressagefinals18. Our finals class is 4th Level Freestyle AA. I won't be riding in the big Alltech arena though. Not a big deal, but might mean my ride is not live steamed? And of course I'll be posting on my IG and Snapchat (and FB!) for those who want more behind the scenes live action.
Hampton has been feeling fresh and super and I am hoping we can keep the momentum up! He loves chilly fall weather. Next on my agenda is body clipping. Ew. Will probably pay a friend to do that because I hate it and also don't own clippers. I am just so thankful to even have made it, and that Hampton is so happy and healthy this year. Hoping for clean, solid tests and let the ribbons fall where they fall. Although I think they do place down to 10th here so we may stand a decent chance at a ribbon. #ribbonho But just in case you thought Hampton was going to let me off easy, stay tuned .... DUN DUN DUN.
