I started the day with a Press Conference at Wellington International , the home of the Winter Equestrian Festival. WEF.
The Press Conference was to give the media information about the upcoming $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI 5*. Forty of the top horses and riders in the world will compete for the top money. This is the most prestigious competition in the Wellington year!
When I entered the Wellington Club I was greeted by Lindsay Brock , the Press Officer for Wellington International. She pointed out that each seat had a black bag with some goodies for us. When I picked it up it was heavy! A nice notebook and pen, Brain Juice, and several other Wellington International items.
The panel of included Lenore Brown the Director of Sponsorship for Wellington International.. International showjumper Meredith Michaels Beerbaum and Olympian Jessica Springsteen. They are seen in the photo from left to right.
Lenore Brown spoke first and took us from the start of the Winter Equestrian Festival in 1974 to 2021 when the showgrounds were bought by the Global Equstrian Group which is based in Denmark. She told us about the various entertainments that will be happening on the Saturday evening including live music, shopping, face painting,bounce houses, pony rides, a petting zoo, magicians, stilt walkers,etc. It will be topped by the CSI 5* Grand Prix jumping.
Meredith Beerbaum spoke first about the appeal of WEF and that although horse shows in Europe have 3* 4* competitions there are no competitions that also have pony classes for children. She told us she has a daughter who is now 13 and has been showing at WEF for several years. Meredith also pointed out that these young riders could watch,on any given day, the worlds’ best riders and see how they jumped the courses.
Jessica Springsteen spoke next and told us she has been showing at WEF since she was 10. Now she is an Olympic Silver Medalist! We had the opportunity to ask questions and my question for either Meredith or Jessica was what did they do for their horses who have to travel around the globe to compete. Jessica answered and said that they give the horses a couple of easy days before travelling and a couple of days on arrival to acclimatize. She said: “These horses are all professional athletes so they are pretty relaxed about the travel.”
Meredith said that horses are quite calm when flying. They are loaded into pallets and then put on the plane and they feel secure. The take off and landing are the only time they may be a bit anxious.
We had a break for lunch and then Olympic silver medalist Kent Farrington was going to take people on a course walk session. Not actually out on the course as a class was being held when we were in the conference. Before that I asked him how the prize money was divided up. He told me that goes 33% goes to the winner ,20% to second place and then is divided up on down. He reminded me that horse sport at this level is very expensive and I don’t doubt it.The horse transport alone would be a huge expense.
That was the GOOD NEWS part of my day.
In the afternoon the vet came to see how Biasini was getting on with his Cellulitis. His legs looked much better . The vet said she wanted to see him jogged.Her assistant jogged Biasini up and down the driveway at the trot. Then she did flexion tests where she holds the leg in bent position for minute and then lets it go and watches how he trots away. When she had finished she said she wanted to do an ultasound on the right front leg . She said the cellulitis had cleared nicely but there was a bit of swelling that she wanted to take acloser look at. This turned out to be the BAD NEWS part of the day.
The vet found a lateral branch suspensory injury. My heart sank when she told me. She went on to say that this was not the worst place to have a suspensory injury. He would not have to stay on stallrest and as he is an older horse he should be kept moving .He could be ridden at the walk only and hand walked.
So we would not be going to the show the next day and not for any days in the near future . In about 3 months , if the injury has healed , we can start to bring him slowly and carefully back to work. The vet will be back tomorrow to give him a PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injection. The PRP is made from his own blood and will help with the healing.
I have to say that although this is not the best news I do not think it is the end of the world either. Biasini has been doing such wonderful work and looking fantastic in it . Lynsey has loved riding him and he has done very well in two shows. It is a shame to have the season end like this but I know from previous experience that horses do recover from suspensory injuries and Biasini will recover. I will have to be patient and also be very careful when bringing him back into work.
So that was my day.Here is a photo I took last week when he was in a lesson with Lynsey riding.
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