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I
met the other candidates for the Area V two-star team at Holly Hill a week before the Young Rider’s Championship: Kelley
Barringer, Clyde Hicks and Jenny Ferguson. While there, I was able to watch all their horses go. Kelley’s horse, Kelley’s Marquis (“Doug”), was on his way to a good dressage performance. Clyde Hicks and I were staying together at trainer Carsten Meyer’s place, so I already knew how
his
horse, Foxhunter (“Max”) was doing and I was impressed with him. I felt great about the way my horse (My Cousin Vinnie) was working and I just carried that feeling around all the time. From the moment I got up each morning, I wanted to work him. All in all, I really felt that our team had a chance to do something great.
The day of our last gallop, the three two-star horses just knocked out their gallops as if they were nothing. They each came back to
Sean
and Vinnie
earlier
this
year.
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Young Rider coach Karen O’Connor and Sean were pleased with Vinnie’s test,
one of only four to break the 100 mark.
their normal breathing rate in about 10 minutes. That day I knew that those three horses were peaked and ready to go.
That Thursday leading up to the show, Kelley’s horse Doug came down with shipping fever, and she had to withdraw him. My heart went out to her. That was a difficult moment for her and her family. Kelley had been holding her own all over the country and really had a good shot at an individual medal. I really felt bad for her and Doug. However, I still figured that our team had things going its way. Jenny’s mare, Good Deal Lucille (“Lucy”) had had some questions earlier in the week, but come Friday, the day of dressage, she looked
wonderful. Clyde’s horse Max was the same old Max, ready for cross-country and, to tell the truth, so was Clyde.
As my dressage time approached, Vinnie, our coach Karen O’Connor, and I walked down to the warm-up. I looked around and saw three of the top Young Riders in the country. I turned to Karen and said “This is what it’s all about.” Vinnie pulled
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off his customary 15 minute warm-up and, as usual, I had ten more minutes to wait. So we walked around and tried to absorb Karen’s words of wisdom. My nerves were starting to get to me as we trotted around the arena; then the whistle blew, and the nerves were no more.
As I came out of the dressage arena afterwards, everyone was standing and clapping and Karen, in the way only Karen can, just looked at me and started to laugh. That was when I knew that test was okay. I was pleased with the test and
it
had• scored well enough to be tied for third. And it was one of only four scores to break 100, so that was good.
That night we did late-night checks at about 10:30 p.m. and everyone looked good for the big event on Saturday. However, at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning, we walked in the barn and I saw Vinnie and knew that something wasn’t right. As I got closer to Vinnie, I could see that he was holding his left front foot off the ground and the foot was covered in shavings and blood. He had a two-inch cut along his
Sean's Diary Continued
HERE
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