A Change of Plans

Dear Friends,

I had an awful decision to make on the weekend.  Right before needing to ship Remmer and Magic to England for our Celebration there on the 21st and 22nd of November, Remmer came up with a sudden extreme lameness which turned out to be an abscess.

As many of you may know, these things can pop in a couple of days, but some of them can take longer than that.  Remmer's took longer.  And this being the only one he's ever had, I had nothing to base it on in terms of his recovery.  I just kept hoping that it would be over in   time for him to step on the trailer headed for the airport in Miami.   

On Saturday he was looking better, but it was still not open.  The gamble was to send him and hope that it popped in the next day or two but when it came to the crunch, I just couldn't do it.  I could not put him on that trailer while he was still lame and in pain.  So Magic went off without Rem under the tender loving care of Mastery Student, Sam Caporn.  Sam and Magic are now safely at Stoneleigh with a smooth, uneventful flight across the Atlantic.

You'll be happy to know that the abscess began draining yesterday (Monday) and Remmer is much, much better.  But I think it will still be a few days before he is 100%.  I'm so glad for him, it was so painful and I'm just not used to seeing Remmer on three legs :(  He is now back to his old self, although not happy to trot and canter yet.  He is now walking without a limp.

Having made the decision on Saturday, I had to think about plan B!  Oh my gosh... and I had to call Walter.  I knew how disappointed he would be, at least as much as me, but he also had some added pressure because he's invited two friends from Germany who are involved with dressage at a high level. First, I decided to get my plan B confirmed and then tell Walter.  Sheesh!

I started thinking of what horse I could possibly replace Remmer with for my lesson with modern dressage master, Walter Zettl, on the Sunday of the Celebration.  Most importantly, this had to be a horse with a pure Parelli foundation not a horse that has already had dressage training that we've had to patch back together!  Suddenly I knew who it would be... now the next piece of the puzzle - would he be available to me?!

I sent an email to one of our top European Parelli Professionals, Carmen Zulauf.  Carmen and I have worked together for at least 12 years and share a common interest in doing dressage naturally, and she is a purist when it comes to Parelli.  I also have known her horse, Goyani, from when she first bought him and watched his development through the program up to Level 4 and even Level 5 and 6 elements in places.  I thought Goyani would be ideal because he has a natural start, a natural foundation... pure Parelli.  And with his education being close to the same level as Remmer, I thought that would be an ideal fit for my lesson with Walter.  BUT!  I did not want to just do the lesson, I need to build a relationship with him in the days prior.  So not only did Carmen say "yes", but she is bringing him to England early so I can play with him and get to know him.

With that in place, now it was time to break the news to Walter.  I chickened out and sent an email entitled: Bad News, Good News.  He called me right away with his concern for Remmer and obvious disappointment, but then said he would love to come to England earlier to help me prepare.  Talk about every cloud having a silver lining.  I feel like the luckiest person on earth. :)  As Walter and I talked it over, we agreed that the most important message of showing Walter teaching me is to demonstrate how beautifully a Parelli foundation prepares a horse to go to advanced dressage levels... and how the real classical dressage training system and focus is the opposite of the tense and exaggerated movements that have become popular at world class dressage competitions.

So I wanted you to know about the changes we've had to make, that Remmer is doing fine, and that I'll be writing to you every day concerning my progress with Goyani - including some photos :)

I look forward to seeing you at the NEC for our UK-European Celebration for an action- and education-packed program... always a spectacular and exciting end of year event for us!

Yours naturally,
Linda