But then the news, (Oh, I sighed)
Something's hurting on poor Coco
So to the vet, we now must go...
The first part of the past week was crazy busy- spending long hours in the office so I could take off for Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday. I worked Coco only once on Tuesday for about a half hour- he did really well, so my hopes were high.
His first class was Thursday evening- I knew something was wrong right away. His usual pleasant attitude was sour. He was constantly switching his tail- wouldn't stop without throwing his head up. Very nervous/upset, etc. I was there by myself, as Tom was coming up after a business meeting he had on Friday. I braided Coco's mane- but he'd shake his head and it came out. So finally I did what I normally do- did a weaves pattern. But that was 10 minutes before his class and so I ended up with white Coco hair all over my black jacket! I tried to brush as much as I could off- but it didn't do much good.
Well, needless to say the class was a disaster- I was so tired by then (9 PM), that I'm sure that added to my perception of things. We took 3rd out of 3. I then got Coco put up for the night and was headed back to my hotel room only to discover when I went to take a nice hot shower, there was no shower curtain! I called to the front desk and they said they would send one right up. WAITED. Nothing after a half hour. I called again- "sorry- it will be right there" I fell asleep waiting and was woke up by the knock on the door- it was almost 11 by this time.
Now that may not seem late to most, but I had been up since 4 AM- So I finally got my shower and got to bed at almost midnight.
I had planned to go to the Temple on Friday, since it was our Stake Conference Temple day, and while I couldn't attend the Manti Temple, I could make it to the Bountiful. I also had volunteered to help the announcer at the show starting at 11:30 AM. So I got up at 5 and went to the 6 AM session, came back to the hotel, had breakfast, changed clothes and headed for the show.
While I was helping the announcer, she overheard a phone conversation I was having with a friend about the obvious pain Coco was in the night before. I knew he had fallen a month or so back and I suspected he may have pulled a muscle or something because he had been off ever since. Anyway, the announcer asled why I hadn't used any bute on him? I thought (because 20 years ago when I was showing) bute was against the rules. She said no more, it's like Ibuprophen. So when Tom arrived later, we gave him some bute.
The next morning, Coco seemed much happier. His movement was freer, and no switching tail. We got him all "prettied up" for his halter class.
Tom was a TON of help- it's so much easier to show with an extra set of hands!
Here we are in the "Half Arabian Sport Horse Geldings In Hand" class. Coco was a perfect gentleman- trotted the pattern nicely and stood up for the Judge. The judge LOVED his front end-but not so much his hind-end. She made the statement that it was like looking at 2 different horses. I realized that Coco has not been using his muscles in the hind quarters due to the injury, so they lack the development the front end has. I figured due to her comment, we wouldn't place very high in the class. Boy was I surprised when we won! His scores on everything else were so good that it overcame his lower score in the hidquarters! He ended up taking Reserve Champion overall! So we were very happy- one class for the Sport Horse Nationals qualified for!
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