What To Do When It All Goes Wrong

Lets read what happened to Sarah Ray at her first competition for the season:

What do you do when it all goes wrong?

As of the morning of the 8th of February, I was pumped for the season ahead. All my ducks were lining up and sitting in a row. I had made the National Youth Squad for Eventing with King Vassie, had Irish Mist on the Pryde’s Senior Eventing Squad, had just been offered a fantastic partnership with new sponsors Equus Emporium, and had two lovely young horses ready to step up into the competition arena. Looking to short and long term goals, I had planned my season to include my first 3 Star start, and was aiming to finish top 10 on both Irish Mist and King Vassie at M3DE in the Two Star. I was pumped, ready and raring to go.

That morning, I had ridden one young mare in her first Intro at the Ballarat Hickstead where she took everything on like a pro, however unfortunately had a slip on cross country and down we went! Never mind, horse and rider were both fine and it just meant it was probably time to put shoes on the poor thing. While I had a bit of time before my next ride, I thought I should quickly jump on my other young horse and have a spin before getting ready for my dressage test with King Vassie.

Lesson number one: know your horse. This little mare is a bit fragile, and I took it for granted that because she was calm and relaxed the day before she would be ok for a spin today. Getting on she was very fired up and felt very tight in the back, and something must have twigged in my brain as I grabbed my air vest on the way past the truck and chucked it on. Something I’m very thankful for!

To cut a long story short, we made it up to the warm up area before Miss Madame decided that she no longer wanted to be the favourite baby horse, and became a bucking bronco. I hit the ground rather spectacularly and unfortunately ended up with a broken left ankle. I was furious at myself. In a matter of about 30 seconds I had ruined my whole season, all because I didn’t take the time to listen to my horse and lunge her/let her settle down before jumping on. My second thoughts were a fair choice of swear words as the adrenaline went away and left a fair amount of pain in its place. Tears didn’t come until I was in X ray, and the technician told me (not unkindly) that I had lost our bet and it was a Webber C fracture. Worst break you can have in your ankle and ensuring the end of my eventing season (and my ability to make any money for myself!) in less than a minute. I was shattered.

So what to do when the goal posts are moved? Fair to say, everything for the first half of my year has been tipped upside down. I cannot work for 6-9 weeks, and likely cannot ride for 9-12 weeks. The goals I’d set for myself are no longer feasible so I’ve had to sit down and have a chat with my family and coaches about what to do next. And, although I won’t get to ride as much, I am excited about what I can get done in the next three months.

Equus Emporium: My new sponsors have been so incredible supportive of me already, with Ruth putting away and dealing with my naughty ponies on Sunday, and Tristen keeping me calm and comfortable while waiting for the ambulance! These guys have already gone so far and beyond what “sponsors” are and I’m so, so grateful. Although my kids won’t be out and about as much as we planned in their Equus gear, they will still be using all bandages, saddle blankets, rugs and tack at home when coming back into work. While I’m taking some forced rest I will hopefully be able to assist with the running of the social media sites including Facebook and Instagram- and I would love if everyone reading this would please take the time out to “like” our pages and have a look on the website www.equusemporium.com.au .

Teaching: I’m on strict bed rest for 2 weeks (so my ankle doesn’t explode....awesome) and then I’ll be back out teaching as much as I can. I figure if I can’t ride well currently, my pupils had better! As much as this is the start of my season, it’s also the start of many of my student’s seasons so I’m excited to see how they progress and achieve their goals over the coming months.

My Level One: I’ve been very slack over the last couple of years putting off doing my Level One NCAS, purely because when I’m not riding, working or sleeping I already have little enough time to see my boyfriend and friends! However, 6 weeks on the couch is perfect time to get organised and have the theory side down pat, with hopefully being able to be assessed once I’m up and about in a CAM BOOT, then get the riding part done once I’m back in the saddle. With the current structure of insurance and coaching throughout EA and PCAV, NCAS accreditation is a must so it will be good to be able to tick this off the list!

Squad: As anyone who has been involved in Victorian Eventing Squad knows, Janet Houghton puts in hours and hours of (unpaid!) work! Having been a member of the Victorian Sj and Eventing squads for the past 10 years, I’m looking forward to taking on some of the admin role and hopefully lessening everyone else’s loads.

The boys (and girls): I’ve been so lucky to have been inundated with people offering to help work/exercise Quin and Vassie to help keep them in work while I’m out of action (funnily enough, most people just mention Vassie, poor Quin!). My current plan with the boys is to wait until my two week Ortho review to even make much of a plan. If my healing is “on track” I will start to get the boys fit on a walker (we are lucky to have one nearby we can hire) and see if I can convince my sister/friends/students to take them for a few trots up and down the hills. Pending time frame and speed of recovery, my new aim with my dressage coach Charlotta is to get the boys super strong on the flat, nail all of the 3 Star movements (even flying changes Vassie, no more trotting!) and have a few Dressage starts towards May/June. Currently, all four horses will be out of work, and have had their feed cut back down accordingly.

Unless I am a super amazing healer, I do believe that getting to M3DE is a bit of a stretch. Although this was my main goal for the season, and it’s almost 5 months away, I don’t want to push either myself or the horses to get there before we are physically ready. At the end of the day, it’s only a season, it’s only a competition, and I’ve only broken an ankle. I’m so thankful that my injuries have been limited to orthopaedics, having worked in neuro rehabilitation I know just how devastating and life changing head and spinal injuries are. All of my horses are fit and well (maybe too fit and well) and will be waiting for me when I get back on.

For anyone else also suffering a set back to their season/goals, I really hope that you too can move past the disappointment, change the goalposts and still accomplish something that will help you in your future riding/career/life goals.