Featured Rider - Sara Mittleider |
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Sara Mittleider (Part 1 of a 4 Part Series)
El Primero is a Bay Thoroughbred (USA) gelding, 15.2 h.h., 1995
Dr. Dan Eyes - Classic Allure
Rider/Owner: Sara Mittleider, Kuna, Idaho.
In 2006, finished 14th at Rolex Kentucky
Our third trip to Rolex is off to a slow start. My horse, El Primero aka Tony, and I travelled to England in 2006 with the WEG team short list riders with the plan of training for and competing at Blenheim CCI***. Our dream trip was cut short when Tony came up very lame after the last gallop before the event. Team vets Brendon Furlong and PJ McMahon did all they could to get him right, but it was not to be. When Tony arrived back in Idaho in September 
he went straight to Idaho Equine Hospital for a lameness exam and bone scan by Dr. Stuart Shoemaker. The diagnosis was "injury to the glutius medius at the insertion to the pelvis, LH". OK, so now what? 90 days R&R.
he went straight to Idaho Equine Hospital for a lameness exam and bone scan by Dr. Stuart Shoemaker. The diagnosis was "injury to the glutius medius at the insertion to the pelvis, LH". OK, so now what? 90 days R&R. Tony is not good at stall rest so we put him in a 60 by 60 pipe pen instead. He behaved himself pretty well for a while, but as soon as he felt better he was not so good about staying in the pen. Dad came to the house after one early morning feeding and said, "Tony is gone. He is not in his pen and I can't see him in the dark." Tony was out cavorting around the farm, tail over his back and head high in the air and absolutely not catchable!
He was ready to go back to work.
I started him hand walking, but that just isn't much fun, so after a few trips around the farm with him leading me I decided to just get on him and walk. That worked a lot better and we kept this up for three weeks. This seemed to satisfy his need for work until one day he again left his pen and was running around the pasture head high and tail over his back. It took a couple of hours to get him rounded up. We loaded him up for a trip to the vet hospital to see if they felt he could begin work in earnest.
Tony got the green light for full work on Jan 4th. We are back on track with our flat work and will stay with that for a while. I hope to make a few trips to Hailey, ID and work with Debbie McDonald on our dressage before heading to California for the winter training sessions.