Chloe Vell’s blog: Disaster upon disaster
The evening before Saumur, disaster struck. My father, chief driver and groom, unexpectedly had to be rushed to the hospital as an emergency with severe chest pain. He was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in his lungs, which was a massive shock to all of us.
This meant that it was obvious that we had to cancel our trip to Saumur to stay and look after him, but I was cheering everyone on and sending my luck to the girls from home. It was great news to hear that the junior team won the Nations Cup with some great scores across the board.
More bad news
The bad news kept on coming after Saumur and this time it was Kaja (pictured). During training a couple of weeks ago, Lucy called to say Kaja had become unlevel in the trot and that she had called the vet. He said Kaja needed to have a few weeks rest and further tests to diagnose what is causing her to be lame.
This was devastating because I hate to think of Kaja being in pain, plus I knew I wouldn’t be able to compete at Somerford or Wellington, which put me out of team selection for this year. It’s imperative that we do all we can to make Kaja feel better so she will be undergoing tests to help identify the source of the problem.
You’d think we couldn’t possibly receive anymore bad news, but we did. While playing a netball match for her club, my mum had a fall which left her unable to bear any weight on her foot so we took her straight to A&E.
She had torn a ligament and fratured some bones in her ankle, so she is now on crutches with a cast on her leg for 6 weeks!
Exam time
Alongside all of this, I’m currently taking my GCSEs so I’m trying to focus on doing the best I can in my exams. I have done 13 exams so far with 4 more to go!
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After my exams, I’m looking forward to the long summer. I’m going to try to take my mind off my exam results, which I’ll receive in August, and focus instead on Kaja’s steady recovery in time for the summer regionals at prix st george, which will be something to look forward to!
Chloe
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Chloe Vell is an up-and-coming dressage star who juggles school with representing Britain internationally at junior level and a part-time modelling career to help pay for her training and competitions.