Lauren Shannon’s blog: a win, four days in bed and a new ride
Hello everyone, sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while, but unfortunately I have been pretty ill again.
I had a very successful first event of the season at Oasby, with three of the four horses I competed placing, and the other one going double clear but slow cross-country. Kilcannon Credit Crunch (“Crunchie”) owned by Watling JCB, won her BE100 section, which is hopefully a great omen for the coming season.
When I finished in the warm sunshine and headed home, I felt a little tired and dizzy. I started telling myself off for not drinking enough water throughout the day and went to bed nice and early. When I woke up my neck was very sore, and I figured that I had pulled some muscles.
I went to Andy Thomas, the Team GB physio who luckily works five minutes down the road and as soon as he saw me he laughed at me! I hadn’t pulled a muscle, but my glands and tonsils were incredibly swollen. He sent me straight to the doctor and I spent the next four days in bed.
I don’t think I have ever spent that long in bed before and it would have been very annoying, if I had the energy to be annoyed. It was very inconvenient to get ill right at the beginning of the season, but equally, it was better to happen last week than this.
Badminton final scores
I didn’t ride at all until this Monday – except for galloping Zero Flight (“Louie”), his fitness plan for the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials can’t be interrupted! – when I had to get back on to get ready for a day of World Class training at Aston-le-Walls. Luckily, I survived taking four horses and had brilliant lessons with Angela Tucker, Nick Burton and Kenneth Clawson.
The exciting news I have to share is that there is a new horse on our yard. McFly, owned by Nicola Malcolm, has come down to my yard from up in Scotland to find a new home. He competed up to four-star with Nicola and I am hoping to find an owner to retain the ride on him. He is fit and ready to head out this season, so will compete while we find him new owners. It’s exciting to have another horse to compete at top level and he will be a brilliant campaigner for a new owner.
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Anyway, I’m off to Gatcombe this weekend with Louie and Gentel Lux, who are both competing in the advanced intermediate there. Fingers crossed it goes as well as Oasby.
Lauren
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Event rider Lauren Shannon blogged on Horseandhound.co.uk from June 2011 until September 2014. Born in Brighton, she lived in America from the age of three to 16, returning to the UK to go to university after she finished school. After university she worked for Mark and Tanya Kyle before setting up her own yard in Leicestershire. Her best result to date was finishing 9th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with her top horse, Zero Flight.