Getting Ready for the NCC

The last couple of months have been a real challenge as far as getting ready for the National Cavalry Competition goes. We have had more than the usual amount of bad weather, horse injuries, and trooper injuries. We lost a third of our training days to almost daily thunderstorms. Even as late as last week, we had to skip training due to a rain storm. Horse injuries have been off the scale this year. We lost Charlie to colic surgery, Monte to a stone bruise, Apache to a puncture wound, and Cochise to a fall on the jumping course. All but Charlie will still be going to the competition but valuable training time was lost for each horse. Meanwhile, we had two troopers get injured along the way. Frank took a bad spill during saber training and Pete was kicked while wrangling horses in from pasture one day. In addition, our vet tech, Kasey, was kicked by Charlie. However, all three will be at the competition, although Frank will be limited to parade riding only.

We have no idea how well we will do. The competition at the NCC is fierce but everyone else has had time limitations and injuries to deal with as well. We will be bringing two new riders to the show, both on horses that has never been in competition before. I will ride the Wonder Horse again but have no idea how well he will do. I suspect he will do well in horsemanship but not so well in the other events. I just wasn't able to complete our training objectives this year. I'll be pleased if I can just complete the events.

Regardless of how well we do, I'm sure it will be fun. It always is. We have our vet team with us this year which gives me some comfort and takes some of the load off me. We will also have two people on the ground who will provide invaluable help. All in all, we have eleven people on the team with seven of them riding. It will be good to see our fellow cavalrymen from around the country again and hopefully a few from other countries. It's always good to rub elbows with folks who share a passion for riding and the cavalry.

We will start heading to Texas on Monday. I won't have access to a computer while on this trip but, I will provide a summary of events once I get back. I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about.