Truthfully, I’ve been feeling fairly breathless since Monday evening, like someone has punched me in the gut and I can’t catch my breath again, even though I don’t feel mentally upset. Maybe it’s the result of emailing my trainers and giving them the news that we’re out of commission pretty much for the rest of the year. Maybe it’s deleting all those competitions off my calendar. Maybe I just need a glass of wine.

No related photos, so you get rainbow pics from last night. Yay, happy thoughts.

I’ve decided to take Foster to a clinic down in Tryon, North Carolina, about a four hour haul. It’s been something I’ve been mulling over ever since getting the results, and a matter of convenience versus my gut. See, the vet school that did Foster’s bone scan also does surgeries like this, but unfortunately several stories of miscommunication and misdiagnoses have reached my ears just in the last week and makes me reluctant to submit Foster to their care for surgery. The vet school is 30 minutes away, but my gut just wants him to go somewhere else.

When I related my wariness to my vet, she stated that “it’s usually the ones with that proceed with a bad gut feeling that something happens to”. Enough said- the vet school is officially jinxed in my mind, and we’ll be going elsewhere.

There are other bonuses to traveling to Tryon. For one, I plan on making on my old dressage teammate and friend, B, go to dinner with me. I’ll also try to make time to finally see the fancy Tryon International Equestrian Center. And more randomly, my brother will be in town to say hello to.

So, one week from today Foster will go under the knife, and we will take the first step on our journey back to greatness.

[PS- I’m sorry for not responding to comments yet but I’ve read them all and am truly grateful for the support and kind words. Especially love hearing about success stories! Keep ’em coming!]