Shelley attended the Del Mar National Horse Show as
a coach. She remembers the drive south as excruciating. “I rented a golf cart, because we had a lot of customers there. I was using crutches because I wasn’t allowed to put weight on the ankle for six weeks. Partway through Del Mar I had black and blue coming up my leg and down on my foot. I didn’t have a cast, just a splint.” She sent her doctor a photo, asking if the symptom was
normal. The response was to stay off her feet and keep the left foot elevated. Not so easy at a busy horse show! The doctor later had a cast applied, with Shelley hoping
to be able to ride at Spruce Meadows in July. After the cast’s removal and a month of physical therapy, she was back in the saddle in August, missing her goal. She competed Revenge at Spruce Meadows in the fall. “I showed the first week in the meter 40s, and the second week I did the FEI division. That was a little tough. I wasn’t in shape and was getting a little loose in the saddle.” Shelley ended 2016 at the Las Vegas National Horse Show.
In the 1.45 meter class, Revenge jumped a clear round and earned fifth place. “Then that next morning he colicked,” says Shelley. “He has never colicked—he’s never been sick.”
About Revenge
The brown gelding was foaled in 2001 in Sweden. Shelley bought him at seven and says he was diffi- cult at first. “He was very, very spooky in the ring. The first year I had him, I just rode in the meter 20s. I didn’t want to move him up. I had difficulty turning him, and he was just looking. By the fall I took him to Sacramento and did the seven-year-old class and the championship. We ended up jumping meter 35 in that class. He was third and second.” In 2010, Revenge won his first grand prix. Shelley
also competed him at Spruce Meadows that year, at 1.40 meters. She does note that he can still be “just stupid” in
the warmup ring. “But he goes in the ring and he’s always very focused. When we trot by the jump—if you didn’t know him, you’d think he’s never going to go to those jumps. Once we pick up the canter and go to the jumps, he’s all business. I never am worried that I’m not going to get from A to B because he’s always right with me. So that’s fun.” Water did distract him at first. “He’d never stop, but he had to look at Liverpools. Early in the course he’s always a little more careful, like checking it out, so I have to ride a little harder. But by the end of the course, he’s just relaxed and he jumps around.” Shelley adds, “I remember the first time in Del Mar, when I started doing the World Cups, they had that big Lego wall. I was scared that he wouldn’t jump that; I was more spooked than he was. He was like, ‘Come on Mom, let’s go.’ I thought, with his history, that he is going to freak out, but he didn’t.”
At their previous
show that November, the Sunshine Series at Thermal’s Desert Horse Park, her horse had developed a skin infec- tion. He was treated with the antibiotic Naxcel. At Vegas, Shelley discovered that the antibiotic possibly caused the colic. “He really colicked. They
gave him meds twice in a few hours and he kept lying down and shaking. They sent him to a clinic. They thought he was going to have to have surgery. They kept fluids and kept treating him, and he finally came around. He didn’t have to have surgery.”
Shelley and Rich Fellers’ son Christopher in the irons on Matinique (Holsteiner by Quidam de Revel) in the 1.20m Farmvet Jumpers last March at HITS Thermal.
BOUNCING BACK IN 2017 Revenge had time off to recuperate at home, before Shel- ley returned him to work. “In December we take their shoes off. They just flat, with no jumping. In January we go back and get them fit again. We put their shoes on a couple weeks before we leave for Thermal and we start jumping.” She’s relieved that her horse hasn’t had any other injuries.
“He’s been good ever since that one time. I’m worse at the vetting than he is.” With her goal the HITS $1 Million, she jumped a 1.50
meter class the week before. “I had the second to last jump down, just a rub on the back rail. I felt like I rode well and he felt good.” The day before her first $1 Million, Shelley said, “I feel like I am still getting my act together. I’m feeling really good.” Best of all, her horse gave her confidence. “My horse is
super rideable. He has a big stride, so if it’s a scopey distance I’m fine. If I need to add, he’s very cooperative. And I know him like the back of my hand. So I feel like I can put in a good effort.” They had eight faults, ending in the middle of the pack of
54 entries. In May Shelley followed with the Showpark Ranch and Coast show, finishing fifth in $60,000 Grand Prix of Cali- fornia. At Del Mar, she was fourth in the $5,000 1.40 meter and fifth in the $25,000 Surfside Grand Prix. Barring any more injuries, Shelley is ready to contest the summer and fall events in the U.S. and Canada. “Revenge is a good horse. He’s a really fun horse. Rich showed him a little bit through my injuries, and my son Chris showed him. Chris did his first meter 40 on Revenge and won. I think Rich is too scary.”
She adds, “I think Revenge prefers me, his mom. When Rich
rides him, he has that look in his eye, like, ‘Oh my God.’ I know him like the back of my hand. I’m pretty sure Rich rides better than me, but I think our connection is stronger and he knows me better.”
Warmbloods Today 31
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