56 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
and come back, but knowing me and my stubbornness, he knew I
would never listen. I wish I had.
All was great until I hit Gainesville, Florida – that’s when the
first tire blew. No big deal, I have trailer insurance and they fixed
it and I was back on my way. I called ahead and ordered four
more tires to be put on in Georgia the next morning, figuring if one
blew, the others might. The second one blew shortly after entering
Georgia and with it blew out all my running lights. Knowing I was
running out of daylight, I luckily found a horse hotel. They were
kind enough to even offer to come pick my horses and me up.
Instead I made it to the tire place, got two more replaced and was
met by the owner of the horse hotel and guided for my overnight
stop. I went to hook up for the night and, again, all the electric in
the trailer wasn’t working.
The next morning I left as soon as it was light and made it to the
Kentucky Horse Park without any more problems - except for the
rain. I parked and my trainer and friends started helping unload
the horses. I had a Corgi and two Chihauhaus in the truck, but
since it was 55 degrees out I felt it was safer for them to stay in the
truck until we were set up.
An hour into the unloading, a man screamed that smoke was
coming out of my truck. Frantically I screamed that my dogs were
in there and we all opened the doors and started getting the dogs
out. A fellow competitor who is also a vet helped me administer
shock medication and the fire truck had oxygen masks for pets.
Total strangers helped locate the emergency clinic and friends
drove us there while more friends helped take care of my horses.
Unfortunately one of the dogs died the following day from
seizures caused by brain swelling. The other two survived thanks
to the local hyperbaric chamber and the emergency vet Dr. Dawes
who is also a dressage rider. She personally took them for their
daily treatments knowing I did not have a truck and as she put it
“needed to ride.”
What caused the truck fire? The seat heater malfunctioned even
though the truck had been turned off for over an hour. The seat
looked like a barbeque. This is a problem that is fairly common and
if you research it online you will discover it is not being addressed
by our National Transportation board.
So now what? Pack up and go home? I decided that I had gone
through hell and come out the other side so I decided to stay
and ride. My horses have always been my stress relief in life so
I turned to them to pull me through and they did not disappoint.
Reel Adventure won the Intermediare 2 amateur division; Akvavit
was reserve champion in the fourth level freestyle; and my grand
prix horse Fabio placed sixth in the grand prix freestyle with my
trainer John Zopatti.
The truck was totaled so I was stuck in Kentucky with three
dogs, three horses and a giant trailer. Friends came to the rescue
and, borrowing trucks, I got the trailer fixed and a friend towed
it to his local farm (and yes it did get stuck in the snow once).
Friends transported me and my dogs to Tampa, Florida, where
my husband picked me up. My local friend offered to put up my
horses at his farm until I resolved the trailer issue, but my gut told
me to get them home so I had them shipped commercially. Two
days later, the barn my horses would have been in burned to the
ground!
So my story taught me many life lessons – definitely trust your
gut feelings – they usually are not wrong. And, sometimes, do
listen to your husband. The biggest thing I learned is that in this
fast paced world there are still people who care, total strangers
willing to help those in distress. Being extremely independent, I
was thrown into an awkward position to ask for help and realized
it’s okay to lean on others every once in awhile. Even though our
sport is sometimes portrayed as elitist and filled with dressage
divas … we are not. Horse people are a caring community that in
times of need take care of their own. And I am grateful for that.
About the writer: Dr. Kristy Truebenbach Lund, along with her husband Dr. Scott
Lund, owns Blue Marlin Farms in Wellington and Lund Animal Hospital in Boca
Raton, Florida. An amateur dressage gold medalist and winner of numerous regional
and national titles, she has made dressage her life-consuming hobby since the age
of four.
Kristy and Reel Adventure.
Photo by Tina Valant
Despite an emotionally tough
weekend, Kristy’s horses, including
Fabio, rose to the challenge, helped
relieve stress and even ended up in
the ribbons.
