Tag: NaBloPoMo

Ugh. This post should be easy to write. Yet I have now deleted it four times. The issue is that I really don’t have a clue what the future holds. The only solid answer I can provide is that horses will likely be in my life for many years to come. Otherwise, why even go through the torture of farm shopping?

Gem will be retired within the next 3-5 years which puts her in her mid 20s and us having suffered with each other for over a decade. It will be time even if she is mentally and physically still able to be ridden. She will have more than earned her last several years eating grass and being sassy in the pasture with her BFF Pete.

The next 3-5 years will be similar to the last one. Lots of lessons, some small local shows and gradually making some small steps of progress in our way of going. My end goal with Gem is to show at the 2’3″-2’6″ level and be able to canter in the dressage arena without being complete idiots. We are now at 2′, so I think it should be within our grasp to move up 6″ more in the next 5 years.

But after that? I haven’t the foggiest idea. I’m sure I’ll get another horse. It is just that I have no clue what the horse will be or what my own free time is going to look like. Wyatt will be 10 years old and I am sure he will have activities and sports and things of his own for me to attend which will all detract from any riding time available. I don’t judge others and how they make their families work, but in mine our hobbies do not trump anything Wyatt related. Heck just this past holiday weekend I sat waiting in line for Santa Clause and missed any chance to enjoy the 60 degree sunny day for riding. Wyatt trumps it all and I never regret my decision to watch him play at the park instead of ride. A lot depends on what he gets into, if he wants to ride or not and how much time I have outside of that. Work, Wyatt, me time. Its the way it goes in my life and I am happy for it.

Time will tell where I go beyond Gem. I have said ever since Wyatt was born that had he come first I never would have gotten Gem. It is very difficult to balance it all, but I also really need that riding time to maintain my own sanity so I’m sure the post Gem era will look a lot like the current one with a lot of lessons, some stolen time to ride with friends and a sprinkling of shows here and there. I just hope the next horse forgive me a little bit more in my own greenness.

Yes. Helmet. Always.

Honestly there isn’t a whole lot more for me to say on this topic. I wear my helmet every single time. No helmet? I don’t ride.

Endurance is pretty far behind the times when it comes to rider safety. Most rides in the SE and the ones I did in the Midwest only require a helmet for juniors (under 16 at start of ride season) and “recommend them” for all others. I’ve been to rides where people don’t wear a helmet and I have no clue what they are thinking. If I was a ride manager I’d require it. In fact, I recall an entire Facebook thread on the endurance group a couple years back where people were complaining that managers were starting to require a helmet for all riders. It shocked me the excuses people came up with.

Personally I’d love to see endurance make safety vests a requirement as well. The risk level is nowhere near that of eventing or really even of stadium jumping, but there is a level of risk higher than the other arena based disciplines and I believe the safety requirements are pretty non existent currently. Endurance is still rooted in the days of minimal governing body involvement and a strong “don’t tell me what to do” attitude which is fine except when safety is concerned. I mean this is the sport that recently put k tape on the banned substance list. For a sport that is dedicated to horse welfare a little bit of rider welfare wouldn’t be amiss.

But I suppose that is a bit off topic.

Helmet. Yes. Always.

Oh boy am I ever sucky at these sort of things. These pretty much pertain to my own lifestyle as a rider, so the mileage for others may vary. Here goes….

You haven’t made your bed in years, but your horse is spotless for every ride. Yup, thats right. My house is a mess, my bed goes unmade and there are toys everywhere. But Gem is sparkling clean for every ride. Good thing the Hubby isn’t a neat freak.

You have a full two car garage and both cars live outside. The garage is currently full of hay, so the nice vehicles get to live under the oak trees and get pinged by falling acorns. Gotta have dry hay though!

When house shopping you spend 10 minutes running through the house and two hours walking every inch of the property. We told our real estate agent that the house was secondary to the property. None of them believed us until we walked it. They quickly regretted agreeing to come along as we touched through the grass and woods.

You find yourself making comments on grass variety and getting into a heated debate on the merits of Bermuda versus fescue. I’m not a gardener and yet I find myself now very knowledgeable on winter rye, Bermuda coastal, fescue and Timothy grasses.

You balk at the cost and time commitment of soccer then sign your kid up for pony lessons while scouring the internet for a suitable pony. Um….yeah.

Hmmm…there are quite a few small things that get to me. Remember I’m a rule follower to a fault, so basically any time I see someone breaking a rule it drives me a bit crazy.

I’d have to say though that the thing that bothers me the most is when a rider or horse person in general fails to realize that there is always more than one way to do things and that unless it is abusive or harmful in some way please shut the poop up and leave me/others alone.

For instance. There I was minding my own business hanging with Dusty and Wyatt off to the side between my 18″ and 2′ jumper rounds at the show. This teenager was lunging her very lame horse in the dressage arena with the things head tied down. The girl’s mother comes walking over and here I am thinking she is going to tell her daughter to leave that horse alone, but no. She comes up to Gem and informs me that I should clip her because she looks unruly.

Um? Excuse me? Shut up and go teach your daughter how to be a real rider who doesn’t use gadgets on a lame horse to get it to appear round and leave me and my yak alone.

Beyond just being plain old fashioned rude though there are those who think that their opinion is not only correct but needs to be heard as well. I personally don’t like treeless saddles yet I don’t go around telling those who use them they are wrong. Because you know what? I’m 99% sure everyone is just making this crap up as we go along anyway and we are all doing our best to figure out what works at the moment and changing it as needed.

Yes, there are certain things I don’t agree with yet that doesn’t mean that those things don’t work for you and your horse. It just means that it isn’t something I’d like to do for mine. So go ahead and do your thing. Oh I may very well be silently judging you and your choices, but I will also understand that there is more than one way to do this thing and will keep any comments to myself.

A good case in point is my best riding bud S. The two of us couldn’t manage our horses any differently. She rides bitless and in a treeless saddle. She supplements the crap out of her horses and doesn’t feed any grain. She is very holistic in everything with her horses and prefers small amount of land and many horses. Me? I’m a treed saddle, bit in mouth, complete feed grain, no supplements, small number of horses with a crap ton of land type of person. We get along splendidly and each let the other do it their own way with no interference unless the other specifically asks.

When we moved to SC in 2013, I knew nobody. Making a new friend as an adult in a new place is difficult. Add to that a toddler, being the employer so can’t make friends with work mates, and not being into things most people like such as drinking and watching TV and it was looking pretty dire. After six months of riding alone, I took to a local FB endurance group asking for someone to ride with and a woman named S responded.

What grew from that is a wonderful friendship that is still going strong 3 years later and has blossomed beyond trail riding together to spending time having lunch dates, going to Grand Prix shows and buying WEG tickets together. When her horse recently coliced, I ran out there in the dark and hand walked her horse while she called her vet and gave her moral support through the ordeal. When my first farm fell through, she was there to listen to me whine.

Her knowledge base is invaluable as well. She knows every trail, endurance ride, manager, vet, farrier and show ground within 6 hours of here. When we found our next farm, she knew the entire history of the place based on previous shows it held there. I don’t know how she does it, but she knows just about everything regarding horses in the southeast.

We don’t always see eye to eye and we haven’t actually ridden together in well over a year now, but no matter what we talk about or how long it has been we always pick up right where we left off like no time has passed at all. I am so glad she responded to my plea.

I don’t post pictures of other people without their permission, so no pictures for you. Believe me, she does actually exist though!

Riding is my sense of self.

All day long I am a mother, a physician and surgeon, a boss and a business owner. My mind is always whirling with decisions to be made that impact the lives of people even if those people are only my family. Financial decisions, medical decisions, raising my son decisions. Always something to do, something to give, something to worry about.

When I ride though I am just me. For that hour I am Sara. Not Doctor, not Boss, not Mommy. Just plain Sara working towards goals and building skills that only impact my own life.

While I am on Gem all the outside worries float away and my focus is on breathing, sitting up straight, moving my leg back. I conquer my own fears, feel myself grow as a person and obtain skills I didn’t have before.

To be 100% honest it is my time to be selfish. I know riding is both a financial and time suck on my family which is why I try to be as frugal with both as possible. I need that time though. It is the only time I am just me fighting my own inadequacies and learning to grow.