Life Update

Thanks to Instagram It is one of the worst kept secrets that I’m working on training both girls to become low level eventers. Cupid, with her dressage and hunter background is fairly well suited to this endeavor once she’s convinced that everything is not out to eat her. Foxy, with her lack of jump training is less suited but makes up for it with her bravery and curiosity. The biggest issue in this training process though is me and the amount of hours in a day. 

Fox still doesn’t know how she feels about this whole Eventing thing.

Keeping the girls at home, with Chance, has been a fantastic experience so far. I get to be 100% in control of everything and have developed deeper relationships with my horses than I ever imagined possible. But all this has come at a cost, my riding time. 

With everything falling to me to care for I quickly run out of time to actually fit in solid rides. Weekends can go from planned trail rides with trot sets to hill work in the yard because fences need repair, holes need to be filled (thank you Foxy), or some other maintenance need has arisen. Evenings after work can go from dressage work to lunging because someone has trashed a stall during the day and it needs to be completely stripped, or I get stuck at the office later than planned. 

Despite all of the extra work I don’t think I could ever go back to having someone else care for my horses. We miss rides more often than not, we spend far too much time working on ground manners, tricks, or other silly things (Cupid still hasn’t figured out this whole ground driving while pulling the paddock drag business). But we’re more of a team than ever. Being able to lead without a halter, point where I want them to move to and communicate without words is priceless. If we complete in a tadpole/entry level trial this year I’ll be happy, but if we end up continuing to build our partnerships without competing then that’s something I’ll be equally happy with. 

A year ago I never would have imagined this type of training would be possible

Above all, I feel like I’m finally moving forward with understanding how my herd thinks and the motivations for their behavior. That knowledge is priceless and utterly rewarding.