Road Trips

I think I’m a slow learner.  That must be why God has blessed me with so many opportunities to start over.

As I was riding earlier this week, I was struck by how far my perceptions have come.  When we start riding all we worry about is direction and speed.  Sometimes we just worry about the speed!  In time we gain a little more fineness and we start to think about our position.  After what seems like decades of working on our position, some of us start to think about how we can influence the giant beast that has dutifully be toting us around the arena all this time.  Some of us learn rules so that we can play games and win ribbons.  Some of us just keep worrying about that illusive basic balanced seat and others strive toward harmony with their horse.

The truly wonderful part of life with horses is that they simply cannot be conquered.  They aren’t a mountain to be climbed, but more of a mountain range to be thoroughly explored and no one has enough life span to find every nook and cranny and turn over every leaf.

Even if I only count my “main horses,” the horses into which I have poured seasons of my life, I’m on number seven now.  Each one has taken me places I would never have anticipated.  I have learned so many lessons along the way.  I feel like I should “get it” by now, but I don’t.  The more I ride, the more I realize that my blanket of knowledge is more like a mosquito net with thousands of tiny holes.  But that’s okay.

The goal isn’t some fancy shiny illustrious career in the limelight.  The goal is enjoying the journey and what a journey I’m having.

We’ve taken the plunge and are in the process of breeding Nutmeg.  We will know in a couple of weeks if tries one through four were successful.  I was ridiculously excited after our first successful attempt.  Then Nutmeg had a moderate bout of gas colic and I realized that we were on a very long and rickety road toward having a healthy foal.  I’m still looking forward to the trip, but I have returned to cautious optimism.  If Nutmeg taught me only one thing in our time competing together, it was to never count your ribbons before you make it soundly to the winner’s circle.

Ryder and I have been having our growing pains.  We will have some soaring successes followed by several less than stellar rides.  He is entered in his first show of the year this weekend.  We will be playing in the baby classes at the Longview Dressage show both Saturday and Sunday.  My plan is to use the dressage show as a dress rehearsal for the event at Longview the following weekend.  Ryder has been to a few shows and I certainly have the routine down, but it will be good to have a dry run though together before we head off to tackle his first event.

I’m looking forward to the coming season and the road trips it holds.  We are going to put a little more focus on learning and a little less focus on competing this year.  It will be a nice change of perspective.  I have started over so many times, but I gain a better understanding of the process every time.  I’m looking forward to turning over some new leaves, filling a few holes, and enjoying the scenery as we pass it by.

Note: This video's language may offend some.  Fair warning.