A Farewell to Old Times
Dear Readers,
I haven’t updated my blog in so long, that I’ve actually forgotten where I left off. These past few weeks have been tough and busy. I’ve had to make several difficult decisions and updating my blog has just been the furtherest thing from my mind.
The last thing I remember posting about was telling you all that I was going to my first dressage show, so I’m going to start there. In June, I took Morgan and PD to a local dressage show and had a blast! I rode PD first and she was pretty fresh but I managed to keep myself calm, and eventually she calmed down too. First we did Intro Test B. We had our fair share of problems, but the test was great! The judge made a comment at the end of the judge’s card that said “…headed in the right direction with this confident and effective rider”. I was ecstatic! That gave me the confidence to do well the rest of the day! Later I rode her in Training Level, Test 1. Our warm up area was an open field, so I didn’t think it was a safe idea to warm her up in the canter, she’s much too green for that. I was a little worried about how her transition would be in the test, but to everyones surprise, it was her best transitions ever! We placed 3rd out of 8 in both classes.
After cooling PD out and putting her away for the day, it was Morgan’s turn to shine! I rode him first in Training Level, Test One. I was really excited to see how both ponies would do competing against each other. PD had done so well, I knew Morgan had some fierce competition on his hooves. He placed 2nd, with just 2 more points than PD had received. It was such a close call. I later rode him in both Training Level, Test 2 & 3. I was riding against all adults, since I’m considered a senior, so I was super nervous. Morgan placed 3rd in both of the classes. We placed only 2 placings below my trainer! However, I was much more excited about the great comments I was getting from the judge!
Not long after we got home from the show, Morgan injured himself again. He had rubbed himself on the trees in his pasture to the point where he was bloody and had very little coat. He also dropped weight, colicked and hurt his hip from rubbing. He was a sad, sad sight. I couldn’t ride him for a while. But finally he got back to his normal self, by this time I had no money left for leasing him. I recently got a job, but I’ve since made the decision that it’s time to move on. He’s old, and it’s starting to show. He’s not up for the type of things I’m doing now. Not only that, I just haven’t been inspired to ride lately. I haven’t ridden in weeks.
Today, I sat down and really thought about what I’m going to do. I realize that the first thing I need to do is get excited about riding again. I don’t really need to think about dressage and showing, because if I don’t actually want to ride, there’s no point in worrying about things like that. So, here’s my plan; for one year I’m going to visit as many different barns I can, taking lessons with tons of different trainers, in every discipline. I want to ride heaps of different types of ponies and just experience as much as possible. Meanwhile, I’m going to save money each month. One day I’d like to own a nice large pony, capable of doing upper level dressage, and board at a nice dressage facility with an actual dressage trainer. One day. Until then, I’m just going to have FUN.
