Centered in the Saddle

Since the announcement that Drifter would be sold, I have been doing a lot of thinking. And all that thinking has led me to a decision that I’m very excited about. I’ll be saying goodbye to the hunters and hello to…

EVENTING.

That’s right, people. I’m swapping the sedate world of hunters and going to the dark side for the excitement of eventing.

I have always loved following the sport of eventing, and I have a lot of friends from my barn back home who are into eventing, big time. I’ve spent a lot of time admiring the sport and those riders from afar. But no more creeping from afar for this girl. Now I’m going to try it out for myself.

I did not come to this decision lightly. With this change in discipline comes a change in barns. That’s the tough part.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about it. Once the cloud of sadness about Drifter started to clear, I found myself in a place where the future was completely open and I could think about what I really wanted my future with horses to look like. I came up with two main things: Right now in my life, I love jumping and I love competing.

The idea started as a stray thought while I was driving home from work one day. Maybe I could try eventing…

I dismissed it at first, because that’s not something that was offered at the barn I was at. I continued down the path of figuring out other opportunities with horses at that barn. One after another, each different option was either prohibitively expensive or wasn’t the right fit for my riding goals.

I tentatively started exploring eventing barns in my area. There aren’t a ton. A few were going to be too expensive, some where too far away. A few places never even responded to my emails and calls. But I narrowed the list down and visited three places.

Of the three, there was one that stood out. When I walked in, everyone was friendly, the horses were beautifully kept, the barn was neat but not fussy and they have a huge field of cross-country style jumps along with their indoor and outdoor arenas. I was able to watch the trainer there give a lesson; I planned on staying for a few minutes and then heading home…but before I knew it, the whole hour had passed and the lesson was over. Plus, I just got “that feeling.” It’s the same one when you are horse shopping and you sit on “the one.” You just know.

So, after lots of agonizing, plenty of tears, a little nervousness and much excitement, I am embarking on a new adventure.

Eyes ahead, shoulders back, leg on. Here we go.