Thankful For the Small Victories

Pony kisses!

Black and I went back up to Tryon Equine on Friday for a check up! Black got his second round of shock wave therapy and I talked with Dr. Boone about where we are headed. We jogged him and he looked sooo much sounder! Dr. Boone said he looked about 60% sounder so that was very encouraging. She was also very happy with how much the swelling had gone down. . It made me feel like I was doing something right and heading in the right direction. We didn't ultrasound but Dr. Boone said that she was sure it was a tear. She just didn't think we would see a huge difference. Black was much more cooperative for his shock wave this time around! Probably because he was much more comfortable. Dr. Boone and I talked about Stem Cell Therapy and PRP and what options would be best for Black. Dr. Boone did her PhD work on Stem Cell in horses with tendon injuries- so I trust her 120% and I know she'll guide me in the right direction. Because of the bad timing with the holidays coming up we decided that doing fat transfer of Stem Cells would be the best route for Black. Black will go up the Monday after Thanksgiving for the cells to be cultured and then the lab will process them and the next day they will be injected into his suspensory! We'll go back up in January and there is a possibility that I will be able to walk him under saddle after that ultrasound!!! It will be a very long road before we're even cantering again but I will be thankful for the small steps!

I had a bit of a breakdown on Wednesday for many reasons but mostly because I was terrified what news I would get that Friday. This horse has given me so much and we're not finished yet! I still have some many things I want to accomplish with Black. And I know Black is no where near done yet! I can't imagine having to retire him any time soon because he would be miserable. He lives to run around cross country. But I'm feeling much better and much more optimistic and I honestly think the stall rest will be the easy part for me. I think the hard part is going to be getting on my horse and only walking.... BUT a good friend told me to "celebrate the small victories". ;D

Horses Will Be Horses

Black being adorable!

Well this last week has been filled with phone calls, icing, wrapping, cold hosing, research, hand walking, and some crying. And repeat. This probably describes my past 13 years with horses but I've never had it all in one week! As most of y'all know Black injured his front right outside suspensory branch after landing from a fence in our lesson on Wednesday. I'm heartbroken of course but there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Black was fit and doing his conditioning sets. (Actually fitter than he had been since summer!) I was not asking anymore of him than I had been in the lesson. I only jump once a week and I make sure it's in good footing. I warm him up and cool him down properly every time I ride him. I ice, poultice, and wrap his legs after every cross country run and I give him his down time. Earlier in October I had two weeks that I only rode Black once a week because of school work. This week I have been going over and over and over in my head if I should have brought him "back" slower than I did. The first week all he did was light hacks and I didn't even feel comfortable jumping him until 2 weeks later!! You could say I'm a little paranoid... But there was nothing I could have done differently. While that gives me some peace, it makes me nervous about how I am going to prevent this from happening after Black is rehabbed. But Black has given me and his previous owner more than either of us could ever imagine. I am so blessed to have Black in my life and I will do EVERYTHING I can to bring him back to where he was. And if I can't- I'll make him as comfortable as I can. I owe him that much.
So far Black is handling stall rest surprisingly well! He's been very calm and enjoys sticking his head out in the aisle so he feels involved in the activity. Rachel has been so great about working with me to make him more comfortable and sane. I'm so thankful for her! Our next appointment with Dr. Boone at Tryon Equine will be next Friday. We will ultrasound and Black will get his second shockwave treatment. That ultrasound will tell us more about what we're in for and how bad it is. There was so much swelling, fluid, and edema on Wednesday since it just happened that it was hard to tell what was a possible tear and what was fluid. All I know is that the giant black hole in the middle of my horse's suspensory was scary compared to his inside branch. I am praying my heart out that we will get good news next week but I am trying not get my hopes up. Dr. Boone warned me that I should count on 4-6 months and that she can't hand me a sound horse in 3 months. So I'm prepared for a long road as this will be enough of a emotional roller coaster. We will also discuss Stem Cell Therapy and PRP on Friday and that will hopefully help to prevent a reinjury- which is my primary concern. Casey Sokol, my farrier, has been AWESOME about trying to find the best way to shoe Black to help him recover. He has contacted numerous other farriers to find what has worked the best. How awesome is that?! We're looking at putting him into bar shoes, wedges, and a rim pad with frog support up front to help support his heels.
Black and I have the best team behind us that I could ever hope for so I know we will get through this. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and are keeping Black in their thoughts. The horse community is truly one of a kind!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

As you can tell from my serious lack of updates, this school year has kicked my butt! I haven't been able to catch my breath much less update this blog. And trying to find time to ride when I should be studying or writing a paper has been a tough task. This has been the first year that I have truly put a "hold" on my competition schedule for school and let me tell you, thank God I did! I would have drove myself absolutely insane if I would have tried to keep Black Prelim fit, go to lessons and keep up on school work. I have finally learned and admitted to myself that I cannot do it all! And that is okay. Instead I've been able to look forward going to the barn and when there was a two week when I could only get to the barn once a week- the look on Black's face when he saw me was priceless! He does like me! :)
As this semester is coming to a close and we're registering for classes next semester, I'm realizing my course load next semester won't be nearly as bad. This mean our competition schedule will be in full swing come February!! And I cannot wait! Black is back to his conditioning sets so that by mid January or so we will BOTH be fit and ready for a PRELIM horse trial by February. The plan is to take lessons with Beth Perkins while we wait for Amy Barrington to be back in action! Which I'm sure will be sooner than anyone thinks ;). I hope so because we need her and miss her desperately! I'm looking forward to working with Beth and I hope she can get us back on track. I have to say though our first attempt at lessoning with her did not go as planned! Haley Doyle and I planned to have a lesson with this past Friday and of course it was the first day in weeks we had rain. We waited for Beth's word and she said it was just too wet. About 10 min
utes later the sun came out (OF COURSE!) and she called back to say come on up! So Haley and I raced around and threw the horses on only to notice that Haley's trailer had not just one but TWO very, very flat tires. My trailer is tiny and would probably not fit Haley's 17.2h horse and Black but we figured it was worth a shot. Then I realized I didn't have the keys to the hitch. Crap. My boyfriend, Matt, had just gotten off work so he came and brought me the keys. By that time it was almost 12:30 and we had a lesson planned for 1:15 and it takes an hour and half to get to Tryon. We have a lesson scheduled for next Friday so let's hope things will go a little better this time around!

Fat, fluffy, ratchet broodmare to handsome event pony!

Black is clipped and got his mane pulled so he is ready to do something and go somewhere and so am I! We are so looking forward to getting back out there and kicking Prelim's butt! :)

Senior Year and Lessons Learned

Well senior year has officially started and it's a little scary! This summer I was so ready to graduate and while I am still ready to start the next chapter of my life, the classes that I have to get through to get there are daunting! My class today was about 50% people who are there for the second time... a little intimidating to say the least! The past two days while my professors have been warning us of their high expectations, they mentioned some things that I realized I had heard before. Not in a classroom, however. I've always known horses have taught me a lot. When I was 9, I would slip notes under my parents' bedroom door telling them that if they bought me a pony I would be very "reaeasoblpaileble" (aka responsible). Even at a young age I knew that horses would and already had taught me life lessons but I don't think I could have predicted the depth of the lessons I would learn. So here are a couple things that a life filled with horses has taught me that carries into my college life and will certainly carry over into my professional life.

6. Humility. This is an easy one for us horse people! This is a lesson that is learned so early on it's hard to remember when you weren't humbled by horses. Horses have a mind of their own and our plans and theirs don't always align. Some horses make it their personal agenda to help us gain this quality. Even the good horses don't let us get too confident! As I continue my college career, I have learned this is a quality that not all people have mastered.

5. Plan B is okay. With horses, we don't just have plan A and B... we have plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G..... There is always another option if the first plan didn't work out. So come up with another one! For me this applies to studying for tests. I don't test well and every professor does their tests differently and so every test has to be studied for differently. After the first test I might have to reevaluate my study strategies, just like I might have to reevaluate Black and I's event schedule for the fall. And that is OK! This leads me to:

4. It is not the end of the world. Unless the world is actually coming to an end, a lame horse is not the end all be all. While it certainly seems like it in the moment, the world won't end and life will go on. The same goes for a failed test- life will go on and you have the next test to work harder and prove to yourself and your professor that you can do better.

3. Nothing will ever go your way. Just accept it now, life won't go exactly how you planned. And that's okay! Actually, it's almost always better than you planned it! My horse Maxx taught me this. I bought him with plans to take him Prelim but instead we went Novice for 3 years. After he dumped me at the last fence on cross country at AEC's in 2010, I asked myself "is this fun?" Umm.. No, no it's not. So I sold him to a lady who does low level dressage and spoils him rotten and I found Black. Black was worth the wait and while I certainly did not plan for him to come into my life, I am certainly grateful he did!

2. The ability to accept criticism. My professor made an interesting statement in my Internship class yesterday... She warned us that we would have to sit down with the supervisors of our internships at the end of the semester and talk with them about what we did well and what we could improve on. She stated that "it will be awkward and it will be uncomfortable to hear this criticism". Ha... I pay about $50 a week to hear someone critique every part of something that I work incredibly hard to improve and maintain. I have listened to someone critique me since I was 9 and not always nicely! This is the part of riding that I truly believe is the most beneficial as well as the most rare. I believe it's the most benefical because no one got anywhere by someone telling them they are awesome. I believe it's rare because I have ridden in clinics with people who simply could not take the critique or did not want to hear it. When I go to have that talk with the supervisor of my internship, I will accept the criticism with the same grace and appreciation as I do when my trainer critiques my course work.

My point exactly! Goofy pony!

1. The importance of nurturing relationships. This is something I have put together recently. I believe that the relationships we have and make in life define us. For me it's my relationship with Christ, my family, my friends, my boyfriend, Black and my first love- my pony Lexi. The relationships that I have built with Lexi and Black have taught me how to love and care for someone other than myself. All the equestrians joke that their boyfriends/husbands/significant others will always come second to their horses. Well I think that there's some validity to this because horses taught me to love first. The ability to see the relationship between a horse and their person is beautiful and pretty indescribable. I have yet to see someone learn this from a ball.
Black has taught me something unique about relationships. The first year I owned Black he seemed like he had no personality. He was not interested in me at all. He showed up did his job, expected his treat and that was that! I've owned Black for about 2.5 years now and the past year his personality has exploded! He nickers to me when I make this weird noise (confession: I can't whistle), he spins around when I call his name and he's even started to give me snuggles! This includes Black nuzzling my neck, resting his head on my chest or resting his chin on shoulder- so cute! Black has taught me that everyone has the capacity to love and if you hang around long enough, they'll show you their appreciation.

Ops!

Well I have officially neglected this blog... We had Chatt Hills last weekend but I decided to move Black down to Training because he took a couple funny steps in my lesson the week before. I had Dr. Stafford come out to check and make sure we were good to go. But I gave him a few days off that I needed in order for ME to feel prepared to take him Prelim in what I was expecting to be some serious heat. I have learned that if I don't feel 120% ready, it's not going to happen. So we moved back down to Training and enjoyed the weekend! I learned what I needed to do to get a great dressage test out of him and what I need to continue to work on out cross country and in stadium. I'm glad I decided to move him down and we'll get our act together for Full Gallop in August at Prelim!
But in the meantime, a friend of mine from high school and my riding idol, Susan Thomas, asked if she could take Black for the flat portion of her 'A' Pony Club rating at Riverbend in August! I said yes of course because how cool! Not only is it awesome because I've known Susan so long and want to see her kick this ratings butt but also because it will be really neat to watch how Black handles pushing his flat work just a little bit further AND I get help with it! Which we all know we need haha! I'm really looking forward to watching how they progress as they figure each other out and learning something about where our flat work needs to head in the process. Susan taught me a lot about properly caring for an event horse who self destructs in high school and I'm happy I can return the favor! I will be sure to post some pictures from the rating and in the meantime try and keep up with this blog! ;)

Ohhh yea!!

That's the best way to describe my lesson with Amy Barrington today! I haven't had a lesson or jumped Black since Windridge so I wanted to squeeze in a lesson before I left for home. Black normally has a good rest after horse trials and I normally only jump him every week to every other week to save his legs. His flat work needs the most work anyway! When we jump alone, it's normally just for me to see if his flat work is headed in the right direction so I normally keep it small and simple with an exercise Amy has me do a lot so I know the right feeling when I do get it. I don't trust myself to not screw something up! Anyway, Black's flat schools have been super productive this week so I was hoping that would carry on to our lesson today and it definitely did! Black warmed up really well and it was pretty short considering Amy normally kills us to get us where we need to be to jump. But today it didn't take us long and Amy even clapped at the end of our warm up hahaha! With how rough our spring's been, I'll take it!! He jumped well in the beginning but after riding Elliot this weekend, I needed a reminder to stay off my seat bones and release so I don't get caught in the back seat. Once I get stiff and left behind so does Black so I have to stay as soft as I can so that he will stay soft in front of the fence. Seems like an easy concept, yea not much for us! Amy set up a tough course for us with a lot of turns and angled jumps and most of it at Prelim height. And Black jumped it pretty well the first time but the second time I thought I had gotten the wrong horse out of the field! He was a totally different horse! I saw a short spot to an oxer but he was s

What a cute drugged pony!

uper strung out so I half halted hard about 3 strides out and he brought his hind end underneath of them and then I softened about a stride out so DID HE and he left the ground perfectly! That was a spot that a few months ago he would have stopped at because he would have stayed braced against me. It might have just been one jump but eventually it will be all of them! Amy also commented on how he looked like a different horse and that could not have made me happier! With horses it's the little things! :)

Oh and since Black decided to through me (and himself) against the stall wall last time I tried to pull his mane, he got some happy juice this time around! I did get smart this time and pulled it super short so we won't have to do this again for a while and since I really don't like giving him anything he doesn't really need. Black is also a serious lightweight so a little goes a long way,  Here's a picture of him using the cross ties to his advantage!

Headed In the Right Direction

The last jump!

WE DID IT! :D

It's only been about 2 weeks since my last post but I have so much to tell y'all!
First off- Black and I's first Prelim was a success! Black went to Amy Barrington's for a little boot camp and his whole attitude had changed. Mhm imagine that! haha He was much more willing to work and cooperate with me instead of fighting me. I also switched his bit back into his elevator because he wasn't hearing my half halts again. We had a great lesson on Wednesday before Windridge and I was really excited for the weekend. Dressage went okay. I warmed him up too long which was a shame because the beginning of our warmup was pretty great. But we got through it! Stadium was in the grass which was probably good because it gets us thinking more forward. And that he was! I was nervous so I threw him at a couple fences which gave us 2 rails and I kept adding a stride that wasn't there that gave us a stop. BUT... we got through it haha. My new motto! As long as we still got to do xc on Sunday I was happy!! This was my first time at Windridge and I was super impressed by their xc course. The first few fences really get the horses into a nice rythmic gallop and the entire course is extremly inviting. Absolutly perfect for our first Prelim! Amy Barrington had me warm up a little bit differently than I normally do. She had me continue to canter around the start box right up until I had to go in the box. I was a little stressed in the process but it really helped Black to stay connected. Black blasted out of the start box connected AND forward! He jumped the first one right out stride and dug in on the landing. By the 4th fence he had jumped everything out of stride and I knew we had it! I have never ridden a more perfect xc round in my life! It was truly unbelievable. He did not miss a distance to a single fence and came back to me and moved up every time I asked! I moved his rein down to the actual elevator ring and that seemed to help with bringing him back too. I was so proud of us! Black listened so well and I know he was happy to be back out on an upper level course because instead of looking for things to lock onto, he already found them! That xc round made all the stress and battling of this spring worth it. To say that I am thrilled with him is an understatement! I am so blessed to call this awesome horse mine!

Elliot and I in SJ

While I was at Windridge, Janna Ritacco asked if I would take her horse Elliot to Eventing Rally the next weekend! I was super excited to be able to spend some time with the Pony Club girls that I have become so close with. I was able to fit in a couple lessons with Janna this week and lesson with Carolyn West and off we went! Elliot was great for dressage and super in SJ but had other plans for XC on Sunday haha! But I learned so much about Elliot and riding horses like him as well about my own riding so I am extremely grateful for the opportunity! Elliot is a 17.2h Belgian/TB cross so quite a difference than Black haha! It was such a fun weekend and Elliot was a ton of fun to ride. I really do enjoy the team aspect of Pony Club, it's such a unique thing that you don't get to experience at regular horse trials.

AND Black decided to start the week off to a great start with a great ride today! Janna and Carolyn let me jump on Sunny for a few minutes after Janna's lesson last Thursday. Sunny is 3rd level dressage horse who was in training with Carolyn and he was just generously donated to Pony Club and is at Janna's in transit to a dressage 'A' candidate! Well that horse is pretty dang awesome to say the least... I did a couple lead changes on him and applied what I learned to Black. What an unbelievable difference! Our changes have been something that have been developing with our canter but today I got FOUR clean, on time changes while staying connected and through! I learned the key is to slow his canter (almost thinking walk) before I ask for the change of bend that way Black has a chance to get his haunches underneath him. Unbelievable what a 5 minute ride on an upper level dressage horse can teach you!

It's been a pretty cool past couple weeks and I hope we can keep progressing! I am going home for my 21st birthday and then I'm thinking we'll go to Full Gallop next.

Just Suck It Up and Do It!

Story of my life right about now... I'm so burnt out from school but I'm determined to graduate on time. So even though I never want to look at a textbook again (or at least until August) I'm taking summer classes so that I can graduate on time. This leaves less time for riding which we all know will make any equestrian squeamish.
And then there's Black. I won't lie, he's been in the dog house a bit for the last couple weeks because he has been less than cooperative in our rides. I love this horse too much for him to be in trouble for too long but Black can be like a 2 year old when they first learn they can use the word "no". Black insists that he knows better and uses the word "no" whenever he thinks he is working to hard. Except unlike a 2 year old, Black is 1200lbs and when he says no he is much more convincing! But like a 2 year old when I insist that in fact HE does have to work that hard, he begins to throw a temper tamptrum that includes half rears and recently, bucks. Now, he has recently had his hocks injected, recently been adjusted and he just got scoped for ulcers. He is sound and healthy! So that brings on more questions haha. I had a lesson with Carolyn West on Wednesday and she really helped to shed some light on our issues. Carolyn explained that when I give away my left rain for a milisecond he takes it and literally runs with it. It seems that because I am asking him to work harder than he has in a while, Black is managing to find anyway he can to get out of it. So, if I give him an inch on that left rein he is literally going to take a mile. And once he escapes from that rein, it is really hard to rein him back in. Carolyn had me do leg yields from one end of the ring to another in the very beginning of our ride to test his connection in both reins. Of course, the first couple times we did it, Black threw up his head and was stiff and tight in the leg yield. But by the end of the lesson he had some pretty incredible leg yields that did not take much work on my part. Pretty cool! Carolyn told me to attack the problem head on instead of walking on egg shells being afraid of when he might explode. She told me to do the exercises that I knew he might explode FIRST in our ride so that I can fix the problem immediately. This was something I certainly did not think of doing but made complete sense to both Black and I.
So Thursday I set out to work on these issues first thing. And Black softened into the contact on only the second leg yield in both directions! That was pretty dang exciting considering I've been fighting with Black for every thing I asked of him the past couple months. He felt awesome for the first time in a long time! He did everything I asked with only one explosion, which was my fault because I dropped my left hand. We even worked on our counter canters. Since he was being so good, I decided to push him just a little but more and asked for a change across the diagonal and he swapped PERFECTLY! I've worked on lead changes but not anything extreme, mostly because I know I didn't have the canter to ask for them. And he normally throws his head up and is a big drama queen about it but on Thursday he did TWO changes without any protest or explosion! I was so excited I was smiling from ear to ear after that ride! I haven't had a ride that awesome in forever! It was pretty cool.
So Friday, Black needed a jump school and I decided to switch him back into his bubble bit as my half halts have become more of a suggestion than a requirement. I set up a 3'ish verticle with poles on either side 9ft apart. Amy Barrington likes to torture us with this simple exercise everytime we go up there so I try and work on it before we go up for a lesson haha! I like it because it makes it difficult for Black to flatten before and or after the fence. (It's also an exercise that is easy to set up when I'm by myself.) I have to keep his canter round and bouncy all the way there and after. Black was super and we had NO explosions and he jumped like the gentlemen I know he is! He was adjustable (who knew!) and took off where I told him and was okay with taking the shorter distance. I was a happy camper!
On Saturday Black headed to Amy Barrington's for a few days of boot camp! But before that, we needed to fit in a conditioning set so we headed to Stoneridge on the windiest day we could find (HA). Black was great and really tried hard to work over his back and stay supple while the scary cross country fences tried to kill him. When we did our canter sets, I quickly found we had no brakes! My arms felt like jelly 2 minutes into our canter set so I knew I was probably going to die if I didn't fix something! So I put the rein on my bubble down and suddenly we had brakes AND manners! Black got pissy if I held too long but it took ONE half halt to get his attention and balance his canter which is sort of a small miracle. At FENCE, I had to rip his face off to even get his attention, so this was a nice change.
That brings me to the next thing in my life that I'm just going to suck it up and do it: my first Prelim. We're doing Windridge next weekend and a good friend told me that I just have to suck it up and get the first one over with! Wise words but certainly easier said than done! I'm excited but nervous because this has been a rough season for us. But I think Black and I are better than ever and I'm looking forward to this new challenge. If nothing else, Windridge will tell me exactly where we are and what we need to work on for the next horse trial. Black is at Amy's until Wednesday and I'll have a lesson and have a better feeling of where we are! But I think we are as ready as we'll ever be for our first Prelim. So here's to hoping that we have a fun weekend and we're able to learn something in the process!

P.S.I don't normally post day by day synopsis' of our rides but this week was a huge break through for us so I thought I would share!

1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back..

"That's horses..." This was pretty much my motto all weekend! FENCE did not go as planned for Black and I. We dropped down to Training because I was not feeling ready for the Prelim. The weekend started out with Black a little feisty in the dressage warmup. Amy Barrington got us working in the right direction with Black working well over his back and doing the dressage work I KNOW he is capable of doing at home. Well of course once we got the the ring it seemed to all go out the window. Every time I asked for more bend or more collection Black threw a literal hissy fit and would throw his head up in the air in protest. NOT proper behavior for a solid Training level horse and nearly solid Prelim dressage. It also did not help that I was so focused on getting him to work harder that I forgot to turn up center line! Ops... So that got us a 36.8. We brushed that off and headed into cross country! Which is, normally, Black's strong suit! He warmed up well and seemed to be in a better mood then he was in dressage- thank goodness! We went to the start and he watched a horse leave the start box.. Since he's an OTTB and an upper level horse he normally rears in the start box anyway but watching a horse leave the start box really got him going! He blasted out of the start box very unorganized and left me behind. We had a stop at the second fence which was a tiny little rolltop!! To say I was mad would be an understatement... we worked it out later on course. Since he was so strong, I figured out I had to saw on his face to get his attention about 10 strides out and then soften to move him forward to the fence. And I think earlier in the course, I was just taking and taking from him and he decided he was going to show me! So lesson learned. Since Training SJ is something that we don't struggle with, Amy Barrington suggested withdrawing from SJ and having a dressage school and going XC schooling later in the day to redeem ourselves and for her to help us to understand what happened the day before. So I decided that would be beneficial to us in the long term. He was much better out cross country schooling on Sunday and Amy helped me to understand how to stay forward not just with my hands but with my hips as well. We also worked on keeping him even more forward than I think we need to be after all the plan is to move up!
Since Black was already in Tryon, we took him to Tryon Equine Hospital on Sunday afternoon to get scoped Monday morning for ulcers. I was actually pretty shocked and relieved to hear that he is completely ulcer free! With Black's weight loss, Dr. Bill Hay agreed with our previous decision to switch his feed and explained that it seemed to be helping but if we're still having problems he suggested switching him to Timothy. Which I really hope we don't have to resort to considering how much it costs! So at least we can rule that out and know that he is healthy and we can continue to move forward and not backward... This sport is a process for sure!

School Wins.

Well here I am two weeks later, finally writing the second blog! My parents think that they sent their daughter to the South for college. Which is true but let's be real, I'm here to ride too! School will always come first because my parents made it well known growing up that riding depends on school work getting done. I've come to realize that there are some weeks that school wins and others that riding wins. Well, to say that school has won the past couple weeks would be an understatement! Normally the semester gets crazy at the end but mine got crazy the week before and two weeks after Spring Break. I turned in a 44 page paper for a Psych class before Easter and now this past week and this week riding wins! HA!
Balancing college and riding has not been easy. If it was as easy as school work and riding I'd be okay. But you have to include a social life, eating, sleeping, studying, bathing, riding AND finding a way to make some money to pay for the riding. Oh and if you're competing you are gone for a whole weekend. I've tried to literally do it all. I've been to friend's birthday parties in my riding clothes. And I've pulled all-nighters in order to finish a paper so I can ride in the morning. While this works to an extent, eventually, something has to give. I refuse to give up eating, sleeping, bathing or my friends and boyfriend so school and riding take turns. At least that's what I have found works for me! I drove myself crazy last semester trying to find time for it all and I simply could not. I got to the point that I dreaded going to the barn. Now that is dangerous. Black and I aren't going to the Olympics or NAJYRC so riding needs to be an escape from the stress of school and the second that it becomes a job, something has to give. This semester I've tried to be better about being okay with not riding every single day. If I can't ride because I need to study, so be it. I end up hating the barn when I'm there when I know I should be studying. So I've learned to reward myself with riding. I finish a paper, I go to the barn. Why it has taken me almost 2 half years to figure this out who knows! The hardest part of this is that trying to move up to Prelim has opened a whole new door of challenges. Most people can agree that Prelim takes a different level of dedication and discipline in order to compete successfully and safely. We've been going Training for awhile so it's not something that we struggle with. Prelim, however, is a different animal. It's a whole new level of fitness for both Black and I (So add working out to above list!!). We need more lessons, more shows and more effective rides. I planned on moving up to Prelim at FENCE this weekend but because of school kicking my butt (for lack of a better term), we've decided to wait until May. Black also seems to be struggling with ulcers so I'd like to get him happy and comfortable before asking so much from him. Like I said, I do this for fun. Black needs to plan on living forever so I need to completely happy with his physical fitness and health before I put him on a Prelim XC course. Neither of which I'm completely happy with right now so we wait! I'm looking forward to having a fun weekend with the Clemson Eventing Team and my mom who's coming to visit this weekend!

Because it's all going by too quickly!

Hey guys! So I've decided to use this blog to keep track of all of the adventures that Black and I are lucky enough to experience because college is going by way to quickly and I don't want to forget a thing! As much as I hate to admit it, I won't be able to compete and ride as much as I am blessed to right now, forever. I have accepted that after I graduate from college and look towards grad school, competing on a regular basis is not financially realistic. Real life will set in and I will be forced to work a REAL job and pay for REAL life things like student loans.... Yuck! So I have decided to really make the best of it while I can and that includes writing it all down and being able to look back and motivate myself to get through grad school in order to be able to land a job to financially support this crazy habit!

Black and Matt at the Maui Jim 2*

 Most of you who are reading this know Black and I but I'll give a quick background for those who don't. I have been riding since I was 8 and eventing since I was 12. I am a Junior at Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina. I'm majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology and I have hopes of becoming a Educational Psychologist or a Forensic Psychologist. I started looking for my "real" event horse Christmas break of Freshman year of college. Most people thought we were nuts looking for a horse when I just started college... I mean most of my friends had sold their horses for college not look for new one! I had found Black online and had already found a mare I really liked but decided to go and see Black just to be sure I had found THE ONE! Famous last words. I was apprehensive because he was out of our budget and for how much he had done I wasn't sure the owner would be willing to negotiate. I fell off Black the first time I rode him and was a little unsure because he was SO much horse that he scared me a bit. But my mom talked me into going to see him again and she has a really good eye and gut instincts so I trusted her. Well the second time I was able to jump him over a couple cross country jumps and I was sold. My trainer, Beth Pickett, also told me I was an idiot if I didn't buy him so that sort of helped too! ;) Black's owner, Matthew Bryner, saw how much I had fallen in love with him and noticed Black would put up with my crap so he graciously worked with us on his price. Matt had bought Black off the track as a 3 year old and brought him along himself. From a gangly 3 year old to a mature and talented Intermediate horse- pretty impressive!

Black as a 5 year old

Like most horse people, I have a bad habit of getting very attached to my horses. But Black's different. He's the horse that will and has made my dreams come true. Black and I have a partnership that I could only dream about and he takes care of me in way a parent could only dream about! When I first bought him and the first year or so I had him, the dreams were about the ribbons and prizes we could win. While all those things are fun,  it's no longer about that. Life is too short. I am grateful for the time I have with Black and the opportunities he's given me, so anytime I get to spend with him whether at a horse trial or at home is time well spent and a dream come true! Black would so much rather be at a horse trial and he always gets what he wants so a horse trial it is!

Black and I at the AEC's in September at Training level

Now that I'm through all the sappy stuff I can tell you that Black and I are headed to FENCE the weekend of April 12-14 for our FIRST PRELIM! Excited and terrified don't even begin to cover my emotions heading into this horse trial so it's bound to be interesting!