Back in the Saddle (#sol17 19/31)

I finally got back on my horse today.

It’s been forever since I’ve been in the saddle, or at least that’s how it feels.  It’s only been like two or three weeks, but dang I miss it!

The weather was perfect.  Sunny, cool (a little cold in the shade).  Copper was a sweet boy as usual; he even loped nicely in the arena.

I’ve been officially back to riding for about six years now, and I can’t believe I ever took a break.  But I did take a big one.  When I turned sixteen I got busy being a teenager–I could drive, I had a job, I was on the golf team–and my parents were kind of over paying for my 10th birthday present.

So that was it, I just sort of stopped going to the barn.  The activity that had consumed my life and thoughts and time for six years, just faded away.

It’s weird to me to think that I gave it up so easily.

About a year before we moved to Alabama, I started riding again.  Casey hooked me up with a colleague of his who had horses.  She and I rode a few times and were casually making plans for me to show her horses the following summer.  But then we moved to Alabama and riding was put aside once again.

Then about four years later Casey once again had a horse connection.  Another colleague was selling a horse and he asked if I wanted to check it out.  Long story short, I contacted one of my colleagues who I knew had a horse (my now best barn buddy, Judy) for advice.  She invited me to ride with her.

And that was that.  It’s been six years, and besides sometimes taking a month off, I have been back in the saddle consistently every since.

I am so thankful to have a connection with my beautiful Copper.  He’s not perfect, but neither am I.  The two of us have grown so much as a team over the last three years.  It’s been a fun ride; One that I don’t plan on taking another break from!