NHW Blog Hop

Thanks to No Hour Wasted for the blog hop!

Tell me about a challenge you set for yourself and accomplished, or set yourself a new challenge and keep us updated!

I love the idea of this blog hop, but have been sitting on it for a bit because I felt like I was lacking any big, tangible thing to talk about.

Then, last night as I was having my jumping lesson on Bridget and there were all sorts of weird/hairy moments, it hit me. Guys, I'm starting a baby horse over jumps. And I'm not worried about it at all. (OK, yes I worry about screwing it up, but actual physical fear? None.)

To put this big achievement into context, a little over two years ago I had a couple of nasty falls. I was really, really struggling after that confidence wise, even at a walk. As someone who has always wanted to event, galloping needs to happen. And jumping (gulp!). 

So, eventually the drive to have fun again outweighed the fear. I challenged myself last summer to take a few months of hunter/jumper lessons on some great schoolies. I felt physically ill with nerves more often than not, but slowly the confidence crept back. 

Bridget came into my life a year ago as a super green pony with only a few rides. I was looking for something been there, done that to continue on with (Also, something athletic and horse sized lol) She's not that, but temperament is amazing and we have fun, so there was my compromise, and with it a big challenge - training a baby horse wasn't really something I was intending to revisit. 

In the mean time, in between time, I got back on that horse I had those bad falls on and really worked at it. And some drama and explosions happened. I rode through it all just fine, didn't freak out, kept to the plan, but realized it still wan't fun. Win for getting it done and logical decision making.

Fast forward to last night's lesson on the pony that was just supposed to be a trail riding confidence booster. As mentioned, there were some big mistakes. It was pretty challenging for where we're at. We failed a lot, but we also persisted and got it done. Technically, it was a bad lesson that ended on a good note. BUT I am still excited and super proud of us and how far we've come. My main thoughts throughout last's night's ride were "We can totally do this. I can't wait to try it again!"  rather than "Where is the least obtrusive place to vomit?;)" Bridget was happy and confident as well and gave us 100%. What's not to like about that?

As for new challenges: moving forward, yep we're planning a fall show season, and a spring eventing season. For real. On the first horse in years that I didn't buy specifically with that goal in mind, no less!