The Ups and Downs of 2008

Happy New Year! I spent the holidays baking (and eating) tons of cookies, cupcakes and other goodies, drinking champagne and beer, spending blissful time off work, frantically cleaning, sleeping in, traveling to see family, and yes – riding.

So I know I’m a little late for this, but I thought I’d do the obligatory year in review for this blog.

One year ago, I wasn’t leasing a horse at all and this blog didn’t exist. I was taking weekly lessons and well on my way to becoming a full-blown re-rider after taking years off. But then spring rolled around and I started half-leasing a Quarter Horse named Mae and this blog was born. Here’s the post that started it all.

Mae and I had some good times together, but also some rough ones, like the time she bucked me off. I also had my fair share of insecurities.

I leased Mae throughout the summer while considering buying my own horse but eventually decided that I’m still not quite ready. I also entered my first schooling show as an adult, where I was heckled by a little kid for being the oldest rider in the ring.

I ended the lease with Mae at the end of the summer when her owner returned, and I switched to leasing Marve, a big gray Thoroughbred. I prepared for another schooling show with Marve, which prompted plenty of anxiety and forced me to actually learn how to braid. The show itself sounds more of a disaster than it really was; in the end, I had fun and learned a lot, so I’m glad it went down the way it did.

But then things started to get rough. I fell off Marve and started to consider quitting, followed by some crappy rides when I was terrified of falling and getting hurt. Fortunately, things have been looking up, and even one good spook helped convince me to keep going.

And in other non-riding matters, I continued the age-old struggle of getting and staying in shape, and also made a continuing effort to seriously work on my fiction, which is also important to me.

Finally, in a decision that shocked and surprised our families and friends, SO and I decided to get married. We’re not hitched yet; it will probably happen sometime in the fall.

All in all, I’d say 2008 was a good year. Sometimes I’m still frustrated with my riding and feel like I can never do anything right, but I know I’ve learned a lot. Leasing two different horses and continuing on with my lessons has been immensely helpful.

I don’t know what 2009 holds, horse-wise. Despite my previous uncertainty about my lease with Marve, I’m planning to keep it up for now. But since I’m not 100% sure where the lease is going or how long I’ll be doing it, it’s hard to set riding goals for 2009. If I continue leasing him, I’d like to have more consistent rides, instead of feeling like we’re riding like garbage one day and then so-so another day and pretty decent on yet another day. I want to improve my jump position and actually canter over jumps (I’m not an experienced jumper at all and have only trotted over small jumps or cantered over a single pole). And if I’m still leasing Marve by the summer (who knows), then I’d like to enter him in the dressage schooling show.

Either way, 2008 has been an interesting ride (hardy-har-har) and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2009 holds. Cheers!