A 40-Day Crash Course in Eventing: A Prelim Mom's Journey to Starter

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life and the procedure. The process is its own reward.    Amelia Earhart Heels down, eyes up, leg on. WE ARE GOING TO JUMP START IN 2 DAYS!!

Fitting him in Loki's dressage bridle Sunday, September 24, 2017 I have officially wrapped up all of our jumping training…assuming we make it into Jump Start. Sunday, Romeo and I trailered over to the barn where Emily first learned to ride with the sole purpose of jumping The Scary Panel. They have always kept this particular panel up in their arena. It has a painted horse on it and is covered with the names of all of the young kids who have jumped it. Over the past 11 years, I have watched horse after horse struggle with The Panel . So, I knew that if I could get Romeo over it on the first attempt, anything at a show would be doable. It wasn’t pretty but I got the job done. From there, we went out into the field and jumped seven or eight cross-country jumps. You could tell Romeo was a bit nervous, as there were no other horses within eye shot. I have no idea why Richard following us on his motorbike was not comforting to him! We cruised over all of the jumps and I calle...

Wednesday, September 20, 2017 So here we are, one week out from Jump Start. This week started out tough for me. It was hard to get motivated knowing that I might not get to compete at Jump Start. I had to force myself to ride . You never know. It might still work out.  My Tuesday lesson was cancelled due to storms but I managed to squeeze in a ride here at the farm before it hit. Lightening bolts were dropping nearby and the winds were crazy. Before taking a page from the  Wizard of Oz , I called it quits. I received a call late on Wednesday, that I could have a last minute lesson with Erika at a nearby farm. I didn’t want to go. My back was still aching from Saturday and again, the wind had left my sails. A friend sent me a cute message followed up with a bit about how she was living vicariously through me and how awesome it had been to watch me over the past few weeks.  Arg. It’s so hot. I’m tired. I don’t want to catch, clean, load, haul, RIDE… I just laid there o...