Horse Days

I grew up riding horses. I have said it before, posted pictures of the old days and talked about why I am not still riding (but one day I will be at it again). What I am not sure if I have mentioned before is that my dads GF rides horses and is an instructor to boot. She is hoping to qualify for the 2012 Olympics with her horse Fontainebleau and was invited to compete in an exhibition event last night. It was called the Mustang Smackdown and was a freestyle challenge between once wild mustangs and some of the best show horses in the industry. There were 12 horses, 8 domestically bred horses and 4 once wild mustangs. Crowd support was necessary, booing and cheering were both welcomed.

After work yesterday I made my friend Becky run with me and then I took her to her first Horse Show. As we were watching these horses and their riders I got teary eyed. Horses were all I knew growing up, I practically lived at the barn, in my breeches and boots and the smell of manure is comforting to me. Riding was my first love and I have stayed away from most things horsey since I left for New Zealand the summer of 03'. The horse thing will always be available for me so I am not worried about never having the chance to get back into it again and when I quit I gave myself 3 years to fall in love with something else, find a new passion because I knew there was more to life than horses and well... if I couldn't find something by my 21st birthday than I would start riding again. Four months before my 21st birthday I ran my first marathon, that was all I needed, I was hooked! I asked for a bike for my 21st birthday and it wasn't a few days after getting my first bike that I was riding with a triathlon group and just signed up for my first tri.

Teri did awesome last night! We didn't stay long enough to find out if she won, but from the scores she recieved I couldn't imagine someone beating her! I took some pictures but because of the lighting they didn't turn out too well, but I want to post them anyways :-)



Kia Kaha