Now What? – Part 2 – Tales from a Bad Eventer

If you missed Part 1 check it out here. Now What? – Part 1

I was squeezing in as many horse shows as I possibly could before the new business opened.

This was the first time in my life that I went Total Adult Ammie show jumper style.

Basically what that means is that I only sit on my horse,

in the ring,

at the show.

And……. that didn’t really go all that well for me.

The horses were fit, and prepped, and beautifully presented.

But as long as I can remember (and definitely as long as I’ve been in Florida) I’ve been riding multiple horses 6 days per week, lesson-ing every single week, and in general spending a lot of time in the saddle.

Back in Texas, the Fearless Leader had noted, to his (and my) dismay, that if I don’t jump ~~every single day~~ regularly I literally revert to ZERO.

He told me years ago I needed enough horses to jump one daily so I didn’t “forget” everything I had learned.

And so…. in my quest to one day become Mediocre Eventer instead of Bad Eventer

I acquired a lot of horses.

For several years I had 5 going to every event and 3 more at home.

I even bought a massive trailer to make that happen.

And to be honest, that worked.

I jumped around a few 3*s and even placed up the leader board with the best of the best in a few of them.

It was the first time in my life I felt like I could actually DO this eventing thing.

Then,

I got broken,

my best horse got injured,

my next best horse decided he didn’t want to play at that level anymore,

and after chasing “qualifications” for a few years and literally spending most of my retirement fund to do it I decided this wasn’t fun anymore.

I had been trying to get to ~~Rolex~~ Kentucky for as long as I could remember. And even more seriously putting everything I had into it since 2015 when I moved to Florida for my working student gig.

I even took a year off work, just to horse show and try to qualify.

After driving all over the Eastern half of the country, and leaving the start box a hundred times on a dozen horses, and still failing to “check the box” I had a big…………

reality check.

Let’s think about this for a minute.

I’m not a “professional”.

I don’t WANT to be a professional. (Then I couldn’t wear pink right?………….)

Seriously, I taught lessons and trained horses in the early 90s to put myself through college and I have NO interest in doing that ever again.

So, galloping around a 5* doesn’t really “get” me anything.

It won’t help my career.

It doesn’t add to my resume.

And at the end of the day trying so hard to move up the levels,

just

wasn’t

fun.

So I decided to switch to show jumping for awhile, and that’s how I found myself in the most amazing “adult ammie” show situation.

I was getting ready to open the new business, so I was on conference calls constantly. I would mostly do them from my car in the horse show parking lot. Then I would change into my show clothes, ride in the golf cart to the ring where I got to walk my course, and then my perfectly groomed horse would “appear.” I’d step on in the warm up, jump around in the ring, and then hand the horse back to the grooms to go back to the barn.