Happy gotcha day to my incredibly handsome Rio! It’s been 2 amazing years- time sure flies. I cannot believe I have such a good-minded, talented, and sweet horse in my life. I could not be happier with the decision I made 2 years ago to purchase this guy. Despite being plagued initially with some bad luck on the health front, I wouldn’t change a thing about our time together. I am SO excited to see what the future holds!
For those new to the blog, I have decided to link to some of the more pivotal moments we have been through together in chronological order, and share some of my favorite photos! Enjoy!!
2/23/2017: Back near the beginning of our training together. I still struggle with some of the same themes today, but I enjoy looking back on this and reflecting on our progress.
4/1/2017: A short post about a wonderful afternoon playing in an open pasture and jumping small XC obstacles.
5/16/2017: Schooling show re-cap, aka our first show together where we did a full division (our actual first show we only did one flat class and one o/f class because it very soon after an injury). Fun to look back at this and think how far he has come in a year!
6/2/2017: The dreaded spider bite. Beware of graphic pics. I STILL cannot believe this happened to him, but am SO THANKFUL that it didn’t cause lasting damage.
9/9/2017: A fun post with photos of Rio running and playing. His first time back on turnout after his splint bone surgery.
11/20/17: I love looking back at this post because I no longer have any fear issues when jumping Rio. Our relationship has really strengthened and we have both gained a lot of confidence in each other!
12/12/2017: This was our first A show together, and first time in the 3 ft. Definitely memorable!
3/14/2018: My first lesson update post after the move to Bay Yard. I can giggle at this now because Rio and I were on the STRUGGLE bus with some pretty basic principles when we arrived. Basically it was stuff I thought was boring and hadn’t bothered to really practice in the past, like ground poles. I can laugh about it now that most of my struggles in this post come easily to us now. Progress!
That’s it! We are currently settled in at Bay Yard with 3 A shows under our belt. I plan to take a bit of a break in July and August by cutting back to one lesson a week, due to the heat. I am already looking forward to the fall show season though, and playing around with the budget to see what I can manage. It feels like a pretty good place to be 2 years into our partnership together!