Begin the World Over Again

When I lost Runkle, after climbing my way through the haze of the awful decision I was just forced to make, my first thought was: I have to go horse shopping. Again. Fuck.

Horse shopping is THE WORST. I've never sold a horse so I can't attest to which is harder but shopping is TERRIBLE. Especially when you're an ammie, to be honest. You don't have the finances for more than one horse. This one has to be the one. They have to have everything. And I can't afford to buy a horse, keep it for a little bit, realize I don't like it and then sell it to get another. My budget isn't by the grace of my parents, it's my scraped together money that I found here and there when I skipped going out to dinner or on vacation or didn't buy new work clothes.

I tentatively started asking around pretty quickly. My heart doesn't do well without a horse. And I knew it would take me awhile to find what I was looking for. The biggest difference between last time and this time was now I had a measure. I had a 'base 0': Runkle. Whatever horse I tried I had to like more than Runkle.

I wrote the typical 'girl seeks horse' ad and got a flood of horses.

Let me tell you, the internet is full of crap. And full of people who can't read. And also full of nice wonderful horses. It's sifting through the first two to get to the third that's agony.

It didn't end up surprising me when Runkle actually led me to my next horse.

As soon as I wasn't raw enough to admit I was horse shopping, Keri (who put me in touch with Runkle and for some reason lets me
get run away withgallop race horses a few times a month) said she had something for me to look at. Incidentally, I remember her posting when she got the horse and I remember wishing I could have two. Cause he was skinny and needed let down time but damn was this animal gorgeous.

Note the date on that.

He was also probably a foot taller than I was looking for, but I agreed to 'just come out and see him'. Famous last words, amirite?

Our 'before' confo shot

My first thought upon seeing him was he was way too big. My first thought upon riding him was oh my god, he's way too big and his walk feels as good as it looks. And then I jumped him over some little x's, and some bigger verticals, and went out in a field and over some little logs and I was giggling.

And for twenty minutes I forgot about what a shitshow disaster my life had been and I was having fun again. I knew I couldn't walk away from that.

I don't know how I got so lucky. Again. I loved Runkle, I will always love him. He was fun and challenging and athletic, full of spitfire and silliness. Indy is completely different but also exactly my type of ride. He's gorgeous and has excellent manners and I can have fun on him. He has a heart of gold.

Grazing is hard when you're tall

What can I say? I'm a lucky girl.