Checking In

Sorry for the radio silence.

It's a combination of a couple things that are pulling me away from writing.

1. We got a dog. With every intention of waiting until after the holidays, we totally brought this animal home less than week before flying to my parents' house in Maine for Thanksgiving.

Powerless.

It's fine.

So cute, I'll take 7. At least.

Cat meets dog.

2. Holidays and all the fun that goes with it. Including but not limited to: everyone in my family being sick except my dad, the worst family ever in the row behind us on the plane, stressing about finding someone to watch the dog who was still wearing a cone and maybe marking on everything in the world and was of unknown behavioral tendencies towards other dogs/people.

Just toss a wedding in there too.
For fun.

3. Work exploded. And I never work on this at work. Never.

4. General lack of creativity.

I want to write more. I'm happier when I write. Lately though I feel like I struggle with which way to go. My favorite posts are the ones that talk about my feelings where I post cute pictures of my horse and talk about how much I've learned, and how happy I am.

Typically I'm not privy to those earth-shattering kinds of experiences on a week to week basis.

Some ribbons and a little extra protection.
Just in case bellboots aren't enough.

Sometimes I like very training-centric entries discussing how I get Indy to keep his tongue in his mouth or this new saddle pad that makes his back super happy. Or I could write about how no matter what I do lately, even if my girth is so tight his eyes are bugging out, I still can't get my saddle to stop slipping back. Seriously, the breastplate gives him breasts. It doesn't look comfortable.

PURPLE ON PURPLE

Maybe the saddle moves because he jumps like this...

I'm doing a lot with him right now. He's been challenging lately. Our lessons are media-less but endless fonts of information and progress. And for some reason I just don't feel like anyone would want to read about it. A jump lesson where we do his first gymnastics and didn't launch to the moon doesn't seem like something worth reading about. Who would care about that, besides me, my trainer and select captive audiences (here's to lookin' at you, Sara)?

Fails at standing still for pictures.

As I look ahead to 2018 I consider for the millionth time what I want from this blog. Mostly I want it to make me happy, and I want to look back on it and remember things. I want it to be a record of what worked, didn't work, made me happy, made me sad, things that were barely worth doing once and things I would totally do again.

Comments

  1. Your blog your rules friend. No seriously, I think when you write things that you want to read and you are passionate about it comes through in your natural voice and ends up being engaging to readers. The readers who will find your authentic voice boring or trite are the ones you probably don't want to keep kicking around anyways. (The problem is if you think you sound trite - I have this problem a lot I don't easily amuse myself lol)

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    1. Also I love your dog and might steal it over christmas lol

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    2. HAHA no stealing!!!!!!! he is still scared of horses lol

      And your last sentence is totally the point, but I guess if I was really worried about what people thought of me I shouldn't have started writing a blog at all.

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  2. Your new pup is too cute! I struggle with what to blog about too, I always want to keep things upbeat (but you know...horses/life/work are not always going according to plan). Blog about whatever you want to remember! I think of mine as sort of a scrapbook.

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    1. ooo i like the scrapbook idea, especially because scrapbooks usually involve cute pictures :P

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  3. fwiw i care about all the little minutiae and small milestones with Indy's progress ;)

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  4. You should write about whatever you want to write about. And if there's lots of Indy pictures, that would be good too. Or not... What ever. Congrats on the new pup!
    Also, I love reading about fellow riders bringing their greenies along. I've failed miserably with my last two, so I'm always looking for what I could do better.
    Also, I got a new to me saddle, and it seems to fit the horses just fine, but it slips back too! I just ordered a breastplate which makes me sad because I'm lazy. Less tack = better. I used to use a damp chamois cloth under the saddle and that worked really well. May have to get back to that I guess.

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    1. hm I've never tried the shammy. I used to have one of those black nunn finer anti slips but I never felt like they helped much?

      I agree with you on the breastplate tho. I hate using them in dressage. worst.

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  5. write what makes you happy and if not writing for a bit makes you happy don't write (But come back soon cause we will miss you). I enjoy reading your adventures always!! AND i love the new dog so much too. SO CUTE. Do a blog post on him:) Adorable. I am glad you are riding and getting things done with Indy!! Hope you figure it all out but don't worry about boring us. You are not boring at all :) Purple unite :) PS My precious saddle slips too. (Well at least going up and down mountains ie. paper chasing SOOOOOO sometimes shit just moves ;) HA.

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    1. hah actually my sister gave me a great idea for blog posts about the pup so, stay tuned!!

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  6. I want to meet your dog. Also Indy. But mostly the dog. Glad you're updating, even sporadically. I struggle with this myself...

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    1. your infrequent updates are so epic though... its like you dont post for a month and then youre like wait until you hear this shit....

      i still reread your 'other ends of the spectrum' trailer training clients.

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  7. Everyone would want that dog! I think you should do what you makes you happy. I think that L Williams got it right.

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  8. <3 Bailey!!

    I just blog "as the spirit moves me", haha. I used to keep a schedule but I just don't have the time.

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  9. Write what you want to write, I'll be here for it!

    Also omg cutest pup.

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  10. The pooch is soooo cute! And I'll still read even if you write the teensiest detail about training Indy. Who cares what people want to read about? It's about what you want to write about! Sometimes I struggle with content also...boohoo, poor me, my horse refused yet ANOTHER jump...there was a stretch of time where that was like EVERY POST. I hope it gets better soon on the Indy front.

    And PS- first gymnastics are ALWAYS a big deal.

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    1. i know i REALLY wish i had media of it... the last jump in the line was probably around 3ft and he wasn't shooting to the moon. it was great!

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  11. I want to hear both about miniscule daily successes AND Indy's boob situation. 😘

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  12. LOL at the boobs from the breastplate. Also, your pup is adorable! And I totally hear you on wanting to write what you enjoy most, but realizing those things just don't happen every day or even every week. I think writing through the winter is even more difficult because life in general just seems to slow down and progress is more incremental & steady without big shows or anything. Also, photos are way harder to come by in the dark!

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  13. I wanna read whatever you write!! <3 Also adult life is hard and busy and sometimes it's ok to take a blog break. :)

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