I'm So Excited (And I Just Can't Hide It, Obviously)

Last night I dreamed I was going eventing. Sometimes dreams have meanings that are obscure and hard to find the reasoning behind. Sometimes there is no reason behind them except eating cheese right before bed- trust me, I speak from experience.  However, there was no great mystery behind this dream, I was undoubtedly excited to be riding that day after a three-month hiatus.

All day at work, however, I felt completely crappy: nausea, headache, chills, etc.  When I texted this to my fiance, he very sweetly replied, “You sound miserable.  You should take some sick leave and just go home and rest.”

Go home? If I left work then that would mean I wasn’t well enough to make my lesson that evening.

“I have a lesson tonight.  I took some naproxen and now my head feels much better,” I texted back.  Suddenly, in the face of not having my lesson, I wasn’t sick at all!

As you can tell, I was so ready to ride, nothing was going to stop me.  As I drove to the barn after work I felt such a sense of anticipation, of - as corny as it sounds- joy at the thought of being around the horses. Riding, grooming, just listening to them as they shifted in their stalls eating hay… I couldn’t wait. While it wasn’t exactly the same feeling I get when I visit my family halfway across the country, it was pretty close.

The intense, almost childlike excitement I was feeling served to remind me that horses and riding are what I love.  They make me feel whole.  Or, if you prefer modern cliches: I know that I’m living my best life when horses are involved.

So, even though when I got to my lesson, my fingers froze, my half-chaps wouldn’t zip all the way (But I’ve been working out regularly! waaaaaah!), my muscles didn’t work the way I wanted or I had to listen to my fellow students talk about the horses they’re leasing (don’t cry for me Argentina, I’m sure the decorations at my wedding will be well worth cutting back on lessons…..*sobs*)…. Even despite all these frustrating things, I couldn’t help but think:

at least I get to ride again.

It’s good to be back in the saddle (yet again).

Wedding Vs. A Horse

My fiance and I are planning a wedding sometime next year and I'm very pleased to be affirming our commitment formally in front of our friends.

Still, every now and then the old urge to window shop for horses online rises and I find myself looking at horses and thinking, "What if we used all this money that we're scrimping and saving for the wedding and bought a horse instead?"

I mean, our wedding budget could pay for this cutie here and we'd still have enough left over to cover his room and board for a couple of years.

A popular joke among equestrians is how our beloved horses practically devour our hard-earned money as food, how the ability to write a hefty check without wincing is almost as essential as keeping your heels down, and how we're all crazy to have such an expensive money that will absorb all the funds you can throw at it.

When you think about it though, what's crazier: spending a bunch of money on a celebration that only lasts one day, or spend that same amount of money buying and caring for a horse of my one's very own for years to come?

Hypothetically speaking, of course.*






*Unless you're reading this, sweetie and you completely agree with me.  In which case, I already have my checkbook handy :)