As most of my friends know, I grew up ridding horses and rode competitively from the age of four until I was twenty and had to move away to be with my husband who had in 2006, joined the Air Force. Since moving to North Carolina over four years ago horses have taken a backseat to my now wonderfully busy life that is filled with more love and more happiness than I could have ever imagined. Lets just say, that horses cannot even begin to compete with the love I share with Issac and Emma. Even still, horses have and always will remain a large part of who I am. Since coming home to Texas for the duration of Issac's deployment, I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ride several times a week. Not only have I been able to ride but I was also recently given the opportunity to get back into the ring and compete for the first time in over FIVE years! With a five year break and a baby just six months ago, lets just say that I foresaw my chances of succeeding as being slim to none! I did however surprise myself when I won both of my classes scoring quite high on each test. The first test was wonderful and I felt completely in sync with the horse hitting all of my marks and staying calm and collected throughout the entirety of the test. When I finally received my scores I saw that I had made a 68%, which for my non horse friends is very good! My second test was even better! I scored a 72% and beat the second place winner by an entire 15%- a landslide in dressage. It was such a wonderful day and to top it off, I was able to spend it with my beautiful daughter. You would think that waking up at 4am, going out to a cold show early in the morning, and being stuck out there all day would not sit well with a 6 month old child but in fact, she did wonderful and was a complete joy! She loved watching the riders warm up their horses and had a blast playing with Miss Haleigh who was sweet enough to babysit her while I rode throughout the day. Due to the high resolution, courtesy of my new camera, my husband was unable to view the show photos through the email on his government computer in Afghanistan. Posting them via blogger allows him to share in our special day which is why I posted so many. I hope everyone enjoys the photos below!
Showing off one of my blue ribbons on Thunder with my wonderful daughter, Emma, and Haleigh who did a great job baby sitting while I rode.
In the ring during my second test in the open division where I beat the second place rider by a full 15%!
Coming down the center line at the end of the test.
Going past the judges.
Thunder is such a handsome dude.
I received a nine on this movement.
Warming up.
I missed you Issac and was sad that you were unable to share such an exiting day of my life with me but I thank you so much for believing in me and for giving me that boost of confidence that I needed to get out there and compete again. I could not have done this without you and I thank you so much for the constant pep talks and the enormous amount of faith that you have in me. I love you so much and I thank you for convincing me to do this. It was a really good day during a very difficult time in my life.
I love you and cannot wait for you to get home.
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