2016, See You Later

Each year, as a new one approaches, I take the time to reflect on the past twelve months. While 2016 may not have been as exciting as 2015 was, it still gave me life experiences that I won’t forget.

The beginning of the year came with the little bit of cold weather we got that winter. January marked the start of getting Ax back over fences after his mystery lameness of fall 2015, his 16th birthday, and the decision that my saddle really, really didn’t fit.

February was basically just a mix of saddle searching and snow. The new beautiful leather baby came in and did magical things for Ax’s back, we finally got some snow to ride in, and I took a much needed lesson.

At the end of March we moved to a new barn only a few short months after moving Ax to MA and a few weeks of barn search induced panic. It thankfully worked out and I promptly tortured Ax with a body clip and a bath.

April was pretty boring but included lots of stressing about the impending show season and getting used to the new barn.

Show season finally arrived in May! We got back into the show ring after a few inconsistent years of showing and started out a little rough. I got to go to Jersey Fresh International for work and was utterly amazed at eventing and getting to be behind the scenes at a big event.

June was just continued stress about the big show the next month. We did a decent bit of jumping to try and fix our issues from the first show and that is about it.

 

 

Our biggest show of the year was in July—it was good, it was bad, it wasn’t as awful as the first one, but it wasn’t as great as I would’ve liked. We came back exhausted and Ax got a chunk of time off to recoup.

August was HOT. Between the heat, a few trips that Jose and I took, and family time, I didn’t get much riding in this month. I rode a few times a week, went to a small show, and let Ax get fat.

Contrary to the month before, September was pretty busy. We went to a last minute schooling show, went on our first hunter pace, and spent the month preparing for NH Finals.

October brought NH Finals. I can’t even explain them, so if you haven’t already, just go read the blog post about it. After Finals Ax got a a few weeks off with a couple easy rides thrown in because I ended up going a billion doctors appointments thanks to my broken face.

November was super busy at work between Equine Affaire and one of our employees moving across the country (bye Janice!). Riding was moved to the indoor since it started getting dark early.

And now we are here in December. I’ve been so busy at work that my riding dwindled to two or three days a week for the majority of the month, plus the holidays took me back to NH for family time.

 

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Cheers to 2017!

-TC