"Our Hearts Beat For The Diehards."

A quick update.
Sorry, I still haven't gotten around to updating about ... ninety percent of my life. But let me tell you, I've been running around lately ... my life's been hectic, a bit, but at the same time, fantastic. There's just so much to tell you all about and no time to tell it ...
But hopefully this little update will suffice.

I just spent about a half hour cleaning up my room. Mostly, my infamous horse show award walls.
I finally swallowed my pride and convinced myself to take down all of my old horse show ribbons. As it was previous, I had (almost) every ribbon I had ever won hanging up on my wall, occupying either the bulletin board or the massive 2-by-4 slats my mom put together for me. It was a proud recollection of my achievements, but a bit cluttered. And, besides that, I was running out of room for my latest accumulations. My ribbons from my first show of this season still sat in a shoebox on my windowsill as of a few hours ago, and I figured, with me leaving for another show this weekend ... having them beginning to pile up in my room? Not such a good idea.

So, with a sniffle, I began un-pinning my oldest ribbons from the walls. These ribbons had occupied the same space in my bedroom since having brought them home from any given show, the oldest ones being from late 2006. I took them down, one by one, and the memories ... it was outstanding. I remembered every horse I had ever shown ... every glorious victory and every unfortunate defeat ... all of my back numbers were pinned to the wall, too, so I was even reminded of the shows in which I had won nothing (:
But, most importantly, I remembered every laugh and smile and tear I'd experienced in my years showing. And to think, I've only been showing three years ... with only one of those years truly competitive. The 2009 season will be only my second year showing on a competitive circuit.

As I was gently stacking my memories into an old RubberMaid, I decided 2009 was going to be my best season yet. Sure, horse shows aren't all about the winning and the ribbons, the glitz and the glamour ... believe me, I know plenty about that. But this year ... I've decided 110% just isn't good enough anymore.
Let's make it 200%. Or even better.

As it turns out, Bob and I won't be making the trek north for Canadian Nationals this year ... with the economy as it is and the number of horses that would be qualified, it simply isn't practical. So, what that means is that Sport Horse Regionals will be our major shows this year. I'm riding my heart out, Bob's giving me all I could ever want, and I'm praying for a Top Five Regional Title ... but we'll just have to see how ... it all goes down.
And then, when Sport Horse Nationals comes back to Nampa in 2010 ... we'll be more than ready to prove just what we're made of.


I'm determined. I've got that itch in my veins that tells me to get in that arena and ride for all I'm worth. I'm got that longing and that passion which can only be settled with a good, long weekend at a horse show ...
... hopefully the show I leave for tomorrow will give me just the fix, and set me up right for what I hope to be my most competitive season ever.

I will talk to you all when I can.
Until then, keep on living.

Pictured are shots from my very first (Jan. 2006) and most recent (Apr. 2009) horse show; competing on "Starr" and "Bob", respectively.