The Real Rider Cup, a charity show jumping event created by Anita Motion to benefit Thoroughbred aftercare, is bringing the racing and equestrian worlds together in Lexington, Kentucky just ahead of Fasig-Tipton’s July Sale.
This month has not been the month I had hoped it would be. I envisioned lots of field trips, making progress on Fin’s canter, and several more lessons. Instead, this was the month of appointments and worries. It has been hard not to feel down about myself due to the lack of riding, but this is all still progress, just of a different kind!
I was a freshman in high school when I fell off of my first rearing horse. The image of the mare on her hind legs in front of me, with my butt in the sand is seared into my brain: deep in the recesses, but it’s there nonetheless. I don’t remember hurting after that fall. Maybe I did but all I remember is thinking, this girl is going to fall over on top of me. She didn’t, and I don’t even remember it instilling a fear in me those following years, but here we are, over ten years later, and suddenly I’m thinking about it all the time.
When I set out to write the blog for this month, I had a lot of ways that I thought it would go – focusing on the show Odin and I did and the good and bad takeaways. While I definitely want to do that, I’ve seen so many other Thoroughbred Makeover trainers posting about their experiences back in the show ring after some extended time away that I really want to give that topic its own space this month.