Is It as Much Fun the Second Time Around?

Yesterday I volunteered my time as a jump judge for the Heritage Park horse trials in Olathe, KS. It was a blast. The organizers were great and treated the volunteers like they were royalty. The weather was perfect, and the horses were beautiful. BUT, (and I guess this is a good thing considering the purpose of this blog), it was still hard to watch others ride while I was earthbound. I could see all the lines I would take, had an opinion on how I would have ridden that particular excitable, lazy, or difficult horse to get over that jump. I also realized that I was not out there... I was safely perched in my chair with my watch, radio, and score sheet. Hmmm.

For the past year, I have been debating whether or not to get back into competitive riding. I have always loved it, but found myself sidetracked by life's other challenges like money, family, career, education, etc etc. At this time however, I find myself with the ability to go and try again for a competitive career (no not the olympics.... I am 30+ and WAY behind... What sitting trot?) but I would love to just see how far I can go if there was nothing to hold me back. Now I haven't won the lottery or anything and eventing will be a financial strain AND somewhat of a gamble. But I really don't have any other excuse for not getting out there like my heart wants me to.

So having decided to risk it, I am dipping into retirement savings (yah I know, not smart) to buy the right horse. I have always bought young and green and started them myself only to not finish them due to the life challenges outlined above. This time however, I want a horse that has some experience, who is talented, and not so old that I would only have him/her for a short time before having to deal with where/how to keep my geriatric horse. The search continues. It may be a few weeks, but I will let you know how that goes! And in the meantime I will figure out how to make this blog look more interesting and put some photos up.

Oh, one more thing. I am doing this blog for several reasons like keeping up with family and friends who are far away, etc... but mostly I am doing it for the other returning or adult amature riders out there who are returning to the sport and feeling akward about just going for it despite the million reasons and excuses not to. Let's share the excitement, some commiseration, and progress together.