My Other Passion

I know I blogged about this on my old blog, but it’s something I think about so often and love to relive through pictures. Just a warning, only a few of these pictures are high quality…most are from videos or small cameras, but still, they’re pictures that mean so much to me.Horses have always been a big part of my life and still are. Every day starts and ends at the barn here on our farm. I was fortunate enough to find a handsome ole cowboy of my own and I’m SO thankful every day that Dustin understands horses, grew up with them, and embraces it as a big part of our life. Together we have three horses, two that my mom and I have had for 10+ years (KC and Mel), and the horse he bought as a two-year-old several years ago (Diego). If you follow me on Instagram you probably see random pictures of one of the three of them every couple of days 🙂

Growing up, my mom and I had a shared passion for riding…it’s something she spent her youth doing and passed down to me early on. I started seriously riding when I was 7, and from then on we spent many morning trailering our horses to lessons, trekking hours away for horse shows, and managing our own barn on the farm I grew up on in Maryland.

KC and Mel are the two that we still have and who came to live with me in South Carolina last year. Mel was my first “real” pony of my own…she was the ultimate little short stirrup champ and taught me so much. Together we won so many blue ribbons, and when you’re 12…there’s just nothing better 🙂 My mom showed KC and they were an awesome pair, and eventually I grew into her and she’s the best all around “I’ll do whatever” kinda horse to have in the barn. We collected a few other horses along the way, but one of the most notable was Bella. After I went to college we sold her to an awesome lady in North Carolina and together they’re doing really cool things, but Bella taught me SO much and will always be such a special horse to me. She had one big quirk that was always a challenge to work through, but the ribbons I won on her showing in some of the more competitive divisions are some of the most special to me because those ribbons meant we really worked for what we earned…Bella never “gave” you anything 🙂

Here’s some of my favorite old pictures. This is KC and I when I was probably 10 or 11, and on the right when I was in college…
This is Mel and I…I was still probably 10 or 11 in the left-hand picture, and on the right was at home when I was in college.
 
There were a few other ponies who taught me a lot…that’s my friends pony Shimmer on the left, and Kaly on the right.

This is Bella and I taking a lesson at my trainers farm when I was in high school…
And showing in the equitation…

Showing in the Children’s Hunters in Pennsylvania and schooling at home…

Of course I hope to be able to bring along another young horse to show again pretty seriously one day, but right now our focus is on so many other things…our wedding, my business, and rebuilding our house. So those dreams are definitely there, but it will probably be five or so years before I can really pursue them again. Regardless, I’m so thankful to have my horses here with me, and I try to ride just for fun as much as possible. We’ve been able to all ride together as a family a few times when Landon has been here and it’s been a blast. I can’t wait to watch him grow up, learn how to rope, and become quite the horseman himself 🙂