Partners in crime (with Novice horses).
Eventing is, to put it briefly, a really intense sport. It is super competitive, very draining and requires maximum focus. It is so easy to get lost in the competitive side of it. Sometimes this competitiveness can strain relationships. That is why this post is for the friends that stay friends.
Here’s to the friends that stay to watch each other ride. The friends that can be neck and neck on the leaderboard and nobody would know it. The friends that can give each other space but still warm up side by side. The friends that love nothing more than to see each other have a good ride.
My best friend is somebody I could not live without. I need her giggly, happy attitude to balance my serious, hyper-focused ways at shows. And as much as I complain, I wouldn’t give the world for our course walks fueled by early 2000’s Rihanna and Justin Timberlake. She is the first person to meet me at the finish flags and the last person to leave my side after we feed. She is my best friend, and nothing can change that.
We’ve had shows where one of us wins because the other dropped a rail, but it never seems to matter at the end of the weekend. People have asked how we do it, and I have no answer other than we really are just super close friends. A lasting friendship is more important than a ribbon.
Everyone deserves to have a friend that just knows. Someone that can tell you’ve had a bad ride and is there to offer encouragement. A person that you can commiserate, laugh, complain, talk, and even just silently walk next to. After cross country, you can always find my friend and I side by side, watching videos, laughing and desperately trying to keep our horses in ice boots.
One of my favorite moments at Rebecca Farm was warming up for cross country perfectly in sync with her, laughing the entire time because we really do just find ourselves hilarious. Having a friend makes everything so much better.
Shows are stressful! For young riders like myself, having a friend by your side makes everything much easier. It’s way easier to forget a bad dressage score when you are hacking bareback together! Stops on cross country can get put aside while watching the upper levels, and bad show jump rounds don’t seem all that bad after wandering around with strawberry smoothies.
This one is for those friends and the atmosphere of eventing they help create!
