A place that I am most grateful for.

Right now, I am thankful for some time alone with my thoughts in a hot shower.

After a long day at the office, I had made plans to get myself in the right frame of mind for the holiday by climbing aboard my pony and going on a long walk. I would arrive at the barn and likely be the only person silly enough to arrive at dusk. It would be especially quiet, as Cori would be off site for a few hours. As the sun set, I would feed Stephanie’s horse his grain and feel some fleeting jealousy that she was soaking up rays in Cancun while I was digging in my pockets for gloves. Afterward, I’d catch my own horse and head up to the barn, to groom, tack up and hop on.

As the last rays of light faded away and the stars began to sparkle, I would reflect upon how lucky I am to share my life with horses and the amazing horsemen and women I’ve had the good fortune to learn from. I would marvel at feeling not just like an adult but being what my teenage self would have called a successful one. I would then be swept away in the moment and be filled with gratitude and a warm, fuzzy feeing about my place in the cosmos and all of the wonder that is life.

The cosmos hates plans, but it loves a life lesson.

Instead of my happy, quiet, solo ride under the stars filed with introspection, I found myself helping out a distressed parent. The pony she leases from another client at the barn had choked, and was clearly going to need the vet. I had her bring the pony up to the main barn. The pony promptly laid down and threatened to roll, so we started her hand walking while I dialed one of the vets that does after-hours service in our area. After a few minutes, the pony made a horrible sound and regurgitated some green mush.

Seconds later, the vet called me back to let me know his truck was in the shop and would not be mobile until at least Friday. I promptly dialed one of the other vets we use and had them on the way. Of course, that clinic is on the complete other side of the city, and they would be coming during rush hour, so it would be about an hour before they arrived. The mother summoned the pony’s owner, and I checked on my mare. I threw her some grain and accepted that riding would not happen tonight.

The owner arrived and was very distressed to see her pony so uncomfortable. I clarified that we were looking at choke rather than colic and in all honesty probably not a trip to UC Davis. I did what I could to keep everyone calm and upbeat.

Once the vet arrived, the choke had mostly sorted itself out, and the remainder was addressed very easily. The aftercare was looking to be a bit complicated due to the vet wanting multiple small, soggy meals for the next few days, as well as morning and evening antibiotics. I had been keeping Cori in the loop via text while this whole affair was playing out and reached out to several of the other clients and working students to see who could handle the middle-of-the-day feedings.

Within two to three texts, we had more than enough offers of help and were able to sort out who would cover the pony’s brunch and lunch mush. I showed the owner and the leaser how much water to use to make the feed as soupy as the vet wanted it to be before I headed home. The situation was well under control, and I was was the sort of bone-chilled cold that can only be remedied by a scalding hot shower followed by a bathrobe, fuzzy socks and some trashy television.

Standing in the shower, I found myself thinking that I didn’t get to ride, but I still got exactly what I needed.  I got a reminder that I’m lucky to share my life with horses. I have met and learned from wonderful horsemen and women. I am part of a team who supports one another and unhesitatingly rallies when it’s needed. I am lucky to be a part of this barn, a part of this community, a part of a centuries-old tradition of people brought together by the love of horses. I am so very grateful for all of this and its magic. I am grateful for nights like this.

Go Team DF. Go Support, Love and Camaraderie. Go Eventing.

My mom's famous lemon and berry tarts!

I am so unbelievably spoiled when it comes to delicious food, home-cooked meals, and warm and friendly ambience. All I have to do is drive less than a quarter of a mile down the hill from Tamarack Hill Farm and voila, I am in my mom’s kitchen and dining room! People are constantly asking me, “How can you stay looking lean like that when your mom cooks and bakes like this?” Truth be told, I work hard and eat around the clock!

I have never been an amazing cook or baker. Like I said, I was spoiled in that I had amazing meals growing up. Kids and teenagers literally tried to trade lunches with my sisters and me when we were all in school. I guess I never realized how incredibly fortunate I was until I moved out of my mom’s house when I left home for college. The thought of eating ramen noodles and takeout in college was not appetizing. But I had to suck it up and deal. It didn’t take long for me to move back to Strafford, Vt. Gosh, I wonder why I REALLY moved back to the area?

For me, it’s always been about horses. I am meticulous when it comes to my horses, the barn or any horse-related detail. When it comes to food, cooking or baking, I call 1-800-MOM-HELP! She always comes to the rescue and solves any sort of food emergency, whether it be baking cookies or creating a casserole.

Most recently, my mom has actually started her very own catering company and bakery right out of her own house (Brook Road Catering and Bakery — find her on Facebook!). I am so proud of her and can’t wait for everyone I know to start enjoying her delicious creations.

My mom’s salad extraordinaire!

Thanksgiving is going to be a serious undertaking this year. Not only is my mom busy baking and cooking for her company, but she has a whopping NINETEEN people joining her on the big T-day! Luckily she has me and her other two daughters to help out. There will be appetizers, pre-dinner cocktails, the actual dinner and the immense assortment of pies. I am getting hungry just thinking about it! Hope the horses don’t mind having a day or two off while I digest my six-course meal.

Go Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving! Illustration by Lindsey Kahn.

Happy Thanksgiving, Eventing Nation! It is with great pleasure that we introduce our shiny new series, Throwback Thursday. The chinchillas caught wind of the pesky hashtag (#tbt), and we thought we would run with it and make Thursdays a bit more entertaining. Since today is Thanksgiving, we will begin our Throwback Thursday series with a look back on EN’s Thanksgiving posts from years past. I stumbled upon one written by John in the early days of Eventing Nation, and it most certainly reminds all of us here at EN of how far we have come in a short amount of time, all in thanks to you. So sit back with your pumpkin pie and ever increasing sense of turkey-induced delirium and enjoy EN’s Thanksgiving Throwback.

2009: EN’s First Thanksgiving Post

“With respect to Eventing Nation, thank you to the thousands of you who have welcomed us into your eventing lives. It may seem like a small thing for you to log onto Eventing Nation, but we put a great deal of time into developing the best eventing content to serve our readers, and every single visitor means a great deal to us. Thank you all so very much and go eventing.”

2010: Much to Be Thankful For

“I challenge everyone to remember and appreciate all the many things we have to be thankful for this season. Thanks to our riders for taking the time to send us their responses, and as always thank you for reading.”

2011: Beware of Attacking Turkeys

“The turkeys in question might claim self defense, but I think not.  You be the judge.”

2012: EN Asks: What is Your Favorite Thing About Thanksgiving?

“From the EN family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you enjoy this very special day to spend inside/warm and with food, as Sinead Halpin would say.”

RIP Jazz

For about two weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about my mare without just telling a sad story about losing a horse. As I have considered all the things I am thankful for during this time of year, my time with her keeps coming to mind. As many horse girls do, I sort of have two sets of friends: my horse friends and my non-horsey friends. When I posted on Facebook about having to euthanize my mare due to a catastrophic knee fracture, my horse friends immediately knew and truly understood what a hard decision it was and the sadness I felt.

They called and texted and cried with me and sent me pictures that they had of her and brought champagne to the house and watched movies with me in pajamas to take my mind off of such a bad day. My non-horsey friends said sweet things and asked carefully worded questions about what had happened and compared losing her to losing their dogs. I know that they meant well and that dogs are such an important part of our families, but if you aren’t a horse person and if you have never had to make the decision to put a horse down, then I think you just don’t get it. Unless you’ve really known a horse, you can’t understand.

As I answered their texts and tried to explain why I was avoiding everyone and being anti-social (I prefer to grieve privately), I realized how lucky I was to even know this depth of sadness, because this depth of sadness meant that I had also felt such an incredible amount of happiness.

My time with Jazz began in a very transitional time in my life. I had graduated from college, moved to a suburb of Atlanta, gotten a great job, gotten engaged, and was in the process of planning a wedding and buying a house while also going back to school for nursing. While everything seemed to be exactly as it should of been, I was under a great deal of stress. Looking back five years later, I wasn’t ready for much of those life changes, and beginning and ending my day at the barn with my big bay mare was perhaps what saved me from a nervous breakdown and gave me the strength and courage to make the life that I really wanted. That horse and my dogs were EVERYTHING to me, and turns out, being at the barn with Jazz was the only time I truly felt like myself.

Jazz and I never had an incredible amount of success in the show ring, but it didn’t matter. Most of the time, I would save what should have been grocery money to be able to buy hay, so showing wasn’t really in the budget anyway. She also wasn’t ever really that easy to ride. After 67 starts on the track, she was a bit set in her ways, wasn’t EVER going to stand still at the mounting block and didn’t much care for the stretchy trot, regardless of the methods used to coax her. If you were smart, you wouldn’t get on without lunging her, and you learned very quickly to pick your battles VERY carefully.

She was a 7-year-old pro ride who mostly acted like a 3 year old under saddle, measured 16.3 and 3/4 hands and had quite the independent spirit. But I loved her for everything that she was and wasn’t. She was athletic as heck and beautifully put together. She was one of those horses that people would see in a warm up and just walk right up and ask about her. She was incredibly beautiful and could look right through you with an air of class and wisdom. She wasn’t much for affection and could never be called a “packer,” and if you hauled on her mouth, she would teach you a thing or two about being a polite rider. She nickered at me twice while I had her, but those were perhaps the two most important nickers I’ve ever heard.

Never in my life have I felt a gallop like hers, and I probably won’t ever again. Working all winter when I first got her over poles and tiny gymnastics was so incredibly worth it the first time we jumped a full course. She was a great jumper, and she never said “no” to giving something a try. She would prick her ears and visibly hunt when I took her out with hounds, and she would swim across a river or patiently walk on a hack, making a spooky horse feel more comfortable.

I could list the experiences we had and how special she was to me all day long, but the point is, sometimes I forget that there are so many people that never get the chance to know a horse and love a horse at all, much less with the intricacy that I knew her. How lucky we are to get to know these amazing animals at all. My non-horsey friends often think that they are all the same or that they are somehow dumb or emotionless. Nothing is more inaccurate. Horses are the only thing I can think of that bring me such pure happiness. There are just so many people that will never get to know that happiness — just simple, basic joy.

I always hope that there is something in the life of my non-horsey friends that makes them as happy as horses make me. I know a life with horses isn’t for everyone. But between us, I think getting to know a horse is one of the biggest gifts I’ve ever known, and I’m so far unconvinced that there can be anything better. So even though I hate the way her life ended, and I hate the way it makes me feel right now when I think about the details that were uniquely hers — her ears, her smell, her sweet eye, her feet, her piercing whinny, her mannerisms and the rhythm with which she always ate her breakfast — I know that even though my eyes fill up with tears and my throat tightens at these little memories, I’m incredibly thankful to have them.

If your family is like mine, we all say something we are thankful for just before our meal together. I know when it’s my turn, I won’t be able to tell them how I really feel this year, but I’m glad I got to share it with you, the ones who really get it. So today, hug your horses, eat turkey and be thankful for the time we get with these incredible animals.