We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists on Wednesday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Amanda Schmidt

Entry:

Call me Amanda. Not Mandy. I suppose you can call me an adult amateur – that’s how old and broke I am. I prefer to refer to myself as a lifer – sounds more gritty and glamorous. I’ve been at this horsey nonsense for two decades now, admittedly on and off, through better and worse. No, I don’t have much to show for it ­ not in the way of fame, mileage, certifications, or bragging rights. Sometimes life doesn’t give two flying figs about your big dreams or your passion, and merrily sends you down agonizing detours. If one’s ability to hang tough for one second longer, to hold out when holding out seems completely futile, determined rank in this field – baby, I’d have gone pro long ago.

So I’ve been at this a little while now, and consequently meet with the dare to justify the horse life in general and this sport in particular on plenty of occasions. Some days, throwing one’s fists in the air and howling, “Go horses! Go eventing!” comes easy enough. Other days ­ if feeling brave enough to follow the philosophical rabbit hole waaaay down ­ becoming uneasy comes easy enough.

Choosing horses guarantees you the gamut of human emotional range – that I can answer for sure. The great “why?” remains hazy: why do this to ourselves and to these animals? Some days, I see nothing in it but pure ego­stroking, and adrenaline junkies just looking for a fix via the unworldly power and heart of a horse – a horse which, dare I say, we often take for granted.

If I’m raising your hackles, good. I think we all need checked on a regular basis, if we want to call ourselves responsible and want to profess that we love these horses. I’ve checked myself so hard that I spent a couple of years not riding, a couple of years quite close to washing my hands of this business. If you’re reading this, I’ll just assume that you understand how devastating that might have been. I’ll also assume that you can understand why I might do it; I’ll assume that you, too, would accept any pain if it meant sparing your horse.

To keep a long story short, I eventually came to rest in, “It’s not what we do, so much as how we do it.”Am I simply justifying something I’m not brave enough to let go of, by disguising my inability to do so in a pretty philosophical phrase? Maybe. Maybe I’ll come to that yet. We come to a lot of grief with these animals, in this sport. But the grief I’d know, the loss I’d experience without them, seems far worse.

Without this insanity, my life might have been spent mostly indoors in a safe, climate ­controlled bubble, to not risk my chronic poor health. I might be just another sad story of someone who knows summer only by the air­conditioner, autumn only by the costumed kids on the doorstep. I can say with no uncertainty I would have grown up frail, isolated, and limited – if I’d managed to reach adulthood at all. Without this insanity, I quite possibly might have chosen a different razor’s edge, rather than pull on my boots and square my shoulders one more day.

In the end, I believe we do this because of an inner desire to know, to grow, to not settle for less than evolving into our full human potential. The horse waits and
patiently waits for us to decide to want that – the greatest teacher we could find stands ready for willing students. Anything I know about life as it really is, I learned on the back of a horse…or in absolute ruins at the feet of a horse, or in caring for a horse who could offer me “nothing” in return. I doubt I could have learned it elsewhere, and I believe the real insanity would be never going there, never stepping onto this path at all.

John Reuter and Breeze.

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists on Wednesday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: John Reuter, 62

Bio:I am a college professor and father of two pony club alums (both now adult women). I spent countless hours and more dollars than I would care to admit on horsey events for my two daughters. After they moved out and left me with a barn full of tack and a couple old ponies I decided it was my turn to take up riding. I did my first horse trials last summer in the trot a trail division and finally purchased a horse all for myself. I plan to become an “eventer” this summer and do several one-day trials. Watch out for me on the Pacific Northwest eventing scene this summer with my shire sporthorse mare, Breeze.

Character Defining Qualities: I am a bit of a nervous rider since it would really hurt to fall off my 16.3 horse.

Embarrassing Tidbits: I actually don’t have any idea what my horse is thinking. Since she is a “princess” mare, that is going to be a problem.

Entry:

After twenty plus years of being a truck driver, trailer parker, pony club dad and casual rider, I decided I wanted to be an enventer. Last summer, I entered my first one-day event on a trusted family horse that had done it all. My daughter and trainer helped me get ready for all of the phases. I wasn’t so much looking for the insanity in the middle as just a great day outdoors with my horse, doing what horses do.

I entered a local one-day event at a level was called something like “grasshopper” or ”log-stepper-overer”, I forget which.

Both my dressage test and the cross-country phases went fine, but it was the stadium jumping that really defined who I was as a horseman and competitor. By “defined” I mean, set me apart from all the others. There were a few younger women riding fresh OTTB and they were very professional. Then there was me, a 60-something year old man on a small horse (15 h) that was still the biggest and then there was – dramatic pause – the “pony horde”. All of my real competitors were about six. When we walked the stadium course, several girls next to me were cantering their make believe ponies through the course and one even said, “I think I’ll take that jump next because it looks pretty.” I went clean on the stadium and was hoping to have moved up a notch or too at my first competition.

It’s not that I didn’t want to beat those little girls in their pink helmets and matching saddle pads, but I was trying to get a ribbon. We put the horse away and waited a bit while they posted the results. After a beer and a break, I went over to the officials’ tent and checked on my standing. I was given a rainbow-colored participation ribbon. It seems I wasn’t competing after all.

Even without the thrill of beating anyone, I was hooked. I kept training over the summer and was planning on another event in a class that might require some actually jumping and where I would expect a final score. But nature and horses intervened. The trusted family horse had to retire and I had to start looking for a new horse just for myself. This coming season I am training to ride my 16:3 Sport Shire with enormous hooves. As I gallantly clear 12” coops and splash through optional water, you will hear Breeze’s hoof beats and see an old guy having a great time.

Lynn Symansky and Donner. Photo by Laura Millerick.

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists on Wednesday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Laura Millerick

Bio: I started riding in Virginia at 8 years old and found eventing after joining the Difficult Run Pony Club when I was 11. Now, I’m a 27 year old Support Engineer for Microsoft by day and an amateur eventer by….every other minute of the day.

Entry: Top 5 Horses I Would Go To Jail To Ride Once

Everyone has their list of horses they have on their list that they just would so much love to ride once. Well, I’m maybe one step of insanity further, and I have my list of horses I’d go to jail to ride once. Well not really, but I might as well think of it that way since the only way I’d ever have the opportunity is if I broke into their farm in the middle of the night. I mean, let’s be honest, riding a gold-medal-winning horse? It just ain’t gonna happen. But hey, if I polish up my breaking and entering skills, I might get close enough to pet one someday! After all, as it sayson the TV that I don’t have time to watch, apparently orange is the new black or something.

1) La Biosthetique-Sam

Duh. I mean, this one goes without saying. Simultaneous World, European and Olympic champion. He and Michael Jung made their international debut in the 2009 Europeans at Fontainebleau where they won individual bronze when Sam was just 9 years old. Then it was individual gold at the WEGs, then individual gold at the 2011 Europeans, and team and individual gold at the 2012 Olympics. Who wouldn’t give a week in jail just to experience what riding this horse feels like?!

2) Donner

When I was younger, I used to watch the deer in my backyard walk up to the 4 foot fences around my paddocks and casually spring over them, wondering what it would feel like to ride it when it jumped like that. Lynn Symansky is fortunate enough to have her own jumping deer in her OTTB Donner, and he’s probably as close as any of us would get to riding a deer. Watching him beast around the cross country at Rolex and Pau last year was more than enough to earn him a place on this list.

3) Borough Pennyz

Have you seen this mare jump? Seriously, have you? She is literally built of springs. She finished 11th individually with Vittoria Panizzon as a 9 year old, and he is the cutest, most awesome gray mare ever. She seems determined to bruise her chin with her knees over every jump, and I would give myself maybe two jumps before getting jumped off her back, but the resulting bruises to my pride and butt would be totally worth it.

4) Opposition Buzz

Who hasn’t dreamed of riding an amazing black horse? Now how about an amazing black horse that jumps freakishly well and eats cross country for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Buzz’s record speaks for itself, and similarly to Borough Pennyz, I’m not sure how long I’d manage to stay on over jumps, but I reckon I would have the biggest grin for every second (even the ones where I’m hurtling towards the ground).

5) Shamwari 4

I watched “Shammie” at the Olympics in 2012 with everyone else, but when I first saw the video of his first dressage with Boyd, it was embarrassingly difficult to not start drooling. He floats. He literally floats across the ground. Add with that being an amazing jumper, and it’s difficult to think of reasons why he wouldn’t merit a potential felony record.

I suppose I wouldn’t really go to jail to ride these horses, since then I’d be completely without riding and my dog and I can’t really live without either of those things. But when much is said and done, these horses are all on the top of my perfect world wishlist. So who tops your list of criminal-record-worthy horses?

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists on Wednesday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Jessica Kerschbaumer

Bio: I am a 31 year old who was born and raised in a very isolated part of northern Alberta. I grew up galloping bareback through the bush on my pony, scaring the pants off my mother, and jumping whatever inappropriate jumps we could build around the farm (photos that would make George Morris, and everyone else, cringe!).  Once I grew up and moved away, I got my first real taste of eventing, drank the kool aid, and it’s all been downhill from there.  Having had sort of a unconventional childhood with horses, I am now making up for lost time, working almost every spare hour at my barn around my 9-5 job, riding and learning as much as I possibly can.  I currently compete at the preliminary level with upper level goals, which by the looks of things are going to require me to clone myself and stowaway to Calfornia next spring, and lead a double life!  I think EN would benefit greatly from adding a Canadian to the mix, as I bring a great knowledge of beer, toques, and how us crazy, hardcore eventers tough out the brutal Alberta winters to come out swinging when our season starts up every June.  (Yes, I said JUNE!)

Entry:

As we gather on Eventing Nation to discuss and celebrate this amazing discipline we love, we are constantly reminded of what a wild roller coaster of a ride this sport can be.  Successes and heartbreak.  Days everything goes right, and probably more often the days when you are definitely the bug, not the windshield.

Thanks to all the rain we had one summer a few years ago, most of our largest pasture had turned into a massive swamp.  At the time I had a resale project, a laid back OTTB gelding who I was shaping into an eventer.  Obi was every bit the gentleman, although I had discovered he needed a bit of extra convincing where water was involved.

I headed out in the very early morning light to bring Obi in for a ride.  The horses were on the far side of the pasture, across the lovely large swamp, and were having none of the whistling, calling, or grain bucket rattling I was doing to lure them over.  Finally I resigned myself to walking very far around the outside of the pasture to avoid the swamp and get to the horses.

I easily caught Obi and was formulating a plan for getting both him and myself back to the only gate.  Unfortunately riding him looked to be my only option, since I had no other way to exit, and wading through a whole pile of water and mud that early in the morning was not very appealing!  I fashioned the lead rope into reins and found a large rock to mount from.

Making our way across the pasture, the other horses neatly fell into line behind us, and Obi was leading the way right through that huge swamp like the super star eventing horse he was destined to be!  I was smiling to myself and celebrating this little victory in my head, visions of success and ribbons momentarily distracting me from the task at hand.  Out of nowhere, something spooked the horses, and the entire herd took off at a dead gallop.  I immediately started hauling on the lead rope I had crudely fashioned into reins, and Obi protested by speeding up and demonstrating his best dolphin impression.  As he rocked and rolled beneath me, I quickly weighed my options, and decided that I definitely did not want to be bucked off at full speed.  I reluctantly gave him his head.

So there we were, careening across the pasture, and I notice we are heading straight towards some very low trees that bordered the pasture.  I immediately had a horrific flashback to my childhood, of being wiped backwards off my pony by a giant branch, which was not something I wished to relive!  The other horses beelined directly into the bush, and thankfully Obi gently turned and galloped along the tree line, a safe distance from any low hanging branches.

The trees thinned, and the horses continued to fly along.  Wide eyed and heart pounding, I held my breath as the horses galloped the length of the pasture.  They finally slowed near one corner, bucking, prancing, tossing heads, feeling pretty proud of their little adventure.

I had emergency dismounted and opted out of the last bit of the ride as soon as we’d reached a more appropriate speed to vault off at as the horses geared down before stopping.  I gave myself a few minutes to collect my wits and calm my racing heart, and then laughed out loud as I couldn’t believe I’d survived what had just happened.

I retrieved Obi, who was immediately back to his laid back, gentlemanly self, and promised myself that next time I would just skip the riding idea and do some swamp whacking instead.  And then I headed to the barn to change my underwear!

Pushing 30, I was definitely getting too old for wild bareback pasture rides, and would never purposely choose that as my morning adventure!  But we are infected with this passion that is eventing, along for this wild ride we call life, and we learn how to take whatever comes your way, both the good and the bad, and make the best of it.

And as we all know, you have to be at least a little bit crazy to love this amazing sport!  No matter what happens, we find a way to ride it out the storm and keep on coming back for more.  For me, my wild ride that day was just par for the course!

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists yesterday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: @RolexHusband

Bio: Live in Christiansburg Virginia and started @RolexHusband in an attempt to pass the time during dressage while we attend Rolex.  This has inspired me to see what more I can evolve this into and Eventing Nation may be a HUGE part of that because you guys are awesome. I have been married to my wonderful bride for 11 years this June.  When we first started dating; I had no idea about the horses. WOW, was I in for a shocker.  However, I decided early on that if I was going to be able to spend time with my wife, then I should take a vested interest in horses.  I am president of our local USEA affiliate (horse people need help managing things), put on horse shows and clinics, and in general am very in touch with what is going on in the Eventing community.  I have my opinions and often share with an unfiltered perspective.  I believe that I can bring a totally different perspective and angle to your site but will present an educated approach.

Entry: The “EveryMan’s Guide to being a successful “Horse Husband”

Gentlemen! So you met that special someone and she loves to ride horses and does this thing called Eventing. Congratulations! Horse women (as I am sure you have found) are intelligent, athletic, competitive, attractive and a little neurotic (this adds to the appeal)! If you are thinking this is turning into a long term deal; there are several principles that you will want to understand and embrace. Let’s talk about a few…

#1. Something will ALWAYS COST MORE MONEY. Whether she is looking for the latest piece of tack (There is always a “latest and greatest”), shopping for supplements, or needing the vet to come out (If you ever hear: “I think we need his hocks injected”… look out buddy… I will explain this in another post); it will ALWAYS cost more money. I almost needed a second mortgage when I found out how much the horse’s supplements were a month! Now, I have reached inner peace with the acceptance of this principle.

#2 Your friends will not understand this “Eventing”……and that is okay. You can try to explain to your buddies at work all of your newfound knowledge but above over exaggerating the amount of beer you will consume during a show weekend or agreeing how hot horse girls are; you only need to focus on these 2 things:

• #1. “Yeah it’s what they show on TV a lot during the Olympics”. Don’t underestimate this. Your friend’s wife doesn’t do anything that cool. When they ask if your wife or girlfriend will ever go to the Olympics; just play it cool and make a joke about all the stuff costing you money from principle #1.
• #2 “It is like a triathlon for horses and they jump these really big jumps the size of a truck”. People understand triathlons and jumping trucks. Now, it doesn’t matter if your significant other is only going Green at a local horse show because your friend will not have the attention span for you to explain things like “Green” or “Beginner Novice”. If your buddy asks if your wife races horses, smack him in the face because he is a moron.

#3 Get a Camera….and don’t skimp here. YOU EARNED THIS BIG GUY. Horse women love photos of themselves jumping around on their horse. Cameras are fun to play around with. Also, you can be at a local horse show and be the most popular dude there if you snap a few practice shots of other horse women and give them photos. You are a HERO. I have also been known to use the “I am sorry babe, I can’t hold your horse while you braid or untack him because I have my expensive camera in hand”

#4 Don’t dress like a tool. Just don’t. You are at a horse show, not a frat party or Ralph Lauren event. The nice white shirt, aviator glasses, and boat shoes are not appropriate. Horses poop; you will step in it. They also rub their heads on you and will break the glasses and muddy your new white polo. You may be reading this and say: “Naw, Bro…that’s not me” Well it is. So stop.

Keep all of these in mind and you are well on the way of being a “supportive horse husband”. Also, one day…you CAN BUY A BOAT WITH NO OBJECTION! Only catch: you won’t have time to use it!

Cheers!

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists yesterday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Lynn Marie Garvin, 25

Bio: Lynn Marie is an accomplished obsessor of clean water troughs and pristinely swept aisle ways. She regularly lurks at dressage warmups and on cross country courses taking photographs of complete strangers and then slinking back to her car as if nothing creepy at all has occurred. She has imaginative competitive upper level eventing daydreams in her car when that song by Bastille comes on the radio, but don’t think for a minute she isn’t regularly reality checked by her OTTB mare when she actually gets on to ride.
Accolades: Can blow bubbles with world champions but prefers to keep it casual to not intimidate the amateurs. Known to wear a cape. Preferred gait is skipping because it’s faster than walking and kind of like jogging’s fabulous gay brother that everyone admires for his fashion sense and self confidence.

Entry: $995

She was a terrible racehorse. In eight lifetime starts, the chestnut filly named Castle Cat made $995 and never placed higher than 4th. In her last race on November 9th, 2012 at Laurel Park, she was dead last, several furlongs behind the pack, proving at last that she was not motivated to win races.

The first time I saw Castle Cat was through the great and powerful combined forces of boredom at work and the internet. She was listed as free to a good home through a thoroughbred rescue called TPR, and there was no mystery why. She was a chestnut mare. She was so over at the knees that I could’ve set a beer on her right leg and used her as a side table. She looked more like a weedy coming three year old than a four year old and was so tucked up and angular that she would have been mistaken for a red furry wasp if she was small enough to fit in a hive.

I was irrationally obsessed with her. I sent the link to her profile to a couple of trusted horse friends. I stalked the TPR facebook page. I did the unthinkable: I contacted her foster and said I wanted to come see her.

This was a poor choice because I was a 23, living in a shoebox room in central DC, newly employed as an entry level legal assistant and saddled with a moderate amount of college loan debt. I had spent the last ten or so years of my life pretending to like school while working at eventing and dressage barns for amazing people in NJ and WV and for a short, incredible time, FL. I was hopelessly in love with a sport that I had very little true riding experience in. My horsey friends told me not to do it, she was lame, she had unfixable conformation flaws, she was a red mare for heaven’s sake.

Did any of this stop me? Of course not.

Approximately a month later I led Castle Cat off a stock trailer and was given her Jockey Club papers. My very first horse, something I had been waiting for what seemed like my whole conscious life.

I had her on a week trial but it was a done deal that first day when I rushed her into a stall and threw a secondhand blanket on top of what was a woefully inadequate cooler. The hour long stock trailer ride in early March weather had her shivering so much I half expected her little eyeballs to pop right out of her head.

I’ve spent my whole horsey life experience as a barn hand, more or less. I am hard wired to take close and intimate care of every animal I am responsible for. There is nothing quite like the feeling of walking away from a stall freshly cleaned and bedded, two scrubbed and filled water buckets, and a hay rack crammed full of hay, a happy little filly all tucked in for the night. I love that, I always have, and always will.

The first day of my life as a horse owner was more exciting than I ever could have imagined. After riding her and not getting bucked off, after pulling her mane, brushing and currying and picking up her feet and poking and prodding, all of which she tolerated without taking a swing at me, I sat in my car for a second and waited for the bolt of lightning to hit, because no day could ever be so perfect.

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists yesterday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Maggie Deatrick, 28

Bio: Area V eventer, transplanted to Middleburg, recently transplanted again to Philadelphia

Character Defining Qualities:

Prone to a degree of stubbornness that results in everyone around me rolling their eyes, which of course results in me digging my heels in even harder.

Mild obsessive-compulsive habits that cause me to have all of my possessions organized with boxes inside boxes inside boxes.

A tendency to be highly amused at children’s cartoons.

Embarrassing Tidbits:

I’ve fallen off only twice in competition, but both falls occurred at water complexes. Both incidents are immortalized in photo, video, or both. #ihatewetpants #nowIhavetooilallmytack

Not all too long ago, I somehow managed to scores in the nineties at an FEI event. Not a dressage show, an event. #isthatarecord #nocarrotsforyou

Entry: “The Second Horse Itch”

At some point in every rider’s life, the eye starts to stray. Maybe a horse is on rest, and the lack of riding is slowly driving them mad. Perhaps the horse is getting older, or isn’t quite tackling the course the way they should. Other times, the rider simply misses having a baby horse.

At this time, many riders are struck with what I call the Second Horse Itch.

The Second Horse Itch starts as just a little tickle. It may manifest at a show, when you see a particularly nice mover float across the ground in dressage. It may start at your barn, when a barn-mate buys a new one and excitement spreads around. It can even start in your daydreams, as you imagine racing across the hills of Rolex.

That tickle grows slowly. You might begin searching Sporthorse Nation for horses over $50k, finding an upper level school-master who can take you to the woods of Fair Hill and the sands of Galway. With your new partner, you head to England to compete with William and Mary, and the Netherlands to tangle with Michael Jung and the indomitable Sam. You ride down centerline at the Rio Olympics, having just performed the test of a lifetime.

Reality brings you back from the landscapes of Europe and places you firmly on solid ground. That four star packer is out of reach, financially.

But maybe you can afford a baby. It doesn’t hurt to look, right?

You toy with the idea of importing a phenomenal young prospect, watching video after video of Irish horses free jumping. A few catch your eye, and you fantasize about pulling a fancy young horse off the trailer, freshly arrived from Ireland, with a moniker to match. You imagine hacking the youngster through the countryside, teaching him to be brave and strong. The two of you spend a lifetime going easily up the levels.

Then you look at the cost of a plane ticket for a horse.

On to square three. The Second Horse Itch needs attention, and at this point you can’t help but scratch it.

You think of buying a young warmblood from a breeder in America, progeny from Brandenburg’s Windstar or Salute the Truth. You drool over Riverman offspring and covet those sired by A Fine Romance. But the bottom line looms.

Inevitably, your mouse drags you to CANTER, where you peruse the ranks of young OTTBs. Not all of them are to your liking, or even many, but finding the diamond in the rough is part of the fun. At this point, the Second Horse Itch is a constant, nagging thought.

You find a thoroughbred to fit your criteria, who looks perfect on paper and in photos. You even have his purchase price in your savings account. The Second Horse Itch urges you to the phone, ready to call the trainer.

Then you look at your bank account. Work out your finances. Realize that the expensive part of owning horses is not the purchase price, but the upkeep. Know in your heart that even if you have the money, you don’t really have the time. Sadly, you put the phone down.

But you come back to that photo of the OTTB daily. You both dread and can’t wait for him to be sold. Finally, the ad goes away, indicating he is no longer available. You think you’re free of the longing.

But you’re not. There’s always another school-master, another import, another fancy youngster, another OTTB.

The Second Horse Itch never truly goes away.

We announced the 10 Blogger Contest finalists yesterday, and now we’re bringing you their awesome entries from Round 1 here on Bloggers Row. I will be posting all 10 entries over the next few days, so be sure to check them out and leave your feedback in the comments.

All entries will be reprinted without editing for fairness’ sake. Thanks again for your support and readership, EN! We are so thrilled to have such quality entries this year.

Entrant: Dagmar Caramello, 24

Bio: I’ve been riding since I was five years old and have focused on eventing as my primary equestrian sport of choice since then. I’ve also spent the past three years breezing horses at the Bowie and Laurel racetracks. Right now I am working with my Oldenburg mare who came out of the jumpers 4 years ago with her mind completely blown. She’s super fancy, equally crazy, and I love her for that. I’ve had to (re)start her from the ground up and, fingers crossed, she will move up to Prelim later this year.