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!
