10+ Questions

 I haven’t seen any of these floating around for a bit and it's that time of the year, so maybe we’re due? 

1. What’s your favorite thing about your current horse?

   Bridget: Ridiculously full of pony tude and opinions, but so kind and steady underneath it all.

   Sophie: Full of life, extremely sociable, wants to work with you

2. What do you find to be the most challenging thing about your current horse?

   Bridget: Keeping her at a reasonable weight. Also, when she says no the answer is no and it’s final.        The default is normally trending towards an automatic no, so I’ve learned a lot about breaking things      into tiny pieces and thinking outside the box to keep her motivated and happy.

   Sophie: Keeping her focused and confident.

B simply would like to be a feral Welsh Cob living in the mountains somewhere, eating and doing what she wants, when she wants :)

3. If you could only hire one person to help you, would it be with coaching, riding/training, or barn work?

   Coaching, all day long. I enjoy feeding and mucking and I’ve got time to ride again. 

4. What’s Something You Want to Learn or Wish You Were Better At?

   I need to keep on top of my mindset and wish I was better at that. I go through phases where I lack  confidence and/or allow outside influence to affect my enjoyment of riding.

5. Shout out to your support crew. Who are they?

   I’m lucky to have a long term mentor in my old coach EC, and also have an excellent resource in the clinicians who travel here. My husband is number 1 though, especially since he retired he’s been getting pretty in to pony property renos (and poo picking) and he’s embarrassingly proud of the ponies and I for even our tiniest wins.

6. Favourite book, website, podcast, or other equine resource?

   I have so many books, but lately given my remote location I’m coming back to online subscription services where I can pick a lesson plan or topic to work on and follow along. Equestrian Masterclass is a current favourite, but Horse and Country TV, RideIQ, DressageHorseTraining.com have all been well worth the subscription cost (I tend to just sign up for one or two a month at a time and kind of cycle through renewing and cancelling as I need to - I can’t justify the cost all of them at once, nor would I have the time to utilize all the available content)

7. If money was no object, what would you do all day?

 I’m the type of person who likes having a job, so I’d keep one but probably be leaning more towards volunteering for something. I actually wouldn’t have any big changes as far as ponies or real estate or fancy cars, but I’d certainly spend more time and money travelling for coaching and clinics/camps/shows, maybe winters somewhere warm?

Whatever my job, I'd have time to ride in daylight, because this is dumb. Actually would unlimited money buy us all the end of daylight savings time?

8. Because this is real world and horses are expensive, have you ever had a side hustle or considered having one?

I worked as a barn manager for a therapeutic riding place for a while, plus pretty much everywhere I boarded I traded work for board discounts. These days I’m the opposite and a lot more work/life balanced,  I just work 4 days a week at my real job and leave it at that. 

9. What’s the best horsey decision you’ve ever made?

Taking an IT industry job away from home, based on proximity to a trainer/barn I wanted to train with. I treated it like “horsey university” and all my spare time and dollars went to riding, learning, and related goals. That’s obviously not sustainable long term, but I checked a lot off my personal bucket list and think it was a smarter move (for me, at least) than doing a working student gig. 

10. Worst decision?

Moving home? Only partly kidding, despite all the fantastic people here. It’s not the ideal location for equine endeavors. I can’t answer this question without mentioning one pre blog horse that I’ll forever regret selling…he was a little QH I rescued as a foal. In no way did he check any of the boxes for what I ‘needed’ then or now, but he was just the most fantastic little guy and I wish I had found a way to make keeping him for life happen. I bumped into a GP dressage rider years later and the first thing she asked me was whether I still had that horse because she still remembers hopping on him as one of the most fun times on a horse she’s had. Me too! Too bad I didn’t recognize how rare that feeling is at the time (or realize that fun counts way more than style or ability)

We can’t leave it on that downer, so bonus question:

11. What’s the best thing that happened to you or that you accomplished in 2022?

Moving the ponies home. It's been years since I've had them at my own place and been able to make all the decisions. While I do prefer boarding in many ways, where we live currently it's a better fit for me to have them at home.