Well, if all goes according to plan, I should be kept rather busy and out of trouble for at least the first few months on the 2020 ride season.

Back in the fall, Cristina asked me if I would be willing to take Atti to 20 Mule Team and do his first 100 there. After contemplating it a bit, I agreed, and we hatched a plan that involved her keeping Atti down here at the same place Mimi is boarded so that I can give him some more “desert-type” of conditioning with more sand and long-trotting work.

Yesterday, Atti arrived at “winter training camp.” Most of the herd was like, “oh, new horse? Ok, cool, whatever.” Mimi, however, is quite curious about him, which is fairly rare for my normally-antisocial pony. We’ll see how long the honeymoon lasts before she starts sneering at him, but given that she is so jealous and possessive of me working other horses that it would help if she does like him.

It’s like looking in a mirror.

I will do a couple of local rides with him — 50 miles at Dashing Through the Trails at Estrella Mountain Park this upcoming weekend, and the Tonto Twist 50 in Apache Junction in January — with some conditioning rides in-between, as well as some cross-training arena work, leading up to the 20 Mule Team 100 in February.

If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ll recognize Atti from the McDowell 75 in 2017, and the Man Against Horse 50 in 2019. I’ve had a couple of good rides, and good training rides, on him. He’s a fun little horse, and I’m very honored and flattered that Cristina is putting this level of faith and trust in me with her heart pony.

I recently saw a friend use the hashtag #2020Vision on an Instagram story about future plans/goals. I think that’s particularly clever, and I have it written down as my theme for this upcoming year. It’s nice to start the season and year with some early goals, and then stay pretty flexible and open-ended beyond that point.