It’s not even been a month. I never expected to feel this deeply, be so strongly connected already. I knew from previous experiences that I liked this mare, enjoyed riding her, felt like she had potential, and had fun with her. I never thought she would bond to the level of my soul as much as she has.

I also hadn’t realized just how badly I needed this. This being a purpose, a project, to be in the driver’s seat (saddle?), to be in a position of daring to even think about being able to put some of my long-held distance dreams on track again.

I am so thankful for the experiences catch riding has given me. Not only was I able to keep riding and competing, I learned so much during that time period, the kind of learning that can only come from riding that many different horses and riding with that many different people.

But there’s nothing quite like one’s own horse, and the potential for an active future laid out in front of them. I hadn’t realized just how much of my enthusiasm had slowly faded, how much I was going through the motions, but without a whole lot of motivation or inspiration.

To that end, I’ve sent off our first “official” ride entry as a proper team (ie, “it’s my name on the ‘Owner’s Name’ portion). Now, fingers crossed that the ride actually happens. It’s not until October but management is going to decide at the end of this month if they’ll be able to make a viable go of it.

Given that Liberty has had a year off, hasn’t done an endurance ride in about 4 years, it’s ridiculously hot out, and historically, most of our previous ride attempts were done without much by way of ideal conditioning and prep…we’re starting small, aiming for the 12-mile “fun/trail/intro/whatever-you-want-to-call-it” ride. Maybe conservative, but my aim is to set ourselves up for success as much as I can along the way, and that includes not picking one of the hardest LDs around to kick things back off again. The 12-mile course is much more straightforward, and it will be a fun weekend of camping, being among endurance friends again, and starting to figure out our routine together.

I’m excited about being back in the position of ride planning and speculating on ideas and schemes for the future, but even beyond that…

This mare makes my heart happy.