It does not do to dwell on dreams

 

... and forget to live. - JK Rowling

Kat was being challenging for a lesson today - I knew I would pick a fight with her unless I was careful, so when Dumbledore came down the hill I asked him to get on her for a minute.

There was, indeed, a discussion about contact + leg (Dumbledore answered yes, Kat answered no. Dumbledore won.) that was perhaps more boisterous than I wanted to ride. She porpoised, she hopped, she sucked behind the leg, but he stayed persistent and perhaps more importantly CONSISTENT and she came around.

While he rode through some shenanigans, he said, "she reminds me of my 3* mare. I sold her last year after qualifying for Rolex, but a junior owns her now and has a great time with her."

"Was it hard to sell a horse you could have gone to Rolex with?" I asked. I'd heard this story from someone else, but hadn't had a chance to ask him about it.

"Maybe five years ago it would have been." Kat proceeded to porpoise in the same corner for the third time, so he kicked her on and galloped around the arena before I asked:

"What changed?"

Kat cantered nicely then, and he said, "If I've learned anything, Kate, it's that there's no expiration date on dreams. Look at Bunnie Sexton, in her 50's and just now competing at the 4* level for the first time." He fell silent as he asked Kat to do a few transitions from the trot to the the canter and back again. "I've also learned that it's okay if your dreams change. The goals change. Life moves you forward."