2016: A whirlwind review

2016 was ushered in with one of the most lovely trail rides ever

Tango went cross country for the first time, and although exuberant was very good

In February, I bought a truck

And took possibly the most 'Merican photo ever

We ramped up to prepare for Twin Rivers and had a trailer malfunction that resulted in Chente and Diva just kinda chilling downtown while I got the trailer's tire replaced

We had a loose-goat problem, which prompted Twin's #notevenloosegoatscanstopusnow

In March we loaded up and headed to Twin for a long weekend

Which was a spectacular success and we all learned a lot.

I started taking more regular jumping lessons

Which resulted in a FANTASTIC show for Tangoose in April.

He also gained a lot of confidence about everything

April wasn't all good however, as we lost Diva to colic.

And my sister came to visit me in May!

I also met Jen from CobJockey and managed to only take terrible photos (sorry Jen...)

Chente made it back to Twin for a successful horse trial

In June all the lessons began to pay off for Kat and I as we had a pretty quiet show, even though I overestimated my mental strength and wasn't on my A-game for the mare and had to have someone lunge her for a while since I wasn't up to riding her properly.

June also saw Elrond purchased and brought home. And a NorCal blogger meetup!

I also had the opportunity to run the most amazing summer camp everrrr in which Megan helped with a dressage intense day 

July started off with a bang as my dog got kicked in the head - but she's fine! 

July also heralded in a new era in my riding: the beginning of Tracey lessons

I got to meet the friendliest grey hippo ever and I've been plotting how to steal him ever since

I began to struggle with a pretty deep sense that I'd lost my direction in riding and in life - and the apathy/depression continued to plague me for months

I went home to Michigan for a week

And remembered how much I love the state

August saw summer camps, continued Tracey lessons, and Alex beginning to take the ride over on Tango. 

I struggled a bit with Tracey's lateness 

But all the dressage work paid off big time for Kat's confidence in the show ring (which tbh was never a concern, so maybe now she's too confident lol) 

In September I apparently went cross country schooling with some combination of students every other day according to the photos I took (only sort of kidding), Tango and I came first at Novice at a horse trial at RDLA (OKAY OUT OF ONE BUT IT STILL COUNTS), and Kat hurt her fetlock which kicked off a good six weeks out of work. 

I met the lovely Austen and she subjected Tango to some major face cuddles 

Alex and Tango began to hit a stride as they ramped up for their first rated event together

We went to JK Presents and my students cleaned. up. Seriously. So unbelievably proud.

Tango and Alex were ah-mazing at their first rated event and I seriously considered crying after every phase

We went to RDLA to do some cross country schooling to ramp up for Twin's final one-day horse trial and had a run in with way. too. many. turkeys

Two of my students competed at Twin and finished, on horses that had never done a trial and riding horses that had never even jumped before these girls started training them - makes a trainer very proud

Somewhere in here I took the ride over on Jr and began to get pretty excited about his potential as a dressage mount

in November Kat made the triumphant return to work! And I went on an awesomely fun trail ride with Olivia

 Tango officially changed ownership to Alex, and I'm very excited to see their move up to training in the coming year.

Elrond began to hit his stride with jumping, and we're looking forward to seeing how that goes this coming season

and Kat is beginning to rebuild the strength necessary for what is on the docket for her career

It was a good year in a lot of ways, and a disappointing one in others. I showed a lot more in 2015 than I did this year, and instead diverted those funds to taking lessons from eight trainers in total, though most regularly with two. I miss showing, even though I spent all of 2015 on the schooling circuit with my students. I'm hoping that this year can find a healthy mix of training and showing.