Drill team and Unearthed History

Last fall, Fiona and I started taking part in the Chili Peppers Drill Team and the stables where Fiona's apartment (that's what my wife calls it) is. I wasn't certain we could pull it off, even though I've wanted to do it for a while. There are a total of 8 horse/rider pairs in our team and for those not familiar with drill team, the general idea is to ride in coordinated patterns, as a group, to music. The maximum gate of the performance varies based on the skill levels of the riders. We have only done walking/trotting thus far.

I have to say, I am STUNNED by how well Fiona has done with it. She seems to just love it. I mean it is hard to tell what a horse "love" to do. Best I can tell, it is similar to infants...eat, sleep and shit.
She has been extremely calm through the practices. Even when some of the other horses have had moments of we will call it "distress", she is cool as can be. I am kind of floored by how well she is doing.

The last practice, she even kicked a plastic cone and didn't freak out about it. It is like she is a different horse. My theory is that she needed a job, but it needed to be simple enough that we could both do it together with confidence. I have to say, I didn't stary off very confident, but every practice we have that is uneventful...it just gets better and better. She is more cofident and so am I. I think this could really turn out to be a big turning point for both of us.


Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

Ok, so the rest of this post is just going to be a bit of therapy for me...so I won't be hurt if you fall off here. So I had a terrible start with this horse. I didn't know what I was doing or how horses worked, what they really needed, etc. It was awful. I put my trust in the people around me and was ultimately very let down. While I have to believe their hearts were in the right place, it just didn't go well. I lost a lot of money and didn't get much in return. I felt pushed into some artificial timeline of when the horse had to be "fixed". When, really the thing that needed to be fixed was my lack of knowledge and experience. Anyway, I saw one of the people today that tried to help me early on. We've had a major falling out, mostly due to a mistake I made. But seeing her today, I couldn't help but wonder what she thinks about where Fiona and I are today. My immediate assumption was that she believes we are not any further than they day I got her. I think I assumed that because she was one of the folks that pushed an artificial timeline in the first place. She and her father though my horse could be "fixed" in a few months and be a world class trail horse or something. I can safely say, that this just isn't realistic. It can be done for some horses and some riders, but not Fiona and I. We needed time and a lot of it.We needed to understand each other. I needed to learn. The horse is extremely bright and very athletic. She is not your average horse. I know, I know...I am parental bias here, but I have had people TELL me this about the horse. Not just one person, but many different people have said there is something special about Fiona.

 

The reality is, I don't know what this woman thinks about me and my horse and it really doesn't matter. While I want all the folks that have helped Fiona and I to be stunned and amazed at our progress, it really doesn't matter what they think. What matters is where we are and we are in great shape. We have been through hell together and made it out the other side. We will probably have issues in the future and that's ok...we can handle it together. We are a bitchin' pair and both stubborn to no end. We will not give up, we will continue to grow and change together. We will both be better for having one another.