As 2015 draws to a close, I realize that I’m feeling pretty good about how the year went.
January
- I buy hand-gallop.com.
- I was elected membership chair of Green Country Dressage! By virtue of being the only person who understands the internet, I was also elected to create and manage their website.
February
- I spent most of the month trapped in the indoor and had some terrible dressage rides.
- I traveled to Austin, TX and met several wonderful bloggers and ponies!
March
- Gina celebrates her 18th birthday. I can assure you she is delighted to be able to buy cigarettes and vote.
- I receive my super fabulous wedding hat!
April
- I think about retiring Moe because he’s old and I’m afraid of pushing him too hard. But Moe and happy and healthy, so I start tentatively planning a show campaign.
May
- Johnny and I get married in what I like to think of as our best Kentucky Derby party yet.
- Moe celebrates his 20th birthday by eating macarons and Squeezy Buns at the wedding.
- Hand Gallop moves to its own domain!
June
- Johnny starts riding Moe, struggles to find riding breeches.
July
- Gina and I make our First Level debut, which was basically a disaster.
August
- Moe goes to his first horse trial in a long time. Our dressage has improved since the last time we went to one, but the lack of a course map, an unmowed XC course, and a rail in stadium mean we end up in last place. But we had fun!
- I designed a new logo for the USEA’s Area V Adult Riders!
September
- HORSE TRAILER IS PURCHASED!
- I take a dressage lesson with Claudia Misner, who lets me know I’m cutting Gina way too much slack!
- I test ride a Sommer Esprit dressage saddle and promptly begin scheming about how I can afford to buy it. (HAHAHA, I can’t.)
October
- Moe and I go to Gallery Farm for a combined test. Our dressage score is about the same as it was in August, but our jumping is ON POINT. Except for the jump I missed. Whatever.
- I take a dressage lesson with Aaron Wilson, who helps me realize that Moe mirrors whatever I’m doing.
- I run the Tulsa Oktoberfest 5K!
- I run the Rock The Mock 5K!
- Gina and I join our friends for Harvard Fox Hounds’ Opening Hunt! Gina behaves perfectly while I have too much port.
- I celebrate my 29th birthday!
November
- Gina and I go hunting again, but she tweaks a hind leg and is lame for a few days.
- Because Gina is lame, I take Moe to the hunter pace. He jumps everything in sight and our team wins!
- I take home a bedraggled kitten from work and name him Uncle Jimmy. (Uncle Jimmy’s doing great, by the way!)
- Johnny and I visit my family for Thanksgiving and transport a foxhound back to Oklahoma.
- I do a little Black Friday shopping and purchase a breeding to Mannhattan, an Oldenburg stallion!
December
- Gina and I go sans friends to Christmas Hunt, which is the most exciting, fun hunt yet! Unfortunately, Gina bruises her heel and is very, very lame.
- It’s Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange time! I send Karley at All In a present, and Jen from Cob Jockey sends me a flask!
2015 has been a great year! It’s brought new experiences like foxhunting, and I’m grateful for the lessons I was able to take with some great trainers. I’m thrilled about the horse trailer, because it means that 2016 can be bigger and better than this year was!
Those hunts just sound like a blast!
They’ve been great! Hunting has almost made me reevaluate my assertion that polo is the most fun you can have on horseback.
That Charlotte’s is literally a mile from my house so when that picture showed up in my reader feed I was like whaaaaaa? Oh, right.
I’m just over here in Austin, creeping on you…
Sounds like a great year! Your wedding photo is gorgeous! Can’t wait to follow along in 2016!
Thank you! 😀
2015 was a pretty rad year for you! 🙂
It definitely was! It was a great one.
Jelly of all of your hunt time! What a full year! We both got married and bought trailers – woot!
Hunting has been fantastic! Having a trailer has been even better! I guess being married is alright, too. 😛
Aw cute kitten! Some day I would love to try hunting…maybe. Probably just hill topping. Sounds like you had a good year!
What an exciting year. So many good things happened. Hope 2016 is even better!
i gotta say – it’s been a very exciting year to follow along with you, Gina and Moe!! i love how game you and the horses are and all the fun stuff you get into!! here’s to another great year in 2016!