Endurance Riding

I am starting to learn that life is all about growth. It’s not about getting older; that is not something I fear. I spent so many years of my early adulthood in pain that I am happy to leave those days behind. There are days I wake up and I have to pinch myself because […]

I was about to turn 27. I had grown up riding my entire life, but I had never had a horse of my own. I was in college. In fact, I had just been accepted into the competitive nursing program at Chico State University. The news of the acceptance was both exciting and terrifying. It […]

I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I woke up this morning wanting to ride down into the canyon. I don’t know why… I just wanted to spend time near the river and take some photos. I also just wanted to be with my horses. I decided to ride Asali and pony Forest. It […]

With all this talk of endurance riding and backcountry horse camping, Asali was beginning to wonder who was going to carry all of our gear (she doesn’t realize we’ll actually have a crew on our 100-milers). In fact, she told me the other day that if she was expected to carry me, she sure as […]

Today was one of those days. I just didn’t want to get out of bed. I had three very busy days at the hospital, one in particular that was also emotionally draining after our ICU lost a patient we were all sad to see go. I haven’t slept much in the last several days, which […]

Today was an insanely frustrating day of training. I almost ended up in tears. I don’t know what happened or what went wrong because Asali was fine when we started out – although she was willing to go out, she was quiet and mellow. Seemed like a day I could almost ride her bridle-less. But […]

After encountering some crazy drivers while riding on the road, I wrote to my local newspaper… below is a letter to the Editor that was printed in Tuesday’s paper: Dear Editor, I am writing because my mom and I were horseback riding on Coutolenc Road in Magalia two days ago and experienced what could have […]

I was in charge of getting the boys ready for school this morning and then dropping them off. I also had to pick them up from school, Declan at noon and then Jakob at 2:15. It’s not that I never do these things, because I do drop them off at school on days when I […]

Sunday was a full day with the horses. I rode Forest in the round pen, then later ponied him while I rode Asali. Our trainer, Sheri, came up to work with Beauty. I rode her in the arena for about 40 minutes under Sheri’s guidance, and then I took her out on the trail by […]

I worked my Appaloosa, Forest, in the round pen. Although I started him under saddle a little over a year ago, I don’t ride him more than twice a week (usually, I pony him), so he needs a lot more training learning to give to the bit. We did a lot of circles in the […]