After the last three years of struggling to keep Nick's (Insert body part here) , (hooves, teeth eyes, digestive system) from falling apart, I've decided that at going on 23, it might be time for a career change for the old man. It was a tough decision because he's so fun to jump, but when I started to worry(and I am not a worrier) about his soundness with every long spot, hard landing or trip, I kind of felt like it was the universe saying that I might want to rethink when I was doing. Just because he would do it, should he do it? After some thought I decided that no he shouldn't.
For a while I didn't even say my decision out loud, because he was feeling good and happy in the tack. I was thinking maybe I jumped the gun...maybe he has one more season in him...And he might, but I still think my reasoning is sound.
I rode a 30 year old horse the other night, bareback playing Pony Club Games, and he smoked everyone...I want to do the same thing with Nick when he's 30. I want him to be the "S" word as long as possible knowing that once a horse is in their 20's every year is a gift.
It's definitely the hardest thing when you have to make big decisions about your heart horse. Luckily in my case it's just about semi-retirement and not something more permanent, but it was still a hard. We have so much wrapped up in our horses, financially but also emotionally. I've never taken Nick to big shows, so we've never won big prizes or anything like that. We are a long way from fancy, but he got me back into riding after a long hiatus, and rekindled my love for Eventing simply with his "Let's do it!" attitude. That quality is hard to find in a horse, and in truth probably my biggest fear when moving forward with another horse is will I find one with that brain again? I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but for now even though Jumping is out of the cards for Nick we have other things to work on.
So coming Spring 2018 is Nick 2.0...The Dressage Queen..err...King. So watch out Dressage World non-fancy is about to be all up in your business. ;-)
