Bloghop: Favorites of 2018

Blog hop time, this time from Amanda at The $900 Facebook Pony! The rules: there must be a picture for all of these categories. Join in!

Favorite Show Picture

Maybe my favorite picture of all time. Seeing this always reminds me of how far we’ve come together, and how he’s blown every expectation we had for him out of the water. His power over the fence, his expression as he looks to the next one, all of it makes me so proud.

Favorite Non-Show Picture

Liz captured this photo, and it brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it. I have no idea how she managed to so beautifully capture his expression and kindness. It’s such a faithful representation of my handsome boy.

Favorite thing you bought

Do private lessons count? I didn’t really buy much tack or equipment this year since we were well set, and spent my money on training and vet care instead. We worked our butts off and it was sweaty but amazing.

Favorite moment on horseback

Getting back in the saddle after being gone for weeks, just to walk around. Feeling that familiar swinging walk, seeing those happy ears, and realizing just how much I had missed that feeling.

Favorite moment out of the saddle

If this doesn’t capture us, I don’t know what does. My mom snapped this as I was tacking up, incredibly nervous and jittery, and Frankie somehow knew that I needed some love. He gave me the confidence to put my feet in the irons and try- even though that ride ended with me falling off before I could even go in to compete, he was right there with me the whole time.

Favorite “between the ears” picture

View from our outdoor ring at sunset. I’ve grown to really love my adopted home state, and I feel so lucky that Frankie and I get to call this barn home.

Favorite horse book or article

My trainer put out some incredibly thoughtful and interesting blog posts this past year, and I’m hard pressed to pick just one. I find that she has a knack for articulating different concepts in a way that makes sense to my brain, and uses examples that I can apply directly. Big big fan.

Favorite horse ridden (or groomed/cared for) aside from your own

I got to hack my friend’s SUPER broke and fancy hunter. While he’s also a tall leggy bay, he is completely different from Frankie and I absolutely did not do him justice. It was so weird and cool to feel what it’s like to sit on a horse with such beautiful hunter movement!

Favorite funny picture of your horse

Another from Liz! It was so hard to pick just one for this category- Francis is a King Goof and I have endless silly pics of him. I just love how in this one we have his fancy tack on, the composition of the shot is beautiful, the jumps set up in the background, ears up and attentive…and then classic Francis. It’s so him.

Favorite fence that you successfully jumped or movement that you conquered

We’re showjumpers, every fence is some variation of colorful sticks hahaha. But this particular jump was a decent sized oxer into a one stride off a short turn, which we had been struggling with. But Frankie was super on it, I rode well (for once), and this came up powerfully out of stride like we knew what we were doing. So it isn’t really the jump itself as much as the skills that finally clicked into place to jump it well.

Favorite horse meme or funny picture

It’s all about balance, ok???