May 12th has been a relatively historic day for me, full of little landmark moments. Like 13 years ago, when Sadie was born.

A lot of things have changed in my world because of her, in ways I never could have predicted. Not just because I ended up here with one of her foals, but also because of the connections I’ve made and the things I’ve learned along the way. Horses have a way of doing that, I’ve noticed. Absolutely nothing went according to my plan, but I think everything went the way it was supposed to.

Six years ago today, I started this blog. And this has been TRULY unexpected. My plan starting out was to try to post something every other day and see if I could maintain it for at least a few months. I had zero intention of it becoming an actual thing, much less a 5-days-a-week-for-six-years thing that has come to mean a lot to me. And again, this blog has led to so many other things and people and opportunities that were completely unforeseen.

I’ve made a lot of friends (indeed one of my closest friends Hillary is someone I met completely through blogging) and gotten to do some cool things. Granted, I’ve also gotten myself into a little trouble here and there along the way too, but hey what’s life without a little controversy? Sometimes blogging feels like work but the vast majority of the time it still feels like a fun creative outlet, so… guess I’ll keep going.

Two years ago today Presto went to his first horse show. Remember his in-hand trail debut? It was adorbs. Look how little he was.

I’d only had him home for a little over a month at that point, so it was a real test of what kind of horse I had in his most raw form. Some of those things were a little weird to him but he was smart and willing (and maybe a little cheeky), which has held pretty true as he’s gotten older too.

And then one year ago today was the very first time my butt graced Presto’s back. It was his first time wearing a western saddle and after a little bit of groundwork we did a mounting block lesson. As I was leaning across him I figured “ah, what the heck” and just swung a leg over.

We did nothing but stand there, and only for a few minutes, but still it was the moment when I got to be the first one to ever sit on him, and that’s pretty cool. Now a year later he’s 8 rides into his training and starting to look more like a real horse.

I’m not sure that any landmark moments will happen this year (it’s supposed to rain today – boo) but I guess we’ll see. Either way – happy Birthday Sadie! You were the beginning of the May 12th landmark moments.