For everyone who read this post title and thought “oh god, there she goes again waxing poetic about eventing” – you’re right, here I go again. Today we embark on our journey to Coconino, and while to most people it would probably seem like just another show (that you can’t wait for me to stop talking about), I can’t help but reflect on just how much this opportunity really means to someone like me.

I don’t have a fancy, expensive horse. I don’t have a new, pimped out truck. I don’t have a shiny, pretty trailer. I have a $900 horse that I bought on Facebook, a used and slightly dinged truck complete with old school crank windows, and I pull a very, uh, “vintage” trailer that cost even less than my horse. Heck, I sleep in a truck tent at shows. And I’m deeply grateful for all of it, every single day.

This is a sport that has room for everyone. Sure, sometimes we lose to the people on a 60k import with a 100k rig, but lots of times we don’t. When I see a fancy horse trotting around dressage warmup, I don’t feel instantly defeated. I admire them, drool a little over the pretty horsey, and then go about my business knowing that we all have 3 phases to get through. At the end of the day, those three very different phases are a pretty great equalizer. Some days you win, some days you find yourself rocketing face first into the water.

The best part is, in the sport of eventing I am not unique — not by a long shot. Many competitors have stories similar to mine. There aren’t a lot of sports where the field of entries is pretty much always split between horses that cost $1500 or less or horses that cost 30k and up. They might range from 14 hands to 18 hands. They could be Arabs or Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds or warmbloods. Their riders might be sitting in a $300 saddle or a $6000 saddle. The competitors roll into the show grounds in all sorts of rigs, big to small and fancy to total jalopy. There aren’t a lot of sports where just about anyone could win, regardless of how simple or how fancy.

Being able to show in other states, travel with my horse, spend multiple weeks on the road… those have always been far-off dreams. They seemed far-off because in my mind those are the things that wealthy people do, and I’m not a wealthy person. I was the working student left behind while the other kids went to winter circuit. I’m the adult shopping for a project horse on facebook with a 1k budget. I considered all those things to be pipe dreams, just about as far from my reality as you could possibly get.

Yet here we are, embarking on a another journey I never imagined I’d be able to make, with the kind of horse I never thought I’d be lucky enough to own. First Nationals last year, a dream come true in it’s own right, and now this. I will never stop being thankful for the relative affordability of the sport of eventing, for all the friends and family who continue to enable my addiction, and for all the opportunities that it has given me. Two weeks in the mountains of Arizona, a long format 3 Day, and my horse’s first recognized show at a level I didn’t even dare dream of just a year and half ago when we started… how freaking awesome is this?

On Friday they let us out of work early, therefore I decided to fully embrace the opportunity. First I had the vet come out to do a health certificate for Henry and Halo for their trip, then I loaded Henry up and made the 3.5hr drive to Willow Draw to meet my trainer for some XC schooling. I haven’t done a formal XC school on Henry in months… probably a good idea to squeeze one in before Coco. Plus I’ve been dying to check out Willow Draw anyway.

And I have to say – what a gorgeous facility. Awesome footing, a great variety of fences and a really pretty setting. I’m excited that they’re hosting recognized shows now, we’re definitely gonna have to go add it to the list.

For some reason Henry was uncharacteristically spooky though… not sure if it was the light, being so late in the evening, or if he just thought the place was full of goblins. He wasn’t really sure he wanted to jump over the open ditch (even after he jumped it several times he remained skeptical) but for the most part he trucked along fine. I just had to go to my stick and spurs a few times, which is very out of the ordinary for him. Granted, he jumped the big ugly Training trakehner without batting an eye, so maybe he just had a bit of The Dumb. Open ditch = deadly. Log over giant ditch = no problem. Henny logic.

Either way, I felt really rusty so it was good to get out. Henry will get a bit of a break after Coconino but then I think we need to do a lot of XC schooling in Aug/Sept if I have any delusions of running Training in the fall.

Of course, I forgot to turn the camera back on for the mound to trakehner series, which were probably our best jumps. Me and helmet cams, man… Henry and I are the same level of smart.

What better way to celebrate America?

Teddy’s Tack Trunk – 15% off Leistner brush orders over $50 with coupon code JULY

Riding Warehouse – sale items, plus use coupon code GIVE06 for $10 off or LIKE10 for 10% off

Bit of Britain –  20% off sitewide, including an additional 20% off sale items with code fireworks20

VTO Saddlery – 15% off orders $100 or more with code CLEARANCE, some exclusions

Adam’s Horse Supply – 15% off with coupon code FREEDOM

Swanky Saddle – 15% off sitewide with code PATRIOTIC plus free Swanky Tee for orders over $100

Equus Tack – 50% off closeout Cavallo and De Niro boots plus 10% off storewide with coupon code HAPPY4TH

One Horse Threads – 30% off with coupon code stars

O’Shaughnessey – 30% off sitewide with coupon code USAOS

20 x 60 – 20% off with coupon code fireworks

KJ Creations – 15% off everything with coupon code Happy4th

The Herbal Horse – 15% off your entire order with coupon code FIREWORKS

Big Dee’s – $10 gift card for every $75 spent with code GCG3

Relatively Stable – 20% off with coupon code FREEDOM

Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear – 20% off anything red or blue

Emily’s Equine Creations – $5 off orders of $20+ with coupon code freedom

LeFash – free shipping with code happy4th

Horze – up to 70% off

Smartpak – 15% off with code July16, some exclusions

Now that it’s stopped raining in Texas and our fields have dried up, we’re back to being able to ride outside of the ring as much as we want. This is a happy time, because Henry and I are both big fans of doing as much work outside of the ring as possible.

He’s still well-behaved in the confines of an arena, but he’s a little grumpier, a little more sullen, and a little harder to motivate. When the footing is good in the fields, we really only go in the ring to jump, since, ya know… that’s where the jumps are. So we might only ride in the ring once a week or so.

If it’s a dressage ride I usually take him out to the smaller field right next to the barn. In prepping for the 3 Day we’ve added a long walk or long trot before/after pretty much every ride, even dressage days, and it all seems a lot less monotonous going round and a round a field instead of round and round the ring. Plus Henry really likes to pretend to spook at random things, especially bushes, and who am I to take that joy away from him?

For straight up conditioning rides and gallops we go down the street to the big hay field. I’ve got that place down to a science – one lap at a 220ish mpm trot is exactly 5 minutes, and it’s a lot easier for my brain to handle 8 or 9 laps than it is to embrace the reality of a 40-45 minute trot. I can’t even imagine trying to do that in the ring, I think I’d stab myself in the eye out of sheer boredom and Henny would probably decline to continue carting my butt around.

As an eventer, riding outside of the arena is obviously pretty essential. You have to be able to control the horse in a wide open space, get yourself and your horse used to traversing varying terrain, etc. Plus you just need SPACE to gallop. Can’t do 450mpm gallops sets in an arena. Not without being really freaking scary, anyway. Most of the eventers I know ride outside of the ring at least a few times a week.

But I also know a lot of people that rarely, if ever, ride outside of the arena. Many because they just don’t need to, but for some people I know it’s a fear issue. Like the lady I knew forever ago who wouldn’t even walk a single step outside of an enclosed area – she would even mount/dismount in the ring and always close the gate. I guess that’s a control thing? And then there are the horses who seem to genuinely lose their shit outside of the ring. Granted, I’ve never had one, but I’ve heard of these mystical creatures.

How often do you ride outside of the ring, and for what purposes?