Anniversary

October 1st was a big day for me and Katai since in 2012, 5 years ago on this day I brought her home :) Since I don't know what her birthday is I just use this as her birthday too so along with our anniversary it was her 8th birthday this year.

To celebrate she got a bunch of carrots and an apple (her favorite) and I decorated her stall. I really wanted to spend some quality time with her but had to get Veggie dropped off with his sitter and then get to the airport right away.

I ended up playing with her and doing some free lunging which was fun too. It's really cool to see the relationship we've built in that way and how she's happier with me than away from me in the arena. It also gave her a chance to stretch her legs a bit before she went back to her pen.

Although I will miss this view

I'm hoping to get out there tonight once I get home and then finally we're going to have a few months of consistent work without travel breaks. I'm so so so pumped :)

What a Summer

Alternate title could be All the AirBnBs since I'll have stayed at 6-7 by the end of the year 4 of which are for this trip.

This has been a crazy year for me travel-wise. In the past going to Lexington for the Pony Cup and doing a couple of work trips (of one week or less) to WA were about all I did. This year that has not been the case.

Certainly can't argue about the accommodations

 First there were a couple of long work trips to Seattle early in the year. I went out in January and again in March for a week. Then I went to Omaha for World Cup which was amazing! After that, I ended up with another trip (this time stressful) to Seattle in June. I had a chance to recover from that and then got to travel to Lexington for Pony Cup again :)

And of course got to hang out with Jen and Connor!!! Photo credit: Jen's mom

I've known that I'd have a longer trip at the end of July for work (mildly stressful) but then that turned into a longer and more stressful trip that was going to be 8-9 days. However, plans changed and it's now going to be 12 days. Yikes...

Puget Sound outside my bedroom

I do get to go to Portland which is a trip that I'd previously wanted to do this year but decided not to do for financial reasons. However, work is paying for the hotel and since I can drive down there from Seattle I don't need to pay for a flight so I'll have 2-3 days in Portland this weekend (for the cost of a rental car) and then back to Seattle for the following week.

The day before I left I was feeling the stress and didn't want to get
into an argument with her so we just cuddled and played in the arena.
She did think I was unfair not getting her Starbucks

I'm also in Seattle long enough that I'm getting to do more exploring than I have in the past which is awesome but... I really miss my pony and I miss Veggie. I'm probably going to go slightly crazy between not being able to see them for 12 days. Not getting to ride means that I'll need to remember what I'm doing when I get back along with likely being sore. All of that with just about 3 weeks to prep for our show at the end of August.

Opportunities like this just don't come around that often and even though it's stressful it's fun to explore and get to spend more time on the west coast. I haven't seen the ocean since I was 18 and I'm SOOO excited to get to go back in a couple of days. I've also had Portland, or OR in general, on my list of places I'd like to live so it will be nice to get to spend more time there so that I can decide if it stays on my list.

Missing this nose soooo much right now

I do have two more trips planned this year. One at the end of August to Rochester, NY (can't wait to hang out with my sister and BIL and meet Bobby!!) and one more for work in October/November but hopefully that will be it. I'm also really hoping that next year there will be less travel. I'm really a homebody but I haven't been able to travel that much in the past and I don't think next year will have as many opportunities for travel so I'm going to enjoy this while I can and pray that I don't fall off or completely forget what I'm doing when I get to ride my pony again.

T minus 8 days and counting until I get to fly back home.

I'm Back!

I do love work trips to Seattle though!
So cool to watch this sea plane taking off Lake Union from my hotel elevator

In more ways than one.

The past few weeks have been really tough in being able to get to the barn. First was the accident and being in pain, then not having a car to drive, then the holidays, and finally this week I was in Seattle, WA for work. I just got back today and its so good to be home.

Or the Amazon Bio-orb that's under construction

Even though it's been tough to only be able to occasionally go to the barn and the lack of rides and lessons hasn't made for much progress it has been sort of nice to have a "forced" break from regular riding. I was lacking a bit on motivation both because of the weather and because I think I just needed a break. Now though, especially today, I'm feeling way more motivated. I think it's both because of the break and because I finished reading book two of the Dressage Chronicles and I'm reading book three, for the first time. I love these books and they always make me want to ride and go to dressage shows :)

Or the place where cool car things happen :)

I'm planning to ride or go to the barn every day through my lesson on Tuesday next week and I'm really glad that I have absolutely no plans until the end of February so I can just focus on riding!