Trainers and Things

I have broken down and my badass eventer friend is riding Dickie one day a week. I really really want to train him myself and think I can do it. It was hard to break down and ask for help because I don't want to admit defeat. The more I thought about it the more I really don't feel like I am admitting defeat. I don't feel stuck with our training, I don't feel like I can't do it on my own. My schedule is just too crazy to do it. I had her ride him a few times when I was super busy with pre holiday madness. When I had her ride him in the short term I was amazing at how relieved I felt. Owning a horse is a responsibility. Owning a young horse is a HUGE responsibility. They need you are there alllll the time. You can't just take a day off because you are tired. He doesn't understand. He is a big horse who can get downright pushy when he isn't being handled. It isn't the horses fault that you need to go Christmas shopping, or haven't seen your friend in forever. If you can't give a young horse the time they need then get an older trained horse. I didn't want to go that route. I wanted the challenge of starting a horse myself. When I made that decision I knew there were going to be some big sacrifices in my personal life.

That said, I am a nurse. I work 12 hour shifts three days a week. Sometimes I work 16 hour shifts. Riding on a work day is out of the question. I leave the house before six and get home after 8pm. My body is usually toast before my day is even over so riding would be stupid on a work day. That means I need to get out there on all my days off. Some weeks that is really hard when you add in spending tim with my better half or with my family. Since Cricket came on board I can have a day off. He adores her and I am always happy with how he rides after she has been on. So far we have been on the same page with what to work on. She even took note of my hip injury and is working on an issue that is hard with my hip. I have her ride on work days and she is super sweet. She sends me really long texts about how he did, what she worked on, and how cute he is. It makes those long rough days much easier. I look forward to my update texts.

I am glad I decided to have her offically help. I earn more working four hours than I pay her for a month. It helps my stubborn nature to know I am perfectly capable of training this horse myself. I would be an idiot though to pass up the chance to have a trainer ride my horse for half the price of most trainers. I probably wont have her ride him forever but for ride now it is pretty freakin awesome.