Blog Hop: Haiku Farm

I was out of town this past weekend in Detroit so no super exciting new horse-content but I saw quite a few friends on my reading list take part in a blog hop that Haiku Farm recently started. I've really been enjoying everyone's posts so far and decided to join the fun.

Introduce yourself!
My "about" page has most of the intro information already written out...so instead I'm going to share some random facts about myself.

1. I have been a huge Star Wars fan since middle school.
2. My favorite food is pizza. I really enjoy a lot of foods...but pizza is probably #1.
3. I love greyhounds and sighthounds. 100% going to adopt a longsnoot when I finally get a place of my own.

Introduce your horse(s)!
Quest aka "Mareface". She also has her own "about" page, so spoiled. We've been together since August 2014.

What's your favorite horse sport? Do you cross train in other activities?
Endurance. I honestly can't exactly recall how I discovered the sport but it might have been as unspectacular as me googling "long distance trail riding" and realizing there was a whole organized SPORT and thousands of people who are just as insane as I am. As a spectator, eventing is my favorite to watch. If I ever learn how to jump and dressage properly AND have the money to compete, I would consider giving it a go.

Who else in your family rides?
My younger sister was horse-crazy while growing up and we did our first group riding lessons together at summer camp. She's not into horses anymore but still appreciates going on rent-a-hack rides. I've given her a basics lesson on Quest in the arena once.

My parents are very non-horsey. They don't ride at all but are getting slowly more comfortable being around horses thanks to Quest.

What's your proudest equestrian accomplishment?
Winning Reserve Champion and Rookie Award at the 2015 Muckleratz CTR. It was my first distance riding event ever, first time I ever rode 25 miles in a day, and first time catch-riding. I'm still amazed that I managed to do all that on a horse I only just met the night before and hopped on for barely 10 minutes.

What was your lowest moment as a horse owner/rider?
Getting the news about Quest's front suspensory injury, right at the start of our first competitive LD season. It was a heartbreaking blow to my fledging horse ownership confidence and I was depressed for months.

What's the most important small thing you ever learned in a lesson?
Ride the horse you have that day. This little phrase was something I came up with on my own the first year while learning to ride with different horses. I've always enjoyed trying out new-to-me lesson horses and saw it as a fun challenge to figure out their quirks and get them going as best as they could. This has worked really well with helping me mentally deal with Quest when I have a perfect saint  vs. snorting jigging hellbeast.

Do you have any riding rituals or superstitions?
Not really....or maybe I haven't being doing this "horse thing" long enough yet to have picked up anything.

What are your short term goals for yourself/your horse?
Finish rehabilitating Quest and condition us for distance.

Long term goals?
LDs and CTRs with Quest. For me, get some lessons and learn to jump.

If time and money were no object, what is your dream equestrian vacation?
Ride in Scotland and Mongolia. Inspired by my Texas riding vacation earlier this year, I've made it a goal to trail ride in as many countries and US states as possible. I want to try riding in a new place every year.

What kind of horse activities were you doing 10 years ago?
None unfortunately, I only started riding 3 years ago as an adult.

What kind of horse activities do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now?
Hopefully blessed to still be healthy enough to keep riding. I'd love to be training/campaigning another endurance horse by then too.

What is the quirk about your horse that you like most.
Quest has the go button for trails but she is wonderfully patient with beginners in the arena. I've put four new-to-horse people on her at various times and she never put a foot out of line.