The Suburban Horsewife

The Suburban Horsewife may be one of the more appropriate terms for what to call me. I was thinking about this the other day while driving and seeing all of the stickers that people put on their cars to identify themselves. I began to ponder what a sticker would like like that would define me...the next image that popped into my mind made me smile at its ridiculousness. Just imaging one of those female stick figures with a ponytail sitting on a horse with a Clemson tattoo on its but, while I'm hugging a tree in one hand, frying pan in the other, broom and cleaning products strapped to the saddle, with laboratory gloves and goggles on, two dogs and husband in the mix, and a large cross cascading over the outline of Africa surrounding this whole mess. Ha! Defined! Now let's put it in a box and then all the Americans can attempt to be abated while still terribly confused. This is my life and I have chosen every bit of it. So often I see people who just trade in one thing for the other...ex- horses are traded for children, job, age, education or boyfriend/husband. And yet if there is one thing that I have learned that seems universal, it is that if it matters to you, truly matters, then you will find a way to make it happen. That's why people's excuses seem so frail to me. Now reasons are one thing, but excuses are another...and they're a cop-out. Reasons and circumstances may explain you, but they don't have to define you. I think of this constantly as I want so badly to take Gabe to our first competition. And we're ready. We've been ready. We may not win, but we are ready to test ourselves and to try. I told David the other day, "I have been talking about competing for almost 8 years now. I am tired of talking about it. I want to actually do it. And if I'm not going to do it then I just need to give up and shut up about it". There was a pause and then I said, "But we both know I'm not very good at giving up" and he smiled at me.
So now that we've finished building our house and moved in, all I need to do is get a truck and trailer, dressage saddle, a few more show clothes, pants that fit(because I've lost 25lbs) and the best 1st timers show situation planned out with trainer on hand. Just maybe this will all happen before 2014, but if not then I guess you won't hear about it...

Colic

These past 6 months have been the most challenging with Gabe. We went through our first colic scare together. Apparently, he didn't drink enough water the one day that it snowed and that was all it took to begin 48 hrs of a colic nightmare. To be honest it went really well for it being a bad situation. I noticed the symptoms very early, the Vet was out in an hour, he was diagnosed and medicated within two hours. The rest was just the hard work portion...walking him every hour for the first 12 hours and then feeding 1/4 of his food every 3 hours and a lot more walking. I discovered several things through this experience. First of all, there is nothing like a punctual and trustworthy Vet, who actually loves what they do. Thank you Dr. Metcalf at Tryon Equine Hospital! Secondly, you learn a lot about a persons personality in times of trouble. My barn owner let me sleep in his cabin and use his wood stove throughout the 30 degree night. The dogs were welcome as well, with Tamu on my lap and Duke under my arm we stayed warm on an old couch for our 1 hr sleep intervals. I was so grateful for those two dogs! They have been such good friends to me. My boss let me have the next day off...I love working for an animal lover! David drove 3hrs, before going in to work a night shift, to pick up my Dad's truck and my sisters stethoscope. A cowboy that I had spoken with only a few times was willing to let me use his trailer if things went poorly and we had to move Gabe to the Equine Hospital. And one of my sweet friends texted me that she was praying for Gabe and kept checking up on him:) Overall, I realized how blessed I am to be surrounded by caring and generous people, people who say, "Call me if you need anything". And they mean it.
Now we are on the mend. I've celebrated horse flatulence and BMs like never before. Gabe loves his new soaked Timothy hay and I find myself quite jealous of it some mornings as it's steaming in the morning light and I'm eating a piece of toast. He seems to get the same enjoyment out of it as I do a nice cup of tea in a comfy chair. The interesting part of all this is that Gabe nickers to me now. In the 3 years I've owned him he has probably done that twice and the same goes for talking to other horses. He's the quite, silent type. But now he nickers to me just about every time I come out to the barn. Love it! He also comes galloping up to come see me...commence melting heart and warm fuzzies:) It's those moments that make sleepless nights and expensive vets bills worth it. It's for those moments that people who love me or are just kind strangers rearranged their schedule to help me. And yet we are so far away from our riding goals, but it's moments like that that I wouldn't trade for any great equestrian accolade in the world. My horse knows I love him and he loves me back. Immeasurable. Priceless.