One of the many aspects of riding that I love is that you can never stop learning and, you can always start a new discipline. My riding story started at 8 years old, learning to ride hunt seat, and growing up in 4-H. Fast forward a little over 20 years, and 8 years with my best buddy Nemo, and I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to ride in the hunter ring, jumpers, local open shows, and some of Nemo and my favorite things: hunter paces, beach rides, and occasional trail ride adventures in the local state forest.

When I found Nemo, I honestly didn’t have a goal for him other than to have fun bringing him along, and to truly enjoy him. We’ve tried several different disciplines and riding events, and I think he truly found his niche when we had the opportunity to try Eventing this year. I think it’s safe to say, he loves it as much, if not more, than I do. We’ve had an exciting first season, attending a schooling event this past spring, two amazing Eventing camps, some really helpful clinics, and an exciting off-property cross country schooling day. As we’ve learned more and more about Eventing, I had a goal in the back of my mind to be able to take Nemo BN by our last event of the year. I’m so excited to say, we had a chance to do that mid-October, and I’m so proud of Nemo.

The day started out a little cool, very much like typical New England October days, so I knew that, prepping for our Dressage test, my goal was going to be to keep Nemo relaxed, centered, and focused. He has a tendency to feed off of other horses, a show atmosphere, or, if I’m not careful, my nerves, so as we headed into the warmup area, I was very careful to keep a zen-like mindset. As we finished our warmup and headed to do our test, I gave him a pat and couldn’t help but smile as we started part one of the day’s event. He was a bit nervous going into the ring, but once we did a quick trot around to let him see what was going on, he settled, and I was so impressed with his test. We have many things to work on, some great goals for our winter Dressage practice, and some fun positives that he really shined at to reflect on too. As we left the ring, I was so happy with him, and then we started to prep for part two.

I’ve always loved show jumping, and it makes me smile that Nemo enjoys it as well. When I jump Nemo, I have to really focus on keeping him collected, and keeping his stride powerful, yet balanced back on his hindquarters to help him really use his whole body to get over the fences. I practiced this as we warmed up, memorized the course, and headed in the ring. One thing that was in the back of my mind, was one jump that has a larger flower box that Nemo finds particularly scary. I knew I’d have to ride this jump assertively and give him the confidence to get to the other side. As we picked up the canter, I could feel Nemo’s excitement. We jumped jump one, two, made it over the scary flower jump, and then Nemo settled nicely and finished the course. Some take aways I have are just being sure to not over-correct him or shorten his stride too much, and I can’t wait to practice that more this winter. We finished clear and headed to do our cross-country course.

Heading to the cross-country course, my excited nerves amped up. Nemo was particularly interested in why all the horses kept galloping up the hill near him. It took a little convincing to get him to quiet down, and we headed toward the starting area. I made small, methodical circles to keep him centered, and once the countdown to start ended, galloped off with Nemo to fence one. I don’t know who smiled more, Nemo or I, but I do know we were grinning the entire time. He had a moment or two where I cheered him on with extra encouragement when he was nervous, and I had a moment or two where I overthought a jump. He was such a good boy, galloping everything, and even locking onto the water, galloping through it. (This past spring, he really did not like going in the water at all.) As we pulled up at the end of the course, I couldn’t help but laugh and give him a huge hug. He pranced the whole way back to the barn with the happy little Morgan prance he does, and was so proud of himself.

We spent the rest of the day hand grazing, I gave Nemo so many cookies, and told him what a good boy he was as well. Reflecting on our first season, we’ve learned so much, and I’ve been so proud of how brave, honest, and willing Nemo has been. I’m very excited to look for additional learning experiences, and ways to practice and work toward our goals for next year and can’t wait for next year’s eventing season to start.