Tracy from Fly on Over came up with this cool challenge and I wanted to play!

1. Most influential person on your riding

This answer has three parts for me, mostly because I can never give a one absolute answer to anything. In the way of support, the most influential person is my husband.  Without him, my horse life would be drastically different.  He also believes in me and gives me the little push I need sometimes to press on.  In the way of actual riding skills, the most influential person is my trainer.  She is whipping my butt into shape and making my rider come farther than it ever has before!  Finally, in terms of my horse philosophy I would say my very first trainer, Judy.  She taught me all my fundamentals and the most important lesson – the horse comes first.  I learned to enjoy horses from her, and that it isn’t all about showing and ribbons.

2. Piece of tack you’d love to splurge on

A custom Amerigo to fit my Simon and myself.  Ooooooooo, ahhhhhhhh.  Santa?  Santa for the next 10 years of my life?

3. Top 5 riding playlist

I actually don’t listen to music when I ride… fail.  Headphones annoy me and I like to chat and hear my horse’s hooves.

4. Most important aspect of your barn?

The horse care is excellent, which is always my top priority when picking a place.  Another important aspect to me is the social life.  My barn is not a high traffic lesson barn, and has more adult riders than anything else.  This means I’m riding with my peers, and that’s important when you’re a dork like me who doesn’t really do much social besides spend time with her horsie… does that count as being social?

5. Three winter riding goals

1) Improve our changes.  2) Nail down our canter to trot down transition without having his head explode.  3) No stirrups till the cows come home!

You may also like:

The 5 Day Challenge – Day 2 The 5 Day Challenge – Day 4 The 5 Day Challenge – Day 5 The 5 Day Challenge – Day 3 Going to see a man about a horse