Saturday, January 12, 2013

JF Justinian

So I intended to stop writing this blog when I returned home from Argentina, but I felt like I needed to wrap 'er up, so to say. Especially because my latest bit of news involves Argentina in a big way. Earlier this week I completed a wire transfer (my first wire transfer, I felt very 1960's) to buy Justinian from Rancho Pampa... and when I write it out it sounds even crazier than it feels! But my main emotion is one of pretty intense excitement (touch of nervousness, apprehension, eagerness...)
I need to thank everyone down in Argentina, particularly Martin and Rachel for all the training, all the teaching, and all the time that was invested into me over my time there. I had opportunities to ride horses that I would never have found elsewhere, and an opportunity to really push the boundaries of my knowledge and skill-- and what I felt I could do. I thank them too for their openness and honesty and help with Justinian, and of course for Martin's excellent training of him.
I gotta thank the other working students too, especially Katie who is sating my thirst for photo updates on a regular basis! And Gala & Camilla for hacking him regularly :) Since it's pretty dang cold up here, he won't be coming up til about March or April, and I love the fact that the girls down there are riding him and that I can pester Katie regularly for updates (sorry Katie :P). And thanks to Garrett, who completely supported me in deciding to buy him just because he knows how much it means to me, even if it does mean a lot of cheap dates for the foreseeable future! His amazing Christmas gift of a whole set of jumps will certainly aid me in training in the future, too. :D


I feel like this is starting to sound like an Academy Awards speech, but I suppose it's good practice for my inevitable future Oscar... I really want to thank my parents. I could not believe it when Dad suggested this idea, and their support is above and beyond the call of duty (to a few orders of magnitude). I am incredibly lucky to have parents that love horses and that share and support my passion, which, objectively, is a pretty crazy and all-consuming passion, especially for a student. It's kind of nice to have an outlet to talk nonstop about horses to, conformation and training and breeding, and have my parents show real interest. I don't think I ever showed any particular aptitude in show jumping or horse showing, despite bumbling along pretty keenly for a long time and having some pretty castle-in-the-sky dreams... and despite this, my parents never stopped encouraging me, and this is the ultimate gesture of support. I honestly don't know how to thank them enough.

And some details on Justinian... he just turned five and up until today was a stallion... but as of today, is a gelding! He has shown in the Series I Young Horse Series.

Well, that's basically it for now... I just felt like I needed this last post to sum up what has now become probably the biggest adventure of my life... I have no idea what this year will bring, but with grad school and a new job and a new horse coming, I know it's gonna be quite the experience! Definitely interested to see how Haajes takes to a new pal, too. Now I have a lot to think about and some big decisions to make, but y'know, I'm kinda excited about that too. Onward and upward?