Why "In Omnia Paratus"?

Today marks THREE years of blogging here.

I'm sure many of you have wondered why my blog is titled the way it is. I'm certain I covered it somewhere in the beginning of my blogging journey, but if you're like me you hardly have time to go back and read the past entries of all the blogs you begin following beyond the pertinent must-know details!

In actuality, I doubt many of you would gain much from my early entries. When I began this blog, I didn't have a purpose for it more than an outlet. I'd been reading a handful of blogs and liked that they had some sort of support system and the community. I did Xanga YEARS ago for awhile, too, and enjoyed that. I wanted to bring it back.

In Omnia Paratus is Latin for "ready for anything" or "preparation in all things". I picked it up from my all-time favorite show, Gilmore Girls. 

I was a senior in college headed into my final semester when I started this blog. I pondered the name for awhile before starting it. I made my URL on blogger my name because I couldn't be certain I'd even KEEP the blog's name forever.

I did know one thing though: senior year of college is scary. You have all these grand ideas about what you want to be and where you want to go, but nothing is quite certain. Not yet.

I wanted to go to grad school. I wanted to move away west. I didn't have a horse. Only Kenai. I had dreams. So many dreams. I had several small plans. So many small plans.

But none of that came to fruition.

In Omnia Paratus. 

I had to be ready for that. And even if I wasn't, I had to put on my best "fake it to make it" facade and push forward making the best of whatever came.

Spring of 2011 brought about a series of unexpected things. The job I still have (though my position is much different) fell into my lap. I would be moving back to my small hometown after graduation. And I suddenly had acquired my very first horse.

In Omnia Paratus. 

I took it all in stride and took off with it. I did my best. I kept my chin up. I learned a ton. I developed new plans and goals and dreams. I embraced the reintroduction of an equestrian influence in my life. I started training for Nat'l Ski Patrol - a lifetime goal that would prove stressful and amazing to accomplish.

But then cold reality struck with my first horse as I realized that he had piss-poor conformation for nigh on everything I had great interest in doing. He broke down under routine exercise that I'd built up over months. I had to quickly evolve my dreams, goals, and aspirations again.

In Omnia Paratus.

I rehabbed the horse. Not even completely through the program, a friend asked if she could buy him. Have you sold a still-lame horse before? Without advertising? Yeah. Didn't think so.

It was crazy and an incredible stroke of luck for all involved. The horse got to return to the first place I'd kept him. The girl gained her first horse. And all her plans (and now realities) with him have been PERFECT and beyond for what he is capable of doing and what she's been learning. Such a great team.

In Omnia Paratus.

And so I continued sans horse for the rest of 2011, resolving to find and buy a nice little Arab to compete in endurance after ski season. I completed my NSP training. It stressed me out, but I loved it. It was a HUGE accomplishment and time of growth for me. I'd conquered some intense training while still doing well in my "real" job as a biologist.

In Omnia Paratus.

With another new year, Griffin fell into my lap as a project. "Train him," I was told, "If you like him, keep him. If you don't like him sell him. If you can't stand him, give him back."

I think we all know where that went!

In Omnia Paratus.

A few months later, fresh out of snow season and into the warmer months, Q fell into my lap as an opportunity. Buy her or don't buy her and risk wondering forever why I hadn't and what had come of her at the auction she was headed for. At a minimum, she could be a project that I would sell if I didn't like her. And just like that, I became the owner of two horses.

In Omnia Paratus.

And so it goes.

You're all likely familiar with most of the story from there. Its been documented pretty well. The flip flopping of horses into, out of, and into my life again has helped me develop this originally undirected blog into a primarily equestrian focus. It will forever contain additional small chapters on all of my adventurous pursuits, too. I think you all enjoy living vicariously through those as much as I love writing about them so I can one day look back on them.

This blog grew into its name - as things tend to do. Things have changed a lot in my life in the few years since its birth. I've met them all head on with as positive an attitude as I can. In omnia paratus, ready for anything.