Thursday, June 14, 2018

My Plans Sprung a Leak

For me, competing my horses in any discipline is a fine balance of time and finances. Having horses is a luxury in and of itself. Competing them? Even more so. I'm not someone who is driven purely by competition, fortunately, but I do enjoy using it as a test of our current training. And it's so fun to get out there with other horse people and enjoy the community horses create!

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To offset the text, have some pretty photos from recent WV adventures.
Guadineer Knob, Cheat Mountain

Originally, I'd hoped to get to some of the spring twilight eventing trials at Loch Moy this year. But then my year was slow to start due to weather, work, and life responsibilities and I crossed them off one at a time.

I made lemonade with the lemons I was given, though, and fit in two centered riding lessons! Not quite as fun as Loch Moy, but definitely some great building blocks for us. The things we worked on during those lessons will do nothing but improve our dressage work and all other undersaddle work in the future.

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Sunrise over Canaan Valley State Park

So, I shrugged off the botched start to my year and looked forward to more twilight eventing through the summer. Moving the horses resulted in crossing off the June option, but I wasn't upset about that. The trade of having the horses closer to home was well worth it! After all, more time to ride would = a better turnout at a later event.

Except, well, then shit got real.

The day I was moving the horses was rainy AF. It was a bother at the time but a hidden blessing in that I was able to observe that my truck had some sort of fluid leak. Nothing crazy, but just enough to set a sheen to the puddle where I parked as I loaded everything. It had been in the shop for an oil change, new wiper fluid reservoir, and *surprise* new alternator the week before, so I figured they just didn't screw everything back in re: oil change. The computer didn't read any errors, so I moved the horses without issue and resolved to take the truck in the following week to have it looked at and have them fix another new issue: no matter what the setting, the blower only delivered heat.

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Coberly Sods grazing allotments on Bickle Knob, Monongahela Nat'l Forest looking toward Elkins

You see where this is going, I'm sure. My ideas of a quick, simple fix for my truck were quickly dashed when the mechanic called me to say he was fairly certain I had a rear main seal leak - a leak with some pretty serious ramifications if not addressed immediately. Additionally, some of my wiring for the air system was all sorts of boggled and likely fried and contributing to the other minor electrical issues I'd chalked up to being "old age" in my 2003 vehicle.

As the electrical issue requires a bit more diagnostics, he didn't have much to add about that problem re: cost estimate, but he did note that if indeed my rear main seal is leaking (he's following up with a few more diagnostics to be 110% sure), that will require removal of the transmission in order to fix. Cue much anxiety and gnashing of teeth on my part as he shared the cost estimate for all of the labor.

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Canaan Valley; site of future XC jumps

And so, all of my hopes and dreams of summer trials, and quite possibly fall trials, have been dashed. Because horses are a balance of time and finances and my finances are sorely exhausted. My annual competition budget has basically been spent on the truck used to reach said competitions. Womp, womp, womp.

C'est la vie. I can't change the situation. However, I can put efforts toward upping my side hustle so I can build a meager fund for some competitions later in the year. Until then, you can find Griffin and I having imaginary competitions in the dressage "field" and on our soon-to-be XC course (photos once I finish setting it up!) while Q and I travel competition distances for free on our local trails.

24 comments:

  1. Well poo! I'm sorry about your truck problems. I'm SO paranoid that mine will start falling apart soon now that I have the trailer and that the truck is almost paid off. It's so disheartening when things don't go as we plan. :(

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    1. I hear you on that paranoia! It's a real thing to have worries like that.

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  2. Nooooo! Well bummer. But at least your truck is good to go!

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    1. Hopefully it'll be out of the shop next week... But yes, definitely enjoy having the freedom to travel - even if it is locally!

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  3. ugh that sucks :( good luck with the side hustle tho, i'm still hangin onto my dreams of getting both our horses at the same event at some wonderful future date!!

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    1. I'm holding out hope, too! I'd love to make two of the three HTs in the Loch Moy fall series.

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  4. Damn the luck ☹️ I'm kind of in the same boat as far as money I hoped to spend on competitions getting earmarked for other more pressing things (including truck maintenance!), but as I always try to remind myself, there well always be more shows. Just think how much more prepared you and Grif will be to knock some socks off whenever you do get to return to the show ring! And at least you figured out the truck problem before it turned into a much bigger issue -- tiny silver lining?

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    1. BIG silver lining! And yes, exactly my train of thought re: preparedness. I will hopefully be able to grab another dressage lesson or two this summer. Learning and improving is what matters most!

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  5. This is how I feel after I dumped money into a vet exam that yielded minimal information. But at least I've eliminated options for the source of my issue and that is valuable.

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    1. Knowledge is so very valuable! That's a huge bummer that you didn't learn more though.

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  6. Ugh. Not cool but at least the truck will be fixed and ready to go adventuring when your pocket book recovers a bit from the hemorrhaging. And with the horses so close to home and trails you have endless opportunities to ride still!

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  7. I get pretty annoyed at truck expenses. Like I know the trucks gets me too events, but I am still more annoyed when then truck needs money than when the horses do.

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    1. OMFG I know. This. So much this. So much harder to spend this money lol

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  8. Oh BOOO. It's awful when the thing that enables you to ride and show gets in the way of doing the riding and showing!

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  9. I love your positive attitude about all of it!! It sucks that your truck is broken though. I completely relate to your pain. My truck (that we do all of our hay hauling and farm work with and pulling the horse trailer) is broken and hubby is having to rebuild an entire replacement engine AND our tractor is broken too!! I can't afford to have them worked on so hubby is working on them as he can on the weekends. It's slow going though. Fingers crossed that the wiring isn't as bad as it sounds and that it can all be fixed quickly!

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    1. Argh to broken vehicles! But that's great that your husband can help fix them to save some money!

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  10. Oh, this resonates with me so hard right now. I keep telling myself I have nothing but time, and we will get there when we get there... I hope the repairs end up cheaper than anticipated!

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    1. I'm gonna have to mutter that mantra under my breath until this debacle is over lol...get there when we get there...nothing but time...

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