2010s Photo Challenge

I have a wealth of posts just sitting and waiting to be published. Despite my every intention to blog a lot this month, it is somehow December 23, and I, uh, haven't. Again. lol

BUT! I honestly have 4 nearly-complete drafts waiting in the wings, so I plan to end this year strong and plow merrily into 2020 with more content.

To kick things off, here are photos from each year 2010-2019. I kept this easy on myself and just browsed my social media accounts for options as opposed to deep diving into my many external harddrives... Thanks, Emily, for a fabulous photo challenge to end the decade!

2010

Okay, this photo is actually from autumn of 2009, but the only photo I could find already on the internets of Stan and I from 2010 was one of my feet, Stan's hooves in a dark corner of the photo, and the focus was on one of the barn bloodhounds. Knowing I rode in the same places in 2009 and 2010, this place holder will have to do! So, behold, Stanley and I a decade ago! 

2011

In 2011, I was given this horse. I named him Orion. He was a very good boy with very unfortunate conformation. I learned a lot of hard lessons about conformation during the 6 months in 2011 that I owned him. Ultimately, he wasn't going to be able to do any of the things I wanted to do with a horse and it was silly to pump money into something that wasn't going anywhere. I rehomed him with another redhead and he still lives in Elkins and is mostly a pasture puff on a small farm. He really lucked out on a good life! 

2012

2012 brought both of these goobers into my life. Grif in January and Q in May. 

2013

In 2013, I became an endurance rider. I completed 3 50s on other people's horses and my first 50 on my own horse. It was an awesome season.

2014

I started Griffin under saddle very lightly in 2013 and started putting him through his paces in earnest in 2014. By September of that year, we began schooling little jumps. 

2015

It will be hard for another ride photo to ever top this one. RBTR 50 miler in 2015.

2016

Crossing the finishline of each of our first 100-mile ride - the Old Dominion. I was really damn emotional at this point for a lot of reasons, not the least of which included being awake for 26 hours and riding this little mare over 100 miles of hard, rocky, mountainous terrain in the GW Jefferson National Forest in VA and WV. What an amazing experience.

2017

2017 was the year I dove headlong into eventing. Grif and I trailered out of state multiple times and competed in both dressage and eventing schooling events. I sincerely hope to do more of this in the upcoming decade!

2018

2018 was a pretty light year for me, horse-wise, but I did make it out for several lessons with this guy at the start of the year. It was a ton of fun and Grif and I both really started putting the pieces together for that thing they call dressage.

2019

To finish the decade, I brought my horses HOME for GOOD. They're actually inside the barn in this photo <3

What. A. Decade. I started it by becoming a horse owner for the first time in my life and ended it by becoming a land/property owner and bringing my three horses (one of whom has been a part of my life for the ENTIRE DECADE!) home.

Aaaaah! I still can't believe I get to write those words! I am so beyond grateful to have been able to build my dream and bring my horses home. This decade will definitely be hard to top, but I look forward to the challenge of making the 2020s even better.