I have a very vivid memory of sitting on Billy for the first time. It was January of 2003, a bitterly cold night. We'd flown to Germany that day and we saw Billy and two others at a sale barn just a few kilometers from the hotel, just to cross the first few horses off the list on a whirlwind trip. I was 18, a freshman in college, and I'd never sat on a horse like Billy before.

He felt amazing. He felt like Heaven. And I remember thinking, cool—NAJYRC this year, and we will be ready for the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in 2006, if not even the Athens Olympics next year.

I am grateful for Ella every day. I learned so, SO much from owning and training her from her young horse days up to her first Grand Prix. I am an infinitely more skilled rider for it, and she is such a tremendously good girl that she let me make all sorts of mistakes, and then fix them, without ever trying to eat me.

The air is crisp, the days are short, and we are in the middle of a blissfully quiet month at Sprieser Sporthorse. Everyone got the qualifying scores they needed for our Regional Finals earlier in the year, which means we didn't need to hit up the last local recognized show, which means that we have had no recognized shows our calendar, which means we've been mostly twiddling our thumbs.

And it has been GLORIOUS.

It's happened a few times now. Maybe someone grabs the wrong bridle when they tack their horse up. Maybe they've gotten a summer rub from the bridle or the halter or the grazing muzzle and we have to change nosebands until it heals. Or maybe it's just a stroke of strange, divine inspiration that makes me suggest an equipment change. 

MONDAY:
All horses: day off.