Hi! My name is Ellen, and I am addicted to horses

They say the first step in recovery is acceptance. While I’ve never been in denial, I think my husband was! I’ll never forget the day my dad pulled Jeff aside and asked him if he realized what he was getting himself into. I don’t think he had a clue, but 16 years later he has earned an evident level of tolerance. This means that he can tolerate having me gone on weekends, but heaven forbid a horse poop in the driveway. While I would never leave IT there, I might continue on down the road intending to pick it up when I got back home (while crossing my fingers that Jeff wouldn’t notice).

I do consider myself fairly lucky. Over the years I have met more than one horse person that did not have a partner that was as understanding as mine. That’s probably not even the right word. I don’t think that others can truly understand, tolerate or support is the best most of us can hope for. If we are really lucky we might even meet and fall in love with someone that shares the same interest and passion in horses that we do. While Jeff may not understand my love for horses, he does support my endurance goals and dreams. He helps keep me motivated when I get down, and gives me a swift kick in the butt when I get lazy.

Many people have asked me why I want to do endurance. I spent years in H/J and dressage training, but my favorite riding memories have always been about trail riding. Also, now that I am “thirty-something”, with two children, I cannot summon up the same enthusiasm for flying over 4 foot fences on 16H+ horses that I had when I was 19. Plus I am enough of a realist to know that I need the competitive element to keep me motivated to ride during both the good and the bad times that simple trail riding does not provide (at least in Michigan). Only an endurance rider would be out on a 25 mile jaunt down the trail in 28° temperature and15 mph winds with snow falling so hard you can barely see the trail 5 feet in front of you. To me endurance is EXTREME horseback riding. As I have jumped out of a plane, had kids, and have been married for over 10 years, extreme appeals to me.

One of the things that I love about endurance is that it does not matter if you are young, old, rich, poor, man, or woman; there is a place in the endurance world for you. The AERC motto “to finish is to win” really does encompass the spirit of endurance riding. Some race and others ride, but each rider has the same goal of making it to the end of the trail with a happy horse. Although I have yet to enter my first endurance ride, I have set the goal of completing 5000 competitive miles on my chosen horse. By setting this goal I am hoping to stress my desire to prepare my horse for a lifetime of riding, and not getting caught up in the moment by pushing my horse too fast too soon.

I have started this blog to record both my blunders and successes, as I am sure I will have plenty of each. I hope that anyone that takes the time to view my logs will share in my triumphs, offer encouragement during challenges, and learn from my mistakes. While I accept that being truthful and honest in my accounts may offer me up to ridicule, I hope that my story can end with………and that they all live happily ever after.