and in some cases, there's actually cell phone footage to accompany the helmet cam. also notable - this is everything, no jumps were cut, nothing excluded. This is hands down my favorite xc video ever. And that I continue to have exciting stories and developments to share <3 I'm so grateful that I have our journey from the beginning fully documented and chronicled. I don't know what I did to get so lucky with Charlie. Sometimes it's so important to take a step back and look with fresh eyes: Jesus Christ, I have an amazing horse and we are today doing things that I literally never ever believed I could actually do. Brooding, overly analytical, and generally picking myself apart inside and out.

Riders everywhere have probably had periods where they felt 'stuck.' Wondering why they keep rolling this same rock up this same hill again and again, day after day, when it doesn't feel like we're actually getting anywhere.Īnd I'm definitely predisposed to this way of thinking. And it's easy to be discouraged when despite our best efforts, today's ride seems to go worse than yesterday's, or last week's, or a ride the month before. All those granular details, the shifting grains of sand. It's so easy to get sucked into the tunnel vision of day to day training.

And fun fact: I jumped my first 3' fence less than 5 years ago, with Isabel.

And then it wasn't until the completely serendipitous and unexpected lease opportunity with Isabel, already into my mid 20s, that I finally got my first taste of what horse ownership and serious training could be like. It wasn't until college that I started actually jumping full courses, and learned to be a bit more independent and self directed in my riding. And those experiences I had from childhood through high school were not particularly worldly, although obviously they meant the world to me. I begged and - when I was old enough - worked for any and every chance to be around horses. But horses just weren't a given in my life growing up. I know it can be easy to forget, esp for the casual or newer reader. Is it really true? Is this real life? Are we really doing this?

Some days I wake up and want to pinch myself.

The wild hearts cant be broken