Hello Readers and thanks for stopping by my blog! My name is Sara and my horse is Smashing! (aka Smash) and here is a little bit of history about us and this blog:
I have known Smash since she was 3 years old. She lived on a farm I rode at with another owner who took her through all of her basic training/breaking/etc. A couple years later her owner went off to college and decided not to pursue horseback riding any more which meant Smash and her 2 other horses needed new homes. Smash went to a woman who was just starting to learn to ride but stayed at the barn I was riding at. Since she was inexperienced I helped train/ride Smash in my weekly lessons and started to fall in love with Smash. I only rode once, maybe twice a week for about a year but was able to take her to shows and events in the local area. Once we started progressing in height I started to notice us both get into some bad habits and have some issues with jumping. We were refusing fences more and more until I almost gave up trying to be successful at BN eventing at all.
Then one day I found out there might be a possibility to buy Smash from her owner. It was a very complicated situation and I wasn't exactly in the market for a horse but I knew if I didn't buy her I'd more than likely quit riding for good. So I did it. It was a HUGE step for me! Frankly I was terrified about being a horse owner again but excited at the same time. That fall, though, we continued to have jumping issues no matter how many times I practiced. Granted at the farm I was boarding there were literally only 5 jumps in a pasture so it's not like I got all that much practice...
3 months later my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years proposed to me. I am so thrilled to be marrying Nick next April! But with our new commitment to each other came a few changes we knew we would need to make for our future...and one of them means selling Smash. We plan on having kids and moving from my tiny townhouse in Baltimore one day and in order to afford kids and not go broke we can't have a horse with major monthly expenses, too. I'm not thrilled to have to sell Smash - I love her to death! - but it's the right thing for us and it's what I know will be best for our future family. Once making that decision I realized if I wanted to sell Smash to a good home by next spring I needed to have her in steady training. Training I knew I would not be able to get at my current barn if I planned on selling her as a successful Event horse. That's when we decided to move to Waredaca.
Moving was a very hard decision but it turned out to be the best decision I could've made for me as a rider and for Smash's training. Smash is very happy in her giant field with her herd and I'm finally feeling confident about our training and success in the show ring! We have only been at Waredaca since May 2012 so we still have a ways to go to get over a few of our bad habits, but we are making so much progress that I know they will be gone sooner than later!
I decided to document my last year or so with Smash on this blog to be able to watch us both grow and reflect on our journey after I sell her. Plus it's a great way to organize my archive of videos and learn from each show or schooling we go to. I hope you enjoy our journey and if you're interested in learning more about buying Smash for yourself check out her current dreamhorse ad.
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