12/03/2024
This horse. I feel all the emotions when I look at her. She’s brought so much to my life, and put me through so much. She’s the best $10,000 I ever spent. She’s the horse I bought to get back into horses after a decade away to “adult”. She’s the reason we built a barn so I could spend more time doing what I love. She’s the one that gave London her first Congress championship.
Nothing on our path has been easy. Our path was long and winding, but I believed in her from the first time I rode her. Even if she never made it to the show pen, I knew I loved her as soon as I saw her on a YouTube video. And for my belief in her, she gave me her whole heart. I don’t know if she will ever make it back to the show pen like I have prayed for. At this point, I don’t even know if she’s going to be sound enough to even ride again. But that’s okay. She owes me nothing. In our few years of showing, she surpassed all my hopes for her. This horse, that I love with all my heart, has done so much for me, and for London. She’s won Congress and Reserve Congress Championships, she’s been reserve at the World show, she’s produced two beautiful babies, one that I can’t wait to see in the show pen in 2025, and she’s taught all my kids to ride. She’s that special horse that was able to pull double- duty as both a youth and amateur horse. She won London her first Congress Championship in the small-fry HUS and then turned around to help me to a Reserve Championship in the L2 Amateur Equitation at the world show a month later. She’s the horse we labeled “old faithful”, because she was always there for London when something else fell apart. She’s honest and kind. She loves me and would ride through fire for me. And she has. My heart hurts to see her limping instead of her beautiful long trot. To know that she got hurt doing what I love- not because she wanted to be a show horse or win trophies, but because she wanted to do it for me, because she genuinely wants to please- breaks my spirit.
This week, after two years trying to rehab a suspensory injury, and now having a new injury we can’t seem to diagnose, Lexi goes for a bone scan. And as I load her on that trailer to haul her to UGA to find some answers, the goal is different. It’s not about getting her sound for me and my dreams anymore. It’s solely to get her comfortable so she can live a long, healthy life, no matter if it’s as a show horse, a broodmare, or a beautiful pet. This horse has taught me so much along the journey, made me a better horse person and will forever be the queen of the barn❤️
