Thinking With Your Head... Not Your Heart

Tomorrow is the first day of the National Trail Championship at Oregon Horse Center, and for once I'm not exactly excited about it. You see, Maxine's leg has just not healed 100 percent. She's so close to sound that it's tempting to enter her in the riding class, but I know that would be a big mistake.

For the last three shows, we've won the In Hand Open class. My goal is to win the class once again. As much as I want to ride her, I know that if I take that chance, I run the risk of injuring her leg on the rough terrain. That would ruin my chances of winning any class -- In Hand or otherwise.

Therefore, I've made the decision with my head, not my heart, to enter Max only in the In Hand Open this weekend. I will miss our chance to ride the course together, but her long term health is more important than this show.

Fortunately, I'm not out of the riding all together. My trainer asked me to ride Molly, the big Belgium-cross mule in the Mules, All Riders class. She also let me bring Hazel, the mammoth donkey to ride in the Logan Arena (the smaller course). Since I'm not riding Max, I've decided to enter Hazel in the Novice Horse class in the Silverado arena as well. It's her first time being ridden in this show, so who knows how it will go. Either way it will be a lot of fun!