What a year!

Dom's excellent Year in Review post inspired me to play along, too. Starting in January of last year isn't really the best place, so I'll give just a bit of extra backstory...

We had a few options when we left Ohio in summer 2009, and I thought Reno sounded like the most excellent adventure out of the choices. Fortunately, G got that job and here we came. We got an apartment on the north side of town, and I boarded Dixie with a lady on the northeast side of town. I spent the fall working through the worst of Dixie's issues (teleport-spooking and bolting), and by the beginning of 2010 I was pretty sure we really could give this endurance thing a shot.

January: ~C, who'd taken me under her wing, dragged me off to our first real event - the NEDA New Year's ride. We only did 10 miles, but the horses did well. I started obsessively logging my rides and posting excruciatingly detailed ride reports. At the end of January, coyotes tried to eat my Cersei dog.

February: ~C and I did 20 miles at another NEDA ride.Dixie used to have awful hooves. In February of last year, she started getting the toe rocker thing that I just posted about - and it worried the hell out of me. (Now I'm used to it.) I went to the AERC convention. Then I went and took the Nevada bar.

March: I tried out some borrowed Easyboots. They were way too small. Then, through the unbelievable kindness of a friend, I borrowed a trailer and went off to Rides of March and freakin' completed our first LD!!! The place I boarded at ceased to be a viable option - the owner decided that my horse was being mean to the other horses and abruptly moved her from the 15 acre pasture to a 20' pen. In the windy rain/snow. I am still mad about that. :breathes deep and moves along: I got to try out her new blanket on her, at least!

April: I lucked out (which is the real story of my life: I luck out a lot) and found new boarding very near our apartment, with M. Then I got a trailer! Man, a trailer, how cool is that! Yeah, it's yellow, and it's a straight, and it's almost as old as I am, and it's a little on the small side, but it's a trailer! Dixie's loaded just fine in tiny straights before. We were gonna go ride another LD at Washoe.

May: Then Dixie tried her damndest to kill herself. I'm still amazed that she walked away without a scratch. I decided that she won and I'd just never load her in a tiny straight again. It was pretty heartbreaking, having something I'd wanted for SO long ripped away from me like that. Oh, and a week later I found out I failed the bar. Rough month. But all you can do is suck up and keep going. I also got her a crupper (works great), two pair of Renegades (work great), and a fly mask (she hates it, prefers to stand with her head in the shade all day).

June: By June, I was starting to get the hang of pacing (at least in training.) You can walk a bit and gait/trot a bit and canter a bit and hit 5 mph average pretty easily. G and I took Cersei to a fantastic mountain lake for Memorial Day. I washed my horse! I went to Vegas with two awesome friends. We completed our second LD, a fantastic night ride (Nevada Moonshine, you should come!) I think June is when I first started the primal eating thing - I know I managed to stick with it at Moonshine.

July: We made an offer on a house. We didn't get it. Oh well - it was ugly anyway. Then we made an offer on another house. Then ~C and I headed off to (watch) Tevis. That was excellent - I met Merri, Kirt the Renegade owner, Karen Chaton, and Jonni, and saw Zach. And I met Mel, but she was busy completing Tevis so I don't think that counts as her "meeting" me! Oh, and the sellers countered our offer on the house, so ~C had to knock off early at Foresthill and take me to Auburn to print and fax our acceptance of the counter. Then back to the fairgrounds to watch John Crandell and Heralic trot on in like they'd just been out for a spin around the block, not a 13 hour 100 mile ride through the Sierras.

August: I washed my horse again. Can you tell it doesn't happen often? The house buying thing progressed slowly yet dramatically. Dixie tried out a Big Trot but started clipping her front heel bulbs pretty hard, so I got her some bell boots. They are unsuitable for endurance. There was more breathtaking drama at the closing, but somehow the house deal went through anyway. Then I quit riding and started de-fuglyfying the incredibly fugly house.

September: I got a hell of a deal on 14 scraggly little pullets. In retrospect, it feels like G and I did nothing at all in September other than drag junk out of the backyard and build a fence. I cannot overemphasize how much effort it took to clean out and fence less than half an acre. Yes, it's one of the most satisfying things I've ever done, but OH MY GOD. So much work. I got my horse home at the end of the month!

October: Dixie and I finished our third LD at Comstock, and two adorable baby Nigerian goats came to live in the madhouse with us. I repainted the horrible den, and my husband and I hung crown molding in here. I learned to plumb and dug an epic hole and dug an epic trench. I built a clever box and mitigated some termites and buried a chicken. (Wow. I didn't realize October was THAT busy.)

November: G started talking to New Job people, so I got a little quiet on the blog. Still, I reroofed the run in and survived a close encounter with death by hyperbole. Don't buy a NeverKink hose! I sold my little truck and squandered a bit of the profits on a better hose.

December: G put in notice at the old job, so I got to tell yall about the New Job. I rode a little bit, but mainly I hung out with G. I don't talk about him much (he's a pretty private guy), but he really is my other half. I am going to miss him more than words can say, but it'll be ok. This is a good long-range move. I have plenty to do here to keep busy :)