The Wind Down

For most of South Dakota, our "regular season" games have come to an end. The kids are back in school, the days are getting shorter, and the broodmares are getting fatter. The pastures are starting to show their wear and the insects are holding out for their last hurrah until the frost will officially shift us into another season. The end of horse show season finds me thankful for the break and yet a bit restless for more. Ready to pack away the show stuff, yet itching to have just one more ride in the show pen. When you take a break from an activity tired, but thirsting for more, you know you have hit the right blend of still loving what you are doing, but being comfortable sitting out some games.

Normally I don't pack away the show season quite so soon, but surgery put a little hitch in my plans for this year. Now I have just been searching October, like an addict, for maybe one more show in a neighboring state because I have been given the go ahead to resume riding the middle of October. For me the horse show "post season" is a great time to reflect on the year by identifying the areas of weakness of my riding, my horse, and my training plan, celebrating the accomplishments of the season, and setting my goals for the next year. Fall is also the time where I like to hit the wet saddle blankets the hardest in trying to work on something new like adding a new class or maybe even starting to learn new riding style such as dressage. In the fall it is easier for me to focus on the training. No worries about keeping horsy coats ready for the weekend (folks I have that especially tough showing the nearly white horse), cleaning the chaps, shaping the hat, packing the trailer. With none of those things to worry about I can concentrate on the training and my riding. I love going out to ride in the fall when the air is just starting to become crisp and the insects have gone away. It is only sad that in South Dakota those conditions for riding sometimes don't last very long until the snow falls and we are forced back into our four walled artificially lit riding spaces.

I hope everyone in South Dakota enjoys their wind down to fall. Good luck to all the area horseman competing in the "post season" events and I hope to see you all at the various association banquets this fall and winter.