Bonnie's Blog Post # 1: Introduction!

My name is Bonnie and I’m a Weenie Eventer.  That is, I am scared of eventing but I also find it weirdly addicting and ridiculously fun, and I continue to do it because I love a good challenge, I’m a glutton for punishment, and I have an awesome horse who takes very good care of me. Speaking of… introductions are in order.  

Meet Loki:



Loki is really good at naps.

Or, as I like to call him, The Brumby. What, you ask, is a brumby?

brumby /‘br^mbi/ noun (Australian) (pl) -bies: a wild horse



Note the brumby fuzzy hair.  And yes, that mohawk is his bridle path.  Oops.

Loki went through a period last year where he was on vacation (we moved, he retired from the upper levels- more on that later-, work was crazy… you know the drill) and he basically just sat, got a little chubby, a little hairy, and, well, generally feral-looking. He jokingly became known as The Brumby, and it stuck. 

How did I come to own such a forgiving, talented hairball? Well technically, I don’t own him.  But I just so happen to be married to the man who does own him, and said man generously allows me to ride him.  My husband, Jeff, a saint of a man if there ever was one, is a licensed course designer, course builder, great rider, and talented trainer of problematic horses (is my bias showing?).  He brought Loki up the levels himself and rode him through Advanced and the 3* level before Loki decided that that was all just a Little Too Much.  The horse loves to jump, but he’s a bit too careful to gung-ho it around a CCI*** cross country course (he lacks, shall we say, Boldness).  Rather than push him beyond his confidence, Jeff graciously decided to retire him and allowed me to take the reins.  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as right around that time I was at a point career-wise to have the time to ride regularly, and we had just moved back to southeastern Pennsylvania, or, as I like to call it, Eventing Mecca!   

Training-wise, I take lessons from Jeff, unless he’s traveling for work or his bossing me around for an hour straight threatens the health of our marriage (I said he was the saint, not me!), and Missy Ranshousen.  One of the biggest perks of being in Eventing Mecca? Living hacking distance from Blue Hill Farm.  Missy, her mom, Jessica, the working students and everyone else at Blue Hill are, quite simply, the best.  They are terrific neighbors, even more terrific coaches, and wonderful friends.  Come mid-February, their indoor is pretty nice, too. 

So, those are all the major players in this blog! Well, except me, I suppose. Aside from being a Weenie Eventer, at my day job I’m an equine vet, I like to bake, occasionally I like to run, and in my spare time I am slowly plotting how to build (read: how to get Jeff to build for me) a chicken coop on our rental property without the landlords noticing. I grew up in south Louisiana in a non-horsey family, but I begged my parents for riding lessons from the time I could talk.  At age six they signed me up at one of the only barns in town, which just so happened to teach dressage and eventing, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

I know what you’re thinking… “they have eventing in south Louisiana?” Ok, so it ain’t no Eventing Mecca, but I am here to tell you it does exist! The closest hauls for events were to Georgia, Florida and Texas, we did “hill sets” on the levee, and if someone made it to Prelim they were a Big Deal. But the foundations I learned were solid, the local schooling show circuit was thriving, and you sure couldn’t (and still can’t!) beat the people down there! I’d bet my last dollar that Louisiana eventers are the friendliest, most enthusiastic, happiest bunch around and I miss my barn family there to this day.

I continued to ride throughout college in Virginia, and half-heartedly through vet school in Pennsylvania, but, because of work demands and a lack of both money and horseflesh, really hadn’t done much consistently until about six months ago, when Loki was available and I had a little bit more free time as I started my own practice.  Which brings us to now.

Loki and I are currently running Training level, with the goal of making it to the Waredaca Training Three Day this fall.  We may also (if I’m feeling really, really brave) attempt a Preliminary in the fall (or next spring… or the next fall… clearly I am not in a rush).  Loki is 15 this year, and is showing no signs of slowing down (I mean that literally- you should go look up our xc times).  Right now we just take it one day at a time; I try to be the best Weenie event rider and adult amateur I can be, Loki tries not to roll his eyes at my stupid mistakes, and my husband tries to keep me from ruining his perfect horse.  I hope this blog will serve as a chronicle of our training adventures as we try to get to our Training Three Day, and maybe even a Big P.