Neigh!

Well I'm finally (almost) done going through the thousand or so pictures from my Indy trip and I thought I would share one of a special non-spotty! This is T-Go - my horse during my college days at Purdue. Unfortunately when I decided to move to Florida, I wasn't in a position where I could bring him with me so he now lives on the farm in Indiana where I used to train. He's got a great home and I have no regrets about having to leave him behind - at least I still get to visit him!

After spending nearly 20 years in the horse world, I still find it a little surprising that I don't really miss it that much. It was definitely hard at first, but after I brought home a certain little spotted puppy, I found dog training to be just as much fun and equally challenging - although in a different way. It's definitely *safer*...I can't recall how many times I was thrown, kicked, and ran over by a horse! :)

Anyway, I do miss T-Go...he was a really neat horse and a lot of fun to ride. He's a Thoroughbred and probably around 13 years old now. Here's a picture of his current owner (and one of my former trainers) riding him. You can see a few more pictures of T-Go and some of his horsey friends over at my photography blog - www.simplyspottedblog.com.

Horses!

While in Indy, I stayed with one of my best friends and all of her critters - four dogs, seven kitties, two fish and three horses. (!)

Kim vs. the Wall

While thinking about all of the horse falls I've had over the years, I was reminded of one in particular. This one happened back in college when I was on the Purdue equestrian team. When you show in intercollegiate, you never ride your own horse(s) - before your event, you draw a horse's name and that's the one you ride. It really was all about the luck of the draw...sometimes you ended up with a great pick, and other times, not so much.

This particular video was taken at a Ball State show (in 1998, I think) - I had never ridden this horse before, and it was obviously not one of my better rides. A rather dumb error on my part landed me into the wall - followed by a trip to the ER. Fortunately I ended up with just a concussion - I don't remember much after the fall although I do recall telling the guys in the ambulance not to cut my boots off - kinda silly at the time, but hey they were good boots!

So here's a fun little video which I call "Kim vs. the wall". I think the wall won. :)