Since we're halfway through the year (uh, OMG?) I wanted to do a mid-year review of my 2025 Disco goals, which were:
- Trail ride as much as possible. Especially early in the year when the trails are quiet.
- Attend some smaller schooling shows, either as a non-compete or showing Intro tests, whatever he tells me he's ready for.
- Attend one show with atmosphere - maybe NDPC just for the in-hand breed show day.
- Start taking regular lessons again - more on this soon.
1. Trail ride as much as possible. Especially early in the year when the trails are quiet.
About that...
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| Normally you can't see that hill through the foliage... |
In mid-May, our beloved Brown County State Park Horseman's Camp was directly hit by a long-track F2/F3 tornado. Because there's no cell signal in camp, and because the tornado was hung off the southwest corner of a supercell and seemed to come out of nowhere (it wasn't even raining before it hit!), the campers had almost no warning. One horse died, broke her neck tied to the hitching rail before her owner could get from the LQ to the rail to cut her loose, and several dogs and people were severely injured, with tons of rigs totaled.
As I write this, it's still not open, not even for day riding, despite 7 weeks of heroic efforts from a large group of volunteers and state employees. The damage was substantial, and one old timer rightly pointed out that it's going to be a generation before it even looks remotely like it did before, we lost so many trees.
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| Photo taken from elsewhere in the park as it was hitting camp. Absolute nightmare fuel. |
So, needless to say, the trail ride we did in April has been our only trail ride so far. Any other trail riding spots are twice the distance or more from Brown County, so they're more challenging to fit into my schedule.
Y'all, if you horse camp BRING A NOAA WEATHER RADIO WITH YOU. It was the only way to receive notification about these warnings at our camp, and none of the campers had one. It should be as essential as a fire extinguisher and first aid kit in LQs and RVs.
2. Attend some smaller schooling shows, either as a non-compete or showing Intro tests, whatever he tells me he's ready for.
I'm tentatively eyeballing a September or October show for this, although I feel like his National Drive experience sort of counts for this too.
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| Photo used with permission from Mark Jump Photgraphy |
3. Attend one show with atmosphere - maybe NDPC just for the in-hand breed show day.
Obviously he didn't go to NDPC this year, and I'm not likely to check this one off the list in general. That said, he's already had a LOT of experience at shows with more atmosphere than I can find anywhere in the US (looking at you, Canadian Royal), so I don't feel too bad if we don't get to this one.
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| He didn't go to NDPC, but I did, and I have a new Section D stallion obsession. OBSESSED with this guy. He even politely snuggled Lisa and I in the stall afterwards (with permission, of course!). |
4. Start taking regular lessons again - more on this soon.
Yes! Brynne has made the trip over more or less consistently once a month since January, and while I would give almost anything for more regular instruction than monthly, she has been a big help to me in setting a direction for his early education, and I am so grateful for her. When she comes, she's been giving lessons to most of my boarders also, so it's more than just me that has benefited from this goal.
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| Look at me, doing a real live lesson with a real live trainer on the real live property. Feels surreal! Photo by Leah. |
All in all, I'm not feeling too shabby about our goal progress so far!
Honestly it seems like it’s been a super productive year so far for you guys - I love the feeling when things start to settle into that more routine recognizable shape!
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