Horse events and those stories that demand attention

When I visited London in 2016 I was able to go to Cross Country Day at the Badminton Horse Trials. It was the first time I had been to any part of a three-day event in person and I loved it.

In the following few days, after watching Michael Jung and Sam win the event on TV, a character popped into my head. She was fully formed and already had a name. Then another character followed and a connection was formed. A story was born in my mind. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. In the nearly three years since that event and the materialization of these characters, I have begun writing their story multiple times. It hasn’t worked out.

That does not mean I am giving up. Any time that I am in a rut with another story or walking across the pasture or just want something to make myself happy, I think of that story and those two characters, who have become friends in the months and years that have passed. There story might be taking a long time to come out, but it is there and it is forming.

Every time I attend a horse event, ride, or check out the progress of my favorite equestrians, this story pops back into my head. It’s a demanding story, but I think those are the best kind. It refuses to give up on me which in turn means that I won’t give up on it.

I was able to attend the LiftMaster Grand Prix of Eventing in Aiken SC on March 2 of this year. It was much smaller event than the ones I had attended previously (Badminton and Kentucky are two of the largest events), but I had so much fun! It was much easier to walk the little course than the sprawling miles that make up the larger events and I was able to see some of my favorite riders in action.

And while walking this little course, jogging back and forth between some good photo vantage points, those two characters and their story pounced one me once again. Soon I will begin outlining their story and delving into some research to flesh it out. Hopefully that means that I will have a first draft of it this year.

Anyway, the event was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for it to happen again next year so that I can go back. Now I need to stalk all of the horse event pages for the surrounding states so that I can go to the ones that are most easily accessible.

This is a long post to tell you that horse events are awesome and that some stories refuse to go away, even when you ignore them. Now here are some of my favorite photos that I got at the event.