The Trail Less Traveled

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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The above poem by Robert Frost (no copyright infringement intended)I am using to start my new journal. I feel that it describes where I am at this point in my life. It's not the new year yet, but I feel that I'm at a point where I need to leave the past behind me.

A lot's changed for me in the past couple years. Just the past few months were very turbulent. My mom and her horse Belle are no longer a part of my life. She just moved stables a few days ago and that was pretty much the last connection I had with her. DH and I have been through the ringer recently, but God has been so good and provided every step of the way, and we are continuing to see new doors open.

I've let go of the dreams of showing and such. Being someone that's never been a ribbon winner, it's hard to let go of that need to feel like you must have something concrete that proves that you are a good rider and horseman. I realized that I wasn't wanting to show because it might be fun. I felt like I had to prove something, and to strangers no less that are for one reason or another advocated as authorities on horses, judging horse and rider teams whom perform (in a quite honest term) useless maneuvers in a ring. Kudos to those who do show, and I'm not meaning to demean you. But for me to show because of a strange need to prove myself, these are not the right reasons for me.

I will continue to practice dressage, but only for the purpose of improving my horse and myself. Also known as training level dressage :wink: I hope to get back to doing little jumps for fun, and setting up a small cross country course out in the desert. This will take some work, but it's only a half hour ride to my "gallop track" and it's such a nice section to set one up on.

Shan is doing well. Despite the colder nights, her arthritic symptoms have not returned. She is unfit, but so am I. If I can get two or three good rides in a week I will be very happy. I may have a connection with a trail riding business a street over from my boarding barn. That would be fun to get involved in. The barn is also getting new boarders in. The only other horse at the moment is one named "Peppi", he's a beautiful blue roan two year old stud colt. He's got a lot to learn about life, and how not to spook at things! Shan thinks he is 'oh so handsome', but just between us, he's a little young for her. I'm looking forward to maybe being able to help with his training, and riding with the other boarders soon to move in.

For those of you who don't know us, I have one horse. Shan (Cheyenne) is a BLM mustang/Tennessee walking horse cross (best guess) mare. She is currently 13 years old. I got her when she was 5, green on green. Did all the training myself, and she now rides English or western, jumps, bit of dressage, awesome trail horse, loads into any trailer, goes anywhere, rides alone or with others, ground drive, lunge, all that good stuff. She's my little star and I just love her to pieces. I can't wait to see what the years ahead hold in store for us.