It’s really hard to try and get a horse ready for competition when I am gone from home so much. When I am home, I make sure I ride every day—but sometimes that’s only 3 days per week. I am so lucky to have a horse like Dually, who is a truly versatile horse — he reins, cuts, ropes and is a joy to ride. He’s SO sensitive that it’s amazing how my position and cues affect his performance. While he is perfectly capable of making mistakes too, I have to recognize that his performance is limited by my riding ability for the sports that are still somewhat new to me. It makes it fun for me to ride and think about these things and play with my position to see how it effects him.
Last night Rich and I went to a cocktail reception here in Salida for a bunch of ski resort marketing people. Although this is not normally my favorite thing to do, I of course am always supportive of my husband and know that he endures endless social events with horsey types and actually, I had a good time. While I was in the food line, a guy put out his hand to me and said, “Hi, I’m Chad.” I of course shook his hand and said, “I’m Julie.” His response was “and who are you with?” I replied, “Oh, I am not really with anyone, I’m just a wife. My husband is Rich,” thinking he would know who Rich was, since it was his ski area hosting the event. Chad’s eyes got big and he smiled and said, “Wow, I’ve never heard anyone introduce themselves that way. How rich is he?” Ha! What a riot. From now on, I’ll be careful of how I introduce myself.