Bon Voyage!

I have a hard time saying goodbye. When I connect, it tends to be for a very long time. This week, I had to say goodbye to a very good friend.

I'll miss you!

Sadly, I bid adieu to my last endurance saddle. It wasn't like I was ever going to really use it again, but having it helped me feel connected to a part of my life that was in many ways, defining. Not to be melodramatic, but riding your horse for 100 miles in one day does things to you.

It changes you. It changes the relationship you have with your horse. Doing three of them in a single year gives you a sense of what you're made of like not much else can. You're a bad ass; you rock; you're part of a very elite group.

And then a week passes and you're just a horse crazy lady who spends way too much time in the saddle.

Like I said … a couple of bad asses!

I am not that crazy lady any more; my husband would disagree. He doesn't understand that I am a different kind of crazy lady now - there's a difference. So that saddle just had to go. I've been thinking about selling it for several years now, but I just didn't have a need for the money. Now I do.

Sydney's stall is empty. I like to think it's just resting, gathering energy for it's next occupant. Yep. I am on the hunt for my next equine partner. I dig the Speedy pony, but I need two horses to love and share. One just doesn't fill me up enough.

I posted the saddle at endurance.net, and within three days it sold to a NATRC rider in Tennessee. I hope it finds a good life with her. While I enjoyed the saddle and am certainly sad to see it go, the money will be used to pad my new horse savings account.

Happy trails to you, endurance saddle. Keep your next rider as safe and comfortable as you did me.