Throwback Thursday: Four Years Ago

Four years ago Rico and I cantered down centerline for the last time at Greenville to earn a 65% at Grand Prix, which clinched my USDF Gold Medal and allowed Rico to retire on the spot. I wrote about it a year later, but have since kind of let Rico and my journey take a back seat to TC. 

Rico taught me so much though, and without him I would never have been where I'm at with TC. 

Rico is living out the rest of his life in a large private pasture with my parents' horses. He and I go on adventures sometimes, though because of his battle with Internal Pigeon Fever in fall 2016, he never really regained his strength and so is limited in what he can do. It doesn't stop him from trotting around in his pasture and loving life, nor does it really stop me from taking him on (light) trail rides or hopping on him bridleless and bareback in his pasture. 

When I first started with TC, I missed Rico a lot. I couldn't wait until TC was better trained so that I could do the same things I did on Rico. As TC gets better and better, I find myself feeling slightly guilty in that I don't miss Rico as much. Rico was amazing, don't get me wrong. But TC is everything Rico wasn't - enthusiastic about his work (because I trained him that way), easier to ride (because I trained him that way), and has much less training holes (because I trained him that way). 

I feel guilty sometimes that I enjoy riding TC more than I enjoyed riding Rico. But I am much happier because of it. Still doesn't mean that Rico isn't the best horse in the world, because he so is! 

Our last halt ever

Pirouettes were so tough for us but we managed them

My mechanics have gotten so much better since then

He's such a pretty horse

I love this picture