Hello I am Marissa. I am 21. I am happily married to a wonderful man who supports my dreams whole-heartedly. We live in the amazing state of Kentucky!! The horse Capitol of the world!! We live in a small house with our 4 amazing dogs and 4 sugar gliders. We do not have children but, maybe some day.
We have another love in our life named Blue! Blue is a 16 year old American Paint Horse gelding.
I fell in love with horses when I was 2 and my papaw bought me my first pony when I was 3. I was a very lucky little girl. My grandpa used to own Quarter Horses and did cutting. He was a true cowboy, in my eyes anyway. Though I had my little pony and my old western saddle I yearned for something more.
Then, I was introduced to the sport of eventing. That is where I knew that I wanted to jump, especially cross country! At 3 years old I would cinch my western saddle down to an old desk that I had and I would pretend I was jumping while watching the movie The Little Horse That Could (the documentary film of Erin Go Bragh the Connemara eventer). When I asked my grandpa for an english saddle the answer was quite sternly "No!"
So I rode western and hacked around just for fun until tragedy hit and I lost my pony when I was 12 years old. I was outgrowing her anyway but I loved her so much. I still miss her and it hurts to recall all the times I had with her. I had such a bond with her that I knew she had passed away way before anyone had the guts to break the news to me.
I begged my grandparents for lessons so they broke down and let me take lessons at a hunter-jumper barn until I was almost 16.
I begged for my own horse and finally my mom agreed to help me buy a horse but I had to get a job to pay for board, lessons, farrier, vet, and anything else s/he needed.
Not long after my search I found a Thoroughbred mare. She was a great deal and I soon found out why. The mare was not respectful and never had any formal training. I almost bought that mare (now looking back I realize I was definitely NOT ready for that) until I got an email. The email was from a woman who had a lovely little Paint Horse gelding. He hadn't had any formal training but was pretty level headed. She agreed to bring him down to me for $50, let me keep him for a month and then I would pay her a set amount every month until he was fully paid off. I said "DEAL!" and she brought me the love of my life, Blue. I have now owned Blue for 5 1/2 years and I couldn't have found a better partner to travel this road with.
This blog will follow our adventures together, the good, the bad, and the ugly. All leading up to (we hope) our dreams of competing in our first horse trial!
