Thanks Dad.

Today we ventured out to try our hand at a Hunter Pace. While I've been on several....some have gone really well and some really bad.....this was a first for Tipping. She is very green and this was our second time riding off the farm. Sharon came with her gelding, Rusty who is a paint/TB cross. Telese also came with her -fresh of the track - gelding Jack. This was also his first time. The weather was promising rain and the temps dropped to 65 with dark clouds and lots of wind. We were hoping to be done before the skies opened up on us!
So off we went onto a very muddy course. We started out in the ring and hopped over a couple of cross rails that were numbered at the beginning (in our division you can jump whatever jumps you feel like but do not have to jump anything if you don't want to). Off around the field and through a water complex....then down an electric line trail to the woods. MUD, MUD, MUD everywhere! This was something Tipping didn't like. She's not really into unstable footing so she had to get over it pretty quickly today. We had a rather steep and slippery hill to go down, then drop into a shin high muddy creek and back up a slippery incline. She didn't want to go at first but eventually decided it was better to go than stay there alone. We jumped several small coops and logs along the way. She was absolutely wonderful. We did a lot of walking due to the footing and figured we didn't place well on time since there were about 13 other teams.
Turns out we were wrong. We won!
We were about a minute off the optimum time and had no clue about it! I have to think that Dad had something to do with it. He always joked that I was going to school to learn how to shovel shit....and I guess that's kinda what I do.....but I also know he loved the fact that I loved what I did. I think had we not had such a fun day today I would have been dwelling on the fact that I miss him so much and might have blamed my mood on a bad ride.
For anyone who is reading and who does not know what I'm talking about....today marks 2 years since my Dad passed away. I miss him so much and think about him nearly everyday.
So thanks Dad for allowing me to have so much fun on "your" day. I guess it doesn't really surprise me though, you always put everyone else first. Love you forever...