Thursday, March 10, 2022

the silverado butterfly effect

My horse habit today as a fully fledged adult really doesn't look anything like I imagined (or even dreamed) as a kid or in college. Mostly because.... It had literally never even occurred to me, until I discovered this blogging community, that individual riders might own and operate their own horse trailers as a conduit to independent lessoning and showing. 

legitimately a picture of where it all started -- the realization of a game changing dream
Maybe that sounds stupid to those of you who grew up with horses, or in horsey communities where shipping out was common. But it's true. 

I learned to ride in fairly strict and controlled lesson barn environments. Sure, my barn in college had a big rig for when we took groups of lesson ponies and kiddos to the local schooling circuit.... But that's a pretty far cry from the compact 2H BP that now seems so normalized. 

have wheels, will travel -- to lessons!!
The realization that it was possible to own one's own truck and trailer for the explicit purpose of doing.... whatever the fresh fuck you felt like.... Well, that idea hit me like a ton of bricks haha. And combined with a *very* modest (so modest it's actually laughable in the face of today's bloated prices) inheritance, I determined that I would get a rig of my own. 

And it changed everything. 

to horse shows!!! to new and exciting connection points!
One thing has *not* changed since then, tho --- my truck. My dearly beloved 2000 Chevy Silverado was old and kinda tired when I bought it back in the spring of 2014. And ya know. It's still old lol. Actually I had planned to replace it by now, and had sorta started to let some issues slide as not being worth fixing for a truck I didn't plan to keep much longer. 

lol, and sometimes... to trouble. my lack of mechanical expertise has been tested, to say the least
Tho, lol, one look at the used truck market last summer changed my tune right quick about that, and I did an immediate 180 and dropped quite a few pretty pennies into keeping the Chevy in good running order. Bc damn. The market is nuts omg haha. 

let's just say i've had to learn a LOT about batteries. and, ahem, brake lines. for real tho, if you never read the post behind this pic, i *highly* recommend it -- it's one of my all-time faves haha, well, except for maybe this one....
That whole experience got me thinking about the truck tho, more generally. I've changed barns, changed horses, changed trailers, but this thing keeps on trucking - even despite my somewhat appalling mechanical ignorance and occasionally neglectful care. 

the truck has also gotten me OUT of a lot of trouble too, tho, like this epic snowpocalypse 
And let's be honest -- it's probably opened a lot of doors for me. In a few different ways. I've been able to ride with a wider variety of coaches, and train at a greater number of facilities, just by dint of being independently mobile.

it's gotten a few friends out of trouble too, like by serving as an ambulance to New Bolton's equine hospital, or emergency roadside assistance to a broken down friend, or even just basic normal transport needs
Similarly, it's had a big impact on my social life at the barn. Because.... realistically speaking, I like company, and so does my horse. So we are often cultivating new friends and barn mates as potential adventure partners. Obvi I'm not trying to say that maybe people are nicer to me bc they think I'll take them places (lol), but ya know. It doesn't hurt haha! 

mostly, tho, this truck has been our trusted vehicle to new and exciting adventures 
Practically, tho, well... It's just such a practical asset. And I'm honestly pretty certain that.... I wouldn't have learned nearly as much as I have in the last few years if I *didn't* have the truck. 

Arguably I wouldn't have ever gotten lessons with Isabel, since I didn't have much of a network and wasn't successful in getting the trainers I did know to travel to us. And consequently I wouldn't have competed with her either. 

opportunities and experiences that would quite literally not be otherwise possible 
Actually, more likely, I would have stuck with the hunter jumper lesson barns I was familiar with, that showed the same way we did in college -- with everybody going together to the same shows, with all the horses in one big rig. The whole reason I got into eventing in the first place was because I wanted lessons with Izzy, but didn't think she fit the hunter "mold." 

But that shift to eventing, for us, meant going it... kinda alone for a while. Even when we kinda got a group together, we were still all new to it, ya know? But we were hungry - eager and ready to learn and experience and do. So we did. And did, and did, and did.

happy 22nd birthday, old friend --- and here's hoping for more to come yet! 
Having the truck and trailer granted me a degree of self determination that had honestly never felt imaginable, let alone attainable, with horses as a kid growing up in Baltimore City with a non horsey family. 

And I'm so grateful, and still kinda amazed at how entirely this tool transformed my landscape and revolutionized my horsey habit. The journey would not be possible without this key character haha. That --- true story --- I paid for in cash at a chain link car lot behind the Laurel racetrack from a guy with his shirt unbuttoned down to there, brimming with chest hair and gold chain. 

Ah memories haha. Here's to hoping for many more to come, too, bc dear lord I'm not ready to face trying to replace this thing any time soon!




21 comments:

  1. Long live the Silverado!! Said as someone who has had to truck shop two years in a row now - please LITERALLY live a long, long, long time 😂

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    1. dude.... your story is a big reason why i'm like hella skeptical about reaching out into the "unknown" with a new/used truck.... like, at least i KNOW what my chevy's issues are and can work around them... sheesh

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  2. Love a chevy! All my horse shows as a kid were with JM's trusty 2008 Silverado hooked to the 2H. It got retired to a different life last year and she has a pretty new one now, it's got all the bells and whistles but I still loved the adventures that came in the old Chevy.
    I will say, she and her husband spent a good year looking for a used chevy and ended up getting a new truck when they couldn't do the used market. It's wonderful, but knocking on all the wood yours continues on!

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    1. oh man, i would LOVE a new truck one day!! bc yea the used market is just.... sketchy, unpredictable, and absurdly expensive right now. like, i paid $4k cash for the above truck in 2014. there's NO WAY i'd easily be able to find something comparable to what i bought in '14 today for even double or triple that amount....

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  3. I definitely had the "I can ride with anyone I want to!" realization one day after getting my trailer after 30 years of riding. I mean, I haven't, because riding with people I want to is out of my budget at the moment, but I could if I wanted too!

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    1. just knowing we can is half the battle, right??? i'm also lucky to have so many nearby fun lowkey options every weekend --- makes it easier for me to resist impulse shopping when i know that $75 could be gas + entry fees to a local schooling show instead of, like, a new saddle pad or gadget or whatever. but eh, honestly, horses are an expensive pursuit anyway and we all get to rationalize how we spend our dollars as we see fit!

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  4. I have a beloved 2003 Chevy that was my in laws' daily driver for a while (when they had four kids under 13 and had just bought a ranch), then relegated to horse hauling vehicle for MIL's extensive horsey adventures, now farm truck for us and my occasional horsey adventures. I'm irrationally attached to it, and love it dearly for the promise of freedom it offers. I may not have a trailer to put behind it, but the farm truck is my key to getting out and about through the magic of *borrowing*. It really does represent so much more than just a faster horse!

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    1. dude yes, exactly. i'm so super attached to this thing, it's kinda silly lol. well, not just "kinda" HAHA... but also, i'm fairly confident that my life would be measurably different without it

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  5. I love the freedom of it!! I had the opposite experience and pretty much always watched (or was the lucky friend) people haul out to lessons, shows, XC schoolings etc in their own little rigs.

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    1. The freedom is everything <3 maybe the difference was that I kinda learned to ride at a very isolated sort of barn where the owner was already sorta into her twilight years, so there was no interfacing with the wider horse world… then in college it was all about the IHSA and HJ, where maybe it’s more normal for whole barns to show together ? Something about eventing seems to lend itself to the privateers tho I think!

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  6. So I secretly (or not so secretly) I kind of hate driving the trailer... But LOVE the freedom it affords! The barn I rode at growing up sometimes had a ton of people showing and sometimes was just me. So my trainer actually had a big rig AND a two horse. Which was nice. But still I was at her mercy as to where we went and what we did. Having your own rig opens up a whole new world of options! Hunter/jumper land trainers still don't like when you go and do stuff on your own. So that can be tricky (and essentially is exactly why I wound up building my backyard barn.)
    Cheers to your truck! I hope it has many, MANY more years and adventures left in it!

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    1. oh man, really??? i LOVE driving the trailer, idk why.... but yea probably the freedom is a lot of it haha. for real tho, i do think some of these differences do seem to arise from different disciplines. the trainer i'm riding with now is technically in h/j land, but she was originally an eventer and since she doesn't have her own farm and all her clients ship to her, i guess her showing philosophy is a little different? one of these days i'll get to find out first hand!

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  7. Ah, cheers to the Silverado! May it give you more good years. I just got a truck a couple of years ago: a 2015 GMC Sierra and I'm ridiculously attached to it too! I don't have a trailer (yet!) but I own a hay wagon and being able to get hay/shavings, etc is so handy! And just doing truck stuff and going for a drive is so fun. Well, gas prices might put a pin in that fun, but it is still nice to dream. Lol

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    1. dude it is just so fun haha... tho ugh yea can't love the gas prices right now either. it is what it is, tho, and this is why i budget for the things i care about!

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  8. I loved your epiphany in earlier blogs when you realized you could become the person you admired in other blogs-adventurous, independent, free, and able to go!

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    1. ya know -- you're totally right. the headline probably isn't the truck that inspired such a change, but actually seeing all these normal everyday riders from all sorts of backgrounds and interests and goals, going out and doing the things in a way i'd never really imagined before. "inspirational" is such an unsatisfying word for the impact that had on me, tbh.

      not to go off on a weird tangent... but that's kinda always been my draw to the blogging community, vs other platforms. the glossy magazines featuring 6-figure horses and sponsored professionals never really spoke to my corner of the horse experience. and even IG or other social platforms now kinda want to distill everything down into one or two great pictures, an overly curated narrow view into everybody's best moments without any of the accessibility of the longer format. but it's that accessibility and realness that actually made me realize *i could do it too.* so it kinda makes me sad that blogging is in apparent decline... but, eh for now i'm still carrying on, hopefully making it feel real and accessible for others too!!

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    2. You are! (Still making it feel real and accessible) I don't read/comment consistently, and haven't ridden in a few years now, but I'm just as horse-crazy as I was as a teenager and getting to learn and connect with the slice of life horse bloggers share, is, as you said, so much more than inspirational. And def different from tv coverage/other social media

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  9. I have a Dodge Ram and I love it. Having a truck and trailer is a real game changer.

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  10. Buying a trailer last year is pretty much my best decision in the last few years. Totally life altering!

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  11. Honestly I think if you can keep the maintenance up, your Silverado will last you a long, long time. <3 I am so glad you were able to get it and your own trailer.

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  12. Nothing like a good old faithful truck <3 "Buddy", the 2007 Toyota Hilux I have trusted for my entire adult life, is only now starting to give me a little uphill - with almost 190, 000 miles on the clock. He's a good boy!

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