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!