![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
more poll follow-up
Feb. 27th, 2009 05:48 pmMany of you have raised the question "what is best for Alice?" As you can well imagine, We, as a family, have asked that question too. Given the uncertain nature of things like the future, we have no way of knowing, really, what the answer to that question is. However, rest assured, we have given it much thought. Last season, Alice competed on Trump, but it was a struggle to keep him sound enough. It was an exercise in management in which Alice actively participated. She worked for her lessons and rode other horses at our jump instructors barn. We have been keeping our eyes open for a suitable lease since last summer. Family discussion agrees that a lease is the best option, as Alice will be going to to college when she finishes high school. We have had the agreement in place for a long time that she will either go to college, for which we will pay, or get out and make her own way in the world for at least 4 years. That may sound harsh, but I've seen too many kids just not leave home, and I have no intention of letting that happen here.
I feel a little bad that I am competing and she is not. It's actually really fun for both of us to show together. Even though we are sometimes at the same level, so far, we've not competed against each other. So much of what eventing is places the emphasis on one's personal best, and less on whose day it is to win. I've been competing at sanctioned events for 30 years (yup, rode in my first at age 10 in 1978) and last season was the first time I ever one one. That was my day. I may never get another one. But I'm going to keep doing it. Alice is just starting to come into her own as a rider. I'd like to give her the opportunity to go as far as she can before college, because after she won't be young and brave anymore. It's much harder to learn once fear is involved. And I've been there, I know, the ground gets harder every year.
I feel a little bad that I am competing and she is not. It's actually really fun for both of us to show together. Even though we are sometimes at the same level, so far, we've not competed against each other. So much of what eventing is places the emphasis on one's personal best, and less on whose day it is to win. I've been competing at sanctioned events for 30 years (yup, rode in my first at age 10 in 1978) and last season was the first time I ever one one. That was my day. I may never get another one. But I'm going to keep doing it. Alice is just starting to come into her own as a rider. I'd like to give her the opportunity to go as far as she can before college, because after she won't be young and brave anymore. It's much harder to learn once fear is involved. And I've been there, I know, the ground gets harder every year.
