Well, its been a long time coming... but Evan and I finally had our first ride together!!!

I've been waiting for this day since Evan was born in October 2003. When he was finally 3 years old, a riding accident that shattered my shoulder delayed our plans for another year. Then, on the eve of my return to riding, an asshole in a Suburban ran me over in the street and shattered my wrist. Another surgery and round of PT delayed our plans for another year. And, the possibility of a trial and all the complications that go along with it, Evan and I didn't get to start working on our goal till the beginning of 2008. But, all good things really are worth waiting for...

Sarah and I had been planning on just when I'd take my first ride on Evan. We decided on a Friday after work about a week before the end of his second phase of training. Unfortunately, life got in the way and Sarah had to call and cancel at the last minute. She knew how much I had been longing to ride Evan and I could tell over the phone that the last thing she wanted to do was cancel our appointment. Even though I wasn't upset with Sarah, I was really depressed that I just couldn't get back in the saddle.

My depression was so bad that I couldn't focus on work and decided to leave a little early for the barn. If I couldn't ride Evan, I was at least going to spend time with him. After parking my truck at the barn, I turned around and looked at my Dressage saddle and riding gear. All week I had been waiting for the moment when we'd all come together (me, Evan, the new tack) for our first ride. The logical part of me said, "You've waited this long. Another day or two isn't a big deal." Then, the other side of me took over and said, "SCREW THAT!!! With your luck, you'll get hit by a semi tonight and tomorrow will never come and you'll never get your ride." The right side one - with a few concessions to the left side.

As I walked into the barn, I told myself that I would ride Evan if a) Evan behaved himself and was listening well on the lounge line, and b) the arena was quite, and c) my legs weren't too shakey, and d) if I had my cell phone ready in case of emergency. Plus, Tyler and I had plans to go to Vegas in a couple weeks. And, my experience has taught me that I needed about a week to recover from surgery before I could start moving about. So, I should probably get on Evan sooner rather than later if I didn't want to jeopardize our first vacation in 6 years.

Evan seemed to know something was up. He was a perfect angel and the arena was exceptionally quite. There was only one other horse and rider in the arena and they were just sitting down on the one end visiting with some friends sitting on the edge of the arena. So, I took a deep breath and decided today was the day that we stopped waiting.

I lead Evan over to the mounting block - not only was this going to be our first ride, it was going to be the first time someone got on him without someone else holding onto him. Well, if you're going to tempt fate, tempt fate. Evan stood next to the mounting block like a seasoned pro. I flopped myself over his back to see if he'd mind the fact that I was heavier than the trainer - by about double her body weight. He flicked an ear towards me and then went back to his happy half asleep slumber. So, I swung a leg over and prepared for the fireworks. Nada.

Quickly slipping my feet into the stirrups, I asked Evan to step off into a walk. The next thing I knew, we were riding!!! After that, I took every opportunity to ride Evan before bringing him back home for the Winter. Tyler was kind enough to stop by the barn and snap these photos of Evan and I. Since the lighting is really bad, he couldn't get much more than a close up of us standing in the middle of the ring.