3 Neener Farm

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There are quite a few folks out there who use the "I am too old" excuse for not doing whatever it is that they don't do.

And that may well be true for some. Or too injured. Or too ill. All totally valid reasons.

But for others, they say "too old" when maybe they should say things like "too unfit," or "too afraid," or "too unmotivated," or "too unwilling to work at it."

Walt Gervais, patting Timmy after a clear round over a big preliminary cross country course at Groton House, was either 80, or pretty close to it.

Too old? Walt didn't think so-----

This is Marla. Marla is going to say it.
Marla fu***ng hates new year. She hates people trying to schedule ‘fun’, she hates the competitiveness of looking back at how much she might have (or not achieved), she hates the weight of expectation that somehow what she has done already wasn’t enough & this year she needs to ‘step it up’ & smash 2020.

Because the thing is, Marla might not have glittering results, frillies, championship qualifications & eleventy billion sponsorship deals but Marla knows this. She did her fu***ng best.
Yes, sometimes that felt like it fell majorly short. There were still dressage tests that were twatlaps of chaos, show jumping rounds where she couldn’t see a stride even if there had been a massive flashing sign saying ‘Oi Twatchops THIS is the spot you want’ & Cross country rounds where her f**k ups picked up faults & even going training there were visits from The F**kening that left her doubting whether she should even still be riding, let alone attempting to event. But Marla knows this every time she went out & put a saddle & bridle on her horse, she wanted to do her best. And you can’t apply a shiny social media filter to & a hashtag to that...because, quite frankly, that is enough.

Marla has learnt that not everyone is going to like her & she can’t change that ( she also gets it because quite often she doesn’t like herself either) but she has a crew of people who, despite her loud, brashness & potty mouth, quite like having her around. They are the people cheering with her when she’s happy, sending her messages when she might be feeling low & inspiring her with a year planner filled in with what she should be aiming for. These are the people that matter, because to these she is enough.

Marla loves her horses. She appreciates the privilege of having them in her life. This last year she has realised that having that beautiful head looking over a stable door happy & healthy means more than any competition result, that doing your best for the horse in your life is more than any frilly. It is enough.

So if any wants Marla she is saying this. She is tiptoeing forward to 2020, with more wrinkles & grey hair, a slightly fatter arse (by the next decade that f**ker is going to have its own postcode) but with a dream, a passion & the knowledge that she is enough.

10 Signs You're Amateur AF (and Proud of It!) Never turning pro? Zero ambition to upgrade your horse, fancify your tack and/or move up a division? Aiming for inches? Ammy and you know it! These are 10 signs you know you’re as amateur as they come…and proud of it. 1. You proudly display your second-place ribbon, even though there were only t...

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To confirm that your horse is on the vertical …

"Imagine he is a unicorn and has a spiral horn coming straight out of his forehead. If you can see the tip of that horn between his ears, you have perfect in-front-of-the-vertical placement. If his nose is behind the vertical, the horn will not be visible." —Endel Ots

🎨 Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz