Back in the Saddle Again

I spent the evening dancing with my best friend at her work Christmas party. (As much as I have a reputation for not dancing, it's only because I have absolutely no coordination and am loathe to embarrass myself in front of people I know. Tonight, when the only person I really knew was the hot girl grinding on me, it's hard to say no.) I'm fairly sure, even with her introducing me as her best friend, most of her work now things we're dating. The wonderful thing about tonight, though, was that literally everyone there knew me by my preferred name. Jaka introduced me as Jay and he; the only one of her coworkers who knew me by my birth name switched instantly to my new name. It was a wonderful, albeit still very foreign, feeling to just be accepted as Jay.

In other amazing news, I found one (possibly even two!) horses to ride up in the city I live now. My horse, whom I haven't ridden since I broke my back in a bad fall two years ago, lives two counties down on my parents' property. There's a lady looking for someone to exercise her 22 year old ex-Grand Prix jumper. He's arthritic, but can still jump most days and does trail on the days he's too sore for jumping. I'm more excited than I have words for. I crave being back in the saddle. I'd planned to bring my horse up here to ride, but those plans fell through once The Fiancée left since I don't know if I'll stay in this area after I graduate in May. I spent part of the day getting my boots and such ready; it is such a heady feeling to prepare for riding again! I may end up riding her friend's younger Haflinger pony too; that would be so much fun since the pony still needs training and work; I haven't gotten to train a horse in years now! I'll go ride the gelding on Thursday. It's a wonderful reward for how hard I've been working to finish up my semester.