My husband decides that he wants to start exercising and losing weight, so we start Insanity by Shaun T.  After Archie's vet visit that month, his back is determined to be so sore that he needs to take a whole month with nothing touching it, as well starting muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories.  I wish that I started blogging at this point, because mixing up those drugs into a format that the Kid would eat was like chemistry (which I think I failed).  I start taking dressage lessons with Kathy Faulk.

Chubby D.

On Zip.

Contraption to help with back.

I start blogging (again) (the first blog was not successful as it was solely horse and I lost interest).  I run my first-ever 10k on Tybee Island.  I have a minor surgical procedure towards the end of the month.  In case you're really curious:  I had a laproscopic procedure to determine why I hurt in my lower abdomen; my OB/Gyn thought it was endometreosis.  It was actually adhesions.  Six days after the surgery, I'm back on my horse.  We resume Insanity.  I buy my first leather saddle.  I start playing soccer competitively.  I continue taking dressage lessons.  And I get diagnosed with anxiety attacks.

Cat stalking my post-op self.

Random pretty.

10k, pre-op.

I recommend the cherry.

Serious discharge instructions.

Two weeks and two days after having had a camera shoved down my belly button, I run a 5k through the city.  My little furry daughters have birthdays.  Scarlette is 9 and Savannah is 6.  Some where around this time, we start Insanity over.  I don't take a dressage lesson this month, because the little Western horse I normally use is in horse shows.  D and I watch the St. Patty's parade from his boss's apartment over Lafayette Square.

Blogging is hard!  I almost give it up (again).  I run another 5k, which is miserable because it's on the beach, it's hot, and I desperately need to pee the entire time.  I stop hanging out with my drunk drunk friends.  Soccer is in full swing and I suck at it.  Husband and I are still doing Insanity.  No dressage lesson, again.  Archie, who turns 15 this month, has been on OneAC for a full year and is successfully in full sweat mode.

I got the need... the need to pee.

I pull the bitch stick out of my butt and befriend the girl leasing Duke at the barn.  We start talking and riding together, somewhat.  Husband and I are still doing Insanity.  The soccer season ends and I question whether I'll do it again.  I have another dressage lesson.  And, Memorial Day weekend, the dogs eat a package of gum containing Xylitol.  After $2,500 and the weekend at the vet's, they survive.

The husband and I transition from Insanity to Asylum.  We have muscles.  His weightloss continues to be impressive and overwhelming.  We get the webcam for the apartment and I start stalking both him and the dogs.  My farrier tells me that he thinks Archie has ringbone in his front ankles. The vet comes out for his six month visit and, after expensive radiographs, diagnoses Archie with ringbone.  He affirms that the Kid is still perfectly sound.  The vet also recommends a chiropractor, who also comes out this month and gives Archie his first adjustment in a few years.  I switch bits for the first time since I started riding Archie - from a D-ring snaffle to a Happy Mouth Double-Jointed D Ring Roller.  After my original partner breaks her wrist, D does the mud run with me.  I give my notice to the vet's office at which I'm working the occasional Saturday.  I take my last dressage lesson.  My mom gets married.

November to June.

I start volunteering with the Humane Society of Greater Savannah as a photographer.  I suck, but I love it.  Archie has his second adjustment.  I consider switching barns, but the potential barn has neither adequate shade nor access to fans.  I decide that I'm going to run the Rock'N'Roll Half-Marathon in November.  My half-sleeve gets filled in.  The daughter of a veterinarian I know comes to shadow D and stays with us.  Archie and I jump again.  We buy me a road bike.  Still doing Asylum.  I do my last day in veterinary medicine - almost exactly to the five year mark of when I began.

D and I have been in Savannah for two years.  We start cycling.  I have my last anxiety attack (to date) when a loose dog runs up on the girls as I'm walking them.  Archie throws a shoe and spends two weeks partially barefoot due to a death in my farrier's family.  I start training for the half-marathon.  Hubs and I are still doing Asylum and I want to kill Shaun T.  Archie and I start randomly cantering a few strides and we have problems with the left lead.  D and I start going to the gym.

D turns 28.  He comes out and takes photos of Archie and me (no!  not on his birthday!).  I finally get new paddock boots, which I've been bitching about for several months.  The chiro comes again and is in lecture mode.  Husband and I go to a Georgia game.  Archie and I are intermittently cantering and jumping.  Nothing consistent.  I start playing on a new soccer team, which magically boosts both my morale and my abilities.  I get nailed while playing soccer, busting both my jaw and my knee.  Duke moves barns.  Lizzie Borden has officially been in my life for three years.

My husband and I celebrate our second anniversary.  I turn 29.  I get the Back on Track Contender II for my anniversary/birthday gift.  I swear it's blessed by Poseidon or Epona.  I take Archie on an extra-long ride for my birthday and we break out the gallop.  The chiro comes out to adjust a couple of days later and Archie is significantly more sore.  A horse at my old barn, Bugle Boy, dies.  I'm saddened by his passing and by the fact that I'm no longer a part of that life.  On my birthday, I do a mostly-nude photoshoot for breast cancer awareness.  The photos are never released.  Savannah is consistently eating valuable things and I start the "Operation Please Stop Destroying My Crap", while also hopefully treating her for the last time for her chronic UTI. I try riding in the saddle that I rode in for five years and am miserable.  Archie lets me know it sucks.  We find the kittens at PetSmart and follow them to the Humane Society, where we are asked to foster them.  I decide to enter a couple of photos into an art show.

 November

I run the half-marathon and don't die.  Soccer season ends.  Time changes and I'm not able to ride as much - we go from five days a week to just three.  D and I spend a quiet Thanksgiving together.  I become the only photographer still at the Humane Society and start shooting twice a week.  D and I seriously start lifting weights.  We adopt two of the four kittens.  I start training on an incline for the 10k bridge run.  My car craps out again.  Archie has another chiro visit and graduates to the wellness program.

I run the Talmadge Bridge twice, for the 10k.  Savannah eats both pairs of my riding boots - I've been completely negligent on exercising her.  Archie and I have a come-to-Jesus about tracking right and cantering.  We're now successfully and regularly doing both, as well as jumping once a week.  I attend the art show and am disheartened.  I buy a CD off of a street musician and my faith in humanity and creativity is restored.  We go back to Augusta for Christmas and enjoying seeing family as well as making the husband run cross country with me.