2016 has been rough for a lot of people. The world, collectively, can’t wait to leave this year in the dust. So reviewing a year that wasn’t too bad for me personally but coincided with a lot of crap on a global level feels a bit awkward, but when has awkward stopped me?

January

Eli grabbed a heel early on, but healed quickly and was well on his way to recovering completely from his tooth & sinus stuff. Conrad had his own illness to recover from and did so much better once I got his diet on track. I lamented about my eye not keeping up with Eli over fences, and cobbled together a ridiculous post about online dating.

February

Conrad had 7 teeth pulled and I noticed how similar his expression was to Eli’s. Eli kept up with his usual sass and also managed to give me a heart attack with some swelling in a not so desirable place.

March

I figured out the cause of Eli’s swelling and it was thankfully minor. We went to our first horse show of the year and I made a lot of mistakes but Eli never punishes me for that. We had a really good lesson late in the month. Conrad looks good in orange.

April

I celebrated Eli’s birthday and fussed over him not gaining weight. I got cute pictures of Conrad in the bluebonnets. Eli showed some excellent form through a grid and we battled rainy weather. (And renamed the blog.) I introduced blogland to my first off-track Thoroughbred, Red.

May

Eli started getting regular massages as part of all his sports maintenance. We tackled more grids and I ranted about people who longe their horses too much and for the wrong reasons. Eli and I went to our first multi-day, “indoor” show together and the whole adventure took three posts, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Conrad got a new toy that he loves to this day.

June

Summer showed up and I documented Eli’s progress, skipped out on a show because of the heat, and shared my barn routine (that was a weirdly popular post!).

July

I compared riding ability to potatoes, argued in a favor of a dress code, and went over all the stuff I do to try to get lead changes on Eli. Conrad showed off his wardrobe and Eli gave me a stroke with some more suspicious swelling.

August

This month slowed down a bit because of me taking a vacation and unusual weather, but I found time to express my feelings about animals as family members.

September

I thought about why I shop where I shop, and we had a great horse show! Conrad showed off his sweaters in preparation for cooler weather.

October

The shit show that has been 2016 started catching up to us, and Conrad had some perfect facial expressions for it. I talked about how a complicated horse is my jam, and sadly we all had to witness a horse running cross-country with a bloody mouth AGAIN. But the month ended well–Eli and I worked on a favorite exercise of mine.

November

This month brought a time change, a planned purchase, and an unplanned purchase. I mused on limitations and needs. Conrad still looks amazing in orange.

December

Blogland went on a pedigree kick, which was loads of fun actually and it was neat digging deep into the Thoroughbred pedigrees especially.  The month also brought in some unseasonably cold, wet, and crappy winter weather, at least for Texas. A happy hour conversation sparked a rumination on whether you’re riding, or riding. Eli and I had two days in a row of really fantastic jumping.

2016 is still claiming victims left and right, and I know we are not yet out of the woods. Perhaps New Year’s Day will be a relief to all.