The Repurposed Horse

Things that I should have done today instead of driving for 2 hours to go to the tack store(s): deep cleaned my house (my mom is coming to visit on Friday) cleaned my car (I'm giving the dressage trainer a ride home on Monday and it's a disaster in there) taken my dog for a hike spent time with my boyfriend slept before my overnight shift (I'm sure there are more things, but those are the big ones) Things that I did today:  drove 4 hours round-trip to go to the tack store My town doesn't have its own horsey store, so shopping in real life involves a lot of driving.  I found out yesterday that there is actually a closer tack shop - only like 40 minutes away - but as an extreme creature of habit I decided to make the trip to STL anyways, because it's familiar and I've been to the two there before and I was pretty sure I'd be able to find all of the things that I was hoping to obtain.  Shopping list: consignment tall boots, or at least ...

When I decided that the time had come to get a horse of my own, I had a whole list of criteria that said horse needed to meet.  I didn't care about color or sex, but I knew that I wanted something big.  Like, 16.3 or taller.  I wanted an OTTB, because I love them and they tend to be budget-friendly, preferably something with a year or more off the track and with some talent for jumping. I wanted a puppy dog personality and a solid brain.   I actually did find a horse that met all of those qualifications.  His name was Bing, but I was going to call him Corr.  He was gorgeous, just under 17 hands and built like a warmblood.  He had raced for six years and then jumped big things for three. I went to try him out twice, fell head over heels in love, and brought him home for a trial.  I was POSITIVE that he was The One.  I was ready to buy him the day that he got there, but because he had a vague history of injury and a sketchy string of past ow...