In no particular order. Before I die, I want to …
1. Ride Western. I think ridden a little in a Western saddle. But I want to ride Western. In the USA or Canada. On a ranch. Preferably doing stock work (or whatever it’s called over there 
).
2. Visit the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Needs no explanation.
3. Ride side-saddle. In my mind I will be good at this. I’ll let you know how it works out in reality, however …
4. Breed a foal. I’m thinking a sporthorse or a pony.
5. Compete respectably at fourth-level dressage. I could go all out and ‘aim’ for GP, but if I reach fourth I feel like I will have ‘made it’.
6. Play polo. I have played polocrosse – loved it! Next step: polo. A real game too, not just bashing a ball around.
7. Ride saddle seat. I mean … wow. Is this not the craziest* discipline out there? Does this not look like pretty fantastic fun to you? I want to ride a shiny, prancing firecracker of a horse at a flat-out but super-smooth pace!
(*of course, crazy is relative …)
8. Go to the Burghley, Badminton or Rolex Kentucky horse trials. Adelaide 4* is just over the ditch, but it’s so close that it feels like ‘cheating’. When I say ‘go to’, I mean as a spectator. Or a rider. But I’ll consider this item complete if I merely spectate .
9. Get my BHSI. I’m not sure that getting all the way there is any more than a dream, but I would actually like to get at least part of the way there.
10. See the Devon Horse Show. All of it.
How many of those are on your list? What are some must-do things that I don’t know about yet?
I’ve done 2 of them. I don’t count riding western in the US since I didn’t go anywhere out west to do it–just used western saddles. I bred a foal. I also rode side saddle–lasted less than 5 minutes. I hated it! I always wanted to try it, though. Never again.
Hope you do some of them!
Oh no! Why did you hate side saddle? At least you got to tried it once, I guess. How was breeding a foal for you? Would you do it again, or was it too stressful and time-consuming? That’s the thing about distant dreams … I *think* I want to do these things, but who knows
Fun post! I’d love to visit the Spanish Riding School. I’d also like to do one of those trips where you stay in a castle and ride cross-country in Ireland!
Oh wow, I hadn’t heard of that Ireland thing … that’s definitely getting added to the list. I really want to visit the UK anyway, so that would be easy to add in
And a castle … Perfection.
Riding sidesaddle is so much fun. Look up ISSO, International Side Saddle Organization. They have contacts for people depending where you are from. I was lucky and had a saddle given to me.
Thanks so much for the tip, Jessica! They don’t seem to have a NZ contact but at least I’ll be able to get in touch with someone if/when I come to the States
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I must say I want to be most of these things too! But I can scratch 2 of them off. I rode sidesaddle once, and while it was very uncomfortable, I felt like royalty. I also rode western. Not out west, but I did do some cattle work. Those darn cows never go where you want to go!
Oh no, another vote against side-saddle! My illusions are slowly being shattered
Haha yes, I grew up on a farm and we often used our stock horses on the hill country … cows (and sheep) can definitely be ornery animals at times!
I’ve been lead around in a side saddle, But I’d love to try it for real sometime. I was standing in the line getting a ticket for the Spanish riding School when the announced they’d ran out of tickets. I was devastated but managed to get a ticket to go on a tour inside their stables which was good enough for me. I’d love to breed a foal on day perhaps even try to train it, but i think I’d be too scared I’d ruin it. Polo looks far too complicated for me (I’m not a very good rider. Me, riding and trying to coordinate a ball and mallet would NOT be a tasty recipe).
1, 4, 5, 6 & 8 i can totally relate to! i love making bucket lists. i loved 6 especially, i don’t know why but i have a weird fascination for all things polo!
i really like your little list