I am Debbie Hastings and along with running my web design business, Flying Change Webs & Graphics, family activities, and the hectic schedule of two active children, I love following the sport of eventing. My screen names on many social networks is EventerMom, but I am not a competitor – in fact I’ve only ridden in a few times in my entire life. As the name implies, I am the mother of an eventer. The rider: my 17-year -old daughter, Emily Seaver. She currently competes at Training and recently placed second at the Area I Championships at Fitch’s Corner and trains with eventer Babette Lenna and dressage trainer Karen Folan. We live up in Maine, so attending events typically requires a road trip.
Why am I writing in this blog? To share the experience of eventing from the EventerMom’s point of view – the journeys, the successes, and the bumps in the road.
Here’s how it started …
Emily and her partner, Bully for Billy.While living abroad just outside London, England, I asked my “then” five and a half year old daughter if she would like to take riding lessons. After all, nearly all young girls in England learned to ride, so there was a stable around every corner. Let’s just say I didn’t have to ask twice.
It started with once a week lessons, then the British Pony Club, and by the age of seven and a half she was the youngest “overnight” weeklong camper the stable ever had. She longed to participate in local horse shows, but wasn’t allowed because she didn’t own a horse. And honestly, at that time I didn’t know the difference between hunter/jumper, dressage, or eventing.
By the time we had moved back to the states . . . things were much different!
The Idea
In 2007, at King Oak Farm Horse Trials, there was a car in front of us with a bumper sticker that said simply:
MOTHER MUCKER
It was perfect. And ever since then, that has sort of been my motto. It says it all, doesn’t it? After all, as the mother of an eventer, I do it all:
clean tack
gather and carry gear
worry during dressage
worry more during cross-country
drive a horse trailer that I never thought I’d own
and of course, muck stalls
If you can relate to any of this, then please, follow along as I try to tell about what it’s like to be a Rambling Mom of a three-day eventer.
Tune in next week for more exciting adventures with the EventerMom!
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