So every once in awhile life throws you a curve ball that causes you to reconsider what you thought were your life plans. Back in February life threw me one of those curve balls when I found out that the state of Oregon had decided to stop fighting the good fight against sudden oak death and would no longer be funding research projects on the disease. For those of you that don't know, my graduate studies are funded by work on sudden oak, and as of June, that funding will be completely gone. As result, I will be finishing up with a masters (for now).
I was lucky enough to find a wonderful opportunity working for Jeri Neider, at Twin Ridge Farm where I will temporarily follow my dream of being a full time rider before heading back to the real world. This means that I will be spending around 4 months in my home state of New Hampshire in the fall. I will have to leave Dave behind which will definitely be the hardest part for me (though he is already planning a visit in October. What a guy. They don't get any better than him.), but it will be nice to be close to my parents who I miss dearly for a little while. I would like to stress, however, that this is only a temporary move and I will be back to the PNW in time for Thanksgiving.
I still believe that there is an Oregon mustang waiting to be my dressage horse, and hopefully I will find him or her when I get back. In the mean time, the tone of the blog may change to be more general dressage and horse related. I'm contemplating a temporary name change to "The Dressage Princess Diaries." What do you think?
