The Times They Are A Changin....

The big talk these days on the forums is the economy and how it affects the horse industry. I just got off the phone with my mom after discussing my current financial dilemma – I owe money to Social Security. Without getting into too much detail, Social Security paid me survivor benefits after the death of my husband in 1990 to the year when my daughter turned 16. They are now claiming that they overpaid me and I need to reimburse them some $13,000. It’s useless to try to fight them on this, so I have asked for a low payment plan. We’ll see how that pans out. In the meantime, I was talking to my mom and she suggested (in a way only mother’s can) that we be very frugal with our money and limit our spending. I told her we were and that after our last show in December, I may not even show Art next year. I think she probably thought I shouldn’t even do the show in December, but we are up for the Ultimate Yearling Award and we’ve worked hard all year for it. I do believe that I won’t be showing Art much next year due to financial constraints. It’s just too expensive to show at breed shows these days and I just can’t do that to my husband (this SS payment and my impending Student Loan payment is enough for his lifetime). Next year will be my year to start Art under saddle and bring him along nice and slow and solid. By the time we step into a show arena, I want him to have experienced as much as possible – from light trail riding, to picking through a trail course. I may just rope stuff off of him and drag stuff around. I want him broke, but sane. I want him to enjoy our times together and not feel intimidated. I want to enjoy my horse while I save money for our future World Shows endeavors. The times they are a changin’ and sometimes that’s not such a bad thing….