To compliment my reflective, thoughtful post about Justin entering into a semi retirement, I want to introduce the a more morbid, yet lighthearted rendition of “12 Days of Christmas,” here is my “7 Days of Grieving The End of My Event Horse’s Career.”
On the first day of grieving….
Monday. I got home from Fair Hill and finally accepted what I already knew: he’s still off. This day I officially give myself permission to feel sorry about myself and internally grieve. Here we go.
On the second day of grieving…
Excessive amounts of time spent on CANTER sites… Try to find a way to justify running up to Charles Town “just to browse.” Followed by excessive shopping after work – for real life people clothes, not riding clothes! (who am I?)
On the third day of grieving…
Binge watch a lot of horrible reality tv while my friend cooks me dinner. Force my landlord’s dogs for cuddles.
I mean, just look at these angels.
On the fourth day of grieving…
Wine. A lot of wine. You know those supersized cheap bottles? A whole one of those. Then drunk online shop for OTTB’s.
On the fifth day of grieving…
Be late to work (see: fourth day of grieving, wine). Find even nicer OTTB’s online… drool. Paint your nails, because apparently people who don’t spend time in a barn can keep polish on their fingers for more than one day. More wine.
On the sixth day of grieving…
Go to the Fall Gold Cup Races with friends.
Courtney, D’Arcy, Martha and Me.
Instead of picking out the winners, pick out the last or second-to-last finishers who have a great gallop and would make for a great event prospect! Somehow ignore Courtney and D’Arcy’s suggestion to drive 6+ hours to Presque Isle Downs to check out this beef cake. (Seriously, I should’ve just gone).
On the seventh day of grieving…
Enjoy my last day of wallowing in my own self pity. Get cookies from Upper Crust (aka my biggest weakness in M’burg). In the perfect weather I decide to take my pony on a nice hack.
Who, me?
I really enjoyed my week of self-induced pity. The moral of the story is sometimes, you’ve just got to let yourself feel sad, but with an expiration date. The other moral of the story is that I soon may make an impulse OTTB purchase because I only have a loose grasp on the idea of self control.
shelbyrallen 
Impulse buy for the win! Do it.
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Haha! Yes I tend to shop on emotion, so the likelihood is dangerously high.
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I’m really sorry you’re going through such a rough patch. Fingers crossed for lots of smiles in your immediate future 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 I think there will be!
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I fully support this. All the cool kids have OTTBs anyway 😉
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See that’s what I hear! I neeeeeeed one
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I think you’ve grieved nicely. Cookies, wine and friends is always a winning combination. If you want to borrow a green (but safe) 15 yr old OTTB mare, hit me up. lol
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If you have enough wine, the OTTB purchase will feel like it was totally planned.
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I like the line about letting yourself feel sad, but with an expiration date. So true. Reminds me of a line from one of the Narnia books “Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.”. I dunno why I’ve always liked that so much, but I do. And I can’t wait to see what you impulse buy!
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I don’t remember that line specifically, but it really resonates with me. I think it’s important to acknowledge your feelings, but you can’t let them take over. My solution just happens to be an expiration date 🙂
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I want to say it’s in The Silver Chair, when whats her face (why can’t I remember the little girl’s name?) first gets brought into Narnia and meets Aslan. Not that it matters, but… nerd moment…
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I agree, feel sad, but don’t get stuck there too long. Sounds like you had the kind of week you needed.
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