The odyssey begins

The odyssey isn't really beginning in 2011. It began on May 5th, 1995 when a little chestnut colt was born on a small farm in Bishopville, SC. My mom was starting to think about replacing her 16yo grade mare and had been looking at some options. We looked at a half-Arab half-Fresian mare (who strangely enough ended up moving in next door to my parents house about 10 years later) and several other riding-age horses, but she wasn't finding anything she liked. Somehow, she ended up picking this little, 6-month-old Arabian stud colt named Flashs Image. She calls him Lyric, but I tend to just call him Lyr-Brat thanks to his bratty 2yo self.

We took him back to his trainer for I think 60 days of training when he was 4, but that's been the extent of his formal training. My mom's mare is still going fairly strong now, 16 years later at 32, though she's starting to show her age and requires more involved feeding these days. I ended up being Lyric's primary rider during those early years since I "bounced better" (not that there was a lot of bouncing back up needed) and we did everything from fun day shows to pole bending to 2'6" hunter courses. His very first show at 4 was a fun day show where we won 2nd in Simon Says after antics that included sitting on him backwards and any number of very odd things. He never moved a hoof he wasn't asked to. Since I moved to Durham for grad school, he's mostly sat around being a pasture pet and getting ridden once or twice a month when my mom felt like riding twice.

In the next week or two, that's all going to change. He's getting moved up here with me to be my new horse! Rather than sitting on him backwards or jumping, we'll be working on my new passion, dressage. I think he'll do great! I've worked with my trainer, Gayle Dauverd, off and on over the past few years on horses I've leased, and I'm hoping she'll like Lyric as much as I do. I don't have ambitious showing goals, I just want to keep learning. If I can one day do tempi-lead changes (not necessarily one-tempis; any tempis will be fine!) then I'll consider this a successful adventure.