Blog Hop: Stalker

I saw this blog hop on L. Williams' blog, Viva Carlos and then again on She Moved To Texas and decided to give it a go.  I don't usually do blog hops simply because I'm generally not online enough to catch them when they're still relevant, but since I'm trying to change all that, here it goes!

I've met a few bloggers in real life, but ironically enough, I didn't meet them because of our blogs.

The first person I met was Chelsea, mentioned a lot on here as Chels.  She's been one of my best friends since we were in middle school, and we've always been drawn together by horse craziness, marching band, and many many rants about life and *dun dun dunn* boys.  She's been my sounding board for a lot of things ever since we were young, and I've served as the same for her a lot of times too.  She started her blog, A Girl, her Horse, and her Cat: The Narrative of a Life within the last year or so.  We also boarded our horses together for a few years, up until a few weeks ago when I moved Orion to have him closer to where I plan to live for the next few years.  We've shared many rides, exchanged many theories of why our horses do the things they do, and laughed at Orion and Kit's antics and their feigned disdain for each other a lot over the years.

I also know Liz from In Omnia Paratus. She was a couple years ahead of me in high school, and back then I knew of her but didn't really know her. Now, I consider her a close friend. I bought Orion from her 3 years ago. He was her first owned horse, and when things didn't quite pan out with them, I had the amazing opportunity to take him on. It's been challenging with him at times, but overall so worth it, and through these challenges, Liz has become a good friend. I often go to her when I'm having a problem that absolutely stumps me, and a lot of the times I go to her for her opinions on my ideas before putting them into action. She's an amazing horsewoman and friend, and I know I can always count on her to be frank and honest with me without sugarcoating things.

I met Saiph of Wait for the Jump last summer when Orion had a medical emergency. He came up severely lame, and I couldn't get a hold of any of the local vets, so I called Liz in a panic and begged her to come look at him. I was terrified that he had re-injured his leg, so she came out, bringing Saiph and Charles with her. So it was a short, hurried meeting where I was worried and distracted and probably didn't give the best impression of myself, but we have met. I would love to meet her again and get to know her more properly without a seemingly major horse crisis looming over my head!

Another blogger that I haven't met but would like to meet is Allison of Adventures with Shyloh. I've followed her blog for a couple years now, and she's one of the bloggers I've followed the longest, next to Liz. I always look forward to her posts about Shy and have talked to her a little through our blogs and Facebook, and she's definitely one of the bloggers I wish I could meet in real life too!