There’s a meme making its way around social mediaÑgalloping, if you willÑthat features a blackboard-looking image that says, basically, “Today’s Lesson: Life is Short É Buy the Darn Horse.”

The meme creator has a point.

I’ve been on the brink of jumping back into ownership for a while now, but finally reached the decision in October that I was ready to get another horse to call my own. Circumstances and just knowing “it’s time” aligned in a moment of happy clarity, and I haven’t been able to shake the idea since.

I’m not wanting a horse with the sole purpose of accomplishing any one particular equestrian goal. My ambitions for climbing the ranks of eventing are long behind me. (Cue mid-’90s background music.) My horse trial heyday was in high school and college, when my superstar (in my eyes, at least) off-track Thoroughbred and I happily careened around cross-country courses near and far. I had my fill of competition then, though one day I hope to do some local lower level horse trials and hunter paces just for fun and to relive that excitement