Missouri Equine Photographer | Karinda K Equine Photography

Just a few short weeks ago my life got flipped, turned upside down. Ok, well not really. But it did a little. The past few weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of planning and emotions.

It all started the day before I left for my second trip to San Francisco. My husband called and said, “Well, it may finally be happening, I may be headed to Missouri for a job!”

Now let me rewind just a bit, my husband left the week after he graduated from High School for his first job on the pipeline. It is in his blood, he comes from a family of pipeliners.

I always knew that part of the deal marrying him was the chance to go on the road and work out of town, and this is something we have been looking forward to for a long time! All through college Austin worked off and on out of town and I was always envious that I couldn’t tag along, although I would always try to visit if I could and we made some of our greatest memories exploring different cities he was working in.

I knew when I said “i do” that it could mean one day he would get the call and we would pack up and leave in a moments notice. We have talked and dreamed a lot lately about the future and being able to pick up and go, live somewhere else on a whim and just see where life takes us. I have also been working diligently over the past few years to get my business to a place where this would be possible and I could work anywhere in the world.

When we found out, I immediately went into planning mode. How would this work, how can I leave my studio at home, how can I juggle this, who will feed the horses when I am not at home…. Just about a million questions to figure out in my head. I am not sure that I have quite everything figured out right now, but it’s a work in progress.

The first step was finding either someone to care for the horses at home, or just decide to bring them to Missouri with us. Well bringing them to Missouri won. The search for a barn began, and coming from the Houston area, I had no idea that it would be so hard to find a barn in Springfield, MO. I talked to a handful of really amazing barns, as the cards fell into place and we started looking for places to live,  Katalyst Sport Horses ended up being the perfect fit for our 3 horses and just a few miles away from where we ended up finding a place to stay.

The next part of the journey, was figuring out how to get the horses up to Missouri when we have 3 horses, and only a 2 horse trailer. I took off on a crazy hunt for a 4 horse trailer, because you know its always safe to have room for an extra horse when traveling (or because your husband thinks you will end up with another horse soon and doesn’t want to have to buy another trailer). I essentially had 2 days to find a trailer and get everything done before Austin had to leave for Missouri. I am so incredibly thankful for the amazing people at SportChassis Featherlite Trailers of Texas, I found the perfect Featherlite trailer and then we were off to the races to get all of the paperwork done and signed off on. If you are looking for a Horse Trailer in the Houston area make sure you go see them.

This whole trailer search started on Thursday, we picked it up on Saturday. And Monday Austin had to be in Missouri. We packed up the camper in a matter of a few days and headed out!

I helped Austin get the camper to Missouri and all set up and then headed back for a few days full of sessions, and then had to figure out if I was brave enough to load up the horses and new trailer that I had never pulled and drive the horses to Missouri by myself. After being told by numerous people that I was absolutely crazy for thinking about hauling the horses all by myself, I decided to pack up and drive all by myself anyways. After talking to my vet, Dr. Guardia, of Guardia Equine Sports Medicine and coming up with a game plan for the long haul I felt pretty confident that the horses would be ok.

I loaded up this past Thursday morning at 3am and headed out. Before even hitting Dallas I got stuck in a dead standstill on the highway not once but twice! A semi rolled over first, and traffic was stopped completely for 40 minutes, and the second accident was the accident you probably saw on the news with the pigs loose and running down the highway! After all of this chaos I wasn’t too sure I made the right decision to make the drive by myself, but it was too late to turn back.

After a long, long, exhausting 12 hours on the road I finally arrived in Springfield, MO and was ready to get the horses off the trailer. I learned a bunch along the way about trying to water horses on the road, stopping at truck stops, and even being stopped on the highway along the way. I will have to write a blog post later about some of the things I learned, and some great advice people gave me about the trip.

Now that the horses are getting all settled in, I will be finalizing my travel schedule soon. Make sure you apply to be a part of 365 Days of Horses if you haven’t already! I will be planning travel based on interest in different areas. You can apply here.

Make sure you follow my IG page @365DaysofHorses to follow along on my adventures!

Karinda K Equine Photography is a Missouri equine photographer located in Springfield, MO. Karinda creates timeless portraits of you with your beloved horses, and other farm animals. Serving locally Springfield, Lebanon, Jefferson City, and St. Louis, MO communities. KEP also serves Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas, Wellington and Ocala, Florida, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, Aiken, South Carolina, Tryon, North Carolina, and Norco and Woodside, California and their surrounding communities.