Here’s to a good time, and hopefully a long time!

Without further ado, hello! Seeing as this is the first post, I figured I would introduce myself a bit.

My name is Haley Rutstein, and I am the second daughter of a relatively normal and rather boring family. My parents are in accounting and IT, and my older sister is an Air Force pilot. My sister is my idol, my hero, and my absolute best friend, so I like to brag about how cool she is whenever I get the chance. She hated me when we were younger, but then she left home to attend the United States Air Force Academy (subtle brag, not sorry) and realized during her time away that I was the greatest person to ever live. She agrees that I am also her best friend.

I grew up in southern New Hampshire, and my personality is very much reflective of this. I am not particularly friendly, but I get offended when people don’t return my wave on my runs. My sense of humor is incredibly dry and rarely makes any sense. I have an unhealthy obsession with coffee (my father’s fault), and I unapologetically believe that $8 for a specialty latte from a local cafe is completely reasonable and always necessary. I am partial to the cold, hate humidity, and love NH foliage just as much as the tourists I will complain about in the fall.

I love to read. To this day, I kick myself for not going to school for English, because the only thing I want to do all day is curl up with a good book and ignore the rest of the world. Imagine if I had chosen a profession that paid me to do that? I would have been unstoppable. And no, I do not believe the copious amounts of scientific articles I am required to read for my literary review count. “Romantacy” is my favorite genre, and I will not apologize for it. I have no interest in reading anything about real life, and if you suggest I read nonfiction for fun, I will laugh in your face. My only exception to the “Romantacy” rule is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. However, that plot has an alien, and I was so excited that I actually understood the science parts of the story. I am deeply obsessed with anything SJM (minus Catwoman, I refuse to acknowledge that one exists), Victoria Aveyard, Tahereh Mafi, Suzanne Collins, Cassandra Clare, Marissa Meyer, James Patterson, Jobie Hughes, James Frey, and many more.

I recently (summer of 2023) took up running. Growing up, I was vehemently against exercise outside of sports practices (much to my father’s dismay) but now I get withdrawal when I cannot get a run in. I consider myself a long-distance runner – I like to keep myself in good enough shape that I could spontaneously run a marathon within a week with no stressors. I have raced 5Ks and a half-marathon, and I have completed the marathon distance three times, with my first marathon race scheduled for summer 2026.

I am a person who is convinced I can do anything based on watching just two YouTube videos. It often results in a bit of a headache, but nine times out of ten, I get the job done. I am stubbornly independent and despise being told what to do. I blame my New England upbringing for why I am not a good “people-person”. When I moved to Kentucky to complete my undergraduate degree, it was an extreme culture shock. Apparently, in the south, people just love talking to strangers about anything and everything.

I am a dog person who currently has a cat from hell. Her real name is Winona, though she is better known as Helga.

I have been riding horses since I was 10 (?) years old. It is both my greatest pride and deepest embarrassment. The connotation behind “horse girl” has haunted me all throughout school. I avoid the topic of horses in most recreational conversations, but for the sake of transparency here, I will introduce them (Also, this is my blog, so if you don’t like it, skip ahead or stop reading).

Currently, I own three horses. A 2018 APHA gelding named FlirtinWithMyBluEyes (Myles), a 2021 AQHA mare named Platinum Mechanic (Josephine, Jo), and a 2016 AMHA gelding named JDS Belshazzar (Bob). Myles was bought when I graduated high school and was my first all-around show horse. He retired from competition in 2022 and is now thriving in a therapy program, living a pretty easy life. I bought Jo in a finals-induced fever dream in 2023, and we are currently competing in the AQHA Level 1 Amateur all-around events. Bob was a personal attachment gone wrong, and a couple of years later, he ended up as a surprise birthday gift. We compete in the AMHA Amateur and Amateur Ladies Western Pleasure.

I graduated from high school in 2021, becoming a proud Salem High School alum. In the fall of 2021, I began my first year at the University of Kentucky. At the time, I was a Pre-Veterinary Animal Science major with my heart set on veterinary school. However, I quickly realized that being a veterinarian was not for me. Looking back, I think I had convinced myself I wanted to be a vet because that is what people interested in animals are supposed to do. Long story short, I quickly switched from a Pre-Veterinary track to a Pre-Professional track and began planning for graduate school instead. I was able to finish my undergraduate studies within three years, maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout (subtle brag, sorry), and graduated from UK in 2024.

However, just because veterinary school wasn’t in the cards for me, that didn’t mean I was done with my education. In the fall of 2024, I begin studying at the University of Connecticut, pursuing a Master of Science in Animal Science with a concentration in Animal Physiology. I am currently starting my last semester, with an anticipated graduation in the spring of 2026 (still maintaining my 4.0, just saying). Basically, this means I am in pure survival mode as I write and prepare my thesis for submission and defense, while trying to take as many classes as possible before I get kicked out of here. Believe it or not, the school thing is still not out of my system, and I do plan to pursue a PhD next.

Wow, that was kind of long! Props to you if you made it to this point.

Hopefully, this gives you a small glimpse of who I am. I hope to share more as I go, through posts of moments in life that cause me to stop and ponder the “deeper meaning”. Cheers to the beginning of a (hopefully) positive and captivating blog!

(If my sister or father is reading this, I do recognize that pretty much every sentence starts with “I”, I promise I did my best to switch it up, but it was really hard, as this is an introduction of me)