It was cold last night, for sure, but it was straight-ahead cold, not the kind that comes with dampness and huge amounts of wind. Clear sky, stars, that sort of thing. I got to the barn a bit early and spent some time reading an article on cosmology and brains in space that Jack found [...]
I spent most of the day on Saturday out at the barn for a Terry Myers Clinic and rode Mo for the whole three hours. It was hard work but I grinned like a fool the whole time and I’m very much more in-synch (Mr. Myers’ philosophy) with Mo than I have been. It’s humbling to be [...]
Yesterday we rode to music! Leah started working with another student on a show piece, so she had the boom box out in the arena and was playing some new-age, sorta Lord of the Rings type music. As soon as Mo heard it, he started trotting away — or as soon as I heard it, [...]
Hey, I forgot to mention that I’ve been cantering Mo without stirrups! How cool is that? We just rock along (probably not today; the air quality is forecast to be very very bad) and I don’t have my feet in the stirrups and it’s just fine and dandy! Hooray!
I want to thank everyone for the good words of support and encouragement as I transition from Gabby to Moe. You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em, which is what my mom said when she retired from teaching at Michigan State University, and I’m glad I didn’t endure (horse-wise) [...]
“So much for Buckingham,” says the soon-to-be Richard III (he’s still, what, Richard Plantagenet at this point?) after dispatching yet another rival to the throne in Shakespeare’s Richard III (or not).
So much for getting behind riding and trotting over poles and such. God’s Wounds but I was nervous last night. It took forEVer for us [...]
When Leah first told me about the German dressage master who comes to her stable to teach special clinics, I thought that there was no possible way in hell that I would ever, ever consider doing such a thing. I am not competitively inclined. I have come to the horse in early middle age. I am aware of [...]
The Art of Conversation with The Horse (or in this case, Gabby), is just today for the very first time ever begining to make some sense to me. I know that you have to ride every minute and you’ve got to use the aids correctly and you’ve got to pay attention, but it wasn’t until [...]
Yesterday sorta stunk. If it weren’t for Sam, one of the young students, it would have completely stunk. Gabby slipped out of the cross ties in a most dramatic fashion while I was grooming her and it scared the dickens out of me. *sigh* There’s so much to get used to.
The barn was alive with [...]
Last night’s lessons wasn’t bad but it wasn’t one of those life-defining epiphany lessons either. It was just hard work. Isn’t that a bummer? Instead of living on a lofty plane of existence at all times wherein the secrets of life, the universe, and everything are vouchsafed unto one at least once a day if [...]
