It's gotten to be a habit: every Tuesday before the lesson, I pick out Rebel's feet and give him an auld combover. He was in a mood this past week; he's mostly stopped farting in my face when I lift his near hind hoof, but he came up with some new tricks. As I clawed …
How’d I Do That?
Since I'm supposed to be revising for that exam, I thought I'd post. The outdoor was basically a mud puddle. I remembered falling off into that wet sand about a year ago... or less... and immediately suppressed the memory. It wasn't going to happen again. We were jumping, a double, and then a fence at …
Return of Mojo
I think I may have my seat back over the fences, as far as Rebel is concerned. We took some low ones on Saturday: the first was so low that he just stepped over it. The others that followed were a little higher, but the exercise we were doing required that we take the fence, …
Wibbly Wobbly Wonder
NOT SURE WHAT THAT IS, IS IT ICE CREAM? I was kinda crap on Thursday, and though it might have been, I don't know, being rusty, couldn't keep my balance at all, but I had had Rebel on Tuesday and even though we had an ongoing battle for the bit, it was a good night, …
Cold Back, Warm Heart
It's the kind of rain that Ireland has elevated to an art form: a drizzling flurry of precipitation that encourages one to eschew hood and brolly, but that, nevertheless, results in a good soaking. The mountains were wreathed in mist, the sky a bowl of gray laying directly on the top of one's head, with …
Off Again, Off Again
JIGGITY JIG Ach, I think my head was still a little woolly. Up until three a.m. Friday morning, then had to whimper through the last day of 'school', and despite having had an early-to-bed, and a lie-in, I wasn't one hundred per cent. Ruby is gorgeous: I laughed as she gave me the canter immediately, …
The Big 9-0
Once again, a threshold crossed with no warning. The weather has cleared up to the extent that the sun comes out towards the end of the day. The summer is waning — it's getting that bit darker, again, earlier — and out we go on a ride out to take advantage of the grudging seasonability. …
The Lesson of the Fifth Fence
I keep seeing it: over the double, and there's that fence. Just sitting there. The number five in black on the red placard. There it is, and there we go, Delilah and I, right past it as opposed to over it. I tell myself I felt a hesitation in her stride. Well? What are we …
The Semiotics of Showjumping
Apologies to anyone who'd googled Saussure, Charles Demuth, or William Carlos Williams, and found themselves here. I was as nervous as I was way back in September of 2006. A friend messaged me yesterday to meet up, and I replied, in textese, that I couldn't as I was going up to the yard to jump. …
Eight in Row!
The yard was dead. Very unusual for a Saturday. One of the Livery Lasses was lingering in front of the barn, and told me that the polocrossers were off in South Africa, at some tournament or other. Ah. Only one class was going on, 'summer' hours in place, the intermediate ladies on a ride out, …
MANY BRAVE FOOLS 