Back on my shizz. I noticed I was looking down again, as I went about my day. The difference between the two views is striking, and it reminded me of this excerpt from Many Brave Fools... *** Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley, a horsewoman, writes in her memoir A Year at the Races about how …
Can I Make Equie Happen?
Hmmmm. It's not like I haven't tried, as a cursory search through this weblog will reveal more than one selfie with more than one horse. It only stands to reason that a selfie with a horse is an equie. Right? Even after all the horses with whom I've posed, it's just not catching on. Connell …
I Need to Stop Talking to People Like They Are Horses
OR DO I? Off I went, to have my weirdly strong reading glasses checked, the ones I got before the Rona kicked off, and I was taking my usual informal poll of how many people were going about masked. Informal statistic: not many. On my corner sits a real estate agent whose plate glass windows …
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On Replacement Horses and Not Freaking Out
I was cleaning out the inbox of one of my email addys [and forwarding some stuff to another one LOL] when I came across the below. This is from 2018 which in 2020 time-framing is exactly one million years ago. I had started writing about this while away from my desk; I sent it to …
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The Crop Chronicles: If You Love Something, Set it Free…
In honour of hoping that the two long sticks I have hidden are still where I put them when lessons are back on. *** September, 2012 A couple of weeks ago — see, I didn't even bother writing about this, because honestly, this is like the eleventy billionth post on this topic. A couple of …
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Social Distancing and Open Order
The first time I experienced open order in a lesson, within two minutes I was like, 'Yeah, no, thanks but let's go back to the other way.' The other way was warming up in a group; open order meant we were warming up, but individually. At that stage I wasn't riding very independently, not yet. …
Endorphins: Purged
Not that it's a good thing. It's what we're all missing during this sheltering in place/self-isolation time. With the lack of human contact—and additionally in my case, contact with the horses—the production of endogenous opiates is way down, if not gone. I'm trying to get topped up on negative ions from being by the sea, …
The Crop Chronicles: I Give Up
We may be nearing the end of this series.. *** OH, DON'T BE SILLY—NOT HORSEBACK RIDING! I tried. I did, I really did. But the dressage whip is the only thing Rebel respects, and it now seems pointless for me to ride without it. Which means I gotta figure out how to get it from …
Victories of All Kinds
An experienced horse person might read about my first successful crack at a course and scoff. If I was bothered by that, it might serve to minimise the sheer joy I can still tap into when I think about it. Luckily: not bothered. In the same way, there's a lot of chat on socials about …
The Crop Chronicles: UN £@*!? BELIEVABLE
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this made me so mad. *** I LOST THE AMAZING AND MAGICAL STICK OF WONDER I lost it. It's gone. Gone. I know exactly why I lost it. I was all over the place, mentally, and I mean all. over. the. place. Anxious about a business trip [which I am now on, dateline: Toulouse], …
MANY BRAVE FOOLS 