Nobody's Perfect

Well, except me:) I have been achieving perfection in my life constantly. It's easy, since I am perfect. Oh, it's so simple, the pressures involved in constant perfection achievement.

Except when I was doing this.


Or, this.

Except my horses generally fell through the jump, not after..
But I always got back on. Except once. And my confidence was lost for the next year.

I'm even pretty sure I looked like this a few times..


But, I never expected I'd end up looking like this.


Perfect, right? Well, no. Never did I ever achieve the perfection we all ride for train for, live for. It's something you just keep trying to achieve. But if you're all wrapped up in how "good" you should look, or how "perfect" your horse should be, you aren't really riding. You are looking for instant gratification, something that many people have been trained to expect. Young people, especially. It's all they've ever known. Hungry, go get a big mac, thirsty, go get a pepsi, bored, go see a movie. Instant pleasure, instant perfection. There seems to be no such thing as patience anymore.

Even in Canada, my country, where I always assumed everyone knew you line up and wait your turn politely. That courtesy is disappearing, fast.

Every ride is a brand new day, for rider and for horse. Enjoy each day for the wondrous experience that it is. Have a plan, have a goal. Or, plan to have no plans, and just enjoy. Just be clear, in your head, where you want to "go" today.

After a bad fall onto my helmet-less head, my confidence disappeared entirely. I had wanted to get back on, the idiot owner of the horse insisted I get into a hot bath instead. I guess it looked pretty bad. The horse, a TB mare 14.2 in front and 15.3 behind, had no talent for anything, at all. Why the owner wanted her jumped is unknown. I didn't even know I'd lost it, until several days later. I was riding another horse, a far nicer animal. My heart started to pound as soon as we trotted an "x". I kept at it, but without my confidence, the mare just didn't perform as well as she had previously, for me.

Not long after this, I got the job teaching at the barn where I would ultimately ride GoLightly. I was fine teaching, and riding, but jumping.. (shivers) I was skeered. Furious with myself too. I'd never lost my confidence before, and I didn't know how to get it back. I SHOULD have gotten back on that bad jumping mare!!

A schoolie named Johnny-be-Good handed it back to me, tidily. Here he is coddling a student, at a little schooling show.


JohnnyBeGood would have been 18-20 when I started teaching with him. I was really struggling with my nerves over fences by this point. I had several beasts to ride, but they were all of various states of bad-brokedness, not good for the nerves. I didn't trust anything I sat on over fences. Not good, very bad, actually. Fine on the flat, but jumping was not happening. I just couldn't turn a horse to a fence.

My school was still pretty tiny at this point, and I was still in University, so riding was limited to mostly weekends, three days out of seven, if I was lucky. Not enough, for sure, with the problem I was having.

Johnny had had quite some time off, as I tended to use the younger horses a bit more, and I guess I was saving him for me, too, unconsciously. He'd had an easy couple of weeks, hacking, turn-out, etc. I had just recently "gotten" him, that's right. Started with four, then JohnnyBeGood, then RainDance.
Anyway, I knew he could help me. Stout, but not squat, 16.1hand liver chestnut QH, a little long in the back, short in the leg, not much though. JBG was pretty fancy in his day. Another duck-mover, always hard on his shoes. Long toed, low heeled. A chronic cribber, poor bugger. Lovely forward gaits, a great rockin' canter. Johnny had a beautiful classic great big QH long sloping crouped butt.

We hacked around a bit in the indoor. He had a long no-crest neck, and he was very well-balanced, straight in his directions, easy to handle. Of course. JBG was another Premium SchoolMaster, worth x amount per pound.

My heart racing, I trotted him over a few trotting poles, a few cross poles. There was a low wall in the ring, on the diagonal, about 3 foot. Nothing, right? I'm still really nervous, but if this horse couldn't carry me over, I knew no other horse would.

We cantered around the end of the ring, and I saw a nice distance off the corner. We flowed easily over it, and he tripped on landing..

to be continued.

I'm learning not to put all my cards on the table, every single frickin' time:)

Oh, and here's some important links to our ever-so-esteemed government. You know, the one that is on board with bailing out bad management practices?

These agencies are directly involved in the horse slaughter industry. They have worked up beautiful tomes that describe how well our government does our jobs.

Here they all are. Enjoy. We need people like Temple Grandin working with these people. I have been told that they do indeed work closely with Temple's ideas and concepts.
You be the judge.

And do not support your local Auction. Just My Own Opinion. Make sure you can call always call a spade, a spade. Dealer or rescue?
Very fine lines. Sorry for my recent obtuseness in this regard. I never have said I was brilliant either. Just perfect, thanks to my Butch:)


National Farm Animal Care Council

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

More CFIA

Livestock Community Sales Act.

Handling of Food Animals

Fingers and Bum, Numb.

To be Continued, HAH!
I'm a serial blooger.

Oh, CRAP. Links are confuzling. I'm pretty sure the government spelled Quality wrong..
No surprise there!
My editing eyes get positively bored with this stuff:)

Scritches to Beasties of all Species..
I haven't fed the dogs yet!!! Flip sighs, pitifully, poor neglected thing..
Has anyone seen the goat?