Bark Bark, Bark

Blaze, cleaning her nose.


Flip, in deepest thoughts.



Do ya wanna play FrisBee? Huh? Do ya???


Blaze, always ready!

Well, now I HAVE to post something, to cheer up Blatant/Meghan.
RIP, Spock. Huge furry hugs to Meghan. One of the kindest people I've ever read, on the net.

Let's talk of happy things, and silly things, and ridiculous things today. No sad things, no down-in-the-dumps days.

We all get plenty of those. Well, I do anyway. Don't know about y'all. IF I was a rich man, la deedahdedahdah...

I'd like to thank Dena for inviting me to JR's party. Talk about a jaw-dropper comment. Jeeesh. I've been told I need to shower more, and then I'll get invited out more. Maybe I should lose the diaper...

Ooooh, I'll share my story of how ridiculous I managed to look at a horse show. A teeeny-tiny, schooling show.
I'm showing Nonchalant's half-sister, Lucky Miss. The two were unhealthily in love with each other. Ooops, wrong story.

I'm showing Lucky, I'm wearing another rider's helmet, because mare was being a brat for the rider. So great master rider (me) hops on, with a hat way too big, even for my size 7 head. It's rolling down onto my eyes. The mare's been "chipping" (throwing in a teeny little stride JUST before the fence) and I am supposed to see better distances for the poor mare. (Blaming her rider, who is very disappointed that I'm up there on her mare.) I'm sure her rider hexed me a few times;)

Soooo, I of course see a long distance. I, of course, jump ahead of the mare. Of course, she throws in a two-foot stride, and of course, oh, she has no withers. Saddles do not fit this mare. Where have withers gone?? I'm riding on her ears as Lucky Miss decides, wisely, to stop. Plop, on t'other side of the fence.
Yeah. Dirt.
This is AFTER GoLightly. He'd forgotten to mention something.

Pride ALWAYS goes before a fall. It's not just a saying. At least, every single time I've ever felt even slightly superior, bam, I trip, I fall, I whack my head on something. I ride a horse's ears over a jump. So my ego learned, very early on, to STFU. Over and over and over.

You have to park egos at the barn door. Any door for that matter. At least, it's true for me.

I was going to post about barking dogs and shouting people and wasted breath.

I'd rather hear about the silliest fall you've ever had. Not the most dangerous, not the most painful. How did the horse help you to look like an idiot?


Yup. I've done that. On Nonchalant, at a show. A much more important show. Oh, how graceful, to be a separate, flying universe, apart from your horse. Ego, and over-schooling did me in, that time. I didn't fall off, but I sure should have.
In warm-up, I was showing off for a professional I'd had a huge crush for since I was 11. He spoke to me, said something like "You look like you're having fun." Concentration? Out the window, bye-bye.

Funny thing, I refused his advances a few years later. Hate to crush those old fantasies, ya know?

My most common fall was the face-plant,fortunately at slower speeds. Jumping ahead, ya know? Trying to help the horse over the fence. As IF.

If the horse doesn't leave the ground, voila! Face>ground. My first horse gracefully threw me over a low brush fence once. I was wearing a nice sweater, and Manfred (the BO & Head Teacher, and my boss) complimented me.

Doesn't take much to take your mind off your horse. But your horse always has you on his mind. Well, his back:)

My first (rental) ride ever, big old Belgian cross Mike ran back to the barn with me. That's pretty embarrassing when you think you are a genius with horses at the age of 11. Oh, how quickly they explain your shortcomings!

GoLightly and I never parted company. Over fences, on the flat, I never felt as if ground could be part of my day, that day. Nice feeling, let me tell ya. Over fences, he'd leave the ground from anywhere you said. If you were wrong, he'd still leave, and let you know what you'd done wrong.

It was hard learning to find deeper distances, from my years of galloping and leaving out that last stride before the fence. Many horses I'd ridden previously couldn't have left so close to the fence, or they'd have flipped over. Yeah, those falls almost always hurt. But ride a horse with an adjustable stride, and a catty front end!!
Oooooh, yeah..

I have plenty of those stories. C'mon, 'fess up!

I gotta go. Be right back.

To Spock's too-short, well-loved life, with thanks, because he was lucky enough to find Meghan.