Yesterday I received sad new. It wasn’t unexpected, but it was hard to hear, nonetheless. My aunt, who has been sick for some time, passed away. I got the phone call in the late morning. Though I now live in Iowa, I grew up in Arizona. Most of my family is still there. My aunt… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
All Three Gaits
It feels like we’re finally back in a good groove with the horses. Work is coming out of the first quarter crazies as well. That plus some nice weather have made it a lot easier to get out on horseback with more consistency. Last week we got out twice mid week and rode Piper and… Read more »
More Loretta Time
My lessons with my groundwork student have continued steadily. On Sunday and today, I also worked with Loretta on my own. Loretta has a pretty bad case of heaves, so in the winter she lives alone in a dry lot. She’s often skittish about being approached by people. Sunday was windy, and she got snorty… Read more »
98 Hours to Go
I love weekends. Our days go like this: We wake up naturally, and make coffee. I spend a few hours writing. We make breakfast, eat, and head to the barn. We ride two horses each, head home, have tea, and wile the afternoon away reading or doing a workout or whatever else we feel like.… Read more »
Don’t Go on a Diet
I recently read an article that advised readers not to diet. The piece argued that while most diets work in the short term, people who lose weight typically fail to keep it off for more than three years. The article cited studies that suggest gaining and losing weight is more harmful than just being overweight… Read more »
Rides Three and Four
All the horses got trimmed before we left for Texas, and our farrier confirmed what I thought – that Piper has really nice feet. She also behaved well for him, which was awesome because she was pretty uncertain with her feet when she came to us. I had worked on it a lot, but I… Read more »
Texas and Buck Brannaman and Springtime
Last Saturday, Brian and I drove to Texas. His parents have moved to the Dallas area, and it was high time we got down there to visit. While this did mean we were away from our horses for a while, happily Buck was nearby. On Monday, we kidnapped Brian’s mother and all of us audited… Read more »
In the Snaffle
Although in general I’m finding myself feeling an increasing preference for the hackamore, I decided to start Piper in the snaffle. My main reason for this is I don’t know how long we’ll keep her. From a versatility perspective, the snaffle is more practical. Also, since we’re not thinking of her as a horse we… Read more »
Started
In spite of having a pretty lame February in terms of getting out to the barn, I did, at least, accomplish one good thing recently. Namely, on Sunday, I got on Piper’s back for the first time. Things with Piper have been going incredibly smoothly. She is a super fast learner. I don’t know if… Read more »
The Full Arena
This morning Brian and I went to look at a house. It was a small acreage about 20 minutes outside of town. It had an indoor arena and the land was already nicely set up for horses. On paper, it looked kind of amazingly perfect for us. In person, sadly, the house was … not… Read more »