Trust me on this one

Once you've had soy sauce on a fried egg you will never want to have a fried egg without soy sauce ever again.

Got my baby back

Sweety's got her mojo back!

After warming up and schooling we had a nice charge down the hay field:


Then we chased some turkeys around. The turkeys are everywhere this time of year.

Then we made our way through the brush...


Into the woods.


L is a most awesome trail horse! Trail riding is mostly what we do. And by now I think she knows her way around these woods better than I do.

I remember, early in L's training, 15 minutes in the saddle felt like a couple of hours. It was real work. And sometimes I thought I'd never get it.

Now I often lose all track of time. When L is attentive and fully engaged she's beautifully balanced. She's light with a lift in her stride and a swing in her barrel and a little push off her hips. It's just the best thing ever. Darned near puts me to sleep sometimes and a couple hours can go by like nobody's business.

This really is the greatest thing.

Rituals

The Labor Day Road Trip is a big ritual.

I used to spend summers here when I was a kid. A popular summer resort a couple hours from here. A week ago this would have been a mob scene.

A day or two after Labor Day and it's practically a ghost town. I love the contrast. I had my fill of the mob scene when I was a kid.

And I just can't get enough of the ghost town.

Every Labor Day I take the week off. Right after Labor Day I do the Road Trip and I go watch them close up shop.


I walk and I sit on the boardwalk...

I have a Big Mac!


Um. You gonna share those?


In just a day or two the whole rhythm of life here changes. Not a little. It changes a lot.


And here. Down at the other end of the lake. Likewise a mob scene just a day or two ago. A lovely day. It was quiet and peaceful. I swear I could have just sat here and watched the bay until it was dark. I had half a mind to do just that.

A huge thing

This.

Is a huge thing.

LOST!

It's a good thing one of us knew where we were. It just wasn't me!

We don't have bad rides often. Well.. yesterday, L was a real stinker! She was just fine walking. And she'd do a really nice sitting jog. But when I'd start to rise and ask her to extend she got all kinds of pissy. She'd pin her ears and get crooked and toss her head and get all kinds of bumpy in her hind end. How much sense does that make?!

I don't know. She did something to her back? Sometimes her hip goes out. Back to a walk, fine. Jog? Fine. Extend? Nope, no way. Saddle slipped? No. Of course I'm not going to push her if she's having a problem. It's hard sometimes. She doesn't always tell me exactly what's wrong. She had more of a sweat going than she should have for what we were doing. Sometimes you have to be a mind reader I swear.

So I cool her off and I get her stuff off and rub her down and it becomes abundantly clear - she doesn't have a problem. Oh, not like what I was wondering anyway. She was just being a perfect ass! It's a mare thing. I went over her back. Her hips. and ... she's fine. Shoulders? Fine. Feet? Fine. Legs? Fine. Oh she was plenty "up" going to eat grass!

So today we go off and she's in heat. She's doing what I ask, she's doing it well, but she's cranking her tail about it. Oy me. A little bit crabby. I *finally* got her to move out and extend. When we're having issues I back off when I get what I want. My trainer, btw, doesn't always agree with that.

So we're cooling off and - I used to do this a lot with my crazy J, I pick out some paths through the grass and do "obstacle course" around the shrubs and taller grasses. I brought her close enough to some treacherous footing that she had to pay attention and she had a good time with it. I think she's been a little bored.

So I took her off into the woods. I just had us pick our way through the brush where the footing looked good and the trees wouldn't knock me off of her. After 15 minutes or so I got out the camera and I fiddle with the settings and I took some pictures. It didn't work out and I fiddled with the settings some more. I really wanted some pictures in the woods! By the time I got a couple of shots I thought were ok and put the camera back in my pocket I had no idea where we were. Not a clue.

Oh we weren't in deep trouble. I really don't think it's much more than a thousand acres of woods out there, and I could be wrong about that, but I was pretty confident we'd find our way back by dark. But still...a little disconcerting.

But L looked to me like she knew where she was. And where she was going. I left her on a really loose rein and just steered her such that I could clear the brush and it wasn't too long before I knew exactly where we were. How does she know this stuff? It's good one of us pays attention. She really is my rock star!

Vacation wine

Some people have wine like this every day.

Not me. Actually, I think "not I" is grammatically correct. Whatever. This is special. This is ..."vacation wine".

I can't believe it's Labor Day. Where did the summer go?

I lost almost 80 pounds...to improve my riding. I gave up cigarettes. Just because I didn't want to do it (smoke cigarettes..) anymore. But the one thing I wanted to do for my good health was acquire a taste for red wine.

I'd been chugging white wine for years but I never really liked red wine.

Then..maybe 4 years ago, my friend and colleague Rui, gave me a bottle of red wine for Christmas. It was something from Abruzzi if I recall correctly. I had it with some marinara and pasta and...it was..*delicious*. The wine made the marinara taste better. The marinara made the wine taste better. I *really* enjoyed them together. The little things that people do that have a huge impact on one's life. Soon afterwards I tried some chianti. I remember chianti from Italian dinners when I was younger. Hasn't everyone had a nice Italian dinner with that chianti in a basket?

Well it turns out I just love chianti. I say... when in doubt? Try some chianti. Goes with just about everything.

Who picked whom? Part 1.

L on October 26th, 2003, 2 years old.


2003 had been a very bad year.

I'd lost my crazy OTTB over the wintertime. We had been treating him for EPM since November (2002) and while there was an occasional encouraging sign it was a losing battle. My J was dumb as a post but he was as lovable a creature as there ever was. Somehow he and I came to an understanding and we took care of each other. He taught me a lot. I think he was 15 years old and whatever the case, he still had a lot left. I still miss him something awful.

We had several Canadian Horses in our barn. They were all black. Everybody wants black Canadian Horses. I had known of Canadian Horses for a year or two before I knew they came in chestnut. I'm kinda partial to chestnut horses. That's important.

So over the summertime I half leased a lovely (black) Canadian mare. I think she was 4 years old. Green as can be. She was (is) a perfectly lovely animal. Of course she wasn't mine so I was careful not to get too attached. Just as well. There were some barn issues and some drama. Things didn't work out.

By the way. I think every barn needs one of these:

Maybe I'll have some made.

I was half heartedly looking for a Spotted Draft Horse in the fall when it came time to take my B for the long walk. B was my Quarter Horse. He was my first horse. He'd had navicular disease, a painful bone disease in his front feet. It got to where he would hardly take a step without a couple of bute in him and it was time. I never knew his age but our best guess was he was maybe 23 or 24 years old.

It's fair to say in October 2003 I was in a funk of sorts.

My riding partner at the time, M, had also recently lost her horse. She had a arranged a shopping trip to Ferme Litjens in Quebec to look for a Canadian Horse.

I went along for the ride. I wasn't really shopping...

Added October 3, 2010: go on to part 2