How Should I Know?

At the next show, I will definitely ride Willie. Or, failing that, definitely Sam. Or possibly Casey, Or even a totally unknown, borrowed horse if we run out of mounts for the Championship class. So far, I’ve had the same results (1st & 2nd) on four different Stepping Stone Farm horses. So in the lap of the gods – or at least the hands of my instructor – I leave it.

They keep asking my opinion about matters saddleseat. I’ll get on, a kind soul will adjust my stirrups and ask, “How do they feel?” I dunno. I suspect “Really weird” is not the answer they are looking for.

One of the munchkins asked if I knew how to tack up a horse yet. Good question. Mine yes; yours, not so much.

Good Things

I was named a finalist by American Horse Publications for my story, “Finding Safe Harbor”, about eventing a pony (pictured here), published in Horse Illustrated May 2012.

I have a slew of recent horse show ribbons hanging on my wall. Yes, my office has the design aesthetic of a horse-crazy 12-year-old.

Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. [last year]

I’m feeling pretty slick today.

[Not that I’m the least bit superstitious – touch wood – but I did worry that recounting all this good fortune would be taunting the universe. However, I prefer to see it as narratively balancing all the whining I did last year and am sure to do in the future.]

The Preliminaries: Portrait of the Artist as a young fiancee,

The Nature of Milestones: Nearing 500

I hit my 500th post soon, May 11th if my math is correct. I was excited about 100 and relieved to reach a year. However, 500 feels like an arbitrary collection of digits. I could be equally excited about the progressive symmetry of 468. Or 343 as a palindromic cube.

Some numbers matter
The difference between 1st place and 2nd.

The last 10 minutes when I have promised to swim for 1/2 hour instead of 20 minutes.

The word count requirement on my latest assignment.

Some numbers don’t
Hubby and I have both forgotten our anniversary, 6th & 12th respectively. I felt amused rather than unloved. Hubby appears to have survived my defection (recounted here), with possibly a trace of relief that we are now even.

Years ago, I called my father to wish him a happy birthday. He said, “Thank you. It was two weeks ago.”

Why carry on?
If accumulating a high number of posts isn’t the goal, what is? First, I found I missed the blog during my holiday break. Second, it amuses me as a problem-solving exercise: can I come up with a diverting horse-related tidbit each day? That tells you all you need to know about my pursuit of writing as an artistic endeavor. I’m an information junkie. It’s what I read. It’s what I write.

Which numbers matter to you? Which don’t?

[Other blogging posts]

Kentucky Memories

*My* Old Kentucky Home Illustration by Spence Millard
*My* Old Kentucky Home
Illustration by Spence Millard

Another Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event has come and gone without me. Am I sorry? Of course, but not as much as I thought I would be. From 1998 to 2010, I went to Lexington for the week to work, to write, to run about. It was always a blast. Then life changed and it seemed a good time to move on to new ventures.

Last year, I watched a lot of livestream, but then, I was sitting in the barn with Mathilda. This year, I caught some live, some on video, but also had a lesson, worked my horse, went swimming, and generally got on with my life.

Would I go again? In a heartbeat, provided I had a place to stay and a reason to go. Short of that, I’ll look at the pictures from the Kentucky Horse Park and be thankful I had so much fun there over the years.

My vote for the most impressive horse on the grounds goes to an unnamed horse that you catch a glimpse of as the competitors whiz past. Local KY riders spend the day as outriders, in case of a loose horse or other crisis where a mounted rider could lend a hand. When not needed, they hang out – as horses gallop, as people mill, as loudspeakers blare. I’ve never had a horse who would keep his or her sanity for five minutes under those conditions.

Not much more to add. I told all my good stories last year:
Peregrinatio in Stabilitate
Lexington, sorta
Riding at Rolex
Digital Killed the Party
Foto Friday: Celebrity Mounted Games
From Inside The Ropes
Aftermath
Living Virtually

Red Saddlepad
Irish Diamonds ridden by Micheline Jordan

Yeah, they trailed the field, but let’s see you do what they just did. Modeled on the website Tour de France Lanterne Rouge, “Celebrating the last-place rider in the General Classification … because you couldn’t hang on his wheel for 30 seconds.” Results.