It is autumn now. I should be writing poetic blogs about geese on the wing, abundant golden harvests, or maybe a symbolic essay about the seasons of life. I’m not in the mood.

Every day the sun comes up later, and goes down earlier.  The drought has drained my beautiful pond, my pasture has fried and died. Hay prices are simply impossible. Some of the elder barn residents are…

One of the first things to know about horses is that they are prey animals. Simply put, that means that other animals eat them, and their natural instinct and only defense is to flee. Prey animals usually have wide set eyes as an early defense system.

Humans are predators, like mountain lions and wolves. Our…

06/22/2012

My grandfather Percy Blake was a horse trader. They say he had a good eye, but I could never quite discern if he was honest or not. Folks respected him, but he maybe had more income than scruples.

Being a horse trader…

‎ An article of mine was published in a national dressage magazine in 2006. Spirit had been retired two years and he was still pouting (read) and holding a grudge…

There were lots of great rides in Spirit’s 25 years, but this was the most perfect ride…

Spirit was something in the day- he and I agreed. He was fun to show, always a crisp and spontaneous ride. His confidence improved year by year, and still, every day was a brand new day.

That day, our first…

When the autumn time change happens, I always feel like my house gets smaller- by a few acres. The outside is my favorite room and I resent winter for taking it from me.

And is it just me- or is every winter somehow a bit more twisted and confused than the one before?

In the dark months, everything on the prairie seems the very definition of the dead of winter. It’s a monotone landscape, flat-cold, with not many trees to distract my sullen gaze.

And just when…

“You know what your problem is? You’re too sensitive.” Ouch. Have you heard this? It feels like being accused of throwing like a girl.

It’s dismissive. This definition of sensitive means I’m not dependable, that I’m an emotional liability. When I was younger, hearing this would make me defensive. My mind ran like a rat on a wheel, I choked on my tongue and my heart rate jumped.  I appeared… well… too sensitive.…

Some riders are convinced that their horse has a devious plan for world domination- at their expense. Or that their horse is so lazy that any work from him will require a fight. Some riders just think their horses…

Winter doldrums: I’m dragging my feet all the way in from the arena, the ground is dry, the grass is dead and the wind is cold as a slap in the face. Maybe I have an Auld Lang Syne hangover. Mourning and a desire to hibernate go hand in hand in January. It seems we lose alot of…

There was a small gaggle of ducks to begin with. The girls laid tasty eggs, usually dropped at a run without looking back. They were non-flyers, but fun to watch in their pool. I didn’t take them very seriously at first. One of the ducks had a deformed beak that curved to one side. I named him Duck Cheney.  See what I mean?

Years passed and there was slow attrition. Eventually only two ducks were left.

Fred and Ethel had lived so long that their pithy political names had fallen…

The calendar changed and so did the weather. These first September days have been undeniably Fall- shorter, crisper and with a bit more oxygen in the air. The moon rules the prairie and this weekend is the Harvest Moon, the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. I won’t say the word- but tick, tick, tick.

The horses didn’t need a calendar to know. There has been a break out of the Fall…

There were a few dark years (between leaving home and having enough income to support a horse) that I was earthbound with only house pets. I survived it. Barely.

During that horse-less time, a box arrived. It was a surprise parrot -from a friend in Panama. I’m not saying it was a great idea to catch a bird and ship her, I’m just saying that she…

Riders know this lesson; if you get bucked off you have to climb back on. That’s the rule. Horse or rider are better for it. They say that the hardest thing about riding is hitting the ground (sigh) but I disagree. The recovery is often more challenging.

I think we are afraid of what we know- more than the unknown. Experience makes it personal. Once we have…