It was New Year’s Eve, and I was listening to a sad radio memorial about the musicians who passed this year. I do the same thing on my farm at year-end; I take a census and count my losses.
We lost a wonderful goat this year. Elvis loved flirting with women, sleeping…
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Added by Anna Blake on January 4, 2013 at 8:00am —
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“Seriously, you are no fun at all. I hate to say it, you’re my human, but really, lighten up!”
Humor Deficit Disorder: It’s time someone brings this condition out of the closet.
Seriousness might be the biggest obstacle in getting a good ride. Ever had that feeling that the harder you try, the worse it gets? You could have Humor…
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Added by Anna Blake on December 7, 2012 at 8:30am —
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This week I was talking to a writer-friend about how he approached a new project and he offered to share his writing discipline.
Discipline is a word that can make a person seize up with negative anticipation; it’s a punishment or correction. The visual that comes to mind for me is an angry parent dragging a little kid by the arm.
In…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 30, 2012 at 8:00am —
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The holiday season is upon us. From Thanksgiving till the end of the year, we’re encouraged to celebrate the family, seen through Norman Rockwell eyes. Lots of us fit that mold. Our families come together, smile into the camera, and stay up late laughing. Generations of women gather in kitchens and cook massive meals to the praise of the men folk.
But some of us didn’t come from warm families. Some of us had parents who didn’t really want kids after all. Some of us have lost loved…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 23, 2012 at 8:55am —
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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think we should nix all the others and celebrate Thanksgiving every month. I am fine with changing the meal sometimes, as long as the tradition of eating too much, sleeping, and saying thank you is still the order of the day. Got to love a holiday with such low expectations.
And I have so much to be grateful for. Today, as I took a deep breath, quieting outside distractions… I heard a still, small voice from very deep inside of me say, “I hate…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 16, 2012 at 8:12am —
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Puppy breath is one of those addictive smells that isn’t actually pleasing aromatically. Still, who doesn’t inch their nose dangerously close to those tiny teeth, just for a whiff of puppy breath?
One bright Sunday morning while driving to the barn to ride, I saw a sign on a ranch gate: Heeler Pups. I’d recently lost an elderly dog- I think he might have turned the…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 9, 2012 at 7:59am —
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In a normal week I probably suggest, chirp, cajole, beg, and sometimes yell- the word forward at least 3 million times. This week it’s twice that, and I’m not even to my busiest lesson days yet.
Sometimes I mix in some clucking noises for variety.
Not that I am complaining. Not a bit. I owe a debt myself. Every time I utter…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 2, 2012 at 8:00am —
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“Will you come over and ride our horse?” she asked. “We know he’s a dressage horse, we just don’t know how to cue him, but if you rode him… He does that trot in one place thing.”
(I already knew they bought this elderly horse from their ‘trainer’, who tranquilized him for them to try out. That was when I asked them to refer to their ‘trainer’ by some other name.)
“…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 26, 2012 at 8:12am —
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The wind positively howled. There was sun, not that you could feel it. The horses didn’t want turn out. It was 20 degrees warmer in the south-facing runs and there’s not much windbreak on our prairie pasture. The horses that were turned out looked longingly at the barn and I knew the season has truly changed.
I was mucking a pen, coat zipped against the wind and my warmest Elmer Fudd hat tied down, when my phone rang. A client re-scheduled her lesson that afternoon. I don’t blame her;…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 19, 2012 at 8:33am —
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It Takes All Kinds. And here at Infinity Farm, we have all kinds. In fact, we have inter-species chaos.
I want to affirm that I like order. But I’m the minority here, so not everyone goes along with my type-A fantasies. Exactly like real life, we don’t all fit into little boxes.
Sure, I have some level of leadership out of the saddle.…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 12, 2012 at 8:27am —
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“Hey, Little Red-haired Girl, I have your pony here!!!” Meet Bailey, my most recent date.
If you follow my blog, you know I work with Ruby Ranch Horse Rescue. (RRHR.org) Rescue horses come to Infinity…
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Added by Anna Blake on December 2, 2011 at 8:30am —
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Added by Anna Blake on November 25, 2011 at 7:43am —
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Christmas is bearing down, getting closer every day, and I continue to defiantly…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 18, 2011 at 8:02am —
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Last week I had a bit of a Christmas rant (read) and declared I would celebrate…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 11, 2011 at 8:36am —
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I saw the first holiday decorations come out a few days before Halloween. I did not burst into a rousing rendition of Here Comes Santa Claus. Christmas is not my holiday.
Thanksgiving is my holiday; low expectations and high reward factors. It is a holiday…
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Added by Anna Blake on November 4, 2011 at 9:30am —
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It starts innocently. Maybe when you were little, your dad watched John Wayne movies like mine did. We fell in love with a column of cavalry horses (instead of their riders.) We loved those horses until the cavalry met a band of Indians- Indian horses were always better. Or it may have been a movie like My Friend…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 28, 2011 at 8:00am —
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My corner of Colorado is having a particularly colorful Autumn. The sun rise is later and later, but the dawn colors seem worth the wait. Tomatoes plants have wilted but the tree leaves are frosted and toasted to richness. I hear big weather is coming next…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 21, 2011 at 8:37am —
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The connection between horses and music is not abstract. It’s literal.
I was learned this fact years ago riding with a group of friends at a barn party. The sound system was cranked up and Bobby McFerrins’Don’t Worry was playing. I am sure…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 14, 2011 at 8:00am —
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I fell in love with horses all over again this week. Yes, it was a pretty short fall and yes, it does happen every week. And no, it never gets old. Does my enthusiasm make me seem less professional?
It has been also been one of those weeks when most of my clients are having challenges with their horses. Some of the challenges are old ones and some are brand new but regardless of origin or cause- a challenge is an opportunity by another name.…
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Added by Anna Blake on October 7, 2011 at 8:31am —
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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…
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Added by Anna Blake on September 30, 2011 at 8:00am —
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