Oh what a difficult job! As we debated the merits of the fifty six wonderful entries in the Partnership and Courage competition we did consider taking the easy option and just pulling the winners names out of a hat! However that would not be fair to the truly exceptional entries…so here goes with our assessment and announcement of the winners:

POETRY

This is a much more difficult form of expression than many people realize. Most people start by using a structured approach based on rhyme and rhythm, but this needs considerable fine-tuning to both convey the message and stay within the chosen structure. An example of a very structured form was the excellent Haiku submitted by Michelle Synnot. It is a Japanese form of poetry, that limits you to just 17 syllables. This is how Michelle used the form:

COURAGEOUS FIRST RIDE
A muscle ripple
Leather creaks sighs of relief
Two views now are one

We liked this use enormously, as we did the original song lyrics submitted by Marie-Lynn Hammond:

EMILY FLIES
Emily’s slim and dark haired
Emily’s eyes are blue
Emily’s going on fourteen
but she’s different from me and you

her limbs don’t really work right
she needs canes to help her walk
and she mostly squeals or mutters
she doesn’t really talk

CHORUS:
Creature of the earth
but looking to the open skies
oh oh oh, Emily flies

I would love to hear this sung and for Marie-Lynn to develop the second half of the song a little. It certainly fits with the Partnership theme. Brooke Cooper took a different angle on partnership which made us smile. We thought this could be developed into something really good:

PADDOCK BOOTS
Old Friends
Waiting by the door
Once your warm brown leather
Held the scent of something new
Polished in bearing
Stiff with righteousness
Sure of your technique

This morning I see the marks
Honourable wear has taken on you
Your toes curl up
From hours spent
Teaching my heels to stay down.
And I see that even leather
Has a memory

The third pair of laces
Finds a natural home
In the grooves
Carved across your tongue
Your ankles sag
When not supported by my own
From all the hours spent together
Two things become one
Finding our way home
In the stirrup

Hours of close contact
With rank horse sweat
Have emblazoned cracks
Across the arch
A badge of honor
Like the wrinkles
At the corners of my eyes

We also thoroughly enjoyed poems from two young Barnmice members and stars of the future, Sarah O’Loughlin and Emily Brown, but probably our favourite was Penny Emmott’s poem. It is both great to hear someone being positive about a chestnut mare and great to find such simple language conveying such a powerful message.

PARTNERSHIP
(To my wonderful chestnut mare)
I run a loving eye over your glistening, rich russet coat,
Its dapples and shine radiate your health, your happiness,
It shows nothing of your past, no glimmer of pain, no hint of fear.

I touch you, with a steady, calming hand and gaze into your eyes.
Soft, warm whickering breaths are returned to me,
You show no sign of tension, no flicker of fright, no ounce of uncertainty.

And then I realise,
How I have succeeded where others have failed,
How we have conquered the doubts, the ridicule, the 'impossible'.

How my dear friend have we ended up here?
It seems so simple now, all that was lacking from your past,
All that you needed for your future , all that now makes us great...........

Trust.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Some great pictures….we all fell in love with Marie Vitullo’s picture of her Dad. We thought it was real partnership and really tells the story of what is possible with a few new legs and a new challenge. unfortunately I can't get this pic to print in the blog. Similarly Popcorn sent a heart warming pic early on and showed that we don’t have to be on their backs to enjoy the moment:

Kaitlyn Habermehl sent us another from the gound pic that was both very professional and peaceful:

Catherine gave us an equally appealing but very different head shot that shouts happiness, health and let’s get out there:

Kerilli’s pic shows her being out there and looking terrific. I want to get the Micklem bridle into the long distance world as it is perfect for this discipline, while Meghan Bilz pictures and her journey with Luna deserves high praise and we all wished we could have enjoyed this winter moment:

Possibly our favourite picture was Nora Robinsons, with her attached couplet....THE PATH.......Long or short.....smooth or rough......what always makes it better.....is that there's two of us.

Onlyme stole the show for me personally with this great shot of her with her partner, Merlin, showing exceptional style across country. Such a lovely gentle, allowing, touch through the rein:

STORIES

This whole competition has been exceptionally heart warming because it provides yet more solid evidence about the unique advantages of an association with horses. What other sport could produce such stories and show such love about their sport, especially in the space of just two weeks and on one web site? Horses are a sport for all and a sport for life, and an inspiration for so many. We need to both treasure our sport and sell the advantages to politicians and sports administrators. So thank you so much to everyone who contributed. We have probably missed some treasure within the entries, so please forgive us, but the pleasure you have provided for the unprecedented number of Barnmice members who have been reading your entries (approx 3,000) should make up for any disappointment.

Fifteen entries stood out for us: so here they are in no particular order:

BARGAIN BASEMENT HORSES COME GOOD

First of all two stories about $300 horses from Tammie Caldwell and Coree lifted our spirits, just as these horses lifted the spirits of their respective riders. I will be telling their stories to others many times over the coming years. As I will the story of Meghan Bilz and her coloured horse Luna, who I mentioned earlier.

DREADFUL ACCIDENTS

The dedication of Jennifer Knapp and Jess who nursed their horses, Firle Place and Deek, back to health after terrible injuries showed real dedication and partnership, and Theresa had to show real courage when she lost her mare Misty, but Misty’s foal Memory must be an unexpected treasure. While Sarah Hambleton lost her beloved JJ and had no consolation foal. All these stories were so well told.

SAVING OTHERS and TRIUMPHING OVER FEAR

Christianna Capra’s story with her horse Spring Thaw is one with a happy ending as she is now helping others through her Spring Reins of Hope organisation. While Brenda McArthur is saving horses with her Whispering Hearts Horse rescue farm. To help others you need to have courage on a daily basis and Laura told us about the quote she uses to help her get through the day…”Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important.” Then 4xChestnut also gave us courage in her intriguing story of Tommy and the Carnivorous Mouse Incident.

RITES OF PASSAGE

Brit Kirkman’s story and photographs are truly extraordinary. Her journey with her pony Royal Storm is once again deeply inspiring. As is Onlyme’s journey with Merlin. I was so pleased to read that Onlyme recognised that Merlin hated dressage arenas and was sufficiently flexible and sensible to find ways round the problem instead of starting a battle. Horses can give us many lessons for life. Having to be part of a wider community and the benefit of achieving this is one of these lessons, and both Debbie’s story with Barney and Ann Murray Livingstone’s heart breaking story of Mae Dillon made this clear. What was truly so extraordinary about this latter story was that Ann did not own Mae Dillon.

OUR TOP FIVE ....OUR TOP SIX OVERALL

From these fifteen, which all deserve huge praise, we picked a top five after a long evening of discussion and thought. The top five in the order mentioned above are Coree, Christianna Capra, Brenda McArthur, Brit Kirkman and Ann Murray Livingstone. If you haven’t done so already read their stories. They are a valuable resource for us all. I would love to meet all these authors….so don’t forget this you people and do stay in touch. Thank you and all contributors to this competition…it has been a huge delight to be part of it....and to these five we decided to add Penny Emmott’s poem on Partnership, which is reproduced above.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

My judging team promptly resigned after this! It is impossible to choose three winners from these six, so I have to find three more prizes. At the moment we have one Micklem Multibridle, which can also be used as a lunge cavesson or bitless bridle, one Micklem Competition bridle, which is designed to be used just as a bridle and is more refined, and one copy of my book the Complete Horse Riding Manual, published by Dorling Kindersley. To that I will add ….one copy of the book 101 Exercises from Top Riders, for which I was one of eleven contributing authors. (NB David O’Connor, Oliver Townend and Guenter Seidel are among these experts, so this is a really great book.) …..and a free lesson or video lesson/consultation from me...X 2. E-mail me william@enniskerry with your choice…first come first served…Happy days, William

www.WilliamMicklem.net