Christmas Books

I did not get to ride this week. Part of the reason is that I am being super cautious about the Covid-19 pandemic, and the other reason is that, for once, winter came to NC just after the Winter Solstice. It is 20º F here right now at 9:30 AM. No snow, just bitter cold.…

A “Second Opinion”?

Winter has arrived, at least for now.

Horses tend to get a little friskier when the winter comes, even if the temperature at that day is not terribly cold. With the changing daylight hormones change, and the shorter daylight hours may bring up instinctive ancestral memories of cold weather=increased…

Finally, a Lesson

When Thanksgiving, with all the travel and massing of people happened, I realized that it would be best for me to keep away from Debbie's rather large boarding/lesson stable for two weeks. This did not please me at all, Debbie gives me really effective physical therapy, telling me when I start losing track of my limbs and making sure that I keep my base of support on…

I'm Grateful I Got to Ride at All

I called Debbie last Tuesday to tell her I would not be riding at her stable this week. I am paranoid about her boarders/lesson students not being careful with Covid-19 preventive measures, a valid concern since I am usually the only person wearing a mask at the stable. I told Debbie I was following the news, and if her clients had been Liberal Democrats I…

It is snowing today. It snowed like this exactly one month ago, which saved my life. I'll explain.

On the day after it snowed, I went for our usual training, some trotting over cavaletti, some canter - stop - turn on haunches - canter again; nothing we haven't done a dozen times before.

But suddenly Oakley decided he'd had enough and threw his nose in the air, then reared. He went up, then slipped, and, before I could get out of the saddle, he was above me, and we both landed…