Schooling Haute Ecole

It seems we just can't get any serious work done, these days, without being interrupted by monsters. No sooner had we gotten saddled up than a troop of tree killers arrived right outside the arena with a Bob Cat and chainsaws. I found it difficult to concentrate, but was well behaved until the Lime Green Ax Murderer sprang from the bushes.

See... there he is right there. Lurking just like Big Foot.

We stopped to watch them for a few minutes, then Brita decided our schooling session was done because she no longer had control of my neck. As we exited the arena and down the slope towards the barn, I made use of my nice warm up session, and began schooling myself in the Croupade.

It's a very difficult piece of Aires Above the Ground, and earned me a trip around the yard and up and down the driveway to collect my thoughts before we headed back to the barn. Admit it, if you knew a Lime Green Ax Murderer was lurking in the underbrush behind you, you would have been jumpy too.

P.S. Brita stayed in the general vicinity of the saddle. But she called me a naughty word.

The Big Five-Oh

We've tipped the scales at fifty followers! Jason, I think it was you. Who knew that dumping my rider would get us just the publicity we needed to reach this milestone.

And now as a reward, some old pictures you haven't seen of other firsts in my life.

My first picture at my new home (I still have my hip sticker on)

My first try at being a five gaited horse (Look Ma, no Helmet!)

Going to pick up my first blue ribbon.

Stay tuned for more adventures.........

Whoops

Whoops, I dropped my passenger. I feel terrible about it. It isn't something I normally do. You see, we had another alien visitation. I could hear them all morning in the fields, and I was too nervous to be out in my pasture. When Brita came to ride, she found me hiding in the arena where I can run in and out. She could tell I was very disturbed, but told me she would go show me what was happening, and then I would see it was alright.






I could see what looked to be a cousin of the Loch Ness Monster away in the fields. There were those big red trucks coming and going. It all looked OK, and I was walking calmly through the field when it happened. One of those big trucks pulled up nearby, downshifted with a roar, and belched black smoke. This startled my into a series of unfortunate events.



First this happened....








... and Brita landed behind the saddle on my butt, which scared me worse, and I thought the monster had grabbed my flank. So I bucked a bit.... sending her into orbit....

And when she came down, she wasn't in the right place again....

So I bucked a few more times.... ( I was just trying to help, I swear)

And deposited her with unfortunate velocity into the dirt.

Then I ran home as fast as I could to find Mom.

To say Mom was alarmed to see me arrive home alone was an understatement.


But Brita wasn't too far behind. She hollered after me to let everyone know to call off the search, and then she got right back on and made me go back to the field. I certainly didn't want a repeat of that. I found out what the monster was, and it didn't look like it had time to eat a horse.

I brought her home safe and sound in the end, but boy did I feel bad. She hosed me off with cold water and I didn't even squirm. I was afraid to behave badly after my performance in the field. I couldn't even look her in the eye, and was afraid to ask for my peppermint. She gave me one anyway for standing so well for my shower.

I feel very sheepish about the whole thing. Mom says I've been too quiet all afternoon and that obviously I feel bad. I wonder how Brita feels?

illustrations from Thelwell Horse Box: Norman Thelwell

My Modeling Career

Because I'm such a handsome fella, somedays Brita just like to spiffy me up and take pictures. She said of all the hundreds of beautiful pictures there isn't one fancy "conformation" shot, and we really should get one of those. Okay, I'm good at standing around looking pretty. How's this?

Oh... I shouldn't look directly at the camera. It shortens my neck? And it wasn't quite the right angle. Well, git in the right spot!

Huh? Whadya say? There's a fly on my nose?

So we tried again. And again. I got bored.... This is taking for-eh-VUH!



Ah, that's a nice pose. Perfect.

Now stand like a "real" Saddlebred.

What do you mean? Like this?

Get over my front end? Do you know what she's talking about?

Me either. Wake me up when it's over.


Whoops, I think you dropped something. You shouldn't go waving towels around like that. It's distracting.

Wait, do you have SNACKS?

You do! Let me have one!
Gimmee Gimmee Gimmee

This is the sort of pose I'm good at.

The End.

Thirst Quenchers

There are few things more refreshing, after a ride on a hot day, than a little porch time and some iced tea. What are your favorite drinks?

The Prince and the Potato

It has been so awful hot and sticky around here lately. Even though it’s only in the mid-eighties, I am usually damp and miserable by early afternoon when Brita takes her lunch break and comes for a ride. We go riding anyway, because a casual stroll around the hay fields is the only way to catch a breeze, and we can enjoy the good parts of summer like the shade of the apple orchard and the monarch butterflies on the milkweed instead of just sweltering in the barn and being grumpy about it.

But when we get back to the barn I’m terribly itchy and there seems to be no remedy for it. Even a cool bath and a fan and a nice scratchy towel won’t make me happy. So instead of spending an hour primping and fussing Brita just turned me loose and let me deal with it my way. Fragrant liniments and fancy combs have their place, but sometimes it better to just stretch out and scratch. I headed straight for the potato patch.

I’ll bet you didn’t realize I was a gardener. While we were waiting for the new grass to grow in my little pasture, we planted some potatoes. Now that they’re pulled up the spot makes a great wallow hole. I don’t just grow vegetables, I also have a pretty Morning Glory on the gate post.

I rolled on both sides in the potato patch. It felt so good. It took care of all the drips on my belly, and the water creeping down my legs. I didn’t even get too dirty.

But I made an awful face when I was about to get up.

Brita came to investigate and see what the problem was, and she found this big rock.

It was a 10 pounder requiring two hands to pick up. Owie. But that’s not all. Besides the rock, there was a stray potato!

Have you ever had a potato in your bed? It’s worse than having a pea under your mattress. It gives a whole new twist to the age old problem of lumpy, smashed potatoes.

But I sure do like my little pasture

Strange Sights

Have you ever seen an object looming on the horizon and you just had no idea what the heck it was?

And the closer you get to it, the scarier and more confusing it looks? Well, horses have a lot of those moments. This thing looked, for all the world, like an alien ready to swallow me. Mom says it was a country sky scraper.

It makes much more sense from this angle, but this angle frightened me most. All that thing needed to do was make a noise, and I would have beat feet for home! It was all very tense. How on earth can your humans act calm and unconcerned in the face of a weird occurrence like this? They acted as if nothing was wrong, and actually scolded me for puffing up and threatening to run. And Brita grabbed my neck and yelled "BOO!" which wasn't funny at all.

These photos were obviously not taken on my first encounter with this creature. I think all you would have seen were photos of the sky, and the ground and my mane. And they would have all been blurry. After I got used to it being there, Brita went back to the barn for her phone. She hadn't planned on doing any photo journalism today, but this was too important a News item to overlook. This creature, whatever it is, and it's companions, have laid waste to one of our fields. They've tracked it up horrible, and stolen all the oats. We went through the field, and I looked for evidence despite the obvious risk of encountering bobby traps.

After all this excitement, we headed into the cow pasture and onto the wooded trails. And, we revisited the Grand Canyon, and it's much much larger tributaries. Luckily Mom and Uncle Dad went with us on foot to show me the way. I'm very concerned about quick sand, and if I see Mom walk across a suspect area, I know it's safe. I don't encounter any quick sand or canyons or fallen trees in my little pasture, so all this stuff is very strange to me.

We found a couple of these wild rivers with slippery rocks and actual WATER in them. I was very brave. Moments after this picture, I figured out a solution to the slippery rocks. I jumped from this very spot, landing well above the rocks and on the other bank. Mom said it was a perfect and impressive leap. Brita called me William the Conqueror and said I was bravest I've ever been. So, that was our day. See what can happen when you leave your camera at home and think you'll just take a nice little stroll on a quiet summer morning? Stuff happens!