Watching the Buddy Movie
INT – COVERED ARENA – DAY A bay horse with a crooked white stripe is rolling in the dirt, sending up dust into the beams of low winter sun. We see his leather halter with his name, WILLFULNESS,...
View ArticleTeeter-Totter Time
Spring is nearly here. Time to freshen up the obstacles! Well, okay, I am not quite that virtuous and prepared. The truth is, we had a virus show up at the barn. It wasn’t a horribly dangerous virus...
View ArticleThrowback Thursdays: Wild Ride
I’ve been digging through my archives and finding some posts that are worth revisiting. This one became a story that I have retold more than once — my golden opportunity to be the ninth ride on Jamie...
View ArticleThrowback Thursdays: Less is More
A few days ago I got to watch Jon Ensign work with a horse who has offered aggressive responses under pressure in day-to-day handling. In the course of less than an hour, the horse had learned that...
View ArticleThrowback Thursdays: Independence Day
With the first endurance ride of the season, Home on the Range, looming on the horizon, this is chance to revive one of my favorite ride stories. Not only was the ride a blast, but it was the beginning...
View Article.ICE
Nope, this isn’t about the weather, it is a Public Service Announcement. Cathy Leddy wanted me to go for a ride with her yesterday. It’s hard to believe I said no. The sun was streaming through the...
View ArticleNew Noshes
I wasn’t really asleep when the first crack of thunder sounded above us. I was definitely awake as I slid down from the sleeping loft in Cathy’s camper. When we returned from the ride meeting at the...
View ArticleGreen Bean Soup
Take some Green Beans and some well-seasoned riders, some poems and some stories, allow to soak for a long time, and then release on the world. Maybe I should at least explain a bit. The Green Beans is...
View ArticleBluff’s Big Day
What does a racehorse owner feel like before the race? Well, I don’t know if its true for absolutely everyone, but that’s what many of them really look like on the inside, even when they are smiling...
View ArticleFiddle-Dee-Dee
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” – J.RR. Tolkien, The Hobbit You know you are a photo addict when your voice trails off mid-conversation and you...
View ArticleA gift…
Picking things up is one of Willy’s natural gifts (along with its less useful corrollary, knocking things over). Back when he was on stall rest and couldn’t do much else, we worked with an orange cone,...
View ArticleThe Big One
It’s billed as “The Big One” — and the Snohomish County 4-H Tack Sale is certainly a monster. Although Becky Bean didn’t make it from Portland this year as she threatened, I heard from a volunteer that...
View Article“Lick Your Ponies”
“Don’t forget to lick your ponies!” Those were Dory Jackson’s final words for her group of endurance riders in the arena at Fish Creek on Friday. It was the practice run two days before heading to the...
View ArticleGoatesque
It is extremely dangerous to have a window that opens up onto a field. When magic hour strikes, it is obligitoray to abandon your work and hustle across the grass to capture the pastoral beauty of an...
View ArticleMy New Horse
Yes, he does look quite a bit like my old horse, Willy. In fact, Willy’s tack fits perfectly, and I have decided to use the same name, so I don’t have to re-label everything. There’s one big...
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