(Alternate title: Things have been quiet and every time I thought about the blog it felt like I’d posted in the last few days rather than almost a month ago – yikes!) When I last left off, Pierce was on his way up to Michigan – I’ll start off saying he arrived safely in a huge Ecclestone Horse Transport semi and I’m glad I booked him a box stall for the journey. The first few hours were understandably fractious. Poor…
Well, the day is here – as of about 12:30pm Eastern Standard Time, Pierce is on the road up to The Cold Dark North™ (Michigan). I’d been hoping the weather would swing back toward being at least slightly more moderate in time for his arrival, since we’ve been hopping back and forth between frigid snow flurries and balmy 70° afternoons that feel more like mid-May than March. But beggars can’t be choosers, and at least Pierce is originally from New…
I like to think I’ve had a pretty good track record when it comes to staying on the horse and defying the perception of riding as “dangerous.” In the eight years since I started riding again, I’ve had a handful of falls – maybe a dozen total – along with the requisite scrapes, bruises, etc. The worst one happened in 2019, when Cosmo got hung up on an oxer in the warmup ring at a show, crashed through, and I…
I haven’t talked much yet on this blog about the horse featured in the header image and the about page – it’s probably time to rectify that, considering he was an enormous part of my life for almost four years. Bronx was mine from June of 2020 through January 2024, and was the perfect step up from my very first horse, Cosmo (more about him at some undetermined point in the future.) Early 2020 was a crazy time for me…
(Enjoy a baby Pierce photo as this post’s focus because I suck at taking relevant photos in landscape format, oops.) I started the weekend on the best possible note – a fun Friday lesson of trot and canter sets plus a short 2’3”-2’6” course on one of my favorite horses of my trainer’s, Wallace. He’s a delightfully fun guy – so easy to flat and uncomplicated over fences. He can fancy it up for the show ring, but you’d never…
I think I mentioned in my very first post on this blog that I like me some good retail therapy. Let me clarify: I love retail therapy. I’ve done the traditional talk therapy gig before, and while it was helpful for sorting out emotional tangles and Complex Young Adult Feelings™, that’s not what I need in this moment in time. Right now I know exactly why I’m craving that serotonin hit of “Your Order Has Shipped!” and slitting the tape…
Today marks Draco’s fifth birthday – and he of course got to enjoy his annual steak and broccoli dinner. It’s funny how much he remembers, as soon as we pulled out the party hat, he knew exactly what was up. No funny business trying to get the hat off, no nibbling on his little sister’s party attire; he knows the drill and waited patiently for us to get through singing (poorly, off-key, and giggling throughout) so he could eat. It…
You know what’s somehow even more mentally taxing than owning a horse? Owning a horse that’s almost a thousand miles away – that you won’t see for at least two weeks. Basically, Pierce is lucky he’s so cute and I’m not opposed to retail therapy to keep my sanity intact, because otherwise I would be losing it. Expect a haul post in the next few days of my only semi-impulsive orders from SmartPak and Equiport – and, heck, there might…
Well, I finally followed through on it – I’ve probably mentioned an interest in starting a blog a dozen or more times in the past few years. Journaling the traditional way never seems to stick, and my Google Calendar takes care of the agenda aspect – but what about just throwing my thoughts and assorted moments out into the void of the internet? (Note to self: it sounds way worse when you phrase it that way.) Who knows if this…