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Bad Dirt, A Spooked Horse, Or A Fall: Blaming External Factors After A Bad Go
I’m showing again this year and have been thinking about all the things that go into that: Gangster’s training, my mindset and confidence, all of the uncontrollable factors. I found this piece I had written a few years ago and never posted. I think it fits perfectly with what I’m thinking about going into the…
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Avoiding Catastrophe With A Novice Rider And Hot Horse
Sometimes I have trouble picking titles for my blog posts. This one could also be called: How I Tortured My Brother With My Horse, in 9 easy steps I’m the youngest of five. The brother next up in age from me is 9 years older. He’s a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps who used…
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How to Break Up With Your Trainer
Maybe you’ve been taking lessons for a while and the professional varnish has worn off, a bit of crazy is shining through. Perhaps you’re not clicking with the trainer’s methods (getting yelled at is generally stressful for me. But maybe you’re a glutton for punishment. To each her own). Or maybe you want to try…
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Celebrate The Moments, Big & Small
Goodbye 2018. Is it the end of a chapter? Or just a paragraph? Or perhaps an entire book? I know there are the cynical ones who point and laugh and say “Look at all those idiots acting like they’re going to change just because there’s a different number labeling the year.” I don’t really care.…
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If You Want To Feel The Love, Give It
The week before thanksgiving, an idea started to take root in my heart. I wanted to go to Paradise, California to help the survivors of the Camp Fire, which burned over 100,000 acres, displaced around 50,000 people and took the lives of 85 residents. My husband and I made arrangements to volunteer for the Oroville…
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Four Things You Should Know About Your Saddle
The last weekend in October I attended the Women Writing the West conference in Walla Walla, Washington. It was an amazing weekend that filled my creative cup. I met some incredibly talented women who happen to be writers, ranchers, award winners, cowboy poetry readers and many, many other things. I had so much information and…
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Who Was Your Favorite: Love For Teachers
Recently in a meeting at work we had to introduce ourselves and participate in an icebreaker. Normally these kinds of activities trigger an involuntary eyeroll. But this one was a little different. We each shared who our favorite teacher was and why. There were people who spoke about their favorite teacher helping them learn how…
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Receiving A Message On The Wind
Have you ever had an experience where time seemed to stop just for you? Where goosebumps prickled your skin and you just knew it was a special, spiritual moment? I had one of those moments not too long ago. Just two days before I carried the American flag, actually. Let me start in the past.…
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How To Train Your Horse To Carry The American Flag: Part II
This post is the continuation of How To Train Your Horse To Carry The American Flag in which I give you the running commentary for my journey in training to carry the American flag for the Eugene Pro Rodeo. When I last left off, I had successfully loped with my home made “flag” (an old…
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How To Train Your Horse To Carry The American Flag
Build a “flag” out of a 10 foot PVC pipe, an old tablecloth, and some strong flexi-ties. Carry the flag past your horse’s stall. Clean leg wounds from him sailing out of his stall and into the run in an effort to escape the scary-flappy-thing. Decide he’s definitely not fit for grand entry. Nervously ask…