-
The Commencement Speech I Wasn’t Invited To Give
I’ve never been invited to give a commencement speech. Not like I have any tremendous life accomplishment to warrant such a grandiose invite. But that doesn’t stop me from feeling like I’d have a kick-ass speech. I mean, I’d give it in my usual awkward style, probably make some joke at my expense in the…
-
Three Ways To Help You Ride Through Fear
I’ve been thinking a lot about fear lately. I read a post by Lauren Mauldin who writes a blog called She Moved To Texas and she was talking about the trust bank, a term I’d never heard before, and it resonated with me. The idea behind the trust bank is that for every positive ride…
-
Why All The Meanness On Social Media?
I’m not in a great place right now. I’m not in a bad place, but I’m still kind of sad about my dog and perhaps a little sensitive. My drum of creative writing nectar is empty and there’s just a little pebble of sadness rattling around in there. So it’s from this emotional place, this…
-
To Improve in Horseback Riding, Take Progress Over Perfection
Remember that post I wrote in March discussing the value of showing and that my satisfaction must come from progress not ribbons? Yeah, that advice is crap. A big steaming pile of horse manure. Not because it isn’t true, but because it’s damn hard to recall and abide by in the stress of the moment.…
-
Love, Loss, and a Dog With A Brain Tumor
I don’t know where to start, so I think I’ll start at the end. Or the beginning of the end, rather. Last weekend Connor had three seizures. Two within two hours, the third a little different than all the rest, with a prolonged stage of stumbling before he went into the grand mal. On Monday…
-
It All Started With A Beer
There is a new song out by Frankie Ballard called It All Started With A Beer. It’s weird when a song tells you a story that you already know, essentially recounts your own story to you. My husband and I have a couple songs that we consider “our” song. There’s Zac Brown Band’s Free, which…
-
Horses As a Memory: A Poem About Saying Good Bye
Some dear friends of mine recently had to put down their 26 year old Arabian horse who had 11 national championships, 8 reserve national championships and was truly part of their family. One of the original horses of their herd, a special horse who elevated the riding skills of all of his riders and remained…
-
Five Things No One Tells You About The Cost of Owning a Horse
[social_warfare]For some reason society believes that people who have horses are wealthy. I can assure you, for the majority of us, owning a horse is exactly the reason we have no money. You could argue that equestrians must have more disposable income than the average person and that’s how they afford such a hobby. But…
-
Should I Still Show If I’m Not Very Good?
Recently I was perusing the Horses subReddit and saw a post from a woman who was starting horseback riding lessons as an adult. Although she had loved horses most of her life and had been around them, she only just now had the money or time to invest in lessons. She was asking about her…