After years of borrowing horses, working to ride and catch riding, I finally have my own horse, a spicy chocolate mare...but also a demanding day job (who doesn't?), a nerdy husband, a soccer loving kid who needs to be parented (by me, duh), and the ultimate trail buddy, a chocolate Labradork!
Sometimes the universe tosses signs your way that say clearly “Do not do the thing.” Sometimes you gotta give the universe the middle finger, do some slightly sketchy electrical work, and do the thing anyway. Despite several Gremlins and a momentary defeat, a friend and I managed to load up my trailer and her husband’s […]
My friends and I rode together again this weekend, twice, after the ponies received their monthly pedicure. We also mock camped in my friends yard, as it’s been over a year since we camped together and it’s always nice to just in up to the house when you forget something. On the way to our […]
It feels odd to have such a good day, a few days after my grandpa passed at home. I have no real words to encompass all that, or who he was, to me and to others, not yet. Instead, and maybe because of him, I took a step out of my depression and had a […]
I’m starting to type this up as I wait by our bikes outside the local grocery store, while my son runs in with a $20 dollar bill and grabs us some ice cream and water. This short ride, two miles out and back, is the most exercise I’ve done in over a week. I kid […]
After my last post on all my preparations for an upcoming trip to the mountains, turns out I never even hooked up the trailer. I spent most of Thursday finishing up some shopping and packing the trailer to the gills. I picked up my saddle from a shop in Mollala, where I had them add […]
I haven’t been camping with my horse since last year, and that one…still hurts. I’m scheduled to leave for Quinn Meadows early this Friday, to participate in an Oregon Equestrian Trail’s work party, clearing trails from their winter slumber. I find myself ping ponging between confidence as I build my packing checklists, and deep worry […]
This is a hard post to write, as evidenced by the 12 (nope, now 14) different revisions I’ve made to it. This post was the catalyst. I’ve been working on this for over a month, in the shower, in the saddle, sitting in my horse’s stall watching her eat, in between demanding work projects, while […]
My closest friends and I have worked out a routine this spring; I haul Tarma up to Adriane’s farm one Thursday a month for pony pedicure day, and then we stay the weekend and ride. My friends horses take turns keeping Tarma company in her side pasture or a stall and I get to ride […]
Tarma chose this week to show me both the highs and lows of attempting to build a relationship with a horse, especially an opinionated one. Earlier this week I was feeling pretty shitty and down. I took my guilt and sadness and just sat in her stall, and instead of eating or offering tricks for […]
I know such glooms and blahs as I wrote about in my last post don’t lift easily, so I’m taking the steps to shake them off, little pushes forward towards the habits I used to have. On Saturday my friends and I were finally able to meet up at Hardy Creek, a trailhead I’ve ridden […]