I absolutely adore summer, though it's making me desperately miss my Beastie. So, I decided to do an A to Z of all of my favorite horse-related things... with pictures!
A long day at the barn
- There isn't much I like more than spending all day at the barn. Sure, you're usually working your tail off all day, but when you get home, you just feel so... satisfied. Or maybe that's just exhaustion...
Boyd Martin
- The man... the myth... How can you not like Boyd? The first time I met Boyd, I had no idea who he was. It was at Southern Pines in 2006, and we were in adjacent wash-stalls. His horse was being naughty, and he accidentally sprayed water all over me. He apologized profusely, and I assured him that, in fact, I had done something similarly to someone earlier, when the horse I was bathing was being just as naughty as his was. Little did I know I had just encountered the next big thing for the US team!
Cross-country
- "Five," and your stomach tightens. Are we really ready? "Four," and you can feel your heart beating up against your ears. This is it, buddy. "Three," and the whole course flashes through your mind. Ok. Ok. We've got this... right? "Two," and you breathe in all the air you can, beginning the turn towards course. Right! We're gonna nail it! "One," and you let out that breathe and all of the nerves. All of the tension. Your mind stops racing and the adrenaline surges. "Go! Have a good ride!" The world slows down and you're off. You and your horse one being, negotiating question after question, communicating silently and beautifully.
Dee!
- The sun is just starting to peak over the horizon, and the air is thick but not yet suffocating. Soft nickers drift to you through the early-morning dark. Everything is new, for the moment. All of the creatures are sleepy and patient. As you go from pasture to pasture, dumping grain, the sky begins to brighten. First it's a quiet pink, brushing up against dark blue. Then, slowly, the world is illuminated in golden sun.
Fly spray
- Am I the only one who finds the smell of fly spray utterly intoxicating? It gives me the warm-fuzzies.
Hugging my horse
- Spending hours hacking through the woods, turning down paths you've never turned down before, you can pretend that the real world doesn't exist anymore. I used to wish that I could just run away and live with my horse in the woods.
Jumping
- This probably sounds weird, but I used to love hanging out with Kiko, or Roxy, and slowly untangling their beautiful, long manes.
Long hacks
- Squishing around in a bucket of warm mash at the end of the day, with horses nickering and making faces. After slopping it in the buckets, everyone slurps away at their dinner, and every once in awhile, a mash-covered nose pokes over the stall wall at you.
Neville Bardos
- What can I say about the super-horse? He has so much heart... The way he came back from the fire, stronger than ever, was just beautiful.
- And let's not forget that he just might be the cutest darned 4-star eventer ever!
OTTBs
- There is currently a rumor going around Eventing Nation that Phillip is actually a robot. This came after he and Mystery Whisper won three 3* events IN A ROW. One of my favorite Phillip stories actually came from Jim Wofford, though. It was in his account of the 2002 WEG at Jerez:
Oh, yes, here is a verbatim transcript from the event athlete’s press conference last night, after the first day’s dressage scores were posted, with Phillip Dutton in the lead with a 33 and change:
Q: Phillip, you are listed as an individual, not as a member of the Australian team. Why is that?
A: Dutton: (dead-pan) You’ll have to ask the selectors.
Q: When did you find out that you had come all this way to be an individual at the WEG, after winning 2 Olympic gold team medals, in 96 and 2000?
A: (dead pan) Last night.
Q: Did they give you any reason why you were left off the team?
A: (dead pan) They said my dressage wasn’t good enough.
The background to this is that this time the Australian Gold-Medal machine might have let its hubris outstrip its horsemanship. They announced last winter that anyone who did not score lower than 50 in the dressage tests this spring would not be considered for the team. They forgot that horses are not machines, and are paying the price now for looking at the scoreboard rather than the horses. It is not the first time selectors have picked the wrong rider, and anyway there is a long hot way to go to the medal ceremony on Sunday. But the rest of us are having a good laugh at the Aussies right now.
(Phillip on Nova Top, who was always one of my favorites)
Quality time with my horse
- I know, I know, what a random thing to include, right? But I LOVE rubber reins! They are my favorite... they smell good, they feel good, AND they're easiest to clean.
Showing up at the barn and having my horse nicker at me in greeting.
- 12 little eyes, blinking in surprise.
Unbridling a tired pony and then scratching their itchy face
- I hate how it feels between my fingers, but I love how it smells and what it does for my horse.
William Fox-Pitt
- Oh William. You won Burghley and Rolex in a row and you did it on the same horse, but you still manage to come across as the most fantastic, humble person. Even though you are married with children, I am (and forever will be) in love with you. When you ride, you make everything look effortless. Your horses simply skip across the country, and you sit, quiet and composed, guiding them through the most difficult of questions.
X-rays that look fantastic
- Because x-rays that don't look good are bad, and X is a very hard letter!
Young kids on fat ponies
(a la Thelwell)
- The queen. Love her.
No comments:
Post a Comment