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Archive for November, 2011

Nov 29

Locked up in Luxury

Picture of the stables at Palmetto Bluff

Picture of the stables at Palmetto Bluff, an Inn on top of my wishlist of places to visit.

My friend had to temporarily stable her horse at a different barn, while her barn switched management and is being refurbished.

So curious as I am, I wanted to see her temporary housing facility. We call this place jokingly the Prada stable. Why? The prices are very much Prada prices and so is its clientele. The stable caters to the owners rather than to the horses. Don’t worry, the horses get their share, they are not forgotten. But it was created to please the rich horse owner. Read more

Nov 25

An Audience and Me

Competing before the audience has arrived

I am a strong person. I have been through some tough times and I know that I can rely on myself.  I am Gloria Gaynor, I will survive.  I know that I can make intelligent decisions (oh yes, I am very capable of making quite stupid mistakes as well). Yet, when I am riding and there is an audience (people watching or an instructor helping me) I turn into this brainless, clueless blond caricature of a 1950’s housewife. Read more

Nov 22

Technical Malfunction

No words needed

Some things will never let you down.

I am suffering from a major technical malfunction. It was all going very smoothly and then bam …. I ran into to technical issues way above my head. As I don’t not have a human trade quite necessary in such situations, which is patience. I made some radical adjustments to my blog site. And now patience has its revenge as all I can do is to wait until the people from the help forum get back to me. Read more

Nov 18

Beau du Monde

Beau du Monde

And this beauty is the latest addition, my young champion. Let me introduce Beau who I lovingly call Peanut Brain.

His full name is Beau du Monde, but we call him Beau in short. After Charlie I wanted a horse who has horse logic and that doesn’t have a high horse IQ. So I searched and found a three year old stallion. No, I did not lose my mind. All geldings were once stallions. Off I went and tried out this three year old stallion. Three good gates, nice eyes and an open and inviting expression to the world. I liked his attitude as much as his gates, so I was sold. Once he had cleared the vetting, I immediately got him gelded. And I have enjoyed him ever since. As he is very tall, his body needs more time to develop and grow stronger, but I am an amateur, so I am in no hurry. At the moment he is developing very quickly. Read more

Nov 15

Charlie

Charlie a.k.a. Big C

It all started with this big guy. Officially he is called Kornet, but I named him Charlie like Charlie Brown from Snoopy. I completely fell for the way he always tilts his head, like a puppy does. Had I known then …..

Let me introduce my guys. They are very important to me and the reason I work hard (so I can afford them.) They often test my limits and will make sure I have to get out of my comfort zone. They test my non-verbal communication skills, what is my body language saying to them. But also what are they ‘saying’ to me, can I interpret how they are feeling; or when they are not feeling well, what is ailing them. They test my riding capabilities, my balance and whether my body is actually doing what my head wants it to do. They test my problem solving capabilities, whether it concerns riding, health or horse management in general. Read more

Nov 11

Cleaning the Clutter


My very cool 6 year old niece

Well, I need to develop a routine, not my strong point. I have this duality regarding routines. I need them yet I loathe them. But in order to get some self-discipline (another strange word) I need to find a routine. But I have given myself 2 weeks to sort out stuff. Have this need to clean as well, which if the moods hits me, I should take advantage of it.  Read more

Nov 8

The First Day of the Rest of my Life

Cliché? May very well be, but then there is a reason why it is a cliché. What happened? Well I have been working for a small marketing company owned by a woman I knew through a previous job. I admire her for her guts to set up such a company and thought it would be great fun to join. It would have, had it not been that our working personalities really clashed. Read more