riding light

Today I finally got around to trying out the Little Joe bareback pad that our good friend and fellow equestrienne Kate graciously loaned us. I was surprised to discover that it fits the pony (12.2h), Cody (15.3h), and Keil Bay (a very wide 16.2h).

My daughter has been using it on her pony and on Cody, and loved it from the first ride. She said it was like sitting on a cloud. I believed her, but she rides bareback without much fuss as it is. I rode bareback on my first horse, many years ago, and loved it, but when I tried it one time on Keil Bay last year, it felt like I was being severed in two. Since Keil Bay is very broad-backed, I thought riding him bareback would be like sitting on a sofa!

Not so.

Today I put the Little Joe on him and had to get on the very top of our picnic table in order to mount. There are stirrup rings, but I figured the point of this is to ride au naturel, so didn't attach stirrups.

No pain! It was incredibly soft, comfortable, and secure.

I noted right away that his movement was especially free and he responded to light aids. We walked, we trotted, we cantered. It was wonderful. My daughter climbed on when I got off, and she felt so secure she cantered Keil Bay for the first time. He's pretty big for her, so when they stopped I asked about the canter. How was it?

She said, "It just went up and up and up!" He did a good job with her.

So we're ordering our own Little Joe. Actually this one will be my daughter's but she'll let me borrow it, and if I end up using it a lot, I'll get one of my own. Kate's is the gorgeous chocolate brown, and it looks so good on the pony my daughter wants that same color. I'd love to see the hunter green on Keil Bay.

I've also heard good things about Barefoot treeless saddles. I'm thinking about trying out the dressage model.

a little bit about a lot of things

It's an odd springtime day - a cool wind is blowing through, and I take it we'll have rain tomorrow, but for now, the sun is shining brilliant on the bright green grass and the cats are climbing high into the barn rafters trying to get at birds or mice. The horses came from the back field when I called for their early evening session in the front. Keil Bay came with big lengthened strides. Cody followed, but Keil would not let him through the gate so he spun and waited. Apache cantered from the very furthest corner of the back field and charged Keil Bay further afield. Cody dashed through while he had the chance. Rafer Johnson ran halfway but then stopped to wait for Salina. He walked purposefully in front of her and then, just as they came through the gate to the good green stuff, did a double buck to celebrate.

Geese are flying by overhead, honking loudly.

I spent a few minutes refilling a pollen-dusted water trough and putting DE on fire ant hills and then came back upstairs hoping to get a bit more done on my novel edit. I hit a stuck spot on Thursday, wrote past it Friday evening, took yesterday off, and sailed on into new material this morning. I made sure to stop at a point where things were flying, so it will be easy to jump back in.

I wish I could adequately sum up the workshop I did this weekend with Bessel van der Kolk. The work he's done and continues to do in finding the best treatments for trauma is truly wonderful. After seeing his summation of the latest and best brain research I now understand completely the science behind equine-assisted psychotherapy with traumatized people. He made a number of revelatory statements that I wish I had in front of me. I did take some notes, but mostly I sat and soaked in his passion for the work and for abandoning the many aspects of our mental health systems that re-traumatize patients.

His focus on things like yoga, group theatre, body therapies, and other experiential treatments reminded me of so many of my own cases where I did unusual things with very good results. I spent the drive home last night recounting some of those stories in my head and remembering the clients and their journeys.

These big impersonal workshops aren't always so good, but this one not only taught me things, it renewed my spirit.

Funny little synchronicity - I sat by two women who ended up knowing a number of former colleagues from my public mental health days, and I also met a man who is starting an equine-assisted psychotherapy practice with his wife. Funny how out of close to 300 people, I ended up right beside these 3.

M. and I managed to get taxes done today, which is such a relief. I keep receipts for all horse/farm expenses and the grand total for 2007 was slightly less than 2006 but is still a staggering figure.

However... all one needs to do to let go of that dollar figure is walk outside and stand by any one of the horses. Actually, I just heard Keil Bay snort from my garret window and that single sound says it all.

captured sunlight

Sometimes in the early evening when the sun is setting it creates a very mystical light out at the barn. It's almost like there's an exact moment where everything goes still and then shifts from daytime to night.

This was one of those times, and as I was looking out, I realized the setting sun was perfectly captured in the barn window. For just that moment, it was ours.

stuck in a hotel ballroom

Today is day one of a 2-day workshop I'm taking with Bessel Van der Kolk on trauma. He's wonderful, but the hotel ballroom atmosphere nearly always gives me a headache, and right now, after lunch and awaiting the second half of the day, I wish I were in the barn mucking stalls or cleaning tack or, as I did last night, standing in my backyard taking pictures of horses brought in for a lovely treat.

Do you think Keil Bay can stuff any more of the green stuff into his mouth?

green

Osage (more commonly known as Muffine Eloise) in the butterfly bush. Photo courtesy of my daughter, who has a keen eye for the sublime.

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.

-Jean Cocteau