back on track

Things are getting back on track here on November Hill. My husband left this morning for a birthday gift photography weekend in the mountains with his best friend and a number of his landscape photographer comrades. He did so many helpful things before he left to make it easier for me being solo parent - I hope they get lots of great photo ops and that he enjoys a well-deserved break from farm chores!

My mom called this morning to say that she had just spoken with my dad's occupational therapist, who reported that my dad was up, dressed, smiling, and doing really well with his first day of therapy. This is great news - he hasn't smiled in 3 weeks. Send him some healing energy if you will. I know he'd appreciate it.

The washing machine repairman came by this morning and I'm now catching up on laundry. He said this is probably the last time we should fork over the money to keep the machine going - and don't tell my husband but... YAY! I am wanting a new pale green washer/dryer set and until this one wears out, we'll never get it.

A number of writers from Backspace are doing a Marathon Hump Weekend for the next two days, and I'm going to be buckling down as well to get through the next 100 pages of my rewrite/edit. If you're working on something or have been stuck with a work in progress, tap into this collective energy and roll forward!

The horses are in the cool quiet of the barn until the sun goes down. It's getting to the mid-eighties today and I decided it was time to let them have the stalls during the mid-day heat. They got groomed, fly-sprayed with sweet-smelling marigold spray, and have good hay to munch on. Salina and Cody had their fly masks on for awhile but took them off. Keil Bay, as usual, loves his mask and keeps it on. He was quite happy to be let into his stall. I bet a hundred dollars if I go out there in an hour or so he'll be stretched out flat, snoring away.

Rafer Johnson spent an hour in the barnyard with Salina while we mucked. He's totally fine with tarps, as you can see. :)

Happy end of week to all!

P/S... I snuck back out to the barn and look what I found!

out of alignment?

As in the planet, not our backs.

The chiropractor was here this a.m. and both Cody and Apache Moon are looking good. A few minor adjustments but nothing at all major. They're happy now because they get a day off to enjoy the bliss.

Otherwise, what a week!

So far my father has been admitted to the hospital, the pump in the back field froze and burst last night, the washing machine will not agitate or spin.

And of course it's full of towels that are now soaking in water and will have to be taken outside and hung on the deck railing to drip dry.

Taking deep breaths and rolling with the wave.

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.