Fiona and the Water Horse, coming very very soon!

Do horses make fools of us? Or do we do that just fine by ourselves?

I commented on a blog yesterday that horses do what they do. We humans are really good at making fools of ourselves, like in the video shown of a girl hitting her horse with a crop after she fell off over a jump.

I'll state it more strongly here: horses do not make fools of us. They live under the thumb of our care, our idea of horse management, the training we put them through, and the rides we give them. For most horses in the world, they don't get a say in any of the above.

They eat what we feed them, live in the conditions we create, get training based on the "knowledge" of whatever trainer we hire or our own, and endure ride after ride in which we sit on them and expect them to carry us around arenas, over jumps, on trails, without doing any of the instinctual responses they carry in their very DNA.

If we come off over a jump, if we come off during a spook, if we don't win the blue ribbon, if the horse doesn't go forward, if the horse chews something we value, if the horse kicks in a stall door, if the horse develops vices due to being bored our of his mind, or kept in perpetual pain due to untreated injuries/conditions - whatever the horse does or does not do, our response to that is in fact OUR RESPONSIBILITY.

And if we choose to act like fools, then guess what? We are fools.

The horse has nothing to do with it.

There is no excuse for going after a horse with a crop or whip or any other object. NONE.

I've smacked rumps and necks and shoulders with the palm of my hand, and I'm not proud of that. There are better ways to deal with issues, mostly boundary issues, that come up between horses and riders. I've tossed an empty water bucket at the pony's butt when he whirled it at me one time and I'm not proud of that either.

But I have never, ever, nor can I imagine doing it, taken a whip or a crop and gone at a horse with it. If  your anger gets to that point you need to step way back and take a good hard look at your own anger issue, because you do have one.

Pretending this kind of outburst is a one-time thing simply perpetuates the behavior. We who ride horses, live with horses, love the things that our horses allow us to do, like enter shows and win ribbons and trophies, have a responsibility to report the behavior of fools when we see it.

Show the horror you feel. Speak out to the rider. "Stop hitting that horse" is simple and direct, and even if you aren't prepared to intervene further, it lets everyone in the area know that what you are seeing is not okay. Report to the show manager. Nothing is gained by walking past and hoping it's a one-time thing.

The truth about horses is that they teach us about ourselves. They teach many of us that we too have the capacity to act like fools. They teach some that they have deep and underlying issues that need to be addressed with a mental health professional.

If we take responsibility for the times we act like fools, we become better people. And that's a gift our horses give to us. We should treat them like princesses and kings. We should throw the whip away and say THANK YOU. Thank you for helping me learn who I am and who I want to become.

inching toward spring

It's been crazy busy around here, but as we inch toward spring, with purple crocuses and daffodils and the few remaining maple trees on our farm in full bloom, we're also dealing with more cold, wet weather. It feels like winter has dug in to stay for awhile.

It has been alternating between cold wet days and cold windy days, and neither hold much appeal for me when it comes to riding. Cody has been on again, off again with the abscess, but has had three really sound days in a row so daughter hopped on today and put him back into work.

Foxhunting season ended with a fun Hunter Trial this past weekend. Daughter competed in the same class as last year and was in first place right to the very end, when her mare had a little meltdown and they dropped to fifth for the pink ribbon. It was great fun watching the classes and even tromping back and forth to the Port-A-Potty wasn't too bad.

My son got his first college acceptance this week, so we're all thinking of what this means: in the fall, he will be moving into his first dorm room, and it is going to be so strange not having him here. Meanwhile, though, he's rehearsing Hedda Gabler for an April performance and his Ethics Bowl team is going to the Nationals in April after winning a recent invitational.

All this to say it's been a busy year thus far. I'll be glad when things quiet down a bit and the weather eases up and I can get back into the riding groove with Keil Bay.

In other news, Salina is on a trial of Pergolide (she's not quite on a full dose yet, but I *think* I'm seeing some positive response) and the kittens are scheduled for spaying/neutering next week. I can't believe they're already that grown up!

Redford turned 5 years old a few weeks back and that too blows my mind. We have a whole string of birthdays coming up: Cody and Salina in March, and Keil Bay and Apache in April.

Right now it's hard to imagine full-blown spring. In spite of the flowering, when I look out the window I still see the browns and grays and bare branches of the winter season. And the wood stove is in almost continual use these days.

How is everyone else faring as we edge up to spring? It's not my favorite season but I am actually looking forward to it this year.

Blog Hop: My Next Big Thing

Nancy Peacock, author of Life Without Water, Home Across the Road, and A Broom of One's Own, tagged me for this blog hop. You can read her essays and find out more about her on her blog, Marginalia.

My Next Big Thing:

1)      What is the working title of your book or project?

The Girl Who Was Never Not Broken

2)      Where did the idea come from for this book or project?
 
A song I heard in the TV series McLeod's Daughters. It took me awhile to track it down online and purchase it for my iTunes library, and I listened to it for several months, maybe close to a year, before the story began to come. The song, Last of the Happy by Eva Trout, seemed to be the soundtrack to a novel that had not yet been written. And for whatever reason, it picked me to write it.

3)      What genre does it fall under, if any?

Literary suspense.

4)      If applicable, who would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

This question often pops up in interviews and blog hops. Having lived and worked in Hollywood, I know how unlikely it is that I would ever get to choose the actors for a project based on one of my books. So I don't even think about it. All I can say is that if they pay me enough money, they can cast anyone they want to in the roles. If Javier Bardem was involved, that would be just fine with me.

5)      What is the synopsis of your manuscript or project?

A young woman leaves Needles, California when her father is jailed, she thinks for writing bad checks, and a mysterious man comes looking for her to ask questions. She drives south, meets a young cowboy in a bar over dinner, and drives him to the ranch near the border of Arizona where he works. What begins as a quick visit to ride a horse turns into a new life. She falls in love with the horses, the work, and especially with the woman who takes care of things and feeds the cowboys. Shug quickly becomes the mother Ava Lee never had.

But Shug has a son who is involved with running drugs and stolen horses across the border, and he falls in love with Ava Lee. Ava Lee's father is not in jail for writing checks but because he witnessed a UFO fall into the river outside Needles - he is in custody because he won't cooperate with CIA agents, one of whom happens to be Shug's other son Tag. Tag is assigned to track Ava Lee and finds her living on the ranch where he grew up, the daughter his mother never had, and getting quickly pulled into his brother Dixon's life of crime.

6)      Will your book or story be self-published or represented by an agent?

This will be the second "Borderland Book" published by my imprint, November Hill Press.

7)      How long did it take you to write the first draft?

It is still in progress.

8)      What other book or stories would you compare this to within the genre?

I'd say Cormac McCarthy's Borderland Trilogy and Ellen Gilchrist's novels.

9)      Who or what inspired you to write this story?

It grew from that aforementioned song!

10)  What else about the book or story might pique the reader’s interest?

It addresses the issue of horse slaughter, which is something I don't think the average person knows much about.

connecting with horses via the heart

This week I tried something new. While standing with Keil Bay a few days ago, as he hung out in his stall after breakfast instead of going out to graze with the rest of the herd, I blew softly into his nostrils and waited for his usual response - he blows softly back.

An idea popped into my head. As I stood in front of his stall door, and he hung his head over, I focused on my heart beat and on his, meditating on the two synchronizing and beating together.

I was just playing around, as I do, to see what happens. I had no idea this little exercise would be so powerful.

Keil became perfectly still as I did the meditation. After about 20 seconds, he let out a long, soft breath, and then became still again. Each time I purposely allowed my mind to drift from its focus on our heartbeats, he nudged me gently until I re-focused.

We did this for about 5 minutes, and then I gave him a big hug and walked away to do some chores, thinking he would head out to the field. A minute later, he was whinnying at the stall door for me to come back. I did, and we did the heart meditation again, with the exact same response.

He actively wanted to continue doing this exercise, not leaving the stall and calling me back when I left him.

Yesterday I tried this again with both he AND Salina, but from a distance, 10-15 feet away, when they were otherwise occupied and not interacting with me.

As soon as I focused on our heartbeats, both of them would stop, get still, and then turn to look at me. And then they both lowered their heads slightly and began to lick and chew.

I also tried it with the pony in a grumpy pony moment and he pricked his ears forward and then he too licked and chewed.

It's St. Valentine's Day today, with all kinds of focus on love and hearts and romance. My husband and I will go out to dinner to celebrate, but the main focus around here will be exploring this new technique with the November Hill herd.

Heart equines, all.