I serve at the pleasure of Keil Bay

Thankfully he's a reasonable guy! 

In other news, Cody's abscess burst and oh my goodness, it is a doozy. He is so much better but that thing is still draining! 

Today I'm off to the feedstore to stock up on Ontario Dehy timothy balance cubes and Chaffhaye. We had cut the Chaffhaye out during July and August due to heat and humidity and availability of grass with no riding being done. Now that we're into fall and work is resuming Keil will get a good serviing of Chaffhaye before and after his rides and that will boost his calories a bit. He's on the thin side right now which is fine for his easy keeping self, but it's time to feed the work and the cooler weather. I just saw that our low for this weekend is 36 degrees!

He's been telling me for a year that he wants to go on the 4-feed-tub-a-day senior meal plan Salina was on, but I have to keep telling HIM that he is so much healthier than she was. He simply doesn't need that much food. But the Chaffhaye is a terrific compromise. 

We're having gorgeous days and as I typed that there was a round of soft relaxed snorts through the open door. They are all really happy to be moving into fall.

a little more Keil Bay

A little more Keil Bay. And a nice note on my leg. I spoke with my ND today and it turns out she used to be a burn nurse. She reviewed my treatment protocol for the burn and said I did exactly the right things. She did say the skin will be particularly vulnerable for about a year and that adding extra protection while riding is advisable so that I don't risk damaging the skin. 

I'm thinking boot-cut riding tights will help, and I'll wear a leg wrap under my sock.

Meanwhile, enjoying the photos and assembling what I'll need to get back to riding!

what we need is here

Daughter pulled some photos of me and the Big Bay from our archives for inspiration. The sun came out this morning, my leg is healing, and I think if I wear a leg wrap for protection it will be okay to start riding, especially since Keil and I both need lots of walking to get back in shape.

It's Wendell Berry season here: wild geese, gorgeous horses, no flies, chilly nights, changing leaves, and forward motion.  ... quiet in heart and in eye clear. What we need is here.

still not riding but the farm chores roll on

My burned leg is healing steadily but I'm still wary of putting pressure on the skin until it's further along, so no riding has happened. We've had a lot of rain since last Thursday - very much needed - so at least I'm not missing perfect riding weather!

We needed to do some liming and reseeding of pastures this year so I stocked up on the fast-action pelleted lime along with winter rye and perennial fescue before the rain set in. We plotted how to work it in with the weather coming through. Dear husband did it all and for the most part the rain was just right - we had one good rain before putting out the lime, so the dry fields and the dust were nice and damp. The pelleted lime dissolved almost instantly and the seed went down the next day. We had very light drizzle along with that, so the seed got moist but not washed out, and then we had a break in the rain for a day, then more rain last night and today to water it down. 

I'm glad that's done!

The horses and donkeys are being stoic about being shut out of the entire front field and grass paddock, and about the rain itself. I think they've enjoyed rolling in the mud - it's been awhile!

Today I spent some time grooming Keil Bay. He's shedding his summer coat and followed me around asking for more brushing. I hope in another week the rain will let up, my healing will be complete, and he and I can get ourselves in shape for fall and winter work together. 

Next on the farm chore list: getting an estimate for a new barn roof. We're thinking metal with insulation. Any thoughts from anyone on preferences? 

my magical pony school and liminal space

Some of you have read the first two books in my middle grade Magical Pony School series. It's no secret where I got the idea for those books! I have my own magical pony school and one very special pony.

We play together in the dressage arena, the little man at liberty. He's a trickster in the beginning but as we keep going, the lines begin to blur. We connect. 

What happens is liminal space. 

In writing, in riding, in playing with magical ponies. In psychotherapy that utilizes the notion of depth psychology. 

Liminal space is where big change happens.

Thanks to the little man and to my husband for capturing a little of this magic on his camera!

From Wikipedia's liminality page:

Depth psychologyEdit

Jungians have often seen the individuation process of self-realisation as taking place within a liminal space. 'Individuation begins with a withdrawal from normal modes of socialisation, epitomized by the breakdown of the persona...liminality'.^[92] Thus "what Turner's concept of social liminality does for status in society, Jung...does for the movement of the person through the life process of individuation".^[93] Individuation can be seen as a "movement through liminal space and time, from disorientation to integration....What takes place in the dark phase of liminality is a process of breaking down...in the interest of "making whole" one's meaning, purpose and sense of relatedness once more'"^[94] As an archetypal figure, "the trickster is a symbol of the liminal state itself, and of its permanent accessibility as a source of recreative power".^[95]

But other depth psychologies speak of a similar process. Carl Rogers describes "the 'out-of-this-world' quality that many therapists have remarked upon, a sort of trance-like feeling in the relationship that client and therapist emerge from at the end of the hour, as if from a deep well or tunnel.^[96] The French talk of how the anaytic setting 'opens/forges the "intermediate space," "excluded middle," or "between" that figures so importantly in Irigaray's writing".^[97] Marion Milner claimed that "a temporal spatial frame also marks off the special kind of reality of a psycho-analytic session...the different kind of reality that is within it".^[98]

Jungians however have perhaps been most explicit about the 'need to accord space, time and place for liminal feeling'^[99] - as well about the associated dangers, 'two mistakes: we provide no ritual space at all in our lives...or we stay in it too long'.^[100]Indeed, Jung's psychology has itself been described as 'a form of "permanent liminality" in which there is no need to return to social structure'.^[101]