28/7 + 57(needs more rides) = quick ride on the second day

Or, translated:

Our ride today happened at sunset and Keil Bay quickly went from 28 to about 4 years old, in the very best way, meaning he was simply and completely ready to go, very alert, bold, and sensitive to my leg in a way that would be beautifully perfect if I weren’t so out of riding shape!

As it is, I felt like I could ride the big trot he was chomping at the (bitless) bridle to do, but I fretted that if he spooked at that big trot I might not stick with him, so I kept my legs OFF and we did some 20m circles at the walk and then did walk/trot transitions at each dressage marker to give him a predictable pattern of coming down to the walk himself.

I stopped while things were going well.

I felt good in the saddle and he felt super at the walk and the trot. I wish I could speed up my own getting back into shape.

Thinking maybe the sunset rides are not the best idea for now! Exciting though to have him feeling so good and moving so well.

When 28 + 57 = infinity

That would be a handsome 28-year old Hanoverian + a 57-year old woman = an infinity of JOY when a ride finally took place after an unheard of 7-month hiatus.

I do not know why it has been so long, except for a busy life, new roof work on the barn last spring, a hot, buggy summer, and more busy life. The message here is an old one: ride first, do everything else after.

But today was the day. Daughter agreed to go out and supervise so I wouldn’t get caught up in a half-day grooming/spa session for the Big Bay and so that if I encountered any trouble she would be on hand. I don’t know what kind of trouble I expected - nothing specific - but it was nice to have her out there.

When the saddle pad came out Keil Bay’s eye whites showed. Mine were probably showing too. He got a peppermint when the girth was put on and that was the end of eye whiteness. I feel it is important to note that I didn’t get a peppermint but I persisted anyway!

He was amazingly sound at the walk and trot. I only asked for walk, he offered the trot himself. Daughter informed me we weren’t moving as fast as it felt like we were moving, and I’m sure she was right, but when Keil Bay rounded his neck and started to go into power trot at one point I notched him down as I wasn’t sure I was ready to go straight from 7 months off to Keil Bay’s big trot!

He got many peppermints during and after the ride. I think he was pretty satisfied with himself at the end of it. I was too. My right shoulder has been aching the past few weeks (too much raking) but I felt not even a twinge while I was riding Keil Bay. As has always been true, he is the remedy for every ailment.

Passing Unseen

An element of the fiction I write is my continual efforts to reveal to the reader the ways my characters (and us) connect both intentionally, unintentionally, accidentally, unbeknownst, synchronistically. I know from my own life that we often are affected and influenced by things people do that we don’t even know about. I find this fascinating, and novels, as well as short stories, are the perfect venue to reveal this web of connection amongst characters to the readers, who can see the entire picture.

Kyle Kimberlin, a poet friend, shared this quote (which describes what I mean perfectly) on his blog Metaphor (highly recommend a visit there!):

We keep passing unseen through little moments of other people’s lives.

– Robert M. Pirsig

The annual Halloween graveyard cake

Every year my daughter and I make a graveyard cake for Halloween. This year we did a layer cake instead of a sheet cake and it was fun decorating a different “shape.” It’s a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting underneath all the candy. I usually take the junky stuff off (namely, Peeps) and just eat the cake!

Here it is, and happy Halloween!

A family get-away to Roan Mountain

Husband, daughter, my mom, and I went on a quick weekend get-away to a lovely cabin on Roan Mountain. Our farmsitter came and stayed the weekend with the menagerie. A few minutes after she walked in the door she was on the sofa with cats and Corgis snuggling in.

The fall color was beautiful and we had one rainy day with clouds rolling in and out over the mountain tops like surf, then a morning of snowflakes and then sunshine.

It was fun to take a little trip together and just as fun to get back home again.

I have some projects to finish this week and will get to them starting on Wednesday!