Horses

 

Reading Seabiscuit brought back a lot of horse memories. I started riding hunt seat with Pegasus/Meadowbrook stables in suburban Maryland, summer horsemanship camps for a week or two every summer when I was 8.. Then when I was about 12 I started taking lessons during the school year. The Spring semester ended with a school show. 

In the top two photos, I am shown with a blue ribbon riding equitation on "Tuffy".

The bottom right photo, now quite faded, I am proudly wearing another blue ribbon on "Patches" the Pinto.

The bottom left I am shown on "Sundaddy", who just won Reserve Champion Pleasure with me at the reins. That was a WBTA show, or Washington Bridle trails association. I was sad to learn that it was recently disbanded after many years, with the last online post in 2020. 

I blew the Champion for him, placing us second in the "Command Break and Out" class. The rules are simple-the judge stands in the center of the ring and issues commands, such as "halt" walk, trot, canter, reverse direction, etc, and those who do not transistion immediately and smoothly are eliminated. I was busted out from a "halt" to a "walk". I was sure it was going to be "trot" and a half stride was enough to cost the blue in that class.

We won first in Handy Pleasure, and Sundaddy owed my errors to that win. One thing we had to do in that class was dismount and mount from the right. Near or off side, I can't remember which is which. A horse is traditionally mounted on their left, and being a student on school horses, we ALWAYS used a mounting block. So not only had I never mounted from the ground, I had never mounted from the right. 

I jabbed him repeatedly with my toe trying to get my foot in the stirrup, and then lengthened it so much to reach it that when I hauled myself upright I had quite a challenge to get the leg over from that low. Absolutely embarassing. Sun daddy didn't move an inch through out the whole ordeal. Boy, did I make him look great!

Then the judges had us line up against the rail, me first. Oh boy, good sign in show business!. They had two maybe 18" cavelliti jumps set up angled into the corner of the ring. It was a really awkward angle, especially with me in the front, I had  room for only a couple of strides, then had to cut like a 45 degree angle with only another stride or two to the first jump. Hmmmmm. Ok, judge says go, I go, make the corner, take the jumps nicely, go to the end of the line. 

Then I watched EVERYONE else make an opening circle to give them a much better approach to the jump. I sat there with my head in my hands. I totally screwed the pooch on that one!

Then we were handed the blue ribbon for the class! Haha! That brought our total points for the pleasure division to second highest overall, winning the reserve Champion.

The Champion went to my best friend on her own Flea bitten grey warmblood, "Dixie". Susie and Dixie were pony clubbers and stabled out in Wheaton. Susie had a friend, Lisa, who had a little bay gelding named "Little John". Since I used to go to the stables to hang out with Susie, Lisa and her family gave me permission to ride little John. His name should have been little Bastard.

One time Susie and I rode into the woods and came to a small clearing. Susie said, "this is where we do our own thing" and rode off. I suppose I thought LIttleJohn and I were going to trot around, but he had other ideas. He got the bit in his teeth and took off. Straight into some very thick pine trees. I saw them coming and knew exactly what he had in mind. He was going to scrape me off!

I threw myself forward and wrapped my arms around his neck He put his head down and went for it. We emerged on the other side, my hard hat long gone, my arms and legs wrapped around his neck-completely out of the saddle, but still on! LOL. 

It wasn't the only time he ran off with me. Susie and I were grazing them with halter and leadline, and she climbed up on Dixie. I thought that looked much more fun than standing, so for the first time in my life I hauled myself up bareback. (He was "little" John for a reason)

Well, I thought the grass looked much nicer a little farther on, and pulled his head up and gave him a nudge and he saw his chance! Yee haw! no stopping him now! Away we went, him at a flat out gallop, me clinging to mane and hauling on the lead, sure if I went off at that speed I was a goner. He galloped back to the barn and came to a screeching stop. I had stayed on!

I asked Susie, in my vanity, "how did I look?"

She replied, "Like you were getting run away with..."

Happy Solstice from Tree and Gordon

 

Anita TItle

 Nod to my old pals in the band Liquid Daydream for the title. Looking back now, I am not sure if they ever had a song named that, or if that is just something they would say when trying to figure out what song to play next. Now I feel like an idiot for saying, "play Anita Title". LOL. "I LOVE that song."

I was going to post a photo of my secret garden, but it's not there on my desktop. I was pretty sure I downloaded it there the other day. I guess it is going to remain a secret.

I am kind of groggy, the sun and somewhat warm weather has reinvigorated the night owl in me. Alas, I am in the process of corralling and taming feral kittens. The two I have managed to snatch wake up at the crack of dawn and have the energy of feral kittens. So I rolled over and turned on the security cam and there is feral Momma on the back deck. She showed up with the other two kittens last night, and they have gotten very wild in the meantime. So I got up and put out a dish of kitten chow for her, and sure enough the two appeared and started playing around her. 

 

My plan is to get them tame with food. Mama, whom I have been calling Pity, originally took off like a rocket when I opened the back door. I am guessing she started appearing about the time the kittens were born. After weeks of feeding her, I have her to the point where she only retreats twenty feet. last night when the kittens were out there, she was within six feet.

Through the years I have adopted ferals and made them housecats, and taken many kittens and Mommas after taming to the County no kill shelter. I thought that was the end with the last batch two summers ago, but of course I saw tracks in the snow coming to the old feed station, and started putting food out for a battered Tom this winter. Sucker.

I believe it all started with my obnoxious neighbor who doesn't believe in spaying cats, and has a farm with barn. On a road with other farms and outbuildings, there are ferals from one end to the other. It makes me mad because through the years I have spent lots of time and money on them because I am a SUCKER. 

I spent several days sitting quietly outside reading with my ears and eyes open, trying to locate these other two kittens. It is really an ethical dilemma about snatching kittens. I never do it in front of the Momma because I am trying to gain her trust. This case is especially difficult because there are two kittens left, and I don't want to grab one and not be able to get the other and have it alone. Yes, Mom is still around, but the kittens play and sleep together. There is the risk that one will be taken by one of the many predators around-the skunk and coon like cat kibble too, and the day I found the kittens I was awakened by barred owls hunting in the back yard. So there may have been more than four kittens originally. 

Reading, I tore through "Seabiscuit". As a child I tore through all the books by Walter Farley=author of the Black Stallion, watched Secretariat win the Triple Crown, and rode hunt seat and showed at a local barn in Maryland. In 8th grade I wanted to be a jockey, until a boy I had a crush on in Science told me I was too big. Actually after reading Seabiscuit, I think I could have been a jockey but prob not on the ones with 105 assigned weight LOL. I don't think I would want to bury myself in a manure pile and drink epsom salts. Ugh.

I also came across a bunch of books by Janet Evanovich, "Stephanie Plum" novels. Sadly I only took three or four because I didn't want them to be bombs and end up with a dozen. Bad call. They are the funniest books I have read in ages. Some of them are so funny I am crying, get it under control, read another line, and start again. This isn't the whole book, of course, just select scenes with some very amusing characters and their lines. I was laughing so hard yesterday I had to put it down and go for a walk so I could continue reading.

Ah, it's fun to have something to laugh about these days. I remember one time in my life I was sitting with another pal of the aforementioned band (who later beacme their soundman), and I don't know what set us off that night, but we got laughing so hard and couldn't stop, and kept setting each other off. People started asking if we were tripping on acid, so we stepped outside for air and finally got a grip. I wish I could remember what was so funny that night, but if you share my sense of humor you may enjoy the Stephanie Plum novels as much as I do. 

T

Columbine

 

Each one of these blossoms is from a separate plant. I guess these started from a pack of seeds many years ago, and were dug up and moved several times before I settled here. I think at that point I may have bought another packet of seed, because I have several different types.

I have singles, doubles, and frilly triples. They come in all white, to shades of blue and shades of pink. I like the dark pink triple and a very dark blue in any form (I don't have it in single)

They got hit with screw fly a few years ago and I almost lost them. The fly has a little green worm stage that will completely strip the plant of foliage, weakening it. That happened one year before I knew what was happening (I actually wondered if deer were eating them) and it took several years for them to recover. 

The internet suggested sprinkling the plant with used coffee grounds, which I start doing as soon as foliage breaks in the spring. If I could just find out what works on leaf miners...I will go internet search that now.

Be well

T