BLUE Sue ~ riding and writing, and writing about riding

Beri, the big little Shooting Horse

2010-05-02T10:53:00.034-06:00

It started with the quick 'how about...' thought, progressed to an email, that quickly expanded to include a group and ended up with a fun and productive evening.

A fellow endurance rider, Kristen Fisher, also shows her Arabians, and manages several of the local Arabian Horse Assoc horse shows.

After exchanging a couple of emails, she agreed to let my shooting club, the Texas Smokin' Guns do a mounted shooting demo between classes during prime showing time Saturday evening.

Wow ~ the pressure was on! At least for me it was. Beri and Miree and I won the Arabian Horse Association Open Events National Mounted Shooting Championship last year and the minute I opened my mouth about taking Beri to shoot at a big AHA show, the butterflies started doing their flippy thing in my stomach. What would all those fancy show people think about my fat little pasture horse?

But, as they say ... onward and onward (or something like that).

I gathered my wits and took consolation in the fact that although Beri and I hadn't been able to shoot in several months prior to the March shoot, she did better than could have been expected with the little bit of training we'd been able to do with all the transitional (divorce and restarting life) stuff that I'd been going through. I'd have to count on her to remember her base training and run on that rather than what little we'd been able to do month to recent month.

Then Mike asked the exhibitors for their bio to be read for each horse and shooter at the demo:

I started pulling stuff together, trying to figure out something that made us sound good. Of course, I wanted to mention the AHA OEIP award, and that she was an endurance horse, and that she was a homebred, and of course something about her relatively recently-imported Saudi breeding ... and I looked at what she'd done over the last couple of years...

* 2009 Arabian Horse Association OEIP National Mounted Shooting Champion
* 2008 was the Texas Smokin' Guns Ladies 1 year end highpoint.
* 2009 TSG LC1 3rd place high point.
** 2008 and again in 2009 she earned a National Top Ten recognition from the The Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse for her shooting and other activities.
* She was the 2008 Blue Arabian Horse Catalog Reserve Champion Endurance horse
** also in 2008 High Point BLUE STAR Shooting horse in both the adult and wrangler division
*** and also still in 2008, Reserve High Point Ambassador.
* She's the BAHC Champion Shooting horse for 2009
** and also again, in 2009, their Reserve High Point Ambassador for local and community events which include doing events like this demo.

Also that she's an accomplished AERC Endurance horse, having completed over 550 AERC miles with six different riders. To date, she's completed rides of up to 75 miles, including completing 50 miles at the Bluebonnet ride last weekend in Decatur.

....not bad for a fat little pasture mare. It gave me a little confidence, but also a bigger case of nerves. I had the thought that with her standing a full 14.1hh, her list of awards ended up being longer than she is tall.

But - many thanks to Mike and Mary Brucia, Robert Carlson and Maddie, Mary and Collin Flick and my son Jared, the demo went smoothly and seemed to entertain the larger than expected crowd in the stands.

Thank you again to Kristen Fisher and the Mayfest Challenge management for letting us show off a little - and we hope to be able to do it again!

(...argh. I know I've posted video here before, but I can't get it to work now so you'll have to follow the links.)

Becky and Beri Shooting Demo

Collin Flick and Desert Khai Special thanks to Mary and Collin for participating in the demo with their Blue List, Straight Egyptian, Khai. It's especially rewarding to have been able to have two Arabians in the demo at an Arabian Horse show. Too many people think that Arabians may be too 'hot' or temperamental to handle the gunfire and that simply isn't the case.

Bluebonnet

2010-04-29T01:32:00.012-06:00

First of all, apologies to my readers as well as to ANDI for leaving her hanging on a bad training day. She is coming along nicely and I'll get caught up with her posts shortly.

In other news, What a fabulous time we had at the Bluebonnet ride this year. Due to "life" (and such), I hadn't been able to attend an endurance ride in about 14 months, and, as they say, that's too long.

It sure was great to be back in the saddle and back on the trail. GWAIHIR had an excellent ride his last time out (not counting the rider option pull last April due to the weather and his wimpy rider) with a 1st in our division and a 3rd overall on the tough Hill Country trail.

Saturday, he never missed a beat. Other than being a little more overly ambitious than usual, I couldn't tell he'd been out of the game for so long. He ate and drank better than ever and, as always, was eager for the trail. We had a great finish, I haven't seen the official results yet, but I think in the top 20.

If I read the photographers captions correctly, these photos are at about 47 miles. I love having happy horses at that distance.

Courtney rode ELBERTH (Beri), a smarter ride, letting us run, she slowed down for an easy day, just missing turtle by a couple of riders.

Beri finishing another 50 is a real success story for us as she tied up at the Bandera ride last year. We researched all our options and treated and brought her back conservatively.

We looked at everything, exercise, conditioning and fitness level, nutrition and even her heat cycle. I'd changed feeds and so I changed back. Over the course of the next weeks and months, we did a course of selenium and a very slow, structured work schedule, a period of rest and then a repeat of the very gradually increasing work, bringing her up to a regular riding schedule.

And it paid off. She's been doing light trail work and arena work, including winning the AHA OEIP National Mounted Shooting Championship for 2009, but this was her first long distance ride since her tie-up.

I couldn't resist adding this one. We're racing no one for ... I figured 30th place ... turned out to be in the top 20.... but I just love to let them run across the finish line. It feels good to have that much horse left. I didn't know Jim Edmondson (the photographer) was there, but got excited when I saw him get out his camera. I thought I'd get a real good photo of GWAIHIR extended and working, I love those with the nostrils flared and all that going on...

*sigh* It's a fun shot, but the son-of-a-gun doesn't even look like he's breathing hard. I love having that much horse, but he's going to have to work a little harder next time out so I can get one of those dramatic finish line photos that I love.

Reclaiming Andi - day seven

2010-04-05T03:39:00.000-06:00

Today, unfortunately, she backslid. She wanted the halter on and would approach me to target it but didn't want me to approach that final step (into the Andi defined comfort zone) to put it on. I just walked around the stall with her until she stopped, and once I was within the zone, she tilted her head toward me and was glad to have it on.

I think what has happened is that over the last couple of days, I've moved too fast and put too much lag time between the halter and the grain. Yes—we'll get to that point, but I see now that while the lesson was well-learned on the surface, the foundation is still shaky.

I'm not going to reduce the lag time, though. I'll simply up the repetitions and gradually continue to increase the lag time, occasionally putting the halter on and off without a grain snack while it's on because eventually she'll be wearing it without a specific reward. Remember at this point, our goal is still to get her to want to have the halter put on and to like wearing the halter.

On Guard

2010-04-03T09:26:00.000-06:00

I talk about my horses all the time, but I like to show things as well and this photo very well illustrates a herd instinct that you read about in old westerns, but don't often see.

This is a domestic herd, none of them have been feral for generations. I'm standing in my front yard, they're in a side pasture, the road is just on the other side of the trees.

Yet horsey instinct demands a guard be placed. You can see the backs of the other mares just below the crest of the hill. They're munching on a round bale. Beri is the youngest of the bunch and so she got tapped for guard duty. Even with her hip cocked and resting comfortably, you can see by her ears how alert she is, she's taking her job seriously.

If your hero rides a good mare like this, he's going to be hard to sneak up on, day or night.

Reclaiming Andi - day six

2010-03-31T01:40:00.001-06:00

Day six was another easy review day, which was fine since it was snowing and cold even inside the barn.

I'd been there a bit earlier with the ferret under my coat. He sniffed her, and she sniffed him back, uneasy at the predator, cautious and unsure but trusting when I encouraged her—another sign of her progress.

I went in her stall with just the halter before I even scooped her bucket. She's calling to me now when she sees me come in the alley, and she came right to me but didn't like my bulky, noisy jacket that smelled of ferret she couldn't see. I quietly insisted she not step away, haltered her, and let her sniff my jacket—all was fine. I left her in the stall and went to get her grain before I fed anyone else.

Reclaiming Andi - day five addition

2010-03-29T01:36:00.000-06:00

A fellow trainer called me on a point I mentioned earlier, and rightfully so. I made a simple comment - that I was willing to wait and let her come to me, that I was letting her make the decisions as to how much of what I wanted she was going to do, that I was passive and letting her decide if she wanted me in her comfort zone.

I want to emphasis that this is part of step one. I don't ask for trust and submission without a basis, without first building a foundation.

In the past, I've had friendly, willing babies that went a year or more into training before I realized that they had NO training at all, that we were simply a couple of buddies hanging out and having fun. These horses like people and are bold and enjoy getting out and doing fun stuff. They did everything I asked so I naively didn't realize there would come a time that I would ask something they wouldn't want to do, and because it was a 'new' situation, that we'd have problems with that.

I'm going to try real hard not to make that mistake with Andi. The lines of communication are open. She knows I'm talking to her, and she knows I'm listening when she talks back. I'm going to take the time to build a relationship, to give her a foundation and reasons to trust me, but I will, over time, be sure she understands that while I listen to her and answer her questions, that I have the final say in our discussions.

Ideally, I'll be able to do this subtly and gently over time. It's all fine lines and shades of gray, trying to find that perfect balance ... to ask more than what she'll do easily and just for fun without asking her to do something she'll outright refuse.

Over the next weeks, I'll introduce her to Linda TJ's 'wand' and 'put her in the box'. She'll learn to move her feet for me, to move away from pressure on her body, and we'll start doing some simple gymnastics in-hand. The plan is that the "go forward" cue will become simple habit as we transition from walking the barn alley or the arena to tarps, creeks, and even loading in the trailer. I'll try to find stuff for her to cross that will worry her just enough to think about it before she'll go ahead. Over time, she'll learn that I won't ask her to do something she can't do, and when there does come a time—out on a bad trail or in a trailer accident or any of those bizarre situations that horses and horseman get into—that I have to ask her to do something dangerous or at least very strange, she'll lay that trust in my hand and let me guide her out of something that frightens her or that she doesn't understand.

What a day ~

2010-03-24T15:53:00.019-06:00

I had an early start this morning, little knowing how really bizarre and busy the day would turn out to be.

The first actually stop was to pick up chicken and guinea cages from my dad, which took only a couple of minutes, and then to tank up the truck and pick up a large coffee and some snacks for the road trip.

The first planned stop was to pick up a board horse that now belongs to a friend who lives out of town and is going to be keeping him here.

But I didn't make it there without mishap.

Less than a mile from my actual first scheduled destination, an explosion rocked my world. In the next instant, I realized I was covered in glass shards. My first instant thought was that I'd been shot. Thankfully, I was too much in shock to slam the brakes and (weirdly) drove about another couple hundred feet before I pulled over to try to figure out what happened.

Looks like a bird hit the window (someone said) - but this is the back window, directly behind the driver's head, and I was going about 50mph down a winding country subdivision. Some suggested it could have been a bird flipped over the top of the truck in the draft ... which ... I guess the hole is about the right size for a very small bird, but that doesn't explain the very centered point of impact and the fact there's no blood and no bird. That hole obviously could have been made by a rock or baseball ... but not in the back window going 50. -no one else was on the road, no one passed me.

The final answer has been narrowed down to a random shooting, space debris or spontaneous combustion. So far, nothing except glass shards have turned up in the truck cab or the bed. I'll give it a better going-over tomorrow.

Picking up Chewy from a farm outside of Kauffman, the original first planned stop, was the next actual stop.

Then to Canton for four Red Cornish chickens, good laying and sitting hens, and a rooster. We were down from a mixed batch of six chickens and a rooster to only a couple of hens and that's not enough eggs for us. We're hoping to have an overabundance shortly!

I was almost home when I got a frantic call that one of the does we hadn't put in the pen had had her baby and was too busy fighting off the dogs and other goats to clean it or let it nurse. The boys snatched it up, dried it off and wrangled the mom into the pen and made sure the new little girl got her first good drink of colostrum. This little one now belongs to the young man who found her - I told him, that's what you get for saving her little life.

She's getting stronger, nursing good and mom is being a good mom, now that she's been given a chance.

We've had three little ones already, out of two does and four more does to go, although one isn't due for a couple of months - so we still have loads of cuteness still to come.

Reclaiming Andi - day five

2010-03-22T01:34:00.000-06:00

Day five was a short and simple recap of the previous lessons. I filled her bucket with grain but left it outside the gate when I went into her stall. She approached me; she tensed slightly when I stepped toward her and started to step away but stayed with me when I reached out and tangled my fingers in her mane. I haltered her, and asked her to give to a light pressure on her poll, which she did, and we walked (leading) about three or four steps in each direction, stopped, and backed two steps.

All that done, I fetched her bucket of grain and poured it out for her and let her eat, then removed her halter.

We'll have at least one more day of review before we move on again. I've learned that when they come along so fast, it's easy to leave holes rather than the firm foundation you need in these basics. I don't want to bore her, but I will do all I can to be sure she's solid and steady in each series of lessons before we move on.

Reclaiming Andi - day four addition

2010-03-19T01:38:00.002-06:00

I want to take a moment to address the problem of Andi pulling back in order to get pressure to release in an attempt to cue me to click=treat. This problem is two-fold.

One: it's fabulous that she's figured out that her actions command the click, but it's not good that she's trying to be in charge. That will definitely have to be turned around. She's trying to cue me to click/treat. Step three, which she skipped, is putting a cue to the behavior that gets the click.

I want her to 1)release her body to pressure and 1b) come forward when I put a little pressure on her poll with the lead rope.

1. My cue to her is to apply pressure.
2. She releases the pressure by lowering her head and stepping forward.
3. Click
4. Treat

The PROBLEM is that SHE applied the pressure in order to cue ME to click/treat.

Her sire would do this. One method of using the clicker is to 'extend' the trick. For example, I taught him to stand at my shoulder by click/treating when he positioned himself with his shoulder next to mine. Once he was doing this, I would take a step. In order to stay in position, he would have to take a step. (click/treat) Once he's done that, it's simple to take two or three steps (click treat) when he stays in position. You'd think you could go to ten steps or half a mile (which actually is the idea),but he would only go about 3-4 steps then bolt off and come back into position to try to get me to click/treat. (If I had fallen for that, I would essentially be treating him for bolting.- Tricky, tricky boy! Too smart for his own good sometimes.) I also wanted him to stand beside me as long as I wanted. You do this by not clicking immediately when they stand properly. You want a few seconds/minute. If I waited too long, he would circle and come back into position, clearly upset and anxious, worried he had done something wrong (since he wasn't getting the click/treat) and trying to get me to click/treat by redoing the trick.

We worked through it. He will free lunge both directions, stop, reverse on voice command, and jog at my side, over and through obstacles, and he'll even weave a pattern with or without poles on voice or hand signals.

One interesting aside is that I thought I had taught him the vocal commands left and right, but he actually learned toward and away from me, so when I'm working on his right side, I have to use right for left and left for right to get him to turn the way I want.

Because he's learned that some behaviors earn the click, he tries endlessly to please me. If he sees me standing in the window of the house and wants me to come outside and play, he'll start going through his tricks. He likes you to pull his tongue, so usually, that's the one he starts with. He'll stand at the gate and stick his tongue out. It's funny, but it can be very obnoxious as well, depending on the trick. Fortunately, the tongue tricks are mostly harmless, although he actually licked a judge at a show one time when she accidentally cued him.

So Andi is already self-tasking and experimenting with behaviors, seeking the click, which is really amazing, but in this specific case, she's already learned what could escalate into a terrible and dangerous behavior in pulling back on the rope, and it's something that will have to be dealt with.

Reclaiming Andi - day four

2010-03-15T01:35:00.000-06:00

She’s asks for the halter, stands easily to have it put on, and appears totally comfortable about wearing it. She still gets a little tense if you approach her instead of letting her approach you. That's a training hole that cannot go unaddressed because it will be a huge issue later if she doesn't get over it. At this point, we're going to keep a very close and concerned eye on this behavior, but we’re going to move along because I think this is something she's going to get over with time.

To recap, she's approaching the person, asking to wear her halter, standing quietly while it's buckled on, and following the person around the stall.

The next step is leading (leading being the obvious external goal, the bigger goal being to get her to learn to give to pressure). Leading, as I see it, mainly involves moving forward beside the handler. I want her to walk beside me, stop, back up, turn left and right, and eventually turn on the fore or the quarter or bend her spine up or to the left or right without moving her feet.

I have an odd bit of failure here. Once I attach a lead rope to her halter, I can't apply pressure to her poll because when I step away with the intention of applying pressure via the lead rope, she follows me.

Smart girl . . . she's already leading, turning left and right, and stopping beside me when I stop (of course!! how would she get a treat if she kept walking past the treat pocket). While a lot of trainers would take this and shout it to the rooftops, it raises a red flag with me because unless we back up and find a way to apply pressure so she can learn to give, this will create huge (extremely dangerous) triggers and behaviors in the adult horse.

This means I have to find a couple of creative ways to cheat. I step away quickly and tug. I extend my arm out and pull the rope without moving my feet. A horse’s natural inclination to put pressure on the poll is to throw their head up and back. I use a heavy bungie leadline so there isn't a hard set for her to hit, just a gradual pressure that she applies herself and can release herself. I'm able to get her to apply pressure a few times, and the INSTANT she comes forward, click treat.

Andi's doing so well! I open the stall door, and we walk and stop and turn up and down the alley a few times. A few minutes later, we go down to the end to chill for a few minutes near the older mares, and I get a mind-boggling example of how smart this girl is.

She chills with me for a few minutes, but her baby attention span is short enough that she's soon mugging for treats. Mine aren't allowed to mug, so while I scratch and pet when she comes closer to nuzzle me, I gently dissuade her from sniffing around and trying to get in the treat pocket.

After thinking about this for a couple of minutes, she steps away, one step sideways and a step back, taking the slack out of the lead and raises her head, applying pressure to her poll. Her ears fly forward, and her sassy little bright eyes sparkle as she comes forward so I can treat her for the release. I'm dumbfounded, and while my brain is trying to deny or at least process her behavior, she does it again and then again! She's experimenting, trying to figure out why she didn't get the click treat. She steps right instead of left or maybe two steps back the next time.

She's figured out that her behavior (in this case, pressure on the poll and release) causes the click, and she's trying to get me to click and treat.

I shouldn't be surprised. You'd think that after all these years, I'd expect that from these horses, especially given her sire, but she hadn't shown me anything at all like this before.

Today has been a huge success, a moon-leap kind of step forward. The lines of communication are most definitely open. She's answering my simple requests with questions on top of questions, and she's expecting answers.

I've always liked this filly and thought she had huge potential, but she really blew my socks off today.

Reclaiming Andi - day four photos

2010-03-11T01:30:00.001-06:00

So, in about a week, we have gone from a filly who just about couldn't be caught to one who is begging for her halter.

This is the best photo I can get of her if I'm in the stall with her.

What a huge difference. I think the title says day four. We put her up in the stall Wednesday and started consistent work with her on Thursday. This is Sunday, so yes, four days.

EggZ!

2010-03-09T16:50:00.003-06:00

I bought a half dozen chickens last year... a total impulse buy that I was told at the time was a bad idea and I've since been unable to defend myself. We'd driven halfway across Texas to get our little spotted nubian buck and came home with the chickens too. The seller complained they laid too many eggs and were a hassle to take care of.

yep ... hook, line and sinker. We've had a grand total of one good egg, one crushed and one found too old in the intervening months.

So, I have more chickens on order that I'm picking up in a couple of weeks and in the meantime, I bought some laying crumbles for our remaining two hens. Last week, I bought the crumbles on Monday, I think. Today, I finally managed to carry the bag of laying crumbles from the barn to the chicken shed, I opened the bag, spread out some crumbles for the hens, turned around and ....

... but just try to put that in a book ?!?! LOL. It's true that truth is stranger than fiction, and I've proven it once again.

Reclaiming Andi - day three

2010-03-08T01:28:00.005-06:00

Continuing on with step one—we started clicker training.

I don't subscribe to it in a religious sense as some people seem to do to one system or another, but I have found it to be a very handy communication tool.

Remember, my main goal is to open the lines of communication so I can ask her to learn and do stuff with me, and she can let me know if she understands what I'm asking or if she's uncomfortable or ready for more.

I went into the stall with her halter, the clicker, and a pocket full of grain (Notice I don't have the bucket. I want her to come to me now, not to the bucket.) ((I'm actually combining a few steps and making a fairly complex lesson day for her.)). I want her to figure out that when she hears the click, she gets a treat, so I click the clicker and offer her half a handful of grain. I've never had a horse take more than about 28 seconds to figure this out. Usually, the light dawns with the second 'click/treat' or at most, the third.

Andi is no exception. By the time she heard the third click, her nose headed for my pocket, .but that was just an aside. Remember, she's wearing her halter to eat.

At this point, we back up a half-step and get her to 'target' the halter. I do that by touching the halter to her nose and clicking (treat). I do this twice then simply stand, holding the halter close to her . . . success! She stretches out her nose to touch the halter. (click treat).

Within minutes, she is following me around the stall asking to nose the halter.

To reach the next half step, when she noses the halter, (click) I put the halter on before I treat. This takes a few more repetitions because it's a little more involved. There is some lag time between the click and treat, and she has to figure out if I've betrayed her in some way, changed the rules, or simply added to the game. I give her time to whirl it all around in her head, and we do a few more repetitions.

Halter off.
Offer halter.
Nose halter.
Click
Halter on.
Treat.

This step takes her about five or six repetitions to get comfortable with and to totally accept what we're doing.

**this photo was taken after the fact (obviously we're in the arena, not in the stall) but I wanted to show her approaching the halter and (grrrr at my slow digital camera) touching her nose to it. oh well. But isn't she cute? The young man in the photo is living and working here and learning to work with the horses, so he's training in groundwork along with Andi.

Squeee!

2010-03-03T05:16:00.000-06:00

A very exciting day today, the delivery man drove into my yard, knocked on my door and handed me this! A print version of Leah Braemel's PERSONAL PROTECTION.

It's not just getting a new book that excites me so much, but that I take (inordinate) pride in this series and this particular book. Leah and I have been friends and writing partners for longer than either of us will admit ;)

As I'm sure I've said before, we've shared laughs and tears, and made each other stronger for having shared not just our writing, but our lives. Part of that sharing has been my small part in the bouncing of ideas and reading and commenting on various versions of this book. (please understand I'm certainly claiming more credit than I'm due!) Being a involved on the fringes of Leah's success has kept me sane through my own writing frustrations as I can enjoy basking in the (unduly) rewarding glimmer of her limelight without having had to suffer a fraction of the work she's put into her career.

Leah has special talent to combine smart, sexy characters with complex plotting that keeps the reader panting for more as the tension rises (and releases!) between the characters. Personal Protection is the second in her Hauberk Protection series. You don't have to have read the first, the novella PRIVATE PROPERTY, in order to enjoy Personal Protection, but I promise once you've read one, you'll want the other.

Reclaiming Andi - day two

2010-03-01T01:26:00.005-06:00

Next, we have her looking for the bucket and standing comfortably and eating. I move a few steps left or right or away every few bites, and within minutes, she's following me (the bucket) around.

The next step is the halter. She's already worn the halter and decided she didn't like it, so the goal we need to keep in mind with this is not only to get her to wear the halter but also to get her to want to wear the halter and to like wearing the halter.

Starting today, she has to wear the halter to get her grain. This is initially somewhat of a drawn-out process. I go in the stall with a bucket of grain and the halter and just hang out. She sees the bucket and wants to approach, but she doesn't want to approach the halter. I give her a few chances to go ahead and approach me, but she decides she'd rather not eat than wear the halter.

My next step is to go ahead and put it on her anyway. I don't want to traumatize or upset her in any way, but I'm going to firmly insist she needs to do this. I manage this by just walking her in the stall. (Remember this is a largish stall) I approach, and she walks off, but I continue to approach, slowly and quietly and easily. I don’t sneak up on her, which would increase her tension, but just approach her slowly, steadily and consistently. Eventually, she stops in a corner and lets me slip her halter on. At that point, I stand with her and let her eat the entire bucket of grain. Once she's done, I remove the halter.

This step is a little harder for her because she has to unlearn her dislike of the halter before she can learn to like it and want to wear it. This part of the routine takes about three days before she can be haltered easily. She will approach a person easily enough now but still doesn't want to be approached. I'm dealing with this by walking in with the bucket and halter, letting her approach me, slipping the halter on, and letting her eat.

ASF VANIAH

2010-02-25T16:38:00.001-06:00

I found this lovely photo of Andi's great-granddam while I was looking for something else, and wanted to share. This is a recent photo so she's 20yo in this shot.

As a young mare, VANIAH was one of the herd caught up in the 'Sheets' debacle in Ohio way back when. She was well fostered and adopted and cared for, but never part of a family until she came here a few years ago. She was included as the bargain part of a deal with her sister, WITNESS, because she only has half a hoof on the right hind, having apparently hooked it in something as a young horse and ripping most of it off. She was sound as far as I could tell so we started her under saddle and used her as our extra horse when we had guests. She has a wonderfully gentle and maternal nature and as we found ourselves riding her more, we spent about a year of corrective shoeing to get her damaged hoof to grow the support it needed. She did her first LD Endurance ride at 17yo, and later did 25 miles of a 30. Her rider moved away and she's since been retired from the longer distances.

Unfortunately, she's only had three foals, the stallion ALI ZEUS who has since passed away, a filly that's still in Florida and the cute bay gelding,, LANDROVAL, in a few posts back. Andi's dam, Marah, is a Zeus daughter and in spite of, or maybe especially because of, the small numbers in this group, it's exciting to see all that works so well through the generations.

Reclaiming Andi

2010-02-22T10:15:00.004-06:00

Normally, when a foal is born here, it receives attention multiple times a day for a week or more then daily (at least) attention for the months until weaning. By that time, they're already trained and performing tasks that many grown horses don't even do, such as being halter-broke, leading, having their hoofs picked and trimmed, and loading in the trailer.

Marah's baby, Andi, is my 'divorce baby,' and her training has fallen through the cracks of my life. She got all the usual new-baby snuggles, but at a week old, she was turned out to pasture and not handled much at all. Much to my shame, she's seven months old this month and just now being halter broke.

Usually with the little ones, it's a case of showing them the halter, letting them sniff it, rubbing them down with it and slipping it on and off a few times until it's a non-issue. Andi wore the halter a few times; she would sorta leap alongside when you tried to lead her, but I was never consistent enough for her to learn to give in to pressure and be happy and comfortable about it so she developed an aversion rather than a liking to being handled.

In addition to all the toil and turmoil of divorce and trying to finish the new house, I've been working a lot of overtime - up until about two weeks ago.

Now, Andi's not at all feral, and she's not panicky and wild-eyed. She’s perfectly comfortable with being around people in her Andi-defined comfort zone of about three feet out—arm’s length. She simply doesn't want to be touched.

My solution to that has been to bring her up out of the pasture and put her in my large stall and start over from day one --handling her multiple times a day.

If you ask 20 horseman their opinion on this matter, you'll get 47 answers on how to handle a young horse like this: anything from rope, throw, and tarp them; withhold feed and water; bury them up to their heads in sand; round penning; to trying to give them away; or simply turn them back out and let them be wild.

I have what I consider an advantage in that I have all the time in the world and, IMO, a good focus on what I want. My main goal, aside from halter training or anything else, is to open lines of communication with her, gain her trust and get her to come around and want to work with me. I have obvious ulterior motives for all this. Her sire is a proven performance horse (and his sire and uncles and so on), as is her maternal grandsire and his dam. I have big plans for this filly, and I know through long experience that I want her working with me from the start, or we'll end up nowhere.

Since she's used to being grained, I provide (in her stall) full buckets of clean fresh water and free-choice hay, but she only gets grain out of a bucket I'm holding. She's not being starved or tormented -- I'm out there at least twice a day and she's getting her usual amounts -- but she has to make a choice to come close enough to me to eat out of the bucket.

This is a no-brainer and takes her about 30 seconds to figure out. She doesn't stand and eat at first. She’ll come in, grab a couple of big mouthfuls and pace around behind me while she chews, but by the second day, she's standing quietly and eating out of the bucket as long as I don't reach out to touch her.

So the first part of step one - to get her to come to me - has been accomplished. She's approaching the bucket while I hold it, and we'll use that baby step over the next week to work in a simple transition to get her wanting to wear the halter and follow us around.

In the Midst of the Bustle...

2009-12-25T11:22:00.003-06:00

With all the hustle of the last few days, including a failed water pump on the truck to go along with the holiday joy, somehow/someway we still managed to take time to enjoy ourselves for the holidays.

The water pump went out as I pulled in the driveway of my very last Christmas stop and I was able to coast into a parking spot. The wonderful guys at Gamestop assured me it would be fine for me to leave the truck a day or so. I, luckily, was able to walk across the street to where my son was at work and drive his car home. I called a home mechanic that has helped me before and US Rider who called the tow truck. I can't say enough good about them!! If drive a big truck or haul a trailer, you should definitely consider using them. They are extremely customer service oriented.

So, with all my gifts under the tree and the truck tucked in and getting it's water pump replaced, the boys were pounding on my door demanding that it was indeed Christmas at 3am -- and so we were up and opening gifts ;) and back to bed by the time the paper was flying in most other living rooms. By the time we were up and breakfasting, and starting to get ready for our big family dinner at noon -- the sun was out and shining, giving up a beautiful (rare) Texas White Christmas. (After 75 degrees on Wednesday and our ice storm and snow on Thursday).

And then this evening after a full day of eating, napping and playing xbox - we found one more wonderful Christmas present ... this one tucked in the hay under a cedar tree in the pasture.

Our very first goat baby for our new herd of dairy goats. (the doe in the photo isn't her mom, btw, just one of our very friendly, bossy, nosey herd.) This little girl is a keeper and increases our herd by one, so we now have ten goats and a sheep.

Merry Merry

2009-12-24T17:08:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas from Texas

Remember all those Christmas cards that show the cowboy in a driving snow? We're living that today. Thank goodness for a full fridge! We're settled in for a cozy two days. All the prezzies are wrapped and under the tree and the boys are playing x-box. ... Except for as long as it took to run feed and water to the goats, horses, chickens, cat and dog!!

Step 4,029

2009-12-16T16:42:00.003-06:00

A/C unit is 'roughed in' in the new house. Writing that check hurt, but I know all-n-all, I'm getting what I need and I'm very happy with the installing company both professionally and with the owners and workers personally.

The framers have some finishing up to do. ...should be done tomorrow.

...the plumber is on his way to go over what still needs to be done with both the plumbing and electric and give me a quote on that.

It's both exciting and scary - each single step seems so major, but it sure is nice to be getting closer to done and to be thinking we'll actually be moved in before too long.

Holiday Bustle

2009-12-04T15:32:00.006-06:00

Life, it seems, has me by the short hairs and is making me dance.

At least ... it's playing a tune. I'm dancing as well as I can.

There have been so many changes in my life recently, good, very good, for the most part, and some hard, but it's the juggling and trying to fit everything into it's new place keeps me worn out.

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a good Christmas as well. I've been excited to have lots of prezzies under the tree this year and have been buying like mad, but after chasing from store to store, I still ended up buying the majority of what I wanted online and am now tapping my toe madly waiting for the UPS truck.

I long ago gave up many of the special Christmas traditions of my childhood and through the years of marriage and kids have worked out new schedules and expectations. This year, we're playing fast and loose with tradition and planning simply to celebrate.

What are your special holiday traditions that are generational, or what have you changed and made your own with your families over the years?

argh

2009-12-02T11:33:00.004-06:00

maintenance & apologies:

photobucket has apparently changed some of their account rules, guidelines and restrictions. I apparently was stupid enough not to keep up with them. The linked photos that are giving the errors are in an old account and I'm working on getting access back to that account to get it all fixed.

In the meantime - apologies for the mess.

*update: I think I've at least managed to get rid of the errors. I have to admit that I'm unlikely to continue using photobucket after this.

** final update: Photobuckets customer service responded promptly and restored my service with no fuss no muss. But I'd already deleted the custom background and borders I had here. I guess I should be forgiving, they've been a good service for years and did respond promptly --- but I still wonder why they felt the need to screw with me in the first place. ...jury is still out.

"Well, I'm back."

2009-11-25T15:16:00.004-06:00

I'm back -- echoing Samwise Gamgee's famous final words -- and as for him, things are forever changed here. Loss of things and people, but gains of freedom and opportunity and looking forward to a better future in spite of the struggles.

Of course, a divorce is nothing compared to saving the world so perhaps (most certainly) I'm being overly dramatic. But in many ways, I feel that I've saved my little corner of the world, this new world I'm trying to face bravely.

Yesterday was the perfect time reflect: I have my home and land, my horses, and my kids and life goes on. My decisions are my own now. I live with my own mistakes now. And that's all good.

I have a lot in my life to be thankful for, since this is the season to be listing such things; I have my health and a lot of love and true friendship in my life. I have my sons, and my son's friends (my friends as well) that live with us, and their friends (my friends as well) who are often here. They offer not just friendship, but a lot of support in helping around the place, and there is a lot that needs do'n even on as small a farm as we have here. I have family, parents, brother and sister, and I have close friends both locally and over the distance of phone and internet.

We had waaaaay too much to eat yesterday and today are stuffing ourselves with all that's left. The sun is shining, the mares are munching hay and the goats are napping in the sun.

Life is good.

Good reports keep rolling in...

2009-08-03T22:04:00.012-06:00

Yes, yes, I know. In order to continually breed horses, I have to sell the babies.

Honestly, it's not that hard for me to let them go, not as hard as it is for some people, I know, because I see it in two ways. One) that they're growing up and taking their place in the world and two) that they're spreading the good word and promoting their lines. and three) that for each one that sells, I have budget and space for another little replacement. The numbers in this group are low enough that every single one is important.

Certainly the more horses under more riders doing more stuff is going to do more good in the long run than a bunch of rare-blooded horses standing in my pasture eating. I remind myself of that every time one drives out the gate. But it's never easy.

It's still hard to let them go, no matter what. You worry about them. If they're going to be good, or if they'll show their 'ass' one time too many and be a "bad advertisement" rather than a good one. (If they're going to embarrass you rather than make you proud). If you judged the individual well enough that you've managed to get them in a good home. But still knowing that even the best of circumstances can change.

So you do all that you can do to get them out in the world - and then you hold your breath. You hold your breath until you pass out, hit your head on the floor, finally wake up and stumble to the kitchen for a bag of ice. And then you wait some more.

Finally the reports start coming in, and eventually the photos.

From the young gelding a few posts ago, to GLAMDRING (top photo) who has a good start in his endurance career, LANDROVAL who is just getting started, to Eowyn, who finished Tevis in fine form this year -- the reports are looking pretty good.

(so you see my little ANDE has a lot to live up to!!)

One step forward....

2009-07-29T10:27:00.003-06:00

Step #hundred-n-something out of how many thousand...?

The electric guys came out yesterday and put up the pole for service to the new house. Does this mean I'll have two electric bills for the duration? .. um. yeah. *head desk*. But, hopefully (am I being overly optimistic?) the bill on the new house will be minimal until we get moved it. The wires and plugs are run on the inside, for the most part, but a few loose ends need to be tied up. At any rate, we've been running extension cords to get the work done and now we'll be able just to plug in, so it should all be just as well.

The Chiva

2009-07-23T17:51:00.004-06:00

I tried to think of something witty to say, but frankly, I'm at a loss. I don't have any idea what she though she was doing and I'm having trouble even making something up. ... anyone else have any ideas?

First Week

2009-07-15T21:41:00.007-06:00

Little ANDRETH is a week old today.

Here is she with my mom who's President of my Fillies Fan Club. Thank goodness for moms who will come out and gush over each new colt and filly, no matter how many we've had over the years.

Andreth has proven herself to be sweet, sane and sassy, all in the same package and we're delighted with her. She's friendly and curious and loves being scratched.

I like to get the babies turned out on pasture as soon as I can, but even with a good sensible filly like Andreth, it's always a little scary to let them out into the big, wide world.

Of course, she did fine with it.

I turned them into the small pasture and they snorted and bucked around before taking off to the Wild Blue.

They had a nice run-around and tucked back into the comfort zone in their pen, took a longish nappy, and went exploring again.

Andreth will likely be my 'next' endurance horse, her dad and Beri may be ready to slow down by the time she's ready to go, so this is an excellent start for her.

Hello World

2009-07-08T16:26:00.002-06:00

- as yet un-named (probably grey) filly by GWAIHIR TOS out of BINT BINT AMAIRAA was born last night about 10:30, so she's only about 16hrs old in this photo. The oddest thing of all is that she was born on her due date, which virtually never happens with horses. *Average* gestation is about 11 months, *normal* is anywhere from 10-13 months. So you can see that picking any particular day is going to be problematic.

With her last foal, Marah started showing signs of labor in October and didn't deliver until January, so I was watching the impending signs of this one with some trepidation.

Thankfully, all went well, mostly well. The filly was born easily and was very strong and eager to get up and get around. Marah had a little more pain than I like to see passing the placenta, she kept laying down again instead of letting the filly try to learn to nurse. It was a little more difficult than usual because the filly is tall enough and Marah short enough that it makes finding the teat the first couple of times a little more awkward.

But they managed and so now you have new filly stories to look forward to over the next few years.

Another one

2009-07-01T07:54:00.001-06:00

We had a fantastic double weekend a couple of weeks ago. More shooting!

We rode to a 2nd place in our division two weeks prior, and again at the last shoot, this time we were only down by 3/10's of a second. Close enough to both laugh and cry. But it was a good day getting better -- no question about that.

After the shoot, I went on out to camp on some private property adjoining the local national grasslands. The property owners are horsemen and long time friends of mine. They purchased this little guy as a coming 2yo, just about three years ago. I've seen him a couple of times, some photos and regular updates as he has been started under saddle, but I hadn't been able to spend any real time with him until recently -- and what a wonderful treat to see him all grown up and going down the trail. We did a short (6 miles) trail ride since we were all on young horses and I had the pleasure to ride him around camp when we got back.

This is the most rewarding thing in the world, to see grown up babies out in the world and doing good. And especially once I got on him. He's the perfect blend of his sire and dam, with his sire's lightness and length of stride and his dam's strength.

He's well loved and well cared-for, he's happy, healthy and well-adjusted. He's willing and his training is just were it should be given his age.

And so, at least in this part, all is right with my world.

The Good 'Ol Days

2009-06-19T01:43:00.001-06:00

I got this lovely surprise in my inbox about a month ago. It's one of those $5 photos some enterprising individual was walking around selling. The photo itself must be 20 or more years old.

That's me getting beer poured on my head and -- dare I say it -- my current boss doing the pouring. That cute thing standing in front of me is my sister and the hero in the white hat, coincidentally, lives fairly local to me, about 70 miles south of our old stomp'n grounds. We stay in sporadic contact, but isn't that how life takes you way onto way.

Boy did we have some good times. Some crazy times. Looking back, I see a lot of it makes its way into my writing. Some 'incidents', but more than that I use the attitudes and situations. Good friends and Good Times -- friends good enough to stick with you through the tough times. Loves lost, marriage (divorce) kids and the roller coaster economy... amazing that we're still together and amazing how much that silly picture means to me after all these years.

Localisms

2009-06-14T06:08:00.000-06:00

I saw some Texas Starfish in the road and wondered if they're indigenous and local or how widespread the species might be. Are these critters you find alongside your roads? What kind of odd things do you find 'out back' when you go walking?

Chop-chop

2009-05-29T05:45:00.001-06:00

My sister showed up yesterday with her bag full of throwing knives, including a small axe - and we went a little nuts with it.

I've done this once before. A couple of years ago, we hosted the DFWWW Fantasy Day at our place and I got to play with throwing a tomahawk. (complements of Don Watson) BOY! It's hard -- but far from impossible, there is a weight and rhythm to it that I find both intriguing and appealing. It's the kind of thing that you're not going to be able to nail without thousands of reps to make the throw and the aim instinctual. But it's FUN!

And I found myself feeling like a toddler ("mine!") not wanting to give up the weapon. Every thud and flop miss makes me want to go again and again. (and again)

Just one more time, one more time, just once more.....

I know, I know. It's bad policy to throw away your weapon, in spite of how cool it looks in the movies. Especially given how hard it is to perfectly time the throw with the distance, balance and force. I can't bring myself to actually use a throw in one of my stories ... I haven't yet, but that hasn't yet stopped me from butchering the nearest hay bale with everlasting attempts and the oh-so-exciting occasional success.

Marah's Belly - Six Weeks Due

2009-05-24T05:36:00.001-06:00

We didn't have any foals born here last year and only have one due for '09, so we're waiting anxiously. Marah is (officially) due on July 7th, about six weeks from today.

I just love watching their sweet round bellies fill out and imagining the foal.

Colt or filly?

It could be grey or chestnut .... maybe black, but probably not bay.

The sire is my endurance horse, GWAIHIR TOS.

Interestingly enough, we didn't have breeding dates on Marah's previous foal. She went into labor in October and didn't deliver until January. We don't know if she was having early labor or if she carried a long time, but we'll be keeping a close eye on her over the next few months.

Spring time in Texas

2009-05-20T07:53:00.005-06:00

... didn't I already do a 'Springtime' Post?

well. I'm going to do another one, and probably at least one more before I'm done. We don't usually have much spring, but this year has been a good one.

We have yellow and bright pink cactus roses, I can never decide which I like best.

The wildflowers are rioting this year, with all the rain we've had. The pastures looks like a busload of kindergartens finger-painted all over them, but the photos just don't do them justice ... I'll have to keep trying, but I do love the cactus flowers.

And, of course, our other most notable springtime herald, the infamous 'rattlebugs'. Ug. This was just a baby, only about 2 1/2 ft long.

For the most part, we live in peace, but these guys are much too common and dangerous in our area to let them be. We've had dogs and horses bitten, lost one dog, and they've come much MUCH too snapping on one of us. They tend to be sluggish early in the spring -- slow to move out of your way -- as well as being foul tempered (more than usual) and aggressive. They're more awake now, but that doesn't mean they'll really get out of your way if they hear you coming. It's funny I've always been told that, but it's not been my experience. The last one I got close to, walking, coiled and prepared to fight until I backed off. So it doesn't hurt my feelings too much to see them on the road like this.

edited to add another flower pic: I'm not really a warm fuzzy about flowers and such, but I love to contrast of the delicate beauty of our wildflowers in their rugged rocky beds and the cactus.

WHAaaat!?!

2009-05-13T20:41:00.002-06:00

... I .. um..... ...never mind.

It's All about Telpe

2009-05-10T01:12:00.001-06:00

~
Telpe.... yes, regular readers will remember Telpe.

So I captured a couple of shots of her nose a couple of weeks ago ... and have been debating as to what kind of jaws she had poked her nostril into.

The top ones did look like punctures to start with, so at first I guessed that she had battled a fanged snapping turtle of enormous proportion. (you can't tell as well in these photos, but the bottom wound was "V" shaped.)

I've revised this theory several times as it heals, because it really looks like -- of all things -- a human bite, on the top. I say that because it looks like it was made by blunt teeth in a half-round pattern. Of course -- I can't imagine any human being able to open their jaws wide enough to get the whole horse in their mouth like that. ...

The obvious answer would be a horse bite - but isn't that much too simple? (and of course, the pattern seems to narrow)

... and so while I've been pondering this mystery - the kids

run in last night to inform me that the grey filly had ripped her leg and a bone was sticking out.

- yes. Could there be any doubt that it was Telpe.

Thankfully, they were wrong about the bone, but she did skin her left gaskin.

This snap was taken the second day. Since it was sliced and torn down from the top, it couldn't be stitched because with the skin tag attached at the bottom there isn't any blood flow to the flap. So the vet simply snipped it off, gave her a couple of shots and we're starting with a simple spray on bandange. You can easly see the thickened edges of the skin. The bare muscle is an area larger than my hand and yes, the blood (and stuff) is seeping through. It's quite sore and swollen, but Telpe is happy as the proverbiable clam since she's tucked back into the indoor stall and is getting lots of extra special attention each day.

From Where ...?

2009-05-07T01:37:00.009-06:00

In our area we have a lot of natural cedar and an equally overwhelming amount of invasive juniper.

The so-called trees in our pasture look mostly like this:

or even, the few that we've trimmed to look like a more normal kind of tree look like this:

But, after nearly 15 years in this area, this year I noticed something a little different. I noticed this tree.

and not just one, but I could see two others who'd had similar treatment from where I was standing.

Closer examination revealed a tortured and destroyed inner circle.

My mind being the overly complex and complicated kind, didn't consider anything like a wet spring and unusually heavy growth following a couple of years of dry or take into consideration the high winds we've had -- it immediately leaped to thinking how I could use such a thing in the world building or conflicts of my next novel. What could be the meaning of so many random trees being flattened from above? Spacemen? The Hand of God? Monsters or Monstrous Beasts?

What wonderful ambiguity, misunderstandings and conflicts these 'topped' and flattened trees could cause naive or superstitious characters. ...!

More on Writing ~

2009-04-29T17:15:00.004-06:00

I've been riding more than writing lately -- which is both good and bad.

We've been to a couple of events which I haven't posted about yet, so here it is. A miserable endurance ride over Easter weekend ~ my fault mostly for being over-confident and under-prepared ~ but we were out riding in the worst of the spring storms and simply decided enough was enough. I hate that we had to pull, but we'll ride another day. A couple of weeks later, Miree and I went to another CMSA Shoot and again, she did her typical good-hearted baby-best. Our times are slow, but that's still ok at this point. We placed 2nd(tied), 4th, 4th, and 3rd out of four for an overall dead-last. Not where I'd prefer to place, but I know she's doing a great job for her age and level of training and I know that by bringing her along slowly I'll have a better horse over the long term.

Otherwise, ...*looks at date of last post* *blush* It's not that I've had nothing to write about, but that my mind has been going in so many directions it's been a little hard for me to focus. The weather here has been awful and raining -- so I should have plenty of time to write -- but I've been worrying over several different projects rather then moving forward on any particular one and while that is progress, it's not as noticable on the 'outside'.

We're working on (re-) fencing our south pasture when is a pretty major project and coming along slowly. And we're still riding, although the endurance schedule slows down in this part of the world for the summer, we'll shoot at least once a month all summer. Beri is coming back well from her tie-up and will be back on the shooting circuit so I'll alternate her with Miree.

The Reason Why

2009-04-01T20:55:00.024-06:00

... I'm reminded time and again that it's all worth it.

... the waiting and watching and the worry. ... the feed bills and the vet and the worry. ... and the dreaming and the worry ...

- but when one is born, you remember there's nothing softer than the feel of brand new fur and nothing sweeter than the smell of their warm milk-breath.

- you have the years of just being together and learning to be friends while learning to halter and lead and get hoof-trimmed and get in the trailer.

- then you have those first short, easy rides. Miree's driving as well, so we've been doing a little of that.

- and then you have the big day when you take them in public for the first time and put a little pressure on, always of course, in front of a crowd.

When one comes through as well as Miree did last weekend, there is no feeling in the world that can compare.

We had a great day her first day shooting. She showed herself to be settled and sane and willing -- and gave a little more with each stage, showing improvement throughout the day -- but more than just a good day, Saturday was both a culmination and a starting point of what I dreamed of when I put her sire and dam together almost five years ago.

Good Morning - or not...

2009-03-16T21:44:00.005-06:00

It's unfortunately common to stroll out to the barn for whatever reason and be surprised by some situation.

<= like this one.

We've had obscene amounts of rain in the last week and today, well... yesterday, was the first day we saw any sun in awhile. The horses are shedding and itchy, and so the pony came up out of her pen into the stall to have a good dry spot to roll and scratch in.

Since I have panels instead of solid stall walls (remember, in Texas we have more days each year over 110 than we do below freezing), the pony found herself in a little bit of a silly situation.

In this case I had to manage to get a long soft rope double-wrapped around the pony's pastern (between the fetlock and hoof) - which is how you turn a horse over by yourself - although getting down and between a horse's back legs when it's trapped and potentially likely to panic is very VERY far down my list of intelligent things to do ... and in this case was complicated by having to engineer the pony's leg so the bend in the hock would come back through the bend in the pipe fence panel. It was a little more excitement than I enjoy these days, but we got it done and no one any worse for the wear.

So what is it you do routinely?

I mean the kind of thing that if you stopped and thought about the process you'd refuse to follow through ... these are things that need to be done *now* ... that you can't call a professional to come take care of it for you. ...

Best laid plans...

2009-03-10T17:33:00.029-06:00

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, we had high expectations for our two days of riding in the Hill Country State Natural Area outside of Bandera, Texas.

It was not to be.

We got out of town right on time early Friday morning and had an uneventful drive. Set up camp, exercised the horses a little and just generally got ready for Saturday's ride... braiding manes, packing fanny packs, making final adjustments on the tack and such.

Saturday started great. We trotted out at a moderate pace in the middle of the pack, down a park service road and then up into the beautiful rugged hills.

But very shortly my little star mare, Beri started slowing down. Her rider thought there was 'something wrong', but I couldn't see it. She had a bright expression and was walking freely, just didn't want to trot. She's a fairly well seasoned endurance horse and so I thought she was just being smart and conservative on the hills. We slowed down for her, then slowed down again and finally stopped for a real exam -- as good a one as I could do on the trail. I was looking for signs of colic or tying up (Equine Exertional Rhabdomyolysis). Her heart and respiration were normal, she was hydrated, had gut sounds and her butt was jiggly. But when I went to check her capillary refill, I knew we had trouble. Her gums were darkening and that's a sign of toxicity. I didn't know WHAT was wrong, but I did know we were definitely in trouble.

I sent Courtney on ahead on GLAMDRING to ride the best ride she could and I stayed with Abelino while he walked Beri down out of the hills and to a spot in the trail were we could cut through to a road. I flagged down a park ranger who drove to the base camp and let them know we were walking in with a sick horse. Beri's gums seemed to lighten a bit with the walking and her attitude perked up enough that I even wondered if it had been some minor upset tummy or thing that she had worked through. But we weren't taking any chances and so when ride management arrived with the trailer, we loaded her up and hauled back to the vet.

Her gums had darkened again by the time the vet examined her, but her other signs were not too bad so he recommended trailer rest and a close watch. But by the time we got her to the trailer, untacked and filled her hay bag, she'd started to tighten up and show all the classic signs (hard butt muscles) of tying up. We got her back to the vet and started on treatment.

It was a long day, and we have a long recovery and a slow rehab in front of us, but she's going to be fine -- which is the best possible news.

Courtney and GLAMDRING had a good ride on the 50 that day. He was tired at the finish, it's a tougher trail than he's been on before, but he still had some horse left and so we cleaned him up with the expectation of another 50 on Sunday.

Since Abelino didn't have a horse for Sunday and Beri was napping comfortably, he partnered with Ross Carrie to take a first place in the 12.5 mile RaT! They had a great time and I think he's definitely hooked on the sport.

GLAMDRING made it 25 miles on what was day 2 for him, before he started showing some strain (for a total of 75 for the weekend) and so it was up to me and GWAIHIR to bring it home.

It's not the kind of trail you can make a lot of time on, but I let GWAIHIR pick his pace and he likes to canter, even barefoot on this tough, rocky trail. I love this horse, he just keeps getting stronger and we so gained time over the last 25 miles to come in 3rd overall and take a 1st in our division.

So what else to say? We had some good rides in spite of the trouble and it's always a good day -- keeping in mind how fast things can go very wrong -- it's always a good day when you bring home a horse that pulled through some trouble.

It Needed Killin'

2009-02-28T03:48:00.000-06:00

Gwaihir the Valiant has been enthusiastically and diligently rehearsing for the upcoming sequel to his hit video short on youtube.

As you can see, he has perfected the killing of the medium-sized orc.

First we have the kill -- the stomp and bite.

The follow-up bite and the toss away. (A gentleman always cleans up his messes so the ladies aren't subjected to the trauma of faux orc bodies.)

The 3/4 point

2009-02-21T05:43:00.000-06:00

Courtney is in her second year of endurance and her second year of competing my horses, but this is the first time that we've managed to camp and ride together; and it was Abelino's first time at an endurance competition -- so we had a lot of time together both in camp and on the trail. It was good quality time of the kind where you've been together for a couple of days and worked and sweated and had fun together and the talk kind of dies down and that's ok because you're all comfortable enough together that the silence isn't awkward, like it can be in some social situations.

But one thing we talked about is that we have ambitious plans for this year. Our first short term goal is to do the 2-day 50/50s that are coming up and then the 100 mile ride at the Bluebonnet in April.

And so over the course of the weekend, I spent some memory on my first 100 mile ride. It was at the Armadillo in '93 and aside from bright-eyed enthusiasm and ambition, I didn't really have all I needed, going into it, to finish. You can talk all day about grit and heart and sheer strength of will, but I finished that night (morning) only because I had a good horse and better friends than I deserved.

I could write thousands of words on the experience of doing your first 100 deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas, but the thing that comes forefront to my mind now, as a writer, is the element of human nature. What I'm musing on is, I think, a kind of survival instinct in our heads that we have to, quite literally, turn off in order to succeed in the Worst of Times.

It's a battle of heart and mind, of logic and emotion.

One of the only clear memories I have of that night is sitting in the dirt in the middle of a forest service road at some hour wee early in the morning, with said undeserved friends, crying that I was certainly killing my horse to continue (I had the delusion that he was foundered) and throwing up because I had begged and smoked an unfiltered camel (I don't smoke).

I had hit 'the wall', mentally, emotionally and physically and I really had nothing left. But there was something in me that wouldn't let me quit. I didn't have it in me to go on, but I didn't have it in me to quit either and so I was at an impasse.

On a subconscious level, I was reaching (fighting, clawing, scrambling) for a reason to quit that had nothing do to with me being a quitter and had nothing to do with me giving up. So you see, with everything else gone, I still had a stiff neck and a tattered remnant of pride. I needed something, anything, to be wrong with the horse so I could be (figuratively) carried off the field and put to bed with the secure pretense that I'd made the right choice.

But it wasn't the right choice. My friends knew that and stood by me. They carefully examined the horse. He was fine. They took the cigarette away and gave me some water and washed my face. I'd ridden nearly 90 miles in about 18 hours and I was that close to being done. Ten miles is short enough to spit when you've already been that far -- and that was the encouragement I needed. A leg up on the horse and a slap on his hairy butt and we were back out into the woods.

We made it that night and did another 100 the next year.

But there came a time in my life when it wasn't the right choice. I pushed too hard when I should have pulled back and I suffered greatly for it. I learned what real pain was and I learned fear of pain that was truly debilitating.

And that fear kept me from finishing three more 100s and with that sad record, it's been ten years since I started a 100. Is it fear or realism?

* I'm older now, obviously, heavier and less fit.
* But I'm also smarter.
**I think, smart enough to make the difference.
* The memory of the pain and the failures has faded.

I have three horses that show every sign of being good 100 mile horses and I have friends that are at least as determined as me to make it through.

And so, I think I'm prepared for that late ride exhaustion. Not to suffer it, but to head it off before it takes hold. We'll go into the ride with a good nights sleep. We'll eat and drink like we should and we'll support each other throughout.

... so why am I going on about it here? Because, as a writer, I'm looking at my characters. I'm rubbing my hands together and cackling and thinking how I can use these memories to deepen the trauma and conflict in my stories. I can use them to make my characters more human and more real.

I can give them that dark fear that quivers deep inside and whispers "Don't be foolish. It's better this way..." I can shake their confidence and give them that doubt, and I can even see them fail. Because I know they'll come back smarter and stronger and more determined for it.

Freezing N' Burning

2009-02-15T15:56:00.017-06:00

Well. I'm back. I woke up this morning with so many ideas, I couldn't handle them all. But first, I have to talk about our fantastic weekend.

We started three horses and finished two.

The weekend turned colder than we had expected and so we were only marginally prepared. We should have known better and it was a lesson that wasn't as hard as it could have been, knowing Texas in February. This ride has, in the past, seen ice storms on Friday with beautiful warm sunshine on Saturday. So we shouldn't have been surprised, this year, when we got cold, windy and cloudy instead of sunshine.

Abelino jumped into endurance with both feet and started a 50 his first time out -- and did great. Beri (ELBERETH TOS) is a well-seasoned endurance horse, but she still gets a little race-brain. He handled all her early morning antics and her late-ride doldrums and finished in fine form.

Beri has enough miles now that she really settles into the work and the miles and when you're doing a moderate pace, she can seem a little sleepy or tired. When that started happening, we kicked them into a high gallop and 'played hard' for ten or so miles.

To me, it's the height of the sport when you have enough horse to play and really enjoy the day.

I'm glad to be back on GWAIHIR. He's a handful of horse, but it's a joy to ride one who is still fresh at the end of the day. He has amazing gaits, especially his canter. He has a little rocking lope that's so easy to sit he spoils me for riding anyone else. He's done a handful of Limited Distance rides over the last few years while I was riding with my younger son, but those days are behind us and he's ready for a lot more miles. I'm dangerously enthusiastic about getting him to a lot of rides this year.

Courtney and GLAMDRING had an unfortunate pull between 55-60 miles. She had a ton of horse left, he has the fitness level, but not (YET!) the emotional maturity to be on the trail alone in the dark in spitting rain and pending storms. Courtney made the tough (smart) decision to bring him (and herself) safely back to camp rather than ask him to do something he isn't ready for. It was a tough lesson for all of us -- but we know where his 'holes' are and what he needs to be working on ... and it's all do-able. It just needs to be done. And it will be, hopefully in time for the 100 in April.

~

2009-02-10T22:17:00.002-06:00

That resounding silence you're hearing is the sound of me clawing my way back up to collapse, gasping, at the edge of the world after having galloped off into the starry outer regions.

We've been riding a lot -- the weather here has been fantastic -- and we have a full schedule in the coming months, so don't give up on me. And writing with Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways Graduate Class. I'll hopefully have lots of photos and stories, both riding and writing, and will soon be back on track with posting on a more regular basis.

Private Property

2009-01-29T07:00:00.005-06:00

Leah and I have been friends and crit partners for a long time. We've laughed and screamed and cried together, and the more interesting of those stories may yet come out at some later date. ;)

But for today, I could not be more pleased to introduce her and her first release. It's been exciting for me because I've been alongside her so much of the way. I've known she was a talented writer from the beginning and I'm proud (very proud) to have helped her along with what support and emotional encouragement I could give.

*Raises frosted mug* So here's to Leah, her first sale and to many more.

When Sue asked me to write something up for her blog, I said, “Sure, I can whip something up for you.” Then I sat and stared at a blank page for a while. You see, Sue has been a huge influence on me. She’s the one who pushed and shoved me toward where I am today, not listening to me whinge and rant the way I’m prone.

Sue and I started off writing a round-robin story with several other aspiring writers. That was the first time I’d ever written from a male point of view and it was quite eye-opening. And surprising, especially the time when I posted my character (a warrior) talking to Sue’s character (a barmaid) saying that he wanted an ale but perhaps he needed shave, or perhaps he needed both. Sue misread my post and had her character thinking he’d asked her for a BATH. Okay, you had to be there to understand how hilarious that was. But you see, that was the beginning of our partnership. I went on to write quite a few more stories involving that character, and Sue very generously allowed me to use her character in some of those stories.

For the next year I concentrated on writing fantasies, where before I’d usually written science fiction or suspense. When not writing my next chapter, Sue would challenge me to write drabbles to make me write tighter. She’d push me to write outside of my comfort level. We’d exchange numerous emails about writing techniques and ‘the rules’ and when you could break them, or if you should. And with each critique, with each email, I learned more and more from her.

So when Sue challenged me to write an erotica back in the spring of 2007, I looked at it as another exercise. The first one I wrote was a sci-fi involving dragons and shapeshifters on an earth in the future, the next was a contemporary paranormal, again involving shapeshifters. But then for some reason I can’t explain, when I created the world around Private Property, there wasn’t a shapeshifter in sight. Set in contemporary Dallas, there was no fancy hardware involved (unless you count the BDSM equipment lining the shelves in Sam’s private bedroom.) No swords and chainmail, no elves, no evil wizard in sight. Yet these characters, Mark Rodriguez and Jodi Tyler, and especially Sam Watson, just leapt off the page in a way none had since I wrote that very first round-robin story. It’s about jealousy and betrayal, and the search for trust and boundaries and respect for both your friends and your lovers. All universal themes, no matter what the genre. Oh, and I mustn’t forget, there’s some really hot, wicked sex in it too.

If you want to read an excerpt you can go here, or here. (I will warn you, the first one is for those 18 years of age or over.) And you can buy Private Property here. But whether you buy it or not, I still owe Sue a huge “Thank You.” Because I really wouldn’t have gotten where I have without her guidance.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T17:41:00.008-06:00

~
"HAa-ppy New Year" ~ I can never say that without thinking of the stop motion "Frosty the Snowman" saying that when he wakes up with the top hat on. But it's a happy memory and so I guess that's all good.

And we have had a good start to 2009.

The holidays were good here, if busy. But I think that's the nature of the holidays and it was especially welcome since we had a rough year with some of the family stuff.

But while so much of the US is iced in, in Texas this time of year can be the time to be out and doing.

Beri and I went to our first Brass Tacks match yesterday, hosted by our local CMSA Club, Texas Smokin Guns. It was a beautiful 84 degrees with a perfect light breeze for most of the day. The wind picked up toward the end of the day and made the last couple of rounds more challenging, but that's an inherent part of the sport.

I'd given Beri, and myself, time off since our last match last fall. She did a 50 at the Armadillo endurance ride with Courtney and only some light trail riding and pony rides since, but we haven't been shooting so I wasn't sure how we'd do. Overall, I was moderately pleased with my shooting and extremely pleased with Beri. The break did her good and she seemed ready to get back in the game.

We did 'good enough' in our class (3 of 6!) and are slowly moving up in the overall standings, which is pretty exciting since we spent so much of last year just learning how to use our thumb.

- no. really. One of the hardest things for me to learn to do has been to cock the gun fast enough on the run down. Even now, I'll miss the fourth balloon if I let her run home. But yesterday, she rated for me better than she has before and that's part of all the elements of the sport starting to be more automatic instead of me having to over-think each step.

We only got to do two endurance rides last year (although my horses each did a ride without me!) and we're excited to have more endurance local-to-us on the schedule - so we're looking at an intense (FUN!) year, and yesterday gave us a great start.

Holiday Freebies ~ Sexy and Sweet

2008-12-30T19:56:00.007-06:00

Samhain Publishing has been treating their readers with free stories through this holiday season and an extra special one was posted today, Leah Braemel's FIRST NIGHT. Click on over and give it a read! It's fun and it's FREE.

And in addition to being a steamy hot read, it's especially fun for me because it has it's roots in the week that Leah spent down here in Texas during the RWA National Convention last year. You can read all the details about it here, but I have to say in my own defense that I'd always thought we used Mesquite wood in grills purely in self-defense! ;)

Bats

2008-12-15T01:51:00.001-06:00

I have no bats in my bat house.

They say that bats are everywhere, if you'll just put out a bat house, they'll find it and roost or den or whatever bats do. It was on the the side of the well-house, but the only thing that moved in were wasps. I thought it needed to be higher, but I don't think where it is now is working very well.

Jolly Balls...

2008-12-11T03:33:00.001-06:00

So everyone reads about Telpe's tire and Miree's hay habit and wonder why I don't just buy them 'jolly balls'. (for those that don't know, they're big rubber balls they sell for horses to play with). I've tried that and found a couple of problems with them. I liked them overall, and the horses liked them well enough. But I thought, for the price (they aren't cheap) the horses didn't enjoy them *that much more* than say, a rubber feed pan or an empty milk jug.

The bigger problem I had with the balls was that they roll *head desk* ... I know what you're thinking .... it's a ball forcryingoutloud... right? But they roll under the fence and I'm the one playing fetch. (I'm not that bored). And not only do the horses toss them through the fence, but the wind blows them around. So in the summer time, the west pasture has all the balls, and in the winter time (we only have two seasons here) the south pasture has all the balls.

The obvious answer (obvious to me) is to wash out a milk jug, dribble a handful of grain in it and toss it out for them. But they don't last very long. Hours at most. And even my family doesn't drink that much milk. And then (again) I'm chasing them down and picking them up to throw away.

I thought I had a brillant idea and a break through when I finished off a jug of laundry detergent. It has a handy dandy kind of spout that doesn't allow backflow or drips and I thought it would work nicely to keep the grain snacks from pouring out too quickly.

As you can see, that part worked well. Grain goes easy in, but only sprinkles come out. Perfect for encouraging play. (as if they needed encouragement).

Not only did I like the spout, but I was excited by the heavy feel of the plastic. I thought it might last a couple of weeks.

The jug itself was a grand hit.

but, alas, it didn't wear as well as had been hoped -- this photo was taken less then ten minutes into play and it had been completely demolished within a few hours.

go!beri

2008-12-07T11:14:00.013-06:00

I got a wonderful surprise last night at our Texas Smokin Gun's Christmas party. Beri and I managed to accumulate enough points to win the club high point in our division. I was totally shocked because I hadn't expected anything at all, and am inordinately pleased with the award, the recognition, myself and my little mare.

We did have a good year -- a very good year, but it's been a year of learning from our mistakes, more than anything else.

- There were the shoots where we had trouble because we hadn't ridden enough between times
- and the shoots where she soured from going too often.

- and the weekends that family issues kept us home or elsewhere on the road,
- - as well as the *smacks forehead* hindsight of weekends we missed that we shouldn't have.

- We've changed saddles, bridles and bits (three times) and figured out the oddest thing that was bothering her, when we switched from 'roping reins' to 'split reins'... Beri's only 14.1hh and so the normal stock horse split reins were too long, the ends were tangling around her knees. It was a simple fix, we just cut them off.

- We've changed some of how we do our training at home, going back to some basics. It was a (mentally) difficult switch for me to going back to neck reining and more western work. I was 'raised western' (old school) "but I got better" (<= Monty Python "she turned me into a newt" reference) with the centered riding lessons, and the bits of dressage I've had and applied to my endurance and trail riding. All that said, I've never gone back and brought my western riding up to par and this sport has me started back on that journey.

- We had a good run for the AHA OEIP year-end recognition with the CMSA, but needed a couple more better runs to keep our points ahead -- CONGRATULATIONS Dottie!

I'm especially proud of our little Beri for stepping up to the plate and doing such a fantastic job with the shooting this year and just generally doing whatever needs to be done. In addition to the shooting, she added several rides to her endurance record this year and has become the 'go to girl' and grown into a good, solid all-around family horse.

The hay-less hay bag

2008-12-03T05:56:00.001-06:00

What you see here, on the left (the blue thing), is a hay bag. An empty hay bag. That stuff strewed below and about? ...that's hay.

SO why is the hay strewed rather than in the bag? That's an excellent question. And the answer, believe it or not, has to do with Telpe's tire.

Remember Telpe's tire? When Telpe got her tire, then Miree got her nosebag back. But since Miree (now she realizes) doesn't have a tire, *she* is terribly bored during the day too.

Miree has about another month of stall rest because of a 'soft-tissue injury' (IOW, she strained something, she has a lump and it hurts). Because she's inside, she gets flakes of hay each day instead of 800lbs at a time like all the others.

Miree being Miree, when I toss her hay in the stall, she has to dig in it and nose it around and arrange her hay 'just so' before she can pick through it and eat the variety of stalks in that days particular order. But that makes a mess of the stall.

So I put her daily ration of hay in the ... are you ready? ... in the hay bag. (which is a bag designed to hold hay) *In* the hay bag. Which of course, adds a step to her digging and noseing and arranging because now she has to first take the hay out of hay bag before she can strew it and make a mess of the stall.

*head desk*

For your Holiday Viewing Pleasure

2008-11-26T10:21:00.010-06:00

... a bit of silliness brought to you by GWAIHIR the Valiant & Co. wishing you and yours lots of good food, friends and family, and safe travels as we dive into this holiday season.

Watch this space for news regarding upcoming sequels featuring GWAIHIR the Valiant.

* GWAIHIR The Valiant and the Tale of his Victory over the Medium-sized Orc

and

* GWAIHIR The Valiant and the Tale of his Victory over the Very Large Orc

(* GWAIHIR The Valiant and the Tale of his Victory over Hoards of Orc is still under contract negotiation)

Telpe's Bling

2008-11-17T11:46:00.018-06:00

...there's one in every barn.

This is Telpe being ... well, she's just being Telpe and I'm not sure there is much else to say about it except -- this is the horse your momma warned you about.

This is the kind of filly I warn buyers to look out for... now give me a minute to explain that. I've done a lot of match-making over the years and one thing I've tried to explain to new or first time horse owners is to look at a horse's scars. Most horses that have done anything at all are going to have something to show for it. That's not a big deal. But you have to understand that if three of four legs are criss-crossed, and there are marks on the chest, head and/or butt... you have to KNOW that this horse is an instigator.

Telpe has all that and more, from a ripped eye-lid to a fractured hind leg.

I'm certainly not saying not to buy a horse like that, they frequently have more drive and more personality and in many ways can make a better horse than one that's complacent. (They certainly are more fun for authors because of the conflict and chaos they create) But you have to understand what you're getting into. This is a horse that will actively seek out every hole in your fence; this is the horse that will stand at the gate and fiddle with the latch until they figure it out (yes, Telpe's gate has a clip on it that requires a thumb to open)((it's on the *outside* of the panel so she can't easily reach it)); this is the horse that will go through any gate or open door, just to see what's in there.

The reason Telpe is wearing a tire is a little complex. She normally stays with the herd in a 20 acre pasture, but she has been a little thin (she's 2yo and growing too fast too keep up with) so I brought her up to stay in the barn for awhile, treated her with an extra dose or wormer and have been 1) feeding her extra and 2) minimally restricting her exercise.

Over the course of a couple of months, her weight is coming up nicely, but we'd noticed that she was drinking a lot of water. Waaaaay a lot, like two to three times daily what a mature horse should be drinking. After consultation the vet, we decided it was likely a behavioral issue (boredom) and that in additional to several-times-weekly (light) work (which she was already getting) that she needed some extra toys.

What I usually do it wash out an empty milk jug and drop a handful of grain in it and toss it in the stall for them to throw around, but those don't last more than a day with her, so I hung up the tire for her to play with, and dropped a handful of grain (where she couldn't reach it -- I thought) in the inside of the tire. It took her less than 14 minutes to get to the grain, but she seemed very happy with her tire since her neighbors were, of course, quite jealous that she had a tire and they didn't.

Now, the problem didn't come until two days later when I put Miree's grain in Miree's nosebag and let Miree eat out of her nosebag. That's a problem because, up until getting the tire, Telpe had been eating out of Miree's nosebag.

SO I'm out at the barn, doing various chores, waiting for those that get morning feed to finish up when I notice it's suspiciously quiet in Telpe's corner. (Those of you who have toddlers or teenagers know what I'm talking about).

.... so I'm sitting here trying to describe the situtation and find I don't have any words that don't seem to overstate the obvious - so from this point, I'll just let the photo do the talking.

EEP!!!!!

2008-11-11T13:46:00.005-06:00

	1004

24

lab.drwicked.com

*gasp*

*head desk*

This guy is awesome!

No, you can't see the words, they're admittedly .... we'll call them 'rough' for lack of a better (polite) term. But I did move an old opening along past a sticky point.

Leah's already blogged about it better than I could have so I won't repeat it all, but if you ever felt like you needed a little motivation to get past a tough point, this is a great program.

go!me

2008-11-10T14:40:00.002-06:00

...just a quick update to the previous post!

My entry 'F' pulled ahead for a decisive victory!

It seemed funny, at the time, to see the world land in my yard, roll
forward and squash Marin.

Many thanks to LA for a fun little contest, and thanks to everyone who voted.

And, no, I'm not sure who Marin is or what he was doing in my yard when the world landed here. The WIP-'Ice' muse is being contrary so a short story may be in order.

Vote!

2008-11-07T15:08:00.002-06:00

Oh no! not that again... it's ok - this one is just for fun.

Head over to LA's blog and vote for your favorite opening line to go with the posted photo.

http://la-mitchell.blogspot.com/

and no, I'm not telling you which one is mine - just go vote for fun. It's a cool photo.

Helping Zette

2008-11-03T05:26:00.001-06:00

Holly Lisle has put out this plea: http://shop.hollylisle.com/pssst-help-zette.php

Lazette Gifford owns and runs the huge, free-for-everyone writing community Forward Motion. http://fmwriters.com/

She's always carried the cost of the site herself (and having done it myself for a bunch of years before she took over, I can attest that the costs are extensive). She gets occasional donations, but again, they are occasional, and they don't cover costs.She has been dedicated to keeping the site free, and as of right now 13796 writers are benefiting from that.

Now, however, she needs your help. She lives in Nebraska, where the first snows have already fallen this year. Her house has a leaky roof, no insulation, a non-working furnace, at least one broken water pipe, and the front porch is pulling away from the house. She needs to get a bunch of things fixed before Nebraska winter sets in in earnest.

Here's where you can help, and get something cool at the same time.

On the following writing courses and books, I have waived all commissions and the authors, if not Zette herself, have waived all payment. 100% of what you spend on these courses (minus PayPal fees) will go directly to Zette, from now through December 31st of 2008.

There's a reason for the rush---Nebraska gets bitterly cold in winter and stays cold for a very long time.

So here are the courses. Every item you buy will help. And every person you can point to this page who buys something will help.

100% of Your Payment after PayPal Fees Goes Directly to Zette for These Books:
Zette's Courses and Books:
The Zette Bundle
2-Year Novel, Year One
2-Year Novel, Year Two
Vision Writing Workshops
Silky Novel Pack
Silky
Silky II, Lord of the Land
Ruins
Muse

My Courses:
Create A Character Clinic
Create A Plot Clinic

Books by other HollyShop writers:
33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Mother Nature, Katherina Gerlach
33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Construction and Construction Workers, Pete Nix

So far, $822 $1704.27 has been sent to Zette from this effort. (As of
12:52 PM, Oct. 26, 2008)

A couple of the other 33 Mistakes books have been added to this list:

* Pete Nix's 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About
Construction & Construction Workers

* Tanya Drayton's 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Hunting

-- and I've send Holly a note adding my Mistakes about Horses to the group as well. So if you've been thinking about ordering, now is the time. It will go to a really good cause.

I don't know Zette personally, but I do know her work and I think, if you haven't read her before, you may find a new favorite author to add to your list.

~ RANT

2008-10-30T06:31:00.000-06:00

I seldom rant in public, but this one is well deserved.

I'm something of an oddity, locally, in that I can't eat spicy foods.

...what?

... ... notice that I didn't say I didn't like them (I don't, for the most part) but that I can't eat them.

Oh yes, I like *spice*, salt, garlic, various and assorted herbs, but not hot peppers or anything that has produces capsaicin or any of the various acids so many people seem to enjoy.

According to wikipedia ...

It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from eating capsaicin-flavored foods. Folklore among self-described "pepperheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic.

Pardon me!? ... It doesn't seem to me that I'm the one who should be looked at strangely.

Be that as it may, I don't really care what other people eat.

The problem I have is that so many people seem to have a problem with what I don't eat. I've learned I have to be careful when I'm ordering out because nacho rings come standard on a staggering assortment of foods.

- if you order a baked potato at a steak house, they ask if you want cheese and sour cream on it. Is it too much trouble, if you order enchiladas, to ask if you want peppers on them?

The pseudo problem is the eye-rolling and not-so-subtle inference that I'm high-maintenance when I'm careful to avoid peppers.

The real problem:
and I'm going to put this in bold because people don't seem to be able to grasp the concept...

You CAN NOT pick them off because the juice is still in the food. (Like olives. I don't like olives either, but they don't cause me pain. You can't pick olives off because you can still taste them. Mushrooms, you can pick off. No problem.)

If you use a fork to pick peppers out of the jar, do NOT use the same fork for ANYTHING else.

... and I get accused of being too sensitive and over reactive.

So this all came to a head last Friday night.

I'd been on the road since 8am and hadn't eaten since 2pm. At 10pm, I drove thru my favorite Sonic, ordered a Mayo-cheeseburger and continued down the road.

with the first bite, I realized I'd gotten a mustard burger instead. yuck. But, you know, you always get screwed in the drive through. And that seems to go double for me. No matter how polite and/or precise I am, I tend not to get exactly what I ordered.

On the second bite - the mustard seemed a little spicy. I had never had Sonic's mustard before so I wasn't sure what to think. It certainly didn't taste good to me in any way, but I was hungry and already several miles down the road.

On the third bite, I got a mouthful of jalapeño. The inside of my mouth felt like it'd been spritzed with acid. (literally, actually, that's about what happened. ..swabbed, not spritzed).

I pulled over, turned the light on and, yes, my burger had a generous handful of pepper slices, seeds and hot stuff and all. I turned around and drove back to the Sonic and had a chat with the manager about it. He was very understanding and sympathetic as was the young lady who had worked the window.

They gave my $4 back and I went on my way.

The problem is that, for a moments inattention by the girl working the window, my mouth burned for nearly 40 minutes. By the next day, the roof of my mouth had blistered.

- I'm assuming she simply grabbed the wrong burger and that it wasn't some kind of sick, malicious joke on the part of the kitchen.

Three days later, the blisters are finally healing.

Now, I don't know if the girl at the window was stressed in some way, if she'd had a bad day, or maybe one that was good enough to keep her distracted, but for whatever reason, she handed that burger out the window. Maybe it wasn't her, maybe the kitchen staff accidentally switched the bags. Who knows?

The girl that served me that burger has probably never considered that it might *really* be important to get the orders right, or that she might have a real influence on someone's day. She probably gets frustrated and even agitated at the complaints she has to put up with. But wouldn't it be great if more servers would take a real personal interest in customer satisfaction?

I'll bet if she had blistered the top of her mouth, she'd start being more careful about what she handed out the window.

(argh - this is getting too long) but to tie it back in to writing, my Sideways class last week was on using intended, as well as unintended, consequences in your plotting. This is certainly the kind of thing that would be guaranteed to cause conflict between characters.

- And this is exactly the kind of thing Holly talks about in using unintended consequences in your plotting ... following a simple, seemingly inconsequential action, to a logical yet unexpected conclusion.

New Blue

2008-10-26T04:20:00.000-06:00

At what point does your youngest, your baby, become all grown up?

Because I think that just happened to me. I have this odd feeling of getting caught between a semi and a solid granite cliff-face.

I thought it was pretty scary to take him with me on those long gallops through the woods, and even a little scarier when we started mounted shooting.

But this is a whole 'nuther level.

- it showed up while I was gone to a shooting competition last weekend.

... I left for Ardmore early Saturday morning, they left for Corpus Christi Sunday afternoon. I got in Sunday evening and left for San Jose Monday afternoon. They got in late Monday evening and I didn't get home until very late on Friday night.

so it was yesterday before I got a chance to do more than stare dumbfounded at the thing.

It's just on loan right now, just here for us to try it out. Riiiiiiiiiight.

But the kid is smart.
He let me take it for a spin.
And it's fun.
Dangerous as hell if you forget "DON'T PANIC". But it's really pretty easy to handle and even thought it was the first time I've been on a bike in about 20 years, I was still able to recover from a couple of wobbly moments and some unplanned instances of speed without any real trouble. So, yeah, there's really no chance that it's not staying, but he's had a go-kart for about a year now and done well with that, been reasonaby safe with it and taken care of it, so hopefully this will be a good sport for him to get into.

There's NOTHING on the wing!

2008-10-19T09:54:00.008-06:00

So the company sent me to San Jose for a week of training and since I hadn't flown commercially for nearly 20 years, it was both a daunting and (initially) exciting experience.

The security, while understandable, was awkward, difficult and time consuming -- but we managed.

The airline employess (we flew Southwest) were themselves wonderful, but the seats were cramped and uncomfortable for more than a few minutes. I'd brought a short stack of magazines and some writing, but found relaxing enough to enjoy reading or writing to be problematic at best. I did manage to get several thousand words into my new project ("Ice"), but that's not much considering we were in the air most of the day on Monday and again on Friday. So I have it in longhand, and have to weave it in to the disconnected sections I wrote on my laptop during the week, but that shouldn't be too hard.

The trip itself was fun. The training was good and is going to help with how I do my job on a daily basis -- and I had the bonus of dinner with two local friends. One long term internet friend who has been uber-supportive of my writing from the beginning and the other, a long time instructor/mentor who has been that, and a friend and more for many years. It was wonderful to get to see them and those dinners rounded out the week to an overall wonderful experience.

Does this mean that things are back to normal around here? I'm wondering "what passes for normal? Then I remember what I've always said: That 'normal' is highly over-rated. :)

life in general

2008-10-10T21:30:00.004-06:00

Life has been coming at me with both barrels lately, but it seems that a lot of people are having the same stresses and strains.

At least I'm going to be able to get away this weekend, going to another CMSA competition. - although, as I told someone earlier today, what I mean is that I'm packed and ready to go. I won't count on getting there until I'm there. Life has been that way lately.

So, two days of shooting, then home, and then off to Sunny San Jose for a week of training for work. I don't like being gone for so long, but I'm looking forward to the workshops and it will be an easier week than I'm used to.

Our house has been coming along, the rock is done except for the posts that will be rocked and some of the trim. We haven't done much at all on the inside yet, but we're having a door made that's going to be very nice, and they're harvesting and peeling cedar posts for the second floor. I tried to take some photos but they didn't come out.

In writing news, I've finished Thunder Jewel and I've very happy with it. I'm getting the synopsis polished and I'll start sending it out next week. That makes two novels compete and making the rounds, and I feel really good about it. I feel tired, in a very good way, about Thunder Jewel, and I have so many different projects screaming at me that it's going to be hard to pick. I honestly think I need to work on two projects at once. I used to always write short stories like that and it's easier for me to flip back and forth than it is to stay on one project. That probably sounds crazy. But instead of double the time it takes for me to finish something, it halves it - because when I start to bog down, I just change gears and keep going instead of trying to fight through the sludge.

The next main project I'm looking at is the novel I've started during Holly's Sideways class and I've *very* excited about it. I've done more prep work on this one than I have before and I've already filled in a lot of the kinds of holes and back-story that I've always had to go back and fix in earlier chapters as I went along with my draft. I've never been able to find a good balance between pantsing and plotting, but Holly may have fixed that for me. I'll find out over the next couple of weeks.

My New Toy

2008-09-30T16:40:00.003-06:00

ok, ok.... so my dog is almost as big as my horse...

Between various family drama and issues, I've managed to pick up a cart (ebay, where else?!?) and MIREE, after all these months of ground driving and pulling the drag, finally gets her chance to shine. She's doing wonderful! (how else would my little wonder-mare do?)

We've been down the road one time, and trotted today for the first time. The weather has finally cooled off and so I'm looking forward to much more riding (and driving) through the fall than I was able to do this summer.

Cowgirl Boot Camp

2008-09-08T01:46:00.001-06:00

The shooting has fallen by the wayside, to some degree, because of family stuff keeping me busy, and in hindsight, I'm doubly glad that I got to attend the Cowgirl Boot Camp managed by the CMSA Club Texas Smokin Guns and taught by the wonderful Tammy Sronce. Her sponsor, Maytex generously donated a stack of saddle pads that were given away as door prizes. (Beri loves hers!)

Beri and I are the first grey from the left!

We had a wonderful time and learned lots. Lots of stuff I knew (*argh*) but wasn't using, as Tammy politely yet firmly pointed out.

Horsemanship is key to this sport. You have to have a horse that has a good mind and is light and responsive to the aids, and I haven't required Beri to be as light as she needs to be. And yes, even though we've missed the last few competitions, we're working on our being light and responsive to the aids.

Tammy also gave me a needed 'wake-up' call to a couple of issues with my guns. One thing I was doing that is really quite dangerous was cocking before I crossed Beri's neck when I was going for a cross shot.

I wonder how many cowboys in the Old West ended up shooting their own horses in the back of the head?!?!

The other main thing she helped me with - it's been making me nuts to look at my photos and see how I was leaning so far forward - she helped me settle down and "let the balloon come to me".

I can't say enough nice things about working with Tammy, but we also have another incredible resource here in North Texas and that's Curt Moore at the Shootfire Ranch. He's offering a beginners clinic October 18-19, in conjunction with the Texas Smokin Guns. Check their website for details. I've cliniced with Curt before and highly recommend him.

Otherwise, the club will be at the Equine Expo in Fort Worth and also doing a demo at Teskey's on September 20th. Any of you writers who are writing westerns or even modern cowboys - this is your check to get out and hear the gunfire, smell the smoke and ask questions.

Thinking Sideways ~

2008-09-01T12:06:00.028-06:00

Lots of us here in the inter-spaceways are taking Holly Lisle's "How to Think Sideways" class, I've seen a lot posted around on various forums and blogs, but I find I have to throw out my own two cents about it.

First, let me say that I've been a fan of Holly's for a long time. Her books first, and I used to lurk in the Forward Motion community. I've read over and over again all the good free articles and advice she has on her website. At a point, before I had really gotten a good start, I'd been beaten down and was close to giving it all up, but the encouragement and support that she offers to anyone who will take the time to read what she has to offer tossed me back on my feet and helped me find my backbone and keep going.

When she started making her writer's workshop series available in the Holly Shop -- I elbowed my way to the front of the line.

Now, the second thing I want to say is that I've done the usual round of online classes as well as f2f workshops at various conferences and worked somewhat extensively with some very talented authors - and not to take anything away from any of that, because I've learned a lot in so many different places it would be impossible to list them all - and I have a full shelf of 'how to' books, including a short stack of well-thumbed favorites -- but on the whole, Holly's workbooks are in a class of their own.

There are a lot of good authors out there, good writers and good teachers. But it is a rare and unique individual who has the extraordinary talent to teach well the thing they are successful at. It takes a special *combination* of skill and talent that few people have.

Holly has that extraordinary, unique combination of talents -- not only of being able to figure out what she's doing that helps make her successful but being able to break that down into steps and explain it in a way that others can use what she's done to build their own skills.

I have most, if not all, of the writers workshop series and love every one. I have links to her shop in my sidebar because I believe in what she has to offer. When she opened up submissions for the '33 Mistakes' Series, I was excited to be included and ecstatic to get to be the first release.

So when Holly opened up registration for the first Think Sideways course, I was right there.

- my life has a series of explosions going on right now, so I wasn't able to keep up with weekly lessons for the 2nd through 6th week ... but I got caught up over the holiday weekend, which leads me to the reason I feel compelled to blog about it, even though so many others are as well, is because even though I went into the course with the highest of expectations - she totally blew me away.

It's not the kind of course I've seen anywhere else. She doesn't necessarily tell you anything.

What she does is show you how to use tools you need in order to learn the skills to ask the right questions and how to use the answers.

By the time I had worked past the barriers, through the clustering and done my Sentences, I had three muses screaming at me in full Technicolor scenes with plots, characters and conflict with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining why each one was on the Group W Bench ... *ahem* ... or something like that. Amazing stuff came up out of the back of my mind and coalesced into complete stories faster than I could work through the pages of the workshop.

I had to physically cap the pen and close the notebook and put it away for a couple of hours so the muses would quiet down enough that I could hear the voices of the stories one at a time and get some notes down for them.

And, with all that, she shows you how to make the connection between writing what you love and writing something marketable. ...and I'm only six weeks into a six month program. I can't even imagine what else she might have in store for us, but I'm very excited about it.

I will say it should come with a warning label: not for the part-timers, wannabes and light-weights. I printed the first six weeks' lessons to take on the road with me last weekend and it completely filled a three inch binder. But the beauty of it is that you can go at your own pace so you don't miss lessons because of the ebb and ka-booms in your life.

If you are serious about a career in writing, if you love writing and you want to make a living doing it, this course can help you learn the skills you need. I haven't seen another single course that comes close to offering what just the first six weeks of this one does.

It's on sale, now, Monday Sept 1-Monday Sept 8. It's a full six months to a year long with weekly or bi-weekly lessons and much more affordable than it should be given the value of what you're getting. It comes with a guarantee, if you don't like it and want out, let her know and the payments stop.

LOL! ... I've been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to think of a way to say "you owe it to yourself to give it a try" without sounding cliché, but it's simply the truth and there isn't a better way to say it - so there ya' go. ;)

Mistakes our brains make...

2008-08-30T01:12:00.000-06:00

So when I was about halfway though the session on writing horses at the February DFWWW Conference -- someone pointed out that on my handout, where I commented on the fabulous characterization by Eddie Murphy as Donkey as the White Stallion, it said Shrek III, and those scenes had been in Shrek II.

I was sure I had copied most of that paragraph about stallions from the draft of 33 Mistakes, Mistake One - Stallions. And so I was sure that the mistake must be in the final version of the e-book as well. You can imagine my mind was going a thousand directions and none of them good.

It truly was one of those cold-sweat kind of moments and in hindsight I was really glad I didn't have my laptop with me because I know how hard it would have been not to stop everything, turn around and check the file. As if it would have done any good to know, in that instant, if I had really screwed up that badly.

At any rate, once I did get to where I could check the file, the original correctly said Shrek II. *whew*

And, thankfully, if I blubbered too badly over those next few minutes, it's blocked from my memory. Have you ever notice how the human brain is wondrous like that, sometimes, to just pretend that it didn't happen. Is that kind of memory loss a type of survival mechanism to protect us from embarrassment and pain?

What about how denial kicks in at the time something is happening.

- "That isn't really a rattlesnake. It's a harmless snake that just happens to have rattles and a head shaped like a pit viper."

- "Just keep driving. That funny noise the truck is making will quiet down if you can just keep it going for another few miles."
- - on a side note, it's true that if there is smoke or steam coming out from under your hood and you speed up, it will seem to have disappeared. *blink, blink* ...although if it's a smoldering fire, it will burst into flames when you slow down ... don't ask me how I know that, it's a long, sad story with a bad ending.

Or what about those people you know who are (naively?) eternal optimists?

- I know my boss said they'd have to let me go if I was late one more time, but I now they didn't mean it.
- I know I shouldn't have that candy bar, but I'll get back on my diet tomorrow.
- I know my husband said not to bring another stray dog home, but that one's just too pathetic to leave here. He'll understand.

Do you ever put those people in your novels? Not the people of course, but those characteristics? Have you considered what wonderful character flaws these things can be? The bits of blank memory, the outright denial, the justification and the 'just one more time' refusal to step up to the bar. Are these things that keep your character down? Are they issues your character can grow and overcome? I know these are issues that I deal with everyday, both in myself and in those around me, and I suspect I would easily identify with a protag dealing these traits.

those old classics

2008-08-26T10:51:00.016-06:00

I refuse to start every post with an apology for not being more consistent with my posts, so I won't...

...but I will say that something ate my chickens. These prints are my only clue.

But that's just par for the course, recently. My life has been like one of those old black and white movies. Not anything like the good old classics It's a Wonderful Life, or The Man who Shot Liberty Valance. But more like some of the first talkies -- you know the grainy ones that jump and flicker and don't entirely make sense?

But in spite of the troubles and inanities, life goes on. Writing goes on -- slow and painful -- but it continues.

I've been bogging down with my edits and I finally decided my big, loveable hero wasn't strong enough to carry the ending of my current work so I've tossed him out with the bathwater, dragged him backwards through the rosebriars, rolled him in tar and horseshit, slapped him around a little bit and have sent him to the corner with a stack of old Conan pulps, some Heinlein and the Silmarillion.

Yeah, it hurts to do that to him. And while what he was has been fun to play with, he needs to grow up. That's painful sometimes, but we both know it's needed.

The house is coming along. The outside is nearly done. At least, the major decisions have been finalized. We had some trouble with the windows and had to change some stuff, but I think it's looking really good.

I like the rock, a lot, and am glad we did it even if we had to grit our teeth through the expense. The rock masons are craftsman and artists. If you've never seen them work, it's a real delight.

One neat thing we got to do is that we've harvested some cedar out of our pastures and are peeling it to frame the front door (I can't wait to show off our custom door!!) the four front windows (two upper and two lower), and for support beams ...umm.. not beams, posts (are the called columns if they're wood?) on the inside. I can't remember that I've posted a photo of the inside, but the second story is normal on the ends but the main section is only floored about 2/3rds across... I don't think that makes sense. I'll have to take more photos.

Otherwise, riding -- not enough, but some. GLAMDRING has been getting the work. Somebody needs to buy this lovable galoot. He's a sweet boy (is there anyone, really, who doesn't love a guy who brings home a mouthful of flowers?!?) and a hard worker. It's a combination that's hard to beat. We're trying to get him to a couple more rides this year and get a few more 50s on his record. I'm still thinking I'm going to try shooting off him next year. He doesn't like the noise, but he's fast and handy. He's doing real well setting balloons and just being around the gunfire doesn't seem to bother him any more so that makes me think that firing off his back is just a matter of time.

Where's the ka-boom?

2008-08-12T05:21:00.001-06:00

There is usually at least a small ka-boom when someone asks a question that should have a simple answer that actually requires discussion.

Like a couple of days ago, Js was out helping feed. He brought back a stack of empty buckets and waited in the doorway.

"Do the girls in the shark pen get a bump?" Now, I knew that 'the girls' meant 'the mares' in the 'shark pen' - is what we call the mare pasture because of the daily feeding frenzy.

'a bump' is a "bump bucket" ... that is, when I pasture feed (set feeders out in the pasture with loose horses) I fill five buckets for four horses. That way, when the dominate horse 'bumps' the others down the line, the last horse still gets to eat.

The only problem is that kind of question makes my brain implode.

Because it's not a simple "yes" or "no" kind of situation. Because: two of the mares share a bucket, so "yes" there *is* a bump, but .... he didn't ask the right question. What he meant to ask was: "How many buckets did he need to carry out there?"

If I had answered his original question: "do they get a bump?" "YES" (because there is a bump available) he would have filled and carried five buckets for four mares, which normally would be right - but in that particular case, with the two mares sharing, it would have set out two bumps instead of just one - which is not a disaster, but it is wasteful.

If I had twisted my mind around what I thought he needed to know and said "NO" - what if I had misunderstood what it was he meant to ask and there was another meaning .... and so I took a deep breath ... "What you mean is, 'how many buckets do you need to carry out there?'."

He stared at me for a moment and then nodded. problem solved.

Our little exchange stayed on my mind because it struck me I've seen that conversation gone over in writers groups - how important it is to say what you mean and how hard it can be to get exactly the right thing down on paper. Or how much fun it can be to ask one question and answer another... yes, I'm evil that way. ;)

- and so today, my son was with me, waiting in the truck while I fueled up and we had parked beside a piece of (very odd looking) heavy machine.

"What is that?" he asked.

I stared at it blankly ... and finally realized it was a "Traffix Device". It said so right on the big ugly butt of the thing. Traffix device and Traffixdevice.com

And I told him so, in a confident tone that implied I knew what I was talking about. ... "It's a Traffic Device."

But having had to put up with me for his entire life thus far, he wasn't fooled, but he smoothed it over. "What's it for?" he asked in an even tone.
I shrugged. "No idea."

He blinked at me and stared in the way that kids do when they know they can't say to their parents "that was stupid".

I just shrugged again. "I guess you asked the wrong question, then."

...but the funnest part of it all was just a couple of hours later, he turned it back on me when I was the one to ask the wrong, inane question. We had a laugh over it, but (and this is probably a whole 'nuther post) the best part for me was knowing feeling that - boy-childs do (sometimes) listen to their mom's, but more than that, that something had connected inside him and grown him a little bit and given him a little sharper focus on this tough world we live in.

The Eyes of War

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

I finally stole the time to sit down and read Hawkspar last weekend. (I have to schedule time to read Holly's books - when everyone is gone because I get **very** grumpy at being interrupted)

.... and I don't know where to start. When Talyn came out a couple of years ago, I thought it was maybe the best read I'd had in a long time.

This one seemed even better ... maybe because I slipped so easily (eagerly) back into the world?

One of the things that draw me so strongly to Holly's books, are the layers. She writes with a depth of reality that makes you really believe in what's happening. All her details match, no matter how deeply you go in the world or how closely you look at it, or how far you pull back to look at the bigger picture. No matter how you pick it apart, when it goes back together, the pieces match - and that's important to me as a reader.

And I love all the Tonk Goodies

My other favorite thing about her books are the Truths that are woven in. Hawkspar can see possible futures, but like all of us, she has to learn that it's possible to make your own future if you don't like what you see. But it's hard and sometimes no matter how much we give, it doesn't seem like enough... and, usually, when you think it's over - it's not.

Holly writes with a gut-wrenching depth and strength that stays with you - I was going to say 'for long after you put the book down', then I realized that didn't convey 'long enough'. I have to say that she touches truths that filter through and stay with you through your daily life.

.... And that's just not the sort of thing you get when you just pull any pretty cover off the shelf.

Busy or boring or both?

2008-08-04T05:53:00.003-06:00

It seems that life has been contradictory full of inanities and tragedies lately.

The tragic loss of a colt, Yoda, at 16 months old to a 'twist'. Treatment was timely and extensive, but he simply couldn't be saved.

Yoda's loss pales in comparison to that of a young father of four, a close family friend, who was laid to rest today.

I didn't mean to talk about those things... but they're still strong on my mind, and I think they go along well enough with the flower I photo'd. That life is both beautiful and painful.

I had never seen these thistles before we moved out here, but I love them. I love the contrast of the delicate beauty of the flower on that strong, thick, prickly stalk - and it strikes me that thistle epitomizes how I aim to write my heroines. I do want her to have some beauty, but I want her to be so much more than that. I want her to be strong enough to survive harsh conditions, the sun and rock, and to take care of herself as well as sheltering others.

Do you grok?

2008-07-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

What if I said, "Tha sumbeetch sulled up on me."

Sure. "Tha sumbeetch..." is a colloquialism and should be used with a light hand, but what about "sulled up"? I was surprised to learn that not only is it apparently a recent addition to our language but it's very localized regionally.

What if I said the mesteno sulled up? ...probably not a fair question for anyone who's not old-school southwestern.

I love listening to Red Stegall, not just his music but his poetry as well. It's full of good old western flavor that you can't really find too many places any more, except maybe in some of Marty Robbin's old cowboy ballads.

Does it still mean the same thing it did a few years ago, if you pull out the makins and roll a quirly?

These dialects and flavors be used to define cultural differences and locales in other-world locations? Is there anyone who doesn't know how TANSTAAFL works?

I love the flavor sprinkled in - these are the things that really make it sound like home, but at the same time I know we can't alienate non-local readers. Where do you draw the line?

The Boy and his Mare

2008-07-05T06:10:00.012-06:00

I hope readers don't get tired of seeing photos of my kid and the little mare, but I can't help bragging on them when they continue to improve, not just in skill, but in teamwork -- which is so key to so many things in life.

Jared has struggled with a lot in the last couple of years, some troubles at school, homeschooling (learning appropriate study habits, discipline, self-tasking), but the main thing I've seen him overcome is the pass/fail mentality that seems to plague so many kids these days.

So many things, he has tried, didn't do great the first time out and decided it wasn't so much fun.

I attribute a great deal of his progress to the wonderful family atmosphere of the CMSA and especially to the people who have reached out to us in the Texas Smokin' Guns club. It's a tough sport and it's made him a tougher kid.

He always did pretty well endurance riding with me, but in a lot of ways, he started in the sport, basically, riding at a level with most adults. He's a pretty good hand with a horse, in camp and on the trail. He can walk, jog, gallop, cross creeks, and handle about any kind of terrain.

So when he first tried shooting, it was fun, but tough, and all the other kids were a lot better than him - and that's hard for a guy, especially when he'd been doing so well elsewhere. In endurance, I was continually holding him back, his skillset was at or above the level of competition we intended for each day.

In CMSA, he's continually having to learn, practice and refine both his riding and his shooting. It set him back and we've had some false starts and some off days, but over the last year, he's seen his scores consistently improving. And even better than that he can see and feel how much his horsemanship is improving, and how much better he's working with this particular mare and that is the most rewarding thing.

We had a tough weekend at the last event. We were rained out on Saturday and so we camped and competed in the heat and humidity on Sunday. It made for a long weekend, but well worth it for the success we had.

In a way, I wonder if the shooting means more to him because it's harder, because each step and each success is harder earned than endurance ever was for him and it occurs to me I've heard all this before in plotting classes. That we should 'throw rocks' at our heroes, that we should exact costly vengeance on them before they meet their successes; and I think about all the nicey-nice *bleh* books I've tossed aside unfinished.

It makes me realize how important it is for our heroes and heroines not just to have struggle and fight overcome the odds, but I understand now that, in many ways, 'character arc' is more about growth than change. In _Writing to the Point_ Algis Budrys says that characters don't actually change, because that would be false to the consistency of the readers observation of people. But that being under stress (conflict) reveals hitherto concealed facets -that the character reaches deeper into themselves, tries again, tries a little harder, learns a new skill based on existing ones, and uses that to snatch victory from the grasp of the villain. And I have to say, that as I go along, it makes more and more sense to me. Perhaps I'm finally learning to reach a little deeper myself.

Thar's Horses in them thar woods.... or not?

2008-07-03T06:08:00.002-06:00

This is a question that comes up surprisingly often.

The answer is .... 'it depends'.

And it depends on a lot of things. Horses are grazers, different than browsers like deer, or even donkeys. In addition to the nutrition (calories and vitamins and stuff), they need the long stemmed grasses in order for their guts to function properly.

Can they live without grass or hay (such as in the woods)? Sure. For while. Some horses will be very picky about what they eat, but most would put a goat to shame before they starved to death. They would start to eat odd plants, anything leafy, bark, sticks, even the old layer of detritus on the forest floor (one of my mares ate a mosquito dunk today (and she is decidedly not starving)) - and if they didn't get impacted, colic and die from that -- they would eventually be dealing with the consequences of long term malnutrition.

But depending on the climate, your woods may have lovely meadows. Easily enough to support a horse or two for a short period of time. And another meadow down the way. But not a herd of horses.

Also consider, if you're writing a horse that's been in the woods for a long time, it's likely to have life-long issues stemming from that experience. Anything from degenerative joint disease, if it was a young foal, if the woods-horse was a mare carrying a foal, or with a very young foal at her side, the foal could lack of integrity in it's soft tissues, ligaments and tendons, poorly laid down cartilage and even some amount of malformation of the delicate bones in the knees and hocks. These things could cause the young horse a lot of pain as he matures, especially when he comes of riding age and is put to work.

An older horse could have internal issues, anything from something as simple as a stick lodged in their mouth that festers, to internal damage that contributes to recurrent colic.

He may have developed a taste for toxic weeds if he managed to eat enough in the woods to keep him alive, but not so much it killed him.

And it's more than just nutrition: A horse's most basic self-preservations instincts are compromised in the woods. They are herd animals who find safety and security in numbers (and remember a real herd can't live in most woodland areas, so they'll be searching for other horses.)

Their eye-sight is designed for the open ranges. They see short distances with their heads down and long distances when their heads are raised. Aside from their keen sense of hearing, their eyes are their early warning system. But you can't see very far in the woods.

Their first line of defense is to run. And they can't run as fast in the woods, not if they're looking for a way through and having to zig-zag, dodging trees. So most horses, simply wouldn't stay in the woods. If they were chased into the woods, or abandoned there, they would travel, snatching what they could along the way, maybe stopping for a few hours at a creek or a meadow, but then they would move along - looking for food, but more dramatically, looking for safety. Although there are always exceptions. We had a local case of a horse that had been abused, rescued and (mostly) rehabilitated, getting loose and running to hide in the woods, and no, he didn't survive.

If a fully tacked horse gets loose from a rider, there is additional danger of the reins, or even the saddle, getting tangled in vines and holding the horse in place until he dies of dehydration. Another main consideration is that the horse may eventually have tack galls that fester.

But one of the main things authors need to remember is that it's not really natural for horses to be in the woods, that there needs to be a good reason for the horse to be there -- the worldbuilding has to be solid enough that the reader sees what the horse is going through trying to find enough forage -- and there needs to be appropriate consequences for the length of time the horse was in there.

Blood Magic by Matthew Cook

2008-07-01T03:38:00.001-06:00

I got a couple of recent releases from Juno last week and finished Blood Magic by Matthew Cook last night.

I've been complaining for awhile now that there isn't enough gritty type fantasy, especially with the strong female protag that I like to read, but this is the second of two from Juno that I read cover to cover. (The first was Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell)

Kirin, and that isn't even her name, it's her dead twin sister that lives in her head's name, is the kind of anti-heroine that you're not sure, exactly, why you love her, but you can't help but hope she continues to overcome. She's made bad decisions and done bad stuff, and basically justified most of it one way or another, and the tough part of it is that you can understand why she's doing what she is, even if you don't like it. - and yet she still manages to do good on both the smaller scale and the larger - and YET the good and evil seem inexorably mixed. -- and these are the deeper themes that draw me so deeply into a world.

Kudos to Matthew Cook for writing this and also to Juno for publishing it.

The Heart of a Horse ~

2008-06-26T09:25:00.003-06:00

There is a quote about the outside of a horse being good for the inside of a man. Churchill. And Reagan said something similar - they're right.

But what about the inside of a horse?

We all talk a lot about bone size (strength), conformation (structural angles and proportions/balance), there are thousands of books, videos, websites and forums, clinics and workshops - all on this subject.

But what about the horse's mind and personality? What about his heart? The physical heart is important, the size and strength, the 'metabolic structure' of the horse is at least as important to a performance horse as the (outside/visual) physical structure, but this post is about 'having heart'.

When horseman say a horse 'has heart' what they're talking about is that otherwise indefinable essence of spirit that makes a horse go above and beyond anyone's expectations.

Marty Robbins sings about the Strawberry Roan, a pony that couldn't be rode. The mustang he sings about is about as poorly built as any horse can be, but he has indomitable spirit and that's something that horsemen admire.

It had be hard to deal with, as in the case of the Roan, because he had decided he didn't like people and wasn't going to cooperate with them. And what about Old Red? He killed himself to kill the cowboy he couldn't throw.

There are others like the real-world filly Ruffian and Zane Grey's fictional Wildfire, who ran to the death for glory, for good, for the saving of another life, rather than obstinance and willfulness.

Some horses you can dominate and push around, some are timid or fearful, most seem more comfortable and happy with a Boss, some seem simply to not care - and sometimes those horses are the easier choice.

But if your hero is going into a situation, or if you want to make sure his success doesn't come too easy *evil grin*, you may want to give him a kind of horse like Strawberry or Red. A horse that draws lines he won't cross, a horse that won't quit and won't go down without getting back up. Or one like Ruffian or Wildfire who give their all to win the day.

Dragon's Wild by Robert Asprin

2008-06-18T06:43:00.002-06:00

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago in a fit of sadness over Bob Asprin's passing. I've had it on my desk and finally picked it up yesterday evening -- and read the whole thing through. It's simply delightful, a fun, easy read, with 'just enough' of all the right elements.

Griffen “Grifter” McCandles is fresh out of college, with no prospects... or so he thinks!

The Good 'Ole Summer Tyme

2008-06-16T08:50:00.018-06:00

Summer is upon us.

Yesterday was 101 and humid, but that's pretty much the norm for this time of year.

The pond is drying up, grass is browning and the thistles are in bloom.

That spot where the dog is wading is about the same place in the pond the mare is in the photos a couple of posts ago. It goes fast once it starts going down.

The kid has been away to summer camp and is back. He attended the first ever Wolf Ridge Summer Resident camp hosted by Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and we can't say enough good things about the staff, the facility or the program. He had a fantastic time and is already signed up for the next session.

Our horses are soaking up the heat. We've already had one close call with a dehydration colic, a silly young horse who didn't take good 'nuff care of himself on the first really hot day. We've had such a cool, wet spring, the sudden hard heat didn't give the horses much of a chance to adjust and some fell behind on their drinking. I usually start supplementing a dash of salt in their daily grain when temps reach 100. The vet said to start it at about 95 and I'll do that from now on. At the other end of the scale, I add the salt when we drop below freezing, I may bump that up a few degrees as well.

If you're writing horses, the weather and temps are one thing that people can get wrong if they haven't done a little research. Horses are typically more comfortable in a lower range than people are. They can (and do) acclimate to the heat, but it takes a little bit of time for them to adjust. If they're going to be worked in the heat, they have to be built up gradually in order to work safely in extreme heat.

What does this mean for your hero? If he's riding a hot weather horse into the cold, he'll likely do fine, except the hero does need to be sure the horse is drinking enough since they can refuse water that's too cold if the general clime is cold. If he's riding a cold weather horse into the heat - he's likely have trouble along the lines of muchly reduced endurance. That initial burst of speed might be only slightly less, but I wouldn't expect him to be able to maintain it. Dehydration and heat stress is a very serious issue in horses because the beginning stages are subtle and erratic. Even the most experienced horseman can have trouble recognizing the danger signs and by the time the horse starts showing clinic signs, it's often too late.

In spite of the heat, I'm riding more since I have more time each day with the schoolwork done for the year. I'm not sure I'll get to make any summer rides, but I'll have some horses ready for some of the fall AERC Endurance schedule.

As much as we rode through the spring, we've missed several events in May and into June due to a combination of things, but mostly the fuel prices. ... I say that, and then I had to pull out my calendar. I've stay home and missed 7 events in the last 9 weeks. That's well over 1500 miles of driving with diesel in the $4.70/gal range. *ouch* The calendar is full for the rest of the year, but I'm already chewing the end of my pencil. I'm not sure how many of those we can do. It's disheartening to have been patient for so many years and now when I finally have a nice new truck and trailer and half-grown kids, it's still so hard to get down the road. ... Ack! Enough whining for me. - back to writing!

I am not alone...

2008-06-05T09:54:00.015-06:00

One of the reading forums I frequent has a well-posted thread about 'guilty pleasures'.

I have a few ... don't we all? Check the reading list (bottom left) I just added. I know there are books that will make some readers blush and others roll their eyes.

But one of my guilty pleasures is John Ringo's Ghost series. I didn't intend to get hooked on it. (isn't that what they all say?) I don't read much (if any) contemporary military fiction, I don't read much (if any) modern day guy-stuff books. I like fantasy, hard science fiction, history and romance, and I especially like elves and barbarians with big .. um.. swords (and stuff).

The first book of his I read was a loaned-to-me copy of Emerald Seas, and I enjoyed it enough to buy the rest of the Council Wars series and read them over a weekend.

And I have to admit that he endeared himself to me when he mounted his hero on a (are you sitting down?) a *gelding*! I read the page three times with a silly grin on my face ... the man obviously knew horses. Not just because of the gelding, but he got all the little stuff right, and that puts him on my 'short list', in a good way :), for a lot of reasons.

So once I finished those four books, I checked out his website and it looked like the next book in the series was long-time-pending.... So I checked Baen's bar and didn't find anything about it, so I emailed.

John kindly replied - and after a brief if somewhat interesting discussion about Red Sonja, he suggested, since I liked a grittier style of fantasy, that I try his Mike Harmon series.

allllllrightythen.... I don't blush easily, erotica is a big market these days and I'd brought home a stack from the RWA convention that I couldn't leave on my desk for the kids to question.... but this Mike-guy was anything but a typical hero. In fact, it seems Mike's most redeeming quality is that he acknowledges his demons and at least tries to keep a handle on them. And the book actually had a plot that tied it all together ... and late one night I found myself downloading the e-version of the next book ... and so forth and so on.

...and so I was delighted to find this review of the series (yes, it's long, but read on! and you'll get more of what the books are about) and John's reply here, and the wonderful news that 'OH JOHN RINGO NO!' shirts can be purchased from cafepress for a good cause.

Reading reading reading

2008-06-02T17:25:00.011-06:00

I kept promising myself I'd put a "what I'm reading" list on the sidebar and I kept putting it off, but the longer I put it off, the longer the list got and the behinder I got.

One silly thing that had me puzzled is that I couldn't figure out where to start the list since of course I wanted to include the good books I read last week, and last month and the end of last year .... and all my old favorites ... *head desk*

So then I decided I would just list them all and that's a job that seemed overwhelming...

But I finally got it started just by listing the ones I can see on the tops of stacks and some of the ones I can see on the bookshelf from where I'm sitting. I'm thinking I need to go back and add author names and links on some of them. .....

Texas Summer Fun

2008-06-02T11:10:00.005-06:00

I recently had an author friend ask about swimming horses. She needed to get her riders across a river and questioned me about the depth and how well and easily horses swim.

Well, of course everyone knows Misty of Chincoteague and the annual pony penning where the ponies are swam across the channel. And The Black swam through the storm and pulled Alex to the Island. Swimming is also a popular rehabilitation therapy for performance horses and specialized facilities are available across the country.

But - in all my life with horses, it's not something I've done. And in talking to a few of my horseman friends, it's simply not that simple. Many of the anecdotal tales were like mine ...

"I tried it once...",

"...finally made it to shore...",

"...sank like a rock...",

"Swim? Sure, three times.... Well, never on purpose..."

If you're writing horses crossing the river, there are a couple of things to think about. First - think about all you've read about how many miles out of their way travelers would go to find a crossing. There is a reason for that, I think - that horses have to be taught that they can swim.

Sure, they can learn, and some love it. But it's very intense exercise, as much as a full-out gallop, and dangerous to the rider for that reason, because the legs (hoofs) are really churning.

I went to u-tube and spent much too much time browsing the selection of swimming horses videos. I found very few of horses actually *swimming*. The vast majority were of horses *wading*. In this photo of me and BERI, she isn't swimming, she's walking (jogging) on the bottom of the pond. Look at the top photo - see the surge and wake ahead and streaming back from her? She's doing something like an extended trot, which is extremely hard to sit for all but really top riders (not me!! LOL! Look at how tightly I'm gripped on to her mane!) So you have a LOT of 'action' *and* an incredible amount of force of water blowing your legs back, not just the force on the front of your shins and thighs, but the water forces itself under your legs and conspires to lift you off the horse.

I had started out with a saddle, but the pressure under water was trying to flip the stirrups up over my ankles!!!!!!!!!!! Very scary stuff.

Check u-tube again, I didn't save the link, but there is a horrific video of a horse that panics and flips in the water. This is, unfortunately, more common then the fun, splashy, trot-across. In my unofficial poll, in combination with going back over past memories. I think I know as many people who have, or known someone who has, drowned a horse as have actually been on one swimming. There is a wonderful video of a 17.2 warmblood stallion swimming in the ocean. Look at the riders feet as the horse swims, they are streaming out behind, over the horse's rump.

Another contrast of the ocean swim is the gentle bank and shore. In a pond, or more likely a river crossing, if the bank is steep, there is a chance the horse will slip and scramble (and maybe go down) in the mud. And that can be (very) bad news for the rider if they get caught underneath.

So, whatever you're writing, if you have to cross the river, spend a couple minutes of research on it, and give us at least a hint of tension and conflict. Remember that unless the water's more than six or eight feet deep, the horses probably aren't going to swim - and if you do swim them, remember that they may not all make it, and that they'll likely be heaving and gasping for breath once they get to the far side.

And no. BERI and I didn't actually swim. We may, over the next few weeks... or we may not. We'll be back down to the pond, but it will be more for fun and less for research.

New Arrivals

2008-05-28T20:08:00.015-06:00

I've been remise in posting again, but (here comes the excuse) it's been a lot crazy around here. Between the kids and work and writing - and, of course, the horses - time flies by and a week or more has passed before I realize.

We've had a couple of new arrivals in the last week. ...well, one isn't mine, not really, but I still get to brag on him because he's GWAIHIR's only foal this year.

Introducing AELFLEAH AL AZRAQ ("The Grey"), otherwise known as "Chewy". He'll be available for sale once he's weaned. Contact Aelfleah Farms directly if you're interested in raising a top notch performance gelding.

He's friendly and curious, as most foals are, but more than that, he's bred in performance proven lines that have great (steady, trainable) minds to go along with their athletic abilities. As bad as the market is (and getting worse), I know how tempting it can be to go after those 'bargain' horses. And I know a lot of people enjoy those challenges. But if you want one that's bred right and raised right - give Aelfleah Farms a call about this little guy because he's both.

The other 'new arrival' is mine. Not a foal though, we have a new mare.

DB RIANNE pulled in, after a long drive, about 4am this morning.

She's 10yo with a show record in hunter/jumper and endurance with a jr rider and we're pretty excited about her being here.

We owned her dam, DB RIFIAMA, for several years (as an older mare) and were very disappointed that we were never able to get a foal from her.

So many times, these wonderful little mares go into family homes, or performance homes (as they should), but then they are never preserved, replaced, to give future generations the benefit of knowing their daughters. Of course, the often unpleasant flip side of that is too many generations bred without performance testing, but that's a post for another day.

In any case, RIANNE is a case of how well it can work when people come together for the good of the horse and we're extremely grateful to the Schotts for their concern and generosity and working with us to get her down here where we'll continue her performance record, as well as breeding her within her rare group and sub-group to provide good-minded, athletic little mares to another generation of young riders.

Blogging With a Purpose

2008-05-19T17:19:00.012-06:00

Last week, L.A. Mitchell bestowed upon me the Blogging With a Purpose award !

THANK YOU! :)

I'm always delighted to hear from someone who gets any good out of my ramblings and was tickled to get this bit of recognition.

The original rules(which she says she loosely altered) 1. Nominate 5 blogs which haven't had this award before 2. Each of the blogs must have a purpose 3. The nominated blogs must make a link back to this page 4. The logo from the award must be put on their blog and it must link back to this blog. ...I'm going alter as well, not 'alter' really, but I'm only going to follow #s 1 and 2.

I have to admit I've been working on this for a couple of days now. :( We've been busy here...

But I'd like to name some blogs that I frequent. It's hard to pick just five, but I'll try. And these are not in any order. I have too many 'must reads' to have any real favorites, so I'm trying to pick a variety.

First, I'll plug the Hero Rats. We have pet rats, and they are sweet as can be. Now I know that a lot of people who haven't been around them, just can't imagine what great pets they are, but they really are wonderful. They're loving and very playful. And clean. They clean themselves all the time, like little cats. Back to the Hero Rats. This is an organization that uses trained rats to demine at-risk areas. They sniff out the buried explosives and they are light enough they don't trigger the mines when they find them. They are also using trained sniffer rats to identify positive TB samples. One rat can test as many samples in ten minutes as a human technician can test in an entire day. They're amazing little animals. If you've never been around them, spend a few minutes checking these two links and give them a chance to win your heart.

Next, I'm going to give you a couple of places I 'hang out', just because they are interesting people. Val is a cancer survivor, a vet, a horseman, not to mention a mom and a long list of other stuff - and she's an interesting person. As is Leah. Leah is one of my long-time crit partners and I have the greatest admiration for how she keeps writing though all of life's travails. She's an endless source of inspiration and support for me when life gets me down and my writing slacks off. She always gives me a hug or a slap - whichever is needed. :)

An Arabian horse blog that I follow, Daughter of the Wind, and a website that has not just modern show and race horses, and the ever elusive Pure Desert Horse.

oops. That's more than five already - ok, I'll stop there, but I'm not taking one of those down.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T18:54:00.007-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day with lots of snuggles and smooches from their kids. Ours was pretty relaxed, mainly, dinner with my mom and family. I snuck off a little early and came back to mess with the horses a little. I didn't have time to ride, but I got MIREE up and worked with her.

We had a wonderful short ride yesterday, and as young as she is, I won't ride her again for a few days. It probably sounds funny, like she's not on a training schedule, but she's not. Not really. But that's the beauty of starting my own colts under saddle, is that I can do it on the horse's schedule. I don't have to answer to the demands that someone wrote in a book, StepOne, StepTwo.... and I don't answer to anyone who's writing a check for me to push their horse along. (although, I have to say, when I was riding other horses, I'm not sure if it was luck, or if I was just hard-nosed enough about it, but I never had anyone try to lean on me to push their horses.)

But the wonderful thing I have found out about riding just a little bit and then giving them time off, is that they tend to think about it all and come back stronger. Miree has been doing well, but still a little unsure under saddle - but yesterday, she was all brass and confidence. A totally difference ride from last week and the rides before. She was steadier on her legs, more sure of her balance with me on-board, lighter in my hands and more responsive. A wonderful and dramatic difference.

So after such a good riding day yesterday, I put on her driving stuff today. We're ground driving and still dreaming of a harness and cart. But, to date, while she's been wearing the bit, she's been driving with the noseband - a kind of hybrid bosal I like to start colts in. Well, today, I went ahead and attached the reins to the bit ... and she went along as if she'd been doing it forever. Of course, she's not 'giving' and 'bending' the way she'll learn to do, but it's simply incredible to be working with a little mare that has so much try and so much heart that she actually reaches out with open communication to figure out what it is the two of you are supposed to be doing.

She tentatively shifts one way, then the other, her entire being focused on mine. Tension and pressure, a frown, mean "that's not it" and softening and praise mean "good girl!" ... and she gives the same tension or softness back to me depending on if I'm being good or bad.

And that's the part that you never hear about when people talk about a partnership with their horse - that a partnership is a two way street. For all that Miree gives, she demands as much. I'm just glad that she's generous and forgiving and willing to work with me and give me the time I need to learn to be her partner.

Logan's Redemption by Cara Marsi

2008-04-30T20:26:00.002-06:00

This story about a bad boy from the wrong side of life is anything but typical. Cara Marsi embroils Logan and Doriana in a twisting, intriguing plot that keeps the reader propped up in bed with a penlight long after everyone has tucked in.

From family squabbling to industrial espionage, this is a story about how way goes on to way, how each choice we make in each age of our lives -- each lover, each fear, each time we turn away from someone or reach out a hand, each right decision -- how these things change us personally and change the rest of our lives and our families lives.

When Logan and Doriana meet again, they know they can't go back ... and as the plot unfolds and tangles, mixing old unhealed hurts, hard heads, broken promises and unspoken lies, it seems impossible that they might have a future.

TEXAS-OKLAHOMA SHOOTOUT

2008-04-28T10:43:00.027-06:00

If you heard the sound of gunfire in North Texas this last weekend, it was the Texas-Oklahoma Border Wars in full swing. Two Cowboy Mounted Shooting clubs, the Texas Smokin' Guns and the Red River Rough Riders, converged at S&S Arena in Terrell, Texas to shoot it out in two tough days of back to back competitions.

Jared and I were packed and ready by Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, we loaded Beri (The 'Berinator') and hit the road. Terrell isn't too far for us, a couple of hours, and we made it in plenty of time, with no wrong turns. :)

Saturday and Sunday both went better than could be expected. Of course there are usually issues of one kind or another at any kind of event, but real problems were wonderfully conspicuous in their absence over the weekend. Beri and I had a few harsh words for each other Sunday morning when she cussed me out and embarrassed me for not knowing the pattern (don't you hate it when they're right!) but she worked like a dream for Jared all weekend and they pulled their first win on Sunday.

The funny thing about mares - for the writers out there - is that a really good lead mare will try to run your life. Beri hasn't been a lead mare, but she's fully mature now, eight years old, and really coming into her own. I think the traveling and competitions have helped -- she's seen a lot of the world and done a lot more than the stay-at-homes. Patricia Briggs wrote a wonderful mare by the name of Lass (The Hob's Bargain) who reminds me so much of Beri that I giggle all the way through her parts of the story.

What happened Sunday morning is that I rounded a barrel too soon in the pattern -- that didn't matter, just cost us a few seconds, but I had to round the barrel (again) *after* shooting all the light colored balloons, and so we had to go around it a second time. She knew I had screwed up and she made sure I knew she knew by stopping and sulling up for (it seemed like FOREVER) but I'm sure it must have only been a few seconds.... before she would go on and finish the pattern. Of course, she ran it beautifully for Jared during his class, but - again - that's a mare for you. He doesn't try to boss her and run her the wrong way around stuff like I do .... *sigh*.

here is a snapshot that Jared took of Beri. Anyone who knows her will find it funny because it shows her "very Beri" attitude .

and to show that some things never change, a photo of them when she was just about a week old:

here are a couple more ...

...to see how far these two have come makes me think I must be doing something right.

And I have to back up a little and say what a fantastic job the clubs did running this event. Everything ran smoothly and on time, any hitches were taken care of and transparent to the participants. Kudos to the clubs, the management and especially the organizers and volunteers for these events.

Also to S&S Arena. What a fantastic facility!! It's absolutely beautiful *and* functional. Many, many thanks to them, not only for the use of the arena and barns, but in going above and beyond with their hospitality -- Sunday during the awards presentation, they presented very nice western headstalls to each of the kids that rode in the wrangler division. It's a wonderful surprise, in these days of hard-lines with the tightening economy, to find a business with a heart, but S&S showed theirs this weekend. If you are looking for a place to host your event - be sure to check them out. You won't be disappointed.

***added: Jim Arnold got this wonderful shot of me and Beri on the second day. He's local to North Texas and does a wonderful job with equine event. Check out his website and give him a call if you need a photographer for your event or a photosession for your farm. He does good work.

Chicken Dance

2008-04-24T10:44:00.005-06:00

We have chickens again! .... of course that's totally not horse or writing related, but what the heck. :)

They are in a pen for now, but once they get used to the area we'll start letting them out. I got my first chickens a few years ago for natural fly control. They scratch in the horse poo -- that kills the fly larva and it breaks the cycle so we have less flies in the barn. They really do a better job than anyone can imagine that hasn't had free range chickens at the barn. (So see! ...this post is horse related, and writing related as well if you're writing about horses that would be in a barn.)

And the eggs! We were totally spoiled with fresh eggs and have been missing them terribly. These girls are young but have started laying already... and, yes, I'm already licking my lips... fried eggs, scrambled eggs, egg salad sandwich -- yumm!

We won't mention that they were delivered to me in a dog crate at the Last Hoorah endurance ride... or that one immediately escaped ... or that me, my son, and Thomas were running around chasing the chicken at the ride camp...

oh no. we won't tell any of that because silly (stupid) crazy stuff like that never happens to me. oh no. not me. *sigh*

The Last Hoorah Endurance ride

2008-04-20T08:24:00.013-06:00

We (me, GWAIHIR, GLAMDRING and Lucy) had a wonderful ride this weekend. It was especially fun for me because it's a trail that I help put in years (and years!) ago and have ridden a lot, but I've always managed the competitions there and so this was the first year for me that I got to compete over those trails. - and I loved every minute of it.

I took off work Friday and the youngest son went to camp with me and help out with the horses. He's a great camper - he loves to set up camp and cook and just hang out. I saddled up and rode each for the horses for about an hour and even though I knew they were going to be excitable the next morning, I thought we'd have a pretty good start.

One of the funny things about horses is how they almost seem to have a collective energy - and so morning camp at an endurance can be a pretty exciting place.

We lunged ours for a few minutes before we got on - and then just walk walk walked around, being nice and quiet. We let the front runners go when they opened trail, and we stayed back until most of the pack had rounded the first turn in the trail and then walked out. We walked for awhile and once the horses settled, we picked up a trot and jogged and loped the rest of the day. This is a wonderful fun trail, but somewhat technical and it's difficult to do fast.

I knew the horses weren't conditioned to do a fast ride, especially in the tricky combination of rock and slick mud we rode through, so we started out with the plan to ride back of the pack and stuck with it all day.

The first loop was 15 miles with a 'trot by' where the vet quickly checks the horse, then another ten miles. So we did the first half of the ride in about four hours, and the second half in about the same so I'm pleased with our pacing. Eight hours is a good, solid back of the pack pace that gives you a full day riding without getting too long. The horses looked good at the end, not too tired - and they both had good vet scores.

I'm having a little trouble with GWAIHIR, I think it's related to his blind spot. (he has a corneal scar from an injury that clouds the front half of his field of vision on the right side). He wants to travel crooked, with his head tilted so he can see more forward with his left eye and while it's not hard to correct him, it takes a lot of consistency on the part of the rider. I have a bad knee and ankle on that side that aches when I get tired and exacerbates his crookedness. He stepped on his heel bulb and cut himself (all on the right side) and he was sore in the back on that side. See how the issues cascade?

This could be an excellent issue to use to escalate conflict for a western or fantasy hero that I've never seen used. We're going to go back to doing more dressage type exercises in the arena to try to keep his muscling even and go from there.

The Blue Arabian Horse Catalog

2008-04-16T07:37:00.014-06:00

What is it and why do I keep talking about it? (and why don't I finish the FAQ I started last year for the sidebar?)

It's a catalog of horses, a list, that was compiled in a blue spiral notebook in the 1950s and published by Miss Jane Llewellyn Ott as The Blue Arabian Horse Catalog in 1961. ...and I'll quote a couple of snips from the "Purpose of the Catalog" page, the first paragraph and the last.

The Blue Arabian Horse Catalog is published to encourage the preservation and increased production of the type of Arabian Horse originally found in the possession of the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and bred in other countries by breeders whose foundation stock was drawn entirely from those tribes. The Catalog is devoted to those bloodlines which it's sponsors believe to be suitable for that purpose, and is designed to help the American breeders identify those animals still living.

...

The Arabian breeders of earlier days could afford to throw the last of their stock into the new types, for they, or their grandchildren, could always trek back to the desert for a fresh supply of the original breed; but when our grandchildren trek back to the desert they will be offered a fine assortment of used cars. And that will be that.

..."that will be that" always hits me hard. The reason is that even with all that's been done, it has not been enough. We still have these horses, but for how long? The numbers are dismal, only about 150 available as breeding stock. Our grandchildren may be able to enjoy them, but it's likely their grandchildren will not.

Why is that? It's because they are dying without being replaced by progeny within the group. So many times, the typical human response to that statement is to question - if they aren't being bred, is it because they aren't worthwhile? And the answer is a resounding "No!". In a horribly convoluted way, it's because they are so valued....

People don't understand -- let me try to explain. Because of the thousands of years of linebreeding, hard use and intense culling at the hands of the Bedouin tribes, the 'Blue' horses' blood is prepotent for a range of qualities. Riders, both families and professionals, love them for a very long list of reasons. Breeders love them for the ability to pass those reasons to their offspring, but at some point there seems to be a disconnect or a misconception about who and what they are, and why they can do what they do, not only as themselves, but in adding those qualities to other types and breeds of horses.

The Blue Catalog makes an analogy of the horses to coffee that I like. Consider horses to be coffee. The Blue horses are like black coffee. They are the source. If you want to drink coffee, no matter how you like it, you start with 'straight' coffee. If you want an Arabian horse, you start with a Blue.

Many people like a little milk and sugar in their coffee. It's even popular these days to drink it with caramel and whipped cream.

But the problem is, once you have added anything, you can never take it back out. If you start with a cup of black coffee and add milk and caramel, when someone comes along that wants it with sugar and cream (only), it's not available. They have to take a cup with milk, caramel, sugar and cream. They'll probably be okay with that, but when the next person comes along that wants a cup of pure, straight, strong black coffee - there isn't any.

So what a reasonable coffee brewer will do is keep a pot of black and pour out what is needed to mix the specialty drinks.

My other favorite analogy is the color pallet. You start with the primary colors. With those few colors, an artist can mix an endless rainbow, but if they don't keep a pool of the base colors, they can never go back and recreate them. If the artist mixes and stirs and paints, and mixes some more until they end up with anything from fluorescent purple to muddy brown - they can never get back to the bright, clear, simple red, blue, green or white.

So why don't breeders at least replace the Blue mares they love? I don't have an answer to that. It is possible that they don't understand what they have or why she produces so well. It's possible they don't understand how few of those mares are left. I don't know how to reach those people.

I didn't mean to go into all that, but, to get to my point in my typical round-a-bout fashion, it's important to understand where we stand and how invigorating it was, last weekend, to have a group of concerned riders and breeders sitting around a table and talking about how to raise awareness of these horses.

Tornado Season

2008-04-10T09:10:00.007-06:00

People joke about Texas only have two seasons, hot and hotter, but with that description they miss talking about our typically violent spring weather.

Spring is busy enough with the horses' schedule and the unpredictable weather always has to be considered.

and yes, the storms hit us last night. We have some moderate damage. A window broken in the house, two trees down and a couple of fences that need repair, but thank goodness it's all stuff that can be fixed. And the sun is out now, it's going to be a beautiful day. Somehow it always happens that way, almost as if Mother Nature is apologizing for what she's done.

These last few weeks have really flown by -- We went shooting last weekend and BERI is continuing to come along well as a shooting horse. John Adame came and took photos on Sunday. I'll update BERI's webpage with some, but I found this one funny because she looks like she's just floating along like a carousel horse rather than cantering.

...

More Mistakes!

2008-03-25T20:53:00.006-06:00

If you're writing any kind of western or stories about wars or detectives, or anything about police work or .... well - anything in which someone might have a gun, you need to know that The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Firearms, by Peter Knight is now available. And you need to click over and download a copy.

This is the second book in the _33 Mistakes_ series hosted by Holly Lisle in her HollyShop and it's of the same high quality as everything Holly carries in her shop.

Peter is highly qualified and well versed in his subject as well as a talented writer. He breaks down the mistakes into pointed and concise bite-sized bits that provide an amazing amount of specific detail in a no-nonsense fashion with the occasional delightful slipping in of subtle dry humor.

He covers a range of topics from historical to modern, gun types and sizes, ammo differences, range and damage, protective vests, accuracy - and lots more in specific and easy to understand terms. I'm a somewhat involved hobbyist shooter and I was surprised to read how much I didn't know I didn't know. Unless you're already working with an expert, if you're writing guns, you need this book.

Home Again, Jiggity-jig... and gone again

2008-03-24T08:05:00.008-06:00

After dropping Tamara and Xeresh off at their place, I made it home late Wednesday night - a full 20 hours later than expected. Certainly, we've earned bragging rights for making that kind of trip in such severe weather, but it's not something I'd attempt again.

The new-to-me truck did a great job, it's strong and steady on the road, although it didn't get near the mileage I expected (and had told Tamara to expect) so the trip was more expensive than expected - not to mention that diesel fuel had gone up nearly forty cents a gallon between the time of planning and the time of driving. The only lingering problems are that the skylight cover blew off the top of the vent in the trailer's apartment and the interior door between the apartment and the stalls doesn't want to stay closed now. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but I noticed it for the first time on the way home Saturday.

In other news, Saturday was fantastic.

After the intense week, between the travel and lots of overtime at work, I was up early Saturday morning and off to a Brass Tacks Match. Beri did fantastic. It was her second shoot and she's really coming along to be a good little shooting horse. I don't know if she'll ever be as fast as the quarter horses around some of the tight patterns, but once I improve my shooting accuracy enough to push her a little bit, it will be interesting to see how well we can move up the levels over the next few years.

We took another 2nd place, in the Ladies Class 1 division, which I am very pleased with. We were second a couple of weeks ago as well, but this was a bigger class, so I actually feel that we did a little better to hold onto second. I didn't see a photographer, so I don't guess we have any new photos - this is one from the previous match.

I've been trying to think how to apply the shooting events in my writing and the only thing I can think of is that some of those guys are so good - I'll probably never blink at another movie stunt or a hero's improbable' long-shot again. They can holster and draw so fast you don't even see it unless your watching for it and in the few matches I've been too, the shooting speed and accuracy borders on "you have to see to believe".

still on the road....

2008-03-19T15:17:00.009-06:00

It seems weird to think 400 miles is "almost home" but we're back on I30 and even if we're not back in Texas yet, it still feels a little familiar and more comfortable.

We drove into a drizzle and ever-increasing rain on Monday just after I posted and drove through that the rest of the day. It got heavier and slowed us down after dark and so we pulled into Fort Wayne about 4am, nearly three hours behind our planned schedule. We tucked in and got a good night's sleep before heading on up to Hamilton on Tuesday morning. It amazed me to see there were still snow banks packed around the corners in the parking lots and in the woods.

- off the interstate, through Hamilton and onto county and than local roads. Dirt roads, I'm used to, we live on a dirt road, but it was a treat for me to see the harnessed draft horses and the real working driving horses of the Amish community there. We found our destination without getting turned around or sliding off into the ditch. We meet Tamara (the seller) and Xershee who is delightful. We spent a little time there, chatting and seeing all the horses. I especially love being able to visit a farm and see generations and families of breeding.

From tank tops and sunshine, using the a/c in the truck, we drove up into to-us frigid cold, heater on and heavy coats. It was *great* to get back to Texas and the summer sun. :)

We loaded up without visiting for too long and hit the road, driving into the rain and storms - it seemed like it went on forever. The weather radar showed that it did indeed stretch from Indiana, through Missouri, Arkansas and far south into Texas. We slowed down and just kept driving and driving and driving as our 15 hour drive stretched on and on. The storms intensified until we had almost no visibility - the rain was sheeting sideways across the road and traffic was slowed down to a crawl.

The last truck stop where we tried to fuel up had lost power and said there had been two tornados in Little Rock (where we had talked about spending the night) so we just stopped at the next Motel 6 for the night. ...a good thing too, we saw several wrecks and turned over semi's on the way out of town the next morning.

Here are the sleepy stuffed dash-ponies headed out of West Memphis not-too-early on Wednesday morning.

Xershee isn't an experienced traveler, but she is a brave little mare and a real trooper and continues to give us a little trust in spite of her worry. She's eating and drinking - not as much as I would like, but ...some. We're not able to unload her as she doesn't load well, but she is comfortable in the trailer and we're giving her as much rest as we can when we stop. She's already learned to look for us to pop into the trailer and check on her when we stop for gas or meals.

*** I meant to post earlier and didn't get chance. We're closer to home now, back in Texas and loving the sunshine. Only thing I'm aggravated about now is my phone won't send me the last couple of photos. grrrr...

Yea! Finally got it~ Here is the pretty lady herself, comfy in the trailer in sunshiney Texas and getting close to her new home.

The Xershee Trip

2008-03-17T17:17:00.015-06:00

I love a road trip and picking up a new horse is always the best reason - especially when it's not mine!

Aelfleah Farms contracted to purchase a nice older mare that they hope to get a few more foals from and I couldn't resist the offer to 'go with' to pick up. It's the first long trip with the new-to-me truck I got last fall and I'm loving every minute of it.

Arrangements have been made for some time and everything was ready to go this morning. The truck had oil and filters changed, fluids topped off and a new tire last week. I got a couple of minor repairs on the trailer that's been needing for awhile and cleaned it out!

We pulled out of Cleburne at 5am and picked Tamara up from work in Dallas at 7:30.

We've made good time with no complications, so far, except for a little confusion about wiggly state lines. ..

Out of Texas, through Arkansas, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri... Illnoise and we'll to Indiana in another hour.

BTW, Tamara says her name is not Xershee, that she's going to call her Blackie. I think that I should get a vote since it's my truck that's bringing home.

I guess that's what I get for letting her read over my shoulder.

House Update

2008-03-09T12:11:00.008-06:00

Most of you probably don't remember that we're building a new house. It's going slowly (here is a post about it from last October) but we're paying as we go and won't be in debt when we move in. That's maybe too personal for a blog, but it is what it is it. I hate being in debt, and while I appreciate being able to make large purchases and pay over time, I doubly hate paying three times the price for something (by the time all the interest is paid).

I know it seems to be The America Way - to live high on the hog and pay by the month, but I'd rather do without.

Here is today's photo of the house-in-progress. The rock is delivered and ready to go up, and the roof is going on. So step by step, it's getting done and I'm getting excited about picking out tile and wall colors and textures for the inside.

Texan by the grace of God

2008-03-06T22:32:00.005-06:00

I picked up a new anthology from The Wild Rose Press this week, Love, Texas Style, because I can never resist a cowboy, and was delighted to see all the local Texas authors.

There is a wide range (if you'll pardon the pun) of settings from Big D to a small town that I'm sure must be Crockett, and from a working cattle ranch to the lonely roads in the far parts of the state. There are bull-riders, rich girls, fancy cars and old trucks, and even a giant rotating armadillo. In short, all the flavor and variety that makes this state great, or at least interesting. It's all Texas, oh so familiar, and all wonderfully larger than life with it's glitz and glitter, dusty roads, hot summer sun and those brilliant starry nights.

And the cowboys... it's all about those cowboys. ;)

A horse of a better color...

2008-03-04T18:47:00.007-06:00

So Saturday morning, early, my youngest son and I loaded up a couple of the mares and went to a cowboy mounted shooting event in Decatur.

The trip was pleasant enough, not too long (except for the infuriating road construction south of Fort Worth), but we found the arena easily enough - which sometimes is difficult for me. I have an odd propensity to be able to drive 100s of miles without a misstep and then spend hours looking for that last turn. I don't know why that is. Probably because I tend to overthink stuff. Anyway - the sign at the gate said "Lonesome Dove Feed" and we were looking for "Lonesome Dove Arena", but we could see a bunch of trailers and people riding so we pulled in. Thank goodness it was the right place.

The day got off to a good start. We brought BERI and MIREE. BERI to compete on, and MIREE simply for the experience. I used to always haul my babies on 'away missions', but she's managed to turn three without having traveled as much as the others.

Anyway, I've decided that MIREE's going to be my shooting horse because she's a nice western color. And isn't that how you pick out a good horse? by the color?!?!

*ahem*

But apparently - dun or buckskin or whatever color of bay she is - is perfect for a shooting horse. :) because she did wonderful. I saddled her up and rode her around in the arena during the warm-up. She was very attentive and alert, and wanted to run a little, but I didn't let her because we haven't cantered yet. Actually we've only trotted a few times and we did longer stretches of trotting in the arena Saturday than she has done to date. She's just turning a full 36 months this week so she'll stay in very light work for the rest of the year. The guns seems to be a total non-event for her. I've shot several rounds off her at home but I wondered how she would do with all the commotion and rapid fire of the competition... She was unphased. I'm so excited about what I'll be able to do with her over the next few years, I just almost can't stand it. She's one that has such a good mind and such a passionate "want to" attitude that I have to carefully check myself and be sure I don't ride her to often (no more than 2xs month) or too long (she's up to about 30 minutes walk/jog).

BERI, of course, was our star on Saturday. She's always been the one that I didn't get along with as well as I should with one that I raised. We've had a kind of push-push lead marish thing, which is a little odd since she's not the highest ranked in the pasture. I've just always felt that she liked to push my buttons. We knew from the time she was born that we'd be keeping her so while she was handled properly and trained, she didn't get as much as the 'for sale' horses, and she was spoiled a bit more (a bit too much). She was a 'kid horse' from the time she was young and by the time I started trying to ride her, she'd been well taught to ignore all the thumps and wallers from whoever was on her back. *sigh*

And it seems like she's never understood why she doesn't have her own bedroom in the house.

But as she's grown, she's eight this year, she's really turned into a good mare. She's started dressage and jumping but decided she didn't like jumping. And she can be a pig about what she doesn't like doing, so we took her out of training and let her be an endurance horse again, which she loves (see the BeriCam from a few posts back), and she's really good at.

Saturday she proved herself again. She doesn't like the guns, but she tolerated them well and I think is going to come along and be a good 'nuff little horse for us to shoot off of. We're hoping to make quite a few competitions, so it will be interesting to see where we are by the end of the year.

....and we don't have any photos yet... I'm compulsively checking the photographer site and will link to them when they show up.

Early Spring in Texas

2008-02-28T17:57:00.005-06:00

I know that most of the country is under ice, but we've been having beautiful weather and with the Horse Mistakes book out and the DFWWW Conference done, and looking forward to next year, I've been able to get back in the saddle. I've had wonderful rides, a trail ride yesterday and shooting practice this morning. I'm hopefully going to shoot on Saturday, so I thought I'd better practice at least once!! I won't admit how long it's been ... I will say "much too long".

I'm planning to take BERI for my son and me to compete on and MIREE to 'hang out', so I rode them both this morning and shot a few rounds off each off them. I didn't really expect any trouble, but I was really pleased with both of them and I'm looking forward to shooting with the Texas Smokin Guns, which is having monthly LOCAL shoots. Local is so much easier to do these days, not just arranging to be gone, but do I need to mention the price of gas?

It's been a good week overall. TELPE had follow-up x-rays on Monday, which gave us wonderful news. She partook in a kick-fest in the first week of November which resulted not only in a fractured leg but a severe surface injury. I call it a "surface injury" because it's a mess of a thing that's much more than a cut but nothing else more specific ...

So 16 weeks later, the fracture is healed very nicely, but the surface injury is still giving me grief. It's pretty and pink and small, but still not closed. We've been keeping it wrapped, changing the bandage 3xs weekly this entire time.

There is always a chance, in these cases, of a bit of dead periosteum or a bone chip. (either of which would go necrotic) The wound is not obviously draining, it doesn't smell bad (yes, I sniffed - and so did the vet - both the removed bandage and the wound itself, it's something horsemen do.) and she hasn't been lame, not even the first couple of days. So we *thought* that there probably wasn't a problem brewing, BUT when I had left the bandage off for several hours last Friday, it had swollen up and looked like both a "bandage bow" on the tendon and some bizarre blood filled swelling above the still open cut (which was by that time bleeding). So I called and made Monday's appointment.

You have to understand about TELPE.

Some people say that horses have an insight to God's Plan, know that they have an appointed time to die and spend their lives looking for it. Telpe, we've decided, has heard a whisper that she'll live a long and fruitful life and so has no fear of situations or circumstance.

We've also decided she's fallen in love with my vet and does want she can to get to see him. Early last year, she hung her eyelid on something and ripped a "T" shape in it that required delicate stitching and some relatively long term care with several follow-up visits to her favorite vet. So in the last 16 weeks since all this has been going on with her leg, she's seen him on a regular basis - not only for the leg, but for escaping her stall and getting in the feed barrel. And once she even went so far as to dig in the coals and singe a patch off hair off her leg.

But, for today at least, she's sound and whole ... and hopefully will stay that way for awhile.

DFW Writer's Workshop 2008 Conference

2008-02-25T14:25:00.003-06:00

All of you who missed the DFW Writer's Workshop Conference in Grapevine, Texas this weekend missed a real class act. Although it was a first annual conference, the DFWWW group is anything but new on the scene. They've been around since 1977 and have a tremendous store of expertise and knowledge to draw on - and it showed clearly this weekend.

They had a full line-up of knowledgeable, informative and engaging speakers, yes, including yours truly :), and a solid contingent of volunteers who were at every turn making sure things ran smoothly - and they did. The only thing that really drives me crazy about a well-run conference with such a fantastic schedule is trying to figure out which speakers to attend and which ones I'll have to miss. The attending agents were professional but friendly, easy to talk to and easily approachable. They represented a wide variety of genres - which is always appreciated.

Candy Havens spoke during lunch on Saturday, her key note address was so unabashedly heartfelt and so emotional there couldn't have been a dry eye in the room.and, if I can say it without sounding cliché and trite, she's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. It seems impossible for a individual to do as much as she does in a day - but she never pulls back. In spite of keeping a daily schedule that would drive most people insane, she still makes time to give of herself unstintingly. In spite of being wildly successful, she never loses touch - she's not someone you can admire from afar because she pulls you in, sits you down, hugs you and then tells you to get your butt in gear and get writing. I've found her to be the epitome of tough love, truly tough and truly loving.

Writing Horses

2008-02-18T09:36:00.014-06:00

I'm inordinately excited for HORSES to be Writers Rescue #1 in a new series hosted by Holly Lisle, The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About..."

~

We've all heard it and cringed…

"…book made me so mad I threw it against the wall"

Don't Be THAT Writer....

There are a reported two million horsemen in the US alone. Wouldn't it be great to be able to write as if you've spent a few years in the barn?

Some misconceptions regarding horses are so deeply entrenched in literature that writers take them as fact without researching and it drives horsemen nuts.

Don't Alienate those Two Million Readers…

This book covers many mistakes that even experienced writers tend to make about horses, including the details that are so often glaring in their absence.

~

So your hero jumps on his horse and – what?

When was the last time you galloped through the woods? …charged the enemy, sword raised? …got bucked off, stomped on or had a peevish mare tell you where to stuff it?

- For me, it was probably last week.

I've spent my professional life helping new riders work through mistakes and old riders avoid mistakes in new sports. And I've made my share of screw-ups. I know where things are likely to go wrong.

I understand the common misconceptions inside and out. I've seen them a thousand times in the arena, on the trail – and in far too many books. Don't write so horsemen snort and snicker or groan when they read your horses.

If you want to keep those horsemen reading, "33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Horses" can be your best friend.

"Show don't tell." How often have we all heard that?

What if you could include a scene where readers understand your horse is a stallion without you having to mention his dangles? Wouldn't you love to be able to define your horses through simple characterization instead of tired, old labels?

Imagine being able to write riding as if you'd been doing it all your life. It's possible to give that illusion by knowing a few simple details to slip in, replacing the old clichés.

Ø Know when your hero needs to rest or feed his horse.
Ø Give your horse gender-specific characterization.
Ø Know the difference between proper terms and colloquial lingo.
Ø …and thirty more simple yet important points.

Regardless if you are writing contemporary, western, historical or fantasy, this book covers the most important things you need to know about horses.

Let me help you avoid common mistakes from inside my world. Use my experiences in your writing so when a reader who's a rider settles back with one of your books, they'll smile, nod and keep reading.

~

33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Horses is currently available as an e-book in the HollyShop

Freeze R Burn '08

2008-02-15T21:35:00.016-06:00

Anyone who's been reading along for very long knows I'm always up to take someone for a ride. There would be no way to count the number of people I've mentored before or through their first endurance rides, but it's something that will never get old for me. And not just that first ride, but in seeing them come along over the years.

Over the last months, Sonya Cassella has been riding with me and last weekend was her endurance début. Her ride story and photos are here: "Don't Walk" and also (for your viewing pleasure) is the BeriCam and the GlamCam! Actual movie footage of an endurance ride.

You'll notice toward the end of the BeriCam the sideskip away from the sniper in the woods. Of course, I didn't see the sniper, but BERI assures me there might have been a sniper and her argument that we are, all of us, safe, sound and unsnipered, is irrefutable. Unfortunately.

I do have to admit that because I didn't see the sniper doesn't mean he wasn't there.

BERI has a fair number of miles by now and while she can still be pretty strong at the start, she knows her job. It's a real joy and satisfying to see these young horses growing up, going down the trail and doing so well.

It has been a long haul for me, but considering breeding and raising horses is a lifelong commitment I know that only ten years into it, I still have the rest of my life to go. And I'm absolutely looking forward to it.

BERI and GLAMDRING are paternal siblings and they had another sister there as well, ZUZU, ridden by a Junior rider, also in the 25. GLAMDRING had a third sister, Eowyn, on his dam's side who finished 2nd in the 75 mile competition in great shape. For these guys to be doing so well, and so obviously loving what they do - to me, that means that I'm doing something right. That all the agonizing over pedigrees and photos and the hours of watching horses move in the pastures - that has all been worthwhile and it makes me even more excited about the young horses still in my pasture and the little dream-horses scribbled in my notebook.

GLAMDRING did his first ride last fall, at the Road Warrior, so the Freeze R Burn was only his second time out. He handled it like a real trooper, moving easily down the trail, eating and drinking like an old pro. This photo is from the fall ride at about 45 miles. It was a hot day for November but we were glad for it.