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Showing posts from 2013

Cancerversary

After a bit of a blogging hiatus it seems rather fitting to start back up with this post. I haven't written anything for awhile because I've been busy and spending a lot more time behind a computer at work. Truth be told, the hiatus may resume after this post while I finish up a few magazine articles and ride my horses. But on to the reason for this post... Four years ago today, I was tipped upside down in a chemo chair at the UConn Health Center in Farmington waiting for my last chemo session for Hodgkin lymphoma while my port gave the nurses headaches. A lot of people recognize their cancerversary as the day they were diagnosed. To tell you the truth, I don't remember the day I was diagnosed. I was filling out a medical form shortly after diagnosis and it asked for the date of diagnosis. I couldn't remember it and made one up. I knew it was a Friday, that it was in September and the year was 2008. The 18th seemed like a good day to me and that's been my diagnosi

Breaking Bad Habits

I had been riding Secret at home after several wild rides around the farm. In case you missed the earlier post - you can read more about that at "You Don't Scare Me, I Ride A Mare." I was originally going to take her to Vermont on January 19th for the 15-mile CDR, but then had a funeral to attend that day. When I found out about the funeral, I gave her a month off. Today, my brother said he was going for a ride over the hill and asked if I wanted to go with him. I hadn't ridden Secret in a full month, but decided to take a chance and tacked her up. We've ridden with Scout at quite a few rides and his calm demeanor and generally good behavior is good for her confidence. I thought following him around the farm would be a good way to start breaking her habit of spooking and then growing roots when we ride around the farm. True to form, Secret was really good for the majority of the ride, following Scout on a loose rein. She had a few little mare-isms wher

Sixth Sense

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A couple of weeks ago, I had a morning where I didn't need to be at the office until 10 AM. I took advantage of the two extra hours by spending some time in the barn. I still had some time left and decided to hike the pine tree loop up through the cornfields. I hadn't gotten very far when I saw two deer up eating in the cornfield. I snapped this picture with my phone, and they actually let me get quite a bit closer before they took off. I've decided that wildlife (at least the wildlife in our corner of the world) have a sixth sense about when hunting season is. These deer seemed to know that hunting season had recently ended and they were perfectly safe to continue eating as I walked through the snow towards them. Although even if it had been hunting season, the deer would have been perfectly safe with me. I'll take that statement a step further too. I think the geese (at least on our farm) recognize the hunters' trucks. If the guys are in the blinds

Clarification

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To be fair to Secret, I should probably admit that I knew I was going to be in for "a real ride" the day I ended up walking the loop with her before we even left the barn. I took this picture of her standing on the cross ties while I tacked up. She was wired for sound from the minute I pulled her out of the field. One thing is for certain - she makes no secret about what her mood is! Of course, we've had some fun, quiet rides this winter too. They just don't provide as much to write about.

A Minnesota Girl

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A Minnesota girl is not an indoor girl. Remi was born in Minnesota and spent the first couple years of her life there. Remi loves to be outside, and really thinks there is no good reason for her to be in her stall in the barn. Ever. For any reason. This horse epitomizes what people say about other people, "they haven't had their cup of coffee yet today." When you go in the barn in the morning to feed and put horses out - Remi is that horse that is grumpy and ugly until you open her stall door and put her outside. Once she realizes you are putting her out, she turns back into the sweet, in your pocket horse that wants to be your best friend. Secret was raised in a run-in shed for the first two years of her life, living outside with the herd in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Lilac was born on the side of a mountain in Vermont and spent the first three years of her life there. John was born in Illinois and spent one winter there. None of my horses mind bein

You Don't Scare Me...

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I ride a mare. That saying was being posted on facebook a couple weeks ago by numerous horse people and every time it made my news feed, it made me smile. Truer words have never been spoken. There is another horse saying I believe in, "Stallions are from Mars, Mares are from Venus, and Geldings are From Heaven." I'm not saying that my gelding is perfect, he's far from it and has all sorts of behavior issues of his own. But he's very honest in his bad behavior - you always know what to expect with John. I've worked with a few stallions over the years too, starting with Tory, the stallion I took lessons on when I was 12. A stallion that knows the difference between his jobs (working and breeding), can be a really fun horse. Plus the testosterone gives him an extra edge on the performance side. Sometimes I wonder how I ended up with mares. Looking back at my history of horse ownership, the majority of my horses have been mares. I've had some abs

Horses Never Forget

I went up to Massachusetts to visit a friend on Saturday before the snow storm arrived. Some of the horses that were at the farm when I worked there are still there today. I headed back down the hill from the house, to the barn parking lot after visiting, and saw three of the barn crew headed to one of the pastures to bring in four of the horses. I wanted to say hello to all of them too (the people and horses), so followed them to the pasture. The people didn't notice me following as they were in conversation with each other. They caught three of the horses, but the fourth one was pressed up against the fence and staring at me. They called his name several times but he paid no attention to the barn crew, he just kept staring at me as I approached. It was Howie. When Nina looked to see what had captivated his attention and saw that it was me, she had me take him back to the barn. I've read several studies recently about how horses don't forget people. It's