Oops - my mistake!

Alert reader Summer Girl commented regarding yesterday's Friday Book Review of Billy Collin's Nine Horses. The horses on the cover are apparently NOT dead. She informs me the shots were compiled from works by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Hmmm... Well, couldn't prove it by me. The cover art for the book was designed by Barbara M. Bachman, according to the front matter, but if the original images are part of Muybridge's work, I stand corrected.

They look less than lively. But the possiblity that they were alive and kicking, at least at the time the photographs were taken, is certainly more pleasant than the alternative!

Do be sure to check out the link to Eadweard Muybridge, by the way. He's evidently responsible for developing a motion picture technique that answered "the galloping question."

Has it been THAT long?!

My ankles hurt. And my hips.
And my knees and my back.
Basically, my whole lower body ached.
What in the world?

But let me back up a minute.

I used to run 6-8 miles every day. Then I moved to SD, and for various good reasons, I for the most part stopped running. A couple of years ago I bought an elliptical machine to use winters when it's too cold and nasty to do much outside, and I'll admit, I've gotten spoiled - it's really easy to hop on and exercise for half an hour when I'm half-asleep. It's a pretty painless way to stay in shape for riding and chores!

But the elliptical machine is still taking up space in the basement at home, and since I'm only there on weekends, I had to find something else to do for exercise & stress relief during the week. And I thought, hmmm... why not start running again.

Ouch.

I've gone running on and off since I quit running daily, and although my hips might ache a little, and my muscles might be sore the next day, I've NEVER had sore ankles. Or most of the other sore spots I had after three days of running. Three days, I should add, that weren't even sequential - I went rollerblading the days in between. Yikes.

And then it dawned on me. Shoes. I have good running shoes - IMHO, riding boots & running shoes are two items of footwear worth spending a bit to get good quality, because otherwise you pay for it in other ways!. BUT, although they look pristine on the outside, I'd used them for about 1,000 miles of elliptical machine exercise.

Result? No more cushion - they're fine for walking around in, but for running? I'd have been better off barefoot. A week later, new running shoes, and I've logged three days of running with only a bit of stiffness - hallelujah!

And that started me thinking. How often do I really check over my tack to make sure that everything's still comfy, cushy, and secure? Oh, It looks fine. And I check that Chicago screws (hate them!) are snug, and that my latigo and off billet aren't stretched or cracked - you know, the big stuff. But is my wool pad still fluffy, or has it packed down enough to be uncomfortable? And what about my reins? Okay, so my whole bridle is biothane, so I'm probably fine there, but the stitching could still rot out.... There are any number of little things that might need attention.

I know I don't check as often as I should, because after all, it worked fine the last time I used it.

How about you? What's your tack maintenance schedule? Do you have one? I know I've had reins break. And on one very memorable occasion, walked home because the horse spooked, a stirrup leather broke when I stood down into it, and thump! Off went my horse without me.

Friday Book Review: so, it's poetry.

Do you know many people who sit down and read poetry? I don't. At least not that I know of, although they must be out there, because lots of it seems to get published. It just isn't usually on my list of things to read.

But I ran across mention of this week's book, and the title (and the comments) were intriguing, so I tracked down a copy. After I read it? Well, I'll let you read the review...

Nine Horses by Billy Collins

I picked up Nine Horses on a whim ( I liked the title, and as I said, the comments I read were promising). The cover has horse heads on it. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell from the picture I saw, that the horse pictured is, well... dead. That was the first surprise.

Although it's not at all horse-related in the sense the title suggests, I enjoyed it very much. After the dead horse on the cover discovery, that was the second.

Collins' poems are lyric and accessible at the same time. He muses on every day matters -- 3 AM wakefulness, love and domesticity, or the simple act of watching the scenery click by on a train trip -- and makes them experiences worthy of remembering.

I'm not usually a poetry reader, so this isn't a particularly literary review, but today I've been more watchful for the beauty in the everyday. I'll look for Collins' name in the future if a poetic mood strikes me, and I'm adding Nine Horses to my "books to purchase" list.

Even if it does have a dead horse on the cover.

What's in story for coming weeks? Well, one of the beautiful things about working is a library is that occasionally I run across nifty titles that might otherwise escape my notice. For instance, this week I found The Secret Life of Cowboys and a old book of compiled (purportedly non-fiction, but we'll see) tales of long riders and endurance challenges. The best part? They're now mine, as the library already has copies and no one else wanted them. :)

"The Unwanted Horse"

Received an interesting email today about the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign.

It's evidently a non-profit joint effort by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the American Association of Equine Professionals (AEEP). Here's their opening statement:

We’re for the unwanted horse. For the broodmare whose breeding days are over. For the Thoroughbred that’s just not fast enough. For the workhorses. The pasture pets. The foals that fell through the cracks.

At Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), we’re for the road home. Through the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign, we pledge to help the overburdened equine rescues and retirement facilities provide healthcare so they can rehabilitate, revitalize and, ultimately, re-home America’s unwanted horses.

Get involved with the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign. And help these horses find the homes they deserve.

They seem to be putting their money where their mouth is. Neglected Horses Receive Help.

Anyone heard of them?

Color me pink!

I'm just a tad sunburned, but we had a great ride. It stormed last night, and this morning was cool, overcast & breezy. Rufus and Bubbles were their usual laid back selves, but Sunny was definitely feeling his oats.

T dropped me off with saddle, etc. just before 8 a.m., and headed on over to meet J and collect Rufus & Bubbles.

When I brought Sunny up from the back pasture none of the herd came along, so he had to stand at the fence by himself - poor baby, grin - and wait until T & J pulled in. He wasn't terribly pleased, but other than whinnying a few times waited fairly patiently.

M stayed home, so no one had to walk/lead and we headed out at a brisk trot. Sunny tossed in a couple of crowhops - twit! But - touch wood - he hasn't ever figured out that to be effective he has to drop his head, and a slap on the neck discouraged him after the second buck. And after a mile of steady trotting he was settled and ready to behave himself.

It was a perfect day for riding - good stiff breeze to clear the bugs, the clouds blew away as we rode, and it stayed fairly cool. After the last week of 90's, 60' this morning actually felt almost chilly.

We did a fair amount of trotting and a couple of nice long stretches of loping. Sunny has a lovely long trot, so since T wanted to practice picking up leads with Rufus, I'd long trot out in front a ways and drop to a walk. T & J would jog until I was a ways up in front, then lope up past me. We leapfrogged along talking turns leading and following and being in the middle.

One thing I really hate about riding with a large group: often you have people that race up behind you and past you - or into you. And it seems like when there are a lot of riders there's always someone that's going to do that, regardless of how rude and dangerous it is.

It's horrible manners.

But knowing that it happens, it's not a bad thing to practice having other riders pass you at a different gait in a controlled fashion so at least when it happens in a larger group you've had a chance to judge how your horse reacts. At this point Sunny is content to flick an ear back to listen to the horses catching up without getting all worked up about it. There were a few rides when he was younger that he got used as a brake pad for riders who couldn't stop their horses. It's - a bit more than - mildly annoying.

A few miles in with J in the lead we were all lopeing along steadily. He warned us, then opened Bubbles up and really let her fly. Sunny wasn't terribly pleased to be rated to a steady gallop - he wanted to catch her, darn it!

And tossed in another couple of bucks to express his disgust with being held. Again, TWIT! He got swatted for his trouble and behaved for the rest of the ride.

He has yet to buck hard, but I'm happy he's grown into my old nickel-spotted saddle so I don't have to keep using the lighter Arab-treed Simco. I can sink right down into the seat on the spotted one and stay solid. For whatever reason I've never felt secure in the Simco, and it wasn't just on Sunny. Not sure why....

But I have ordered a slightly longer cinch - I'm just not riding often enough for Sunny to loose his grass pudge, and even though the latigo stays snug, I like having a bit of tail left to tuck through the cinch knot.

We covered not quite 8 miles, finishing up just before noon. No pictures - I remembered to tie the cantle bag on, so I had binoculars, tissues and chapstick, but I forgot to put the camera in. Sigh... maybe next week.