My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Dressage is hard enough when you can see, but I can’t imagine trying to keep my horse straight or ride perfect circles while being blind. Nicola Naylor competes nationally and internationally. And not just in para- events. Naylor Blind dressage rider, Nicola Naylor, competes nationally and internationally in para and non-disabled events. But how does […]
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Whenever I ride through the woods near the barn, I keep a lookout for the history of the land: stone walls that mark the old fields (now overgrown with trees), foundatons of houses and hunting lodges long demolished, cellar holes and lime quarries. Although now the type of lyme we see in the woods is […]
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Every year, right around now, the deerflies start to come out. Zelda is a sensitive soul. She really hates bugs. The problem is, none of the expensive and deadly concoctions appears to repel the bugs. Minutes, maybe even seconds, after I covered every inch of her body, the bugs were back. So far, I’ve tried […]
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Zelda’s favorite game is catch. Today she decided that perhaps it was too hot and buggy to go for a ride. Of course, in the end, she lost. I was just glad she was in the small holding area and not in her acre and a half pasture. I’ve played that game there and, while […]
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It’s challenging enough to ride in a racing saddle. But in this race, the saddle slipped under the horse’s stomach during the race, leaving the jockey briefly straddling her horse at a full gallop before she managed to pull herself back on. Unbelievably, jockey Elaura Cieslik not only stayed on but won the race at the […]
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I’ve posted photos of my Ghost Quevis before — it’s a tiny treeless saddle that’s very close contact and minimal. I recently purchased fenders for it (more about that later), but in the meantime, I came across a screaming deal on a Cavillin Heritage, one of the newest models from Camillo Cavallin, who is one […]
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It used to be that the deer would run away when they saw you. Not any more. Some of them, like this deer (photo courtesy of Lindsay, since Curly is better at standing still when a deer pops up out of the grass than Zelda), stand their ground. I saw what appeared to be the […]
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At this time of year, walking through the barn brings back memories of Hitchcock’s The Birds. Territorial barn swallows dive bomb you, coming so close to your head as you walk down the aisles that the breeze of their wings makes your hair fly. I know they’re protecting their nests. But seriously? I’m starting to […]
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