Colours in my life

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And the wild lilac bloometh

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Every spring I make a special detour to a section of trail where the wild lilac trees are. With all of our warm weather of late, I was sure that the trees would have bloomed so I did the detour three times in the last week. No blooms yet. But today was the day, and she was glorious. We were surrounded by the scent. It was lovely. About ten years ago I came cantering down this trail with my other horse Jazz and my friends in tow. Where I came around the bend and saw these surprising blooms I came to an abrupt stop and my friends almost crashed into me. Since then, every spring I make sure to come see how the lilacs are doing. This year the blooms were particularly generous. This year I have a new budding friendship with our new barn intern C. A lovely young lady who is happy to follow my lead as I show her the trails. I get the benefit of good company and the safety of a friend, and she gets to discover all the sections. She was particularly giddy at our long fast trots as...
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111 cubed

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Annual Trail Rides: 111/200 (Bareback 5/12) "Can you take me out for a trail ride tomorrow? I really need it." said a fellow boarder to me. Her wife had a stroke a few weeks before, and she was struggling with the tension, anxiety and worry that comes with having your SO suddenly become ill. The morning of our ride I was in trouble. I had not slept, and had been packing a cocktail of anti-inflammatories and painkillers to dull the ache of my sciatica. I thought I would cancel, but I just thought I could power through. I almost cancelled five times that morning ... but eventually I found my way to the barn, tacked up and heading for the mounting block. Fellow boarder had invited another boarder to join us. We were three. When fellow boarder suggested she would like to canter today, I winced. I then fessed up that I was drugged and sleep deprived and I just didn't know what I was capable of. A few minutes of warm-up and I prompted us into a trot. A few minutes of that and I...
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The high road

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The last 24 hours have been a collection of creature comforts and happiness seeking as I sought to repair the damage of the anxiety-ridden last 10 days. I watched “Its a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, had a great ride in the woods after a long absence, and finally got a good nights sleep. Today I took a mental health day. And the sun was shining. The last 10 days have required my attention on professional matters that otherwise would have taken a downward spiral. The situation had me doubting myself and putting much credence on my naysayers. I chose to address it head on, and take the high road. It took the form of a public apology in a large forum while watching the confusion of my audience most of whom were left dumbfounded. It was a great big serving of humble pie. I experienced a wide array of emotions leading up to that moment and after, including guilt, doubt, defiance, anger, fear, mistrust and embarrassment. I came home after a trying day to a husband who listened and ...
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Happy 10th birthday Q!

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Sneaking in between endless days of meetings, I got a chance to go see Q and check out the trails. Given the rain, ice, and increasing presence of spring, the trails have been dubious at best and most boarders have stayed within the confines of the indoor arena. But this day was warm, bright sun, blue skies, and the parking lot ice was looking like crumbly crusty snow. So we dared to consider a little trail ride. Q was hot to trot and I was doubting my sanity a few times. But he kept it in check, and despite a few tricky icy spots we had a lovely 30 minute meander in the woods for the first time in two weeks and it made me happy happy. So Q is now 10 years old and doing just fine. 
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Teeter-totter through more groundwork

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After my “aha” moments of the week, I decided to venture out to the barn and tackle some tarps and stuff. My tools for the day - Flag - Tarp - Rope halter - Patience Q was not too impressed with my plan. Thanks, but no thanks. I got the snort, the scoot and the jump to the back of the stall when he saw the tarp coming. So by the time I had him in the aisle with his halter on, he was less surprised by their appearance. But he still shrinked away. Then we got into the arena, Q giving the tarp and flag a wide berth until I asked him to approach. You can see how tentative he is. This continued for a while but we eventually graduated to walking and trotting both directions, alternating with some flag work and poll release. I then wanted to get a halt on the tarp, as I believe that the horse doesn't truly "own" the obstacle until he is capable of standing relaxed on the object. It took a few turns, and then he was able to do it. He did struggle with ba...
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