New Year's Prayer

I post this song/poem pretty much every year on whatever website I happen to be blogging at. I read it and listen to it every year. Jeff Buckley is one of my favorite musicians - a genius at that. If you have not heard his music, I would encourage you to do so - no matter what kind of music is your thing.

NEW YEAR'S PRAYER

You, my love, are allowed to forget
About the Christmas you just spent stressed out in your parents house.

You, my love, are allowed to shed
The weight of all the years before, like bad disco clothes,
Save them for a night of dancing, stoned with you lover.

You, my love, are allowed to let yourself drown
Every night in bottomless wild and naked symbolic dreams.


You, my love, in sleep can unlock
Your youth and your most terrifying magic and dreamings for the courageous.

You, my love, are allowed to grab my guitar
And sing me idiot love songs if you've lost your ability to speak.
Keep it down to two minutes.

You, my love, are allowed to rot and to die
And then live again, more alive and incandescent than before.

You, my love, are allowed to beat the shit out of your television.
Choke it's thoughts and corrupt its mind.
Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL The motherfucker before the song of zombiefied pain and panic and malaise and it's narrow right-winged vision and it's cheap commercial gang rape becomes the white noise of the world.
Turn about is fair play.

You, my love, are allowed to forgive and love your television.

You, my love, are allowed to speak in kisses to those around you and those up in heaven.

You, my love, are allowed to show your babies how to dance full bodied, starry eyed, audacious, supernatural and glorified.

You, my love, are allowed to suck in every single endeavor.

You, my love, are allowed to be soaked like a lovers' blanket in the New York summertime with the wonder of your own special gift.

You, my love, are allowed to receive praise,

You, my love, are allowed to have time,

You, my love, are allowed to understand,

You, my love, are allowed to love,

Woman disobey,
When little men believe,

That you, my love, are Rebellion.


**


Happy New Year everyone.

More 2010 photos

Here is another collection of various 2010 photos that may or may not have made into a blog post this year. :-)

March 2010. Wow. About 20 rides in.

"Dude, gimme that grass. You're going to waste it!"

Grover.

Horse show

Do we see a theme with Grover yet?

This girl was dumped in the mud earlier

"I'm not seeing any treats in that camera ..."

The Mystery of the Fat Lip

As I captured Hampton from the field today, I noticed what appeared to be a lump or wart-like thingy on his lip. Upon closer inspection, it is actually a slice? Bite? Not really sure exactly. It is sort of deep, but was not oozing or bleeding. He was eating just fine (more on that later), so I figured I'd swab it with a little antibiotic ointment and leave it alone. Not sure if someone bit him or what?

No, not herpes.

When I pulled up his lip (I wanted to see if this odd injury went any further in his mouth), I noticed that he is about to lose another cap very close to the sliced up spot. Maybe his tooth was bothering him and he was rubbing his mouth on the shelter or something? It is a mystery!

As I mentioned, he was eating just fine. Hampton has one of these buckets for his food:

As he was finishing up, I was puttering around and all of a sudden this bucket is AIRBORNE, nearly whacks me in the head. I mean I know these aren't the most secure buckets, but apparently Hampton has figure out how to fling it out of the stall with his nose. (only when it is basically empty).

Perhaps he is as bored as I am with this winter crap. SOMEONE needs to go back to work. I'm not naming names, but his initials are H.A.M.P.T.O.N.

Happy Holidays and thank you. :-)

I'd like to wish all my blog readers Happy Holidays (no matter which one you celebrate).

And Happy Holidays and a big thank you to all the people that help me keep Hampton in the best shape he can be in. I really do have a fantastic team of people behind me and my horse.

• The barn owner, Libby, for taking us both back at literally a moment's notice back in October. She also keeps an eye on Hampton on a daily basis and is also a great friend to go riding with. This all while working two "normal" jobs. I think she works too much but that's just me. :-)

• My farrier, Mike, for keeping Hampton's feet in tip-top shape. Not only is he great with horses, but he is on time for appointments! He also happens to be married to a friend of mine from college, so I would consider us friends, too.

• My instructor, Janelle, for guiding Hampton and I through this dressage journey. Her knowledge and experience have made both me and my horse better. She pushes me and challenges me. And my horse appreciates that, I think. I sure do. Plus she's just an awesome person.

• Vets Dr. Cathy and Dr. Frank for their expert care of Hampton this year. Thankfully, he hasn't seen these two awesome women very much, however, Dr. Cathy's chiro adjustment made a HUGE difference in Hampton.

• Equine dentist "FlatTop." For fixing Hampton's mouth. :-)

• ALL of my horse friends for the emotional support and friendship! You know who you are!

• My roomie, Adam, for helping me start Hampton (even though he knows nothing about horses, much less how to start one under saddle). Bless his heart for holding the lunge line earlier this spring while Hampton was learning stop and go.

• And of course family for every kind of support possible (emotional, financial, etc. etc)

Ch-ch-changes

I changed the name of this blog. "Opening up the Chord and Counting Strides" was annoyingly long and didn't really make sense to me anymore. So I changed the name to "Contact." Ah, a short name. Plus, it makes sense for a dressage blog. And Pluuuuuus it's the name of a really absurd Phish song. Double score.

Let's make it 2 in a row

Helloooooo 30 degree weather! :-)

I didn't have a buddy to ride out in the fields today so I just bopped around the roundpen for about 15 minutes. Hampton was again very very good, and the deep snow made him work a little. I must say that riding through deep snow is the rad. Although I look like a slob. Meh.

his tail is getting long hubba hubba!!

The streak is broken.

Yaaaay I finally got a ride in yesterday!

Both arenas are still icy, but the BO and I decided that a close to a month off from riding was just not acceptable. So, we tacked up and went riding off into the corn fields.

I must say that I am SO SO proud of Hampton. Here we are ... a big 3 year old getting fed quite well, hasn't been ridden in close to a month, it's a chilly day, no lunging and we ride straight out into open fields. (And, um, the last time I had Hampton out in the fields it didn't go well) A recipe for disaster for a lot of people. Hampton was a perfect angel. My BO's mare is a safe, sane trail horse so I knew having her along probably tipped the scales in my favor, too. And hey, we only walked but at least it was a ride!

We were out for maybe 40 minutes. Saw a coyote, a few hawks, plenty of tracks in the snow from various beasts. Sometimes, when we both quit talking, just the sound of the horse's walking in the snow was so peaceful. And for a few minutes, I forgot that I couldn't feel my toes an I just enjoyed the beautiful winter scenery .. and my horse.

We got a little too close to a perimeter fence at one point and I heard something growl. "Shit." I said outloud. I was expecting a coyote to appear or something but thankfully nothing happened. Whatever growled though meant business. Yikes.