I’ve mentioned before that my mother was trained as an engineer–architectural, mechanical, and–later–aeronautical. As a result, my childhood was shaped by, among other things, her engineer-brain, which operated across domains usually thought of as engineering (machinery, buildings) and usually thought of as “women’s stuff” (needlework including designing garments, slipcovers, curtains, etc., storage of household things, Read More…
Month: January 2022
Ride 15: We Circumnavigate a Field Section
Not a “section” section (640 acres, a square mile) but the north half of the West Grass, from Center Walk to the treeline along the north fence, bordered on the east by the dry woods and on the west by the creek woods. A much warmer afternoon, with a SW breeze, clear blue sky, bright Read More…
Ride 14: Rough start, good overall, patchy
I did groundwork with Tigger first, with Rags tagging along and wanting to do to Tig what Tig does to him. Made for some annoyance on my part, trying to get Rags NOT to do things that would get him kicked. Tigger, however, objected to my shaking the dressage whip at Rags (Rags didn’t look Read More…
Ride 13: Lessons to learn
I did ride today–bright, sunny, chilly day–but not until later in the afternoon than I wanted, due to a site visit from the solar people in the morning and some internal upset. Finally all that was out of the way, and I got on Rags with some difficulty but measurably less than when I started. Read More…
Jennie Loriston-Clarke and a Sour Horse at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, 2003
So, to the Royal Windsor Horse Show. Beth Ann and I were wide-eyed tourists for sure, no real clue what we were getting into–not like any US horse show in SO many fascinating ways. We didn’t have nearly the time we wanted at the show but enjoyed every minute. The last class we saw was Read More…
Pancakes for Supper
A dank, drippy, chilly day. Dull…misty among the trees in the distance, raw in the nose and throat up close. We had my homemade Survival Soup at lunch and R- came in where I was reading and asked if he could have soup for supper. I thought a minute and said yes, but I wanted Read More…
Dozen Rides Down…What a Stout Little Horse
I had a headache today but went out to ride anyway: felt clumsy (headaches make me feel clumsy) and awkward but kept at it until I finally had him tacked up and had mounted. Then things improved. Before that, I’d haltered Tigger and done the “walk over raised poles” and other exercises with him, with Read More…
A Soup Day
Last night, as the temperature dropped sharply toward freezing, I put 4 cups of mixed dried beans on to soak. We had a quart of a previous soup batch for supper. At dawn (skyglow enough to see the path to the barn clearly and go break ice in the horses’ water but not yet sunlight Read More…
A Tale of Two Rides (Numbers 10 & 11 in current series of “rides since hoof trim.”)
We’re into double digits here, just barely. On Monday, Rags and I went to a part of the land he hadn’t been near yet–the south end of the East Grass (connects to the Near Meadow, but adjoins a construction yard, not some house yards.) It was a lovely day, between cool and warm, with a Read More…
Back in the Saddle: Ninth Ride, Week Four (sorta)
Week three of Ragtime’s fitness plan started with some drama and was truncated by weather and a minor illness (mine, not his), so this was the first ride of Week Four, without having enough Week Three rides to progress to the next duration goal. But it was too lovely a day to worry about that, Read More…