So what is next?

What do you do when it really hits you that your perfect dream event horse is not going to event again, jump again, or possibly even do any type of under saddle work at all again?

Well, if I want to ride and compete again - and I do - then it is time that I seriously consider a second horse.

This is NOT to say that this would be happening anytime in the relatively near future. I don't have the money for it at the moment and probably won't for a long while. Right now I am trying to establish a business and not starve to death in the process, so my energies - and my money - are going towards those two things pretty much exclusively. Depending on how my financial situation works out, I think a good and vague timeframe for this would be within a year.

This horse-buying situation is going to be different this time around compared to how I got my last three. Quincy was a freebie. Metro was purchased by my parents. Gogo was purchased with blood money from Metro's mortality insurance payout. (Well, ok, so maybe it's not that horrible but it still felt weird at the time. Metro died, we collected our mortality on him, and therefore had money to reinvest into another horse. Essentially, blood money.) This time, I am operating under my own financial steam only.

Which means there is no possible way on planet earth that I am going to be able to afford the kind of horse that I really want. It's just fact.

This in mind, I have to go about tailoring my search process carefully. I am not going to be able to spend an enormous chunk on a horse. I am not going to be able to buy a horse that is far enough away from me that I will need to fly to go see it, and will need to have it shipped from a distance. I will have to settle for something local, within reason, and not too expensive.

I also have not ruled out breeding Gogo at some point. And we are not getting into that discussion today! But it brought up a point that worried me - I more than likely will have no idea who my potential future horse's parents were, and if it's a cheap horse, it might be offspring from broken down old nags who somehow managed to produce something nice. If Gogo with her potential leg issue is not worthy of being a breeding animal despite all her other qualities, then how do I know I will be buying a horse with a history of family soundness or not if I don't know the dam or sire? The nicest horse I am ever going to be able to afford is one that will come directly out of her in the first place, but I can't guarantee baby's soundness. Neither can I guarantee anything's soundness at all, but I at least wish I knew where the horse had come from - i.e. did mommy or daddy have any sort of major soundness issues. This worries me.... a lot. Sound is as sound does, obviously - some of the most crooked-legged horses I've ever seen were the soundest, and some of the nicest horses on the planet earth just fell apart under their own steam for seemingly no obvious reason. I guess in life there are no guarantees.

When Metro had soundness issues, it was obvious why - he had glaringly bad comformational faults and weighed 1400lbs. With Gogo, it's a bit of a different story. Why did her crooked front legs hold up to everything I could throw at them, but her relatively correct hind legs didn't? Who knows. If I breed her, I don't know if baby will be sound. I don't know if this neverending injury isn't healing because of some sort of genetic component, or if it is just the crappiest luck ever.

Anyway, I digress. New horse, eventually.

In order to pick up something of a vaguely decent quality for a low price, I am going to have to a) first set a price, and then b) either buy the best I can in a very young horse, find a total diamond in the rough, or put up with some sort of issue in a nice horse that causes it to have a lower price. All of these things come with risk, but so does every horse buying adventure. I think I will know the right one when I find it.

I also have the option of rescuing something. I think this falls under the diamond in the rough category. If any of you so much as mentions the phrase OTTB I will be forced to make you drink liquefied brussel sprouts!

Secretly, very secretly, I kind of want to adopt a mustang. A cavalry remount one, you know... one that isn't a pony. But it's a bit of a silly pipe dream at the moment. Now THAT would be an awesome and fun project. Again though, that's a bit of a crap shoot.... how on earth would you ever know what you are going to end up with?




Technically, I guess it's ALL a bit of a silly pipe dream at the moment. A new horse won't be arriving in my life for a good long while, honestly. We'll just have to see what happens, and in the meantime, it's time to start brooding on what exactly I really and truly am hoping to find.




In other seriously unrelated news, have some awesome stop motion joy!

Weird Horses

I have a confession to make. I am hopelessly, eternally, irrationally attracted to weird horses. Weird breeds, weird colors, weird traits... you name it, it piques my interest immediately. I know exactly where it comes from: a bizarre critter named Peyton that captured my heart in college and refused to let go. Ever since then, I can't help but look at the horses that are a little different looking, and go "wow... I love that."

Peyton was the weirdest mix you could have possibly thought up. Found toodling around in front of an Amish cart, he was picked up by one of the trainers I worked with in school, and ended up my project in a class called Training I. My partner Lisa and I completely fell in love with our goofy, roan-y thing, especially after we saw him move. He was tiny, barely over 15hh, and was a cross between what we assumed was Dutch Harness Horse, Clydesdale, Morgan, Appaloosa, and maybe something else too. He was a bizarre PINK roan color.... it was a cross between sandy brown and reddish pink. He had the big white face and stockings of a Clyde, but the mottled skin of an App, and the movement of a Dutch horse. He was insanely talented.







Those picturs don't show off his ridiculous movement. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you can see him freejumping.... seriously adorable.

He, of course, was for sale for a fair bit of money, and sold to some nice family somewhere in Ohio. I was a bit heartbroken because I wanted him all for myself, of course. He was hot and sensitive, a bit too much for what I realistically wanted, but I loved him to death, and had so much fun with him I can't even describe it.

And it was all over from there. My love for weird horses was solidified.


I've been poking around online a bit for possible lease/purchase options once I get down to Texas, and haven't found anything SERIOUSLY serious yet - how can I, I'm not even down there yet! - but sometimes I stumble upon something that reads this: "17hh Pintaloosa/Perch/QH cross gelding, field hunting, eventing, dressage!" and can NOT help but look at the ad.

And then this ADORABLE thing pops up:




AHH. I want THAT in my backyard! I would want that thing in my backyard even if he wasn't a totally weird color. He is adorable.


What's your one WEIRD thing that attracts you to a horse? I'm not talking a pretty topline or a textbook shoulder, I'm talking something strange, like a particular set of ears or a behavior. What attracts you even though you can't figure out WHY?

My Not-So Beautiful Blog

I've been tagged! By, well, a lot of people, lol. ;)



Thanks to everyone who tagged me, I really appreciate it! I am really bad about coming up with things (seven WHOLE things!?) about myself that you don't already know, so some of you may have already heard some of these:


1. I have secret fantasies about life suddenly becoming a musical, and being able to step outside into a huge dance number where everybody I meet falls into line behind me. I also want life to be like a movie where everybody's shopping bag has a huge loaf of french bread sticking out of it.

2. If there is a fountain anywhere near me and it is of a relatively agreeable temperature out, I WILL get into it.

3. The fight scenes between Cato and Inspector Clousea in the original Pink Panther movies CRACK ME UP every single time I see them. The slow-mo NEVER gets old!

4. It's a life goal of mine to see every national park in the US, and I'm well on my way. I also want to see every national park in every country I ever visit, but that would mean a lot of starting over because places like Canada have an awful lot of them.

5. I am deathly, deathly, deathly, deathly, deathly afraid of needles coming anywhere near me. I can give injections to horses all the live long day. But needles near ME? Dear god, I'd rather go to jail for killing the doctor coming at me with a needle than actually get the shot. I'd rather gouge out my own eyes with a rusty spoon than get a shot. I'd rather die painfully from whatever horrible disease I had than get the shot that would save my life from said horrible disease. It's that bad.

6. I've had a LOT of interesting haircolors. Bleach blonde with red highlights, black with red highlights, black with purple highlights, regular purple, black and bleach blonde, black blonde and red, bright red... and once upon a time I had the sweetest faux hawk ever. I WANT IT BACK.

7. In a 12-hour period, I decapitated a deer AND t-boned a school bus right off the road with my old Jeep, which was bright orange and named Taco, although it also earned the nickname the Murder Machine after this. In honor of the deer, I chained antlers to the front of it. I also rocketed off a cliff, rear-ended another Jeep the same make, model, and color of mine, and did an over rotated 180 on the freeway into an overpass with my sister in the car, with my father on the phone at the time. He was not amused.


Bonus #8: I love being alive.




And I tag ALL OF YOU! Everyone who hasn't already gotten this award, consider yourself tagged!

Super Prix!: A Guide to Mid-21st Century Dressage

As a bit of entertainment, I offer you this complete and hysterically tragic piece of satire: The Super Prix!: Your Guide to Mid-21st Century Dressage. There was a bit about it on Eurodressage and I had to look into it further. It's remarkably witty and a little bit sad at the same time due to the truth in it. I'm sad because I can't figure out why there aren't proper links to such interesting class descriptions as the Pirouette to Infinity, Perpetual Piaffe and Most Extended Trot. Seriously, go check it out and laugh, shake your head, and grimace with every new description. It's spot-on.

In other news, Gogo neither went outside nor got ridden today. It was raining hard all day and it was my assumption that the drumming of rain on the roof coupled with the wind rattling the doors might turn her into a ticking timebomb. No sense in tempting fate now is there? She did, however, go on the treadmill as per usual and also moved from the New Barn to the Red Barn, which is where she was when we first moved there. She is in a much better stall than she was before - very large, very bright, very airy, and had two windows as well as a stall gate. She seems pretty happy and is free to try and eat the horses that walk by her stall to the indoor arena, whenever I am not around to yell at her. Tomorrow I will likely just treadmill her again, as well as bathe and clip her in preparation for our vet appointment at Tufts on Wednesday. I'm unwilling to do more than that until I actually see the new ultrasounds and what her level of soundness really is, as well as get their opinions on that crazy hock of hers, which does look better but is still not normal. I'm really, really nervous.


Regardless of level of eventing soundness that she returns to, I'd really like to try a competitive trail ride next year. And I want to teach her to drive. And I want to cut cows with her, just once, just to say we did it and to see what she'd do. I want to overnight camp with her. And multi-day trail ride with her. And go swimming at the beach.

But right now, I'd settle for a nice, quiet walk. That would be great too.

Lady Gogo's Bad Romance

It's true. Gogo has a new love interest. Gone are the days of being a manhating, greyhating witch. Her nextdoor neighbor James? Oh she just loves him. James is both grey and male, so I'm not sure what happened to change her mind. Anyone who knows her can attest to her former viciousness towards all things grey. Then again, she used to also hate all things chestnut, but after Sinatra, Harley, and her late love Sonny, that seems to have changed. At least she seems to be raising her standards though. James is a nice guy. Sonny wouldn't even take her out to dinner. HE only wanted one thing, you know what I'm saying? (To kick her head in.)

In other hodgepodgey news, yesterday was the glorious Equine Affaire in MA, and I don't care what you all heard, it was neither small nor lame! We ran around starry eyed shopping for like 6 hours, and that didn't include stopping for lectures and demos (none of which we really got to see). We also got to watch the Versatile Horse & Rider Competition, which I am totally going to do next year with Gogo. It looked like all kinds of ridiculous fun. Riders had to jump jumps, pick up pumpkins in a wheelbarrow and wheel them somewhere else while there horse stood there, ride through a tent of waving streamers, pick things up and put them elsewhere, and more. Totally could have done all of it with Gogo. I also got to splurge a little given the size of my first paycheck, which was GREAT! Gogo got a new Himalayan salt lick, Back on Track no-bows (buy a pair get a pair free!), Sore-No-More liniment (pretty much the only kind you can put under Back on Track wraps), a new blanket liner from Schneiders (because I don't have a medium... it's either freeze under your sheet or roast in your heavyweight), and a new neck cover for her heavyweight (because she shredded hers last year). I got a new Holsteiner decal for Patron, and also took a step towards treating myself and my body better, which is my new goal now that I can afford it, and bought myself a Back on Track back brace. I don't know what's wrong with my back but it's NEVER right, and it hurts ALL the time, which is miserable. I need a good chiropractor and am getting the name of one from my roommate, so hopefully maybe next week I can get adjusted, but until then (and after), I have this to help support me and make me feels better. And it DOES feel great, I can tell you that much. Only problem is that it came with a warning - "May cause discomfort or pain shortly after first usage." And oh my GOD, when I took that thing off last night? Crippled. It was awful. However, I feel much better this morning, so let's hope my back will adjust to its newfound bloodflow and feel better within the next week or so. I've also been drinking lots of organic tea and fresh salad, and am going grocery shopping tomorrow for the first time in almost four months. Life is good. I figure if I really want to be a farrier, then I need to treat my body right. And next week? I get to start taking regular yoga classes! Hooray!! I also got to see several people I haven't seen in a really long time that I miss very much (hi Chantel!!!!!!!!!!!!) and that totally made my day too.

Something else interesting happened at the Equine Affaire - I had a chance to really talk to KC La Pierre of the Institute of Applied Equine Podiatry. While I don't know much about the school or what they teach/preach, I've maintained a healthy interest in their Perfect Hoof Wear system. It's similar to hoof casting, but it's less rigid and had a little flex to it. I never looked further into this because the system was not appropriate for working on blacktop, nor did it really look like it could give the traction I would require and wasn't designed for the jumper. However, KC showed me the not-yet-released Pro Kit, which he had the parts for there with him. It's very interesting - it still had the same adhesive wrap, but it includes a black plastic piece fitted to the bottom of the foot that gets included with the wrap. The plastic piece is hard to describe, but it looks similar to a typical glue-on... it's just a different mechanism. Interesting... I can't find anything on the internet yet about it (they said it will be available to the public in 2 weeks), so I have nothing to show you yet, but I will keep you updated.



Gogo's under saddle work continues to go well as we enter week 2 of back of work, ish. Tomorrow we will be walking for 20 minutes, an increase of 5 minutes just as we planned. The legs continue to look good, probably as good as they ever will, and she started using the Back on Track wraps today for the first time. So far so good. She is very sound at the walk, which makes me a happy kid. What does NOT make me a happy kid is the current shavings situation in my stall. At the other barn, the rule was to have like a foot of shavings in every stall, seriously. It was a bit insane but it kept her feet high and dry (literally) and therefore worked out okay. But at the new barn, with the ComfortStall system, they use way fewer shavings, just enough to soak up the wet stuff. In theory this works, but in practice it just doesn't work at all. Gogo's stall, always bone dry when I leave at night, is SOAKING wet every morning, so much so that it bubbles and squishes underneath her feet. She is standing in her own filth and the guys don't usually get to her stall until almost 10. I can counter this by cleaning her stall myself, but it still doesn't solve the issue if I can't use as many shavings as I need to. I'm going to ask if I can pay for some extra, or just tell the guys to add more to her stall, because it's bad. Her feet are just melting and it's horrible to watch. I am fighting a losing battle with them and it's a nightmare. I can't keep them dry, so it's all I can do to at least try to keep them clean even if that means they're still wet. I must find a better solution for all this. It's driving me completely insane.


Last but not least, here's a little Perch eye candy for those of you Brego fans from when I rode him in the New England Hunter Trials:






That was one amazing ride. Even though the judges hated drafts. A-holes. We were awesome.






Who wants this browband for Christmas? Yes ma'am, I do.

What's in a name? (Official AEC Countdown: 10 Days!!)

It's one o'clock at this current moment in time but I am entierly too riled to go to sleep just yet, all thanks to Tarantino's current masterpiece Inglourious Basterds. I absolutely ADORE Tarantino and place him directly behind Tim Burton as my second all-time favorite director (what can I say, I am into weird things). Come to think of it, I'm not sure I have a third favorite. Anything these two produce I will go see, no questions asked. And they always deliver.

But that's not quite the point of this post, though related to be sure. The point of this post is this: what's in a name? Dear readers, how did YOUR horse get their current name? Do you believe the tommyrot that says you should never change a horse's name due to bad luck? I don't, and two of my three horses have had their names changed because of it (informally, anyway, as they did keep their registered names). True, the second of these three had THE worst luck EVER; however the one that DID keep his name died a very painful and violently horrible death, so I'm going to guess that names are not really revelant to luck in this case. And really, I DID show him under a name I created, so in that case... all of them had new names, and all of them had equally interesting/uninteresting ways of being christened.

And their names and how they got them? Quincy was the first.... and always Quincy. Quincy came with Quincy, and I think if I didn't associate it with such a wonderful animal I would simple detest the name. It's so petit-bourgeois, you know? And his registered name? Worse. Quintius. Who names a horse Quintius? Quintius is a shared middle name for a bunch of Romans who amounted to absolutely nothing at all. Not something to live up to, really. But there he was, Quincy and always Quincy. I did show him as Quintius for our first ever show, but the name was just repugnant. At the time, I was a HUGE Beatles fanatic (still am, actually, but I do listen to other music now.... doesn't EVERY high school kid go through a phase where they listen to NOTHING but Beatles music for awhile?), and I happened one day to be going through a dictionary looking for something or another for homework. I was in the Q section, and my eyes stopped at the entry for "queue." Q for Quincy.... Queue for Quincy. I've got it! In The Queue, like from George's good old Old Brown Shoe! "For your sweet love I'm in the queue, baby I'm in love with you!" It fit, and In The Queue he was. I still love the name, totally. So barn name Quincy, registered name Quintius, and show name In The Queue. In The Queue was the only change I made.

The second? Metro. But oh no, he did not come with Metro. Metro was... Blue. Yep.... good ol' Blue. Now, he came from THE most awesome family EVER who had him for his entire life before they sold him to me (the mother of the family pulled him out of his dam!), but he did not have the most awesome name. His registered name? "Blue Rodeo." BLUE RODEO? That is the perfect name for a ranch-bred QH... not an enormous, old-blood Trakehner. I later found out that Blue Rodeo is actually a bluegrass band from BFE, Canada, so I guess it had to come from somewhere. So the name Blue had to go. Now, I was a 19 year-old smartass. Really. However, I did not possess a lot in the way of brains. Metro literally got his show name (and subsequent barn name) as my idea of a snarky poke at hoity-toity German warmbloods with their hoity-toity German names. I mean, how many German fancies are out there with the name Wirklichbeeindruckendpferd? Probably a lot. By the way, that's a rough translation of the merged words "Really Awesome Horse." I thought I'd take a little stab at their fancy German names and dub my own fancy German-blooded animal Motörhead. Yep, Motörhead! One joke for the win! Later it occured to me that there's actually nothing German about that... AT ALL. Motörhead was not a German band in the slightest... they were a British rock band. Not to mention the fact that motorhead is a bit of American slang for - you guessed it - a speed freak. And you can say all you want about flying down the highway at at 100mph, but that only applies to this term if you also happen to have a large amount of ice in your system. Nice. But now that my horse had an unintentionally questionable (albeit INCREDIBLY AWESOME) show name, how to find his perfect barn name? Simple. Flip through a catalogue of Motörhead of songs..... and there was one starting with an M, Metropolis. Ah ha! Metro! Perfect. Why just not name him Metropolis? my poor mother pleaded. It's so much more sophisticated. Nay, I told my mother. Motörhead it was, and Metro for short. So barn name Metro (original name Blue), show name Motörhead (original name Blue Rodeo), and registered name Blue Rodeo. I only kept Blue Rodeo because there is no changing a registered name.

And Gogo? Oh my dear Gogo. This is where Tarantino comes back into our story. When I bought Gogo, she came with the name Revelea. Beautiful, just beautiful, yes? But not very fitting as a barn name, and it certainly didn't fit her personality. I was never given a barn name, so I'm not sure what the original was, if there was one different from Revelea. I came very close to naming her Parlez-Vous?, and having the barn name Vous, which I think I would have been satisfied with. However, I just couldn't get over the idea of having to cringe at every show while every announcer butchered the name - ParLEZZZ VOOOSS? Wrong. (I seem to have made it no easier for announcers with her current name however - at Huntington, I vividly recall them announcing her as "Gogo Foxtail." WTF?) This was the summer of my internship, of course, and it so happened one day while I was pondering names that I happened to also be chatting with my supervisor/assistant manager of the place. She, for whatever reason, was chatting about the owner's kids' ponies names, back when they were little, and she mentioned the pony "Gogo" in passing. "GOGO?" I shrieked. "THAT'S THE PERFECT NAME!" In a twist of fate that completely solidified my decision, I happened to be watching Kill Bill Vol. I later on that same day (which I absolutely adore... back to Tarantino). There happens to be a very awesome antagonist named Gogo Yubari in the film, and when she came on screen swinging her spikey ball and chain weapon I made my naming decision. But Gogo Yubari was too much of a mouthful to say... and somehow wasn't fitting. There is another character in the film that works with O-Ren named Sofie Fatale, and I put the two together. Gogo Fatale. My little femme fatale in horse form. I call it her James Bond Girl title. So barn name Gogo, show name Gogo Fatale, and registered (although yet unregistered... that is another story for another day) name Revelea. I do still love the name Revelea and have it on her show halter, actually. But still. Gogo Fatale is honestly THE perfect name for her.



I think I should make it a tradition to name my horses after Tarantino film combo-names. Maybe Gogo's first filly could be Shosanna Fatale. That would be wicked sweet.

Or maybe just weird cause it's 2 o'clock in the morning. Perhaps I should get to bed.



Tell me readers, how did your horse(s) get his/her/their name(s)? I want to know!



(There is much to write about Lady Gogo, but alas, it is bedtime. I will have more tomorrow, I promise. 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

DEATH!

I swear I'll have a real post for you tomorrow. It's been utter chaos here, with the mold guys and the insurance dudes and the impossible task of packing up EVERYTHING I own (pictures and posters on the wall included), shoving it into boxes, and putting it into a pod (which isn't here yet), and pretty much being homeless for the next two weeks even though I don't actually have a room right now and am crashing on the couch with all my moldy stuff in heaps around me, on top of getting ready for Areas AND Riga Meadow on the 19th. Couple that with lack of real sleep and serious mold allergy, and you've got one hell of a mess.

But Gogo is amazing. And even though I don't even really have time to breathe, eat, sleep or think right now (and it's midnight and I still have to shower and sleep and be up at 4am because I have a lesson at 8), she's keeping me sane... even if everything that isn't here is spiralling out of control.

And she's crazy. But we love her just the same.

Ever forget you were gay?

I have! Actually I do all the time. I've had several people ask me about this subject, and got a few questions from an anonymous commenter just the other day, so I felt that touching on the subject might be silly and fun.

No, seriously, I forget that I'm gay. It's such a normal, boring ol' life thing that's just a part of who I am and is also totally forgettable, like having short hair or a nice tan or some killer arm muscle (that's me! Seriously, it's freaking me out, I look like a G-D bodybuilder right now). Being with a girl (more specifically, my fiancee) is such a natural and normal thing that I find myself eyeballing straight couples every once in a while, because it looks unnatural to me. No seriously, I do! Heterophobia... well, the first step is admitting it, right? I accept my straight friends for what they are, and just have to deal with the fact that no matter what I say, I'm not going to be able to convince them that sex with girls is THE BEST THING EVER. No, seriously, try it!

In all seriousness, I suppose that loving and sleeping with women exclusively has earned me that weird L-word label. I'm not much into labels or the whole gay pride thing, nor do I really feel like it's a huge and glaring part of my everyday existence. But just because I feel that way doesn't mean that everybody else does too. In an ideal world, we'd all just love whomever we happen to love, and that would be the end of the story. In reality, there are lots of people out there who hate us, want to hurt us, and want us to remain as second-class citizens. Don't believe me? Just go Google the Westboro Baptist Church, or Fred Phelps. I won't post a link to it because it makes my stomach church.
Some people hate me for being a girl in love with another girl. (Maybe they're jealous of the hot hot hot hot hot HOT sex. No seriously. I'd be jealous too.) Some people slander us with horrible, crude names, some people tell us we'll be burning in hell, some people tell us that we ought to be shot and killed. Some of us do get shot and killed. I've had my ass beat more than once, and worse. Way worse. I don't talk about it anymore, but it hasn't changed who I am. How could it? I'm not afraid to love. And I honestly don't understand it. Why? Why hate? Why waste the time and energy when there is so little love in this world anyway?

Was it hard to "come out?" Well, yeah, it was. I kind of figured it out on my own after I caught myself staring at girls' butts in tight pants and skirts while going up the stairs behind them at high school (no seriously. THAT'S how I found out I gay. While I tried to convince myself I was just jealous of their round little buttcheeks, I actually just wanted to jump those round little buttcheeks. To put it politely.) I told my mom when I was 16 and had my first ever girlfriend. She didn't take it all that well. My father, on the other hand, found out because he walked in on my then girlfriend and I doing... well, you know. And hey presto! I found myself landed in a mental hospital for a week to cure the gay. That didn't go over too well. No seriously.

And no, I didn't tell anyone at the barn for a long time.... a few years and many girls later. At some point, I found myself just blurting it out to the daughters of the trainer, and they all just laughed and said they knew. Did some of my friends walk away from me forever? Yes. But to me, that signalled something very important - if they were not willing to accept this part of me, then I didn't want them in my life anyway, because that is no way to treat a real friend. It sort of cleaned out who was really real, and who wasn't. And I found that even the ones that had a very hard time accepting and dealing with it (the super religious types, etc) but still stuck with me were the ones that meant the most to me. That's love, and that's the ability for human beings to bond and grow and accept each other. It's the little differences that really make people well-rounded, worldly, educated, and sympathetic to one another.

So where does that leave me today? I'm here at this barn in Connecticut, and everyone knows, just because they all figure it out on their own - I felt no need to go and broadcast it to the world, because why should I? (I suppose this is the entire gay pride debate - straight people don't go around broadcasting their straightness, so why should gay people go around broadcasting their gayness? It's one thing to be proud of who you are, but it's another to be annoying about it. I don't get the whole pride thing, but I completely understand the reasons behind it. But I think pride parades are really annoying, personally. Be loud, be proud, I guess, but I kind of really just don't care. I sound like a homophobic bigot, I think. Obviously that's not my intention.) Everyone here, in all honestly, just doesn't care, or is totally happy for me. I don't think it's changed how any of them see me or think of me. But I am fortunate, because some people really are nasty about it. It's just another little part of who I am, and I really and honestly forget about it on a day-to-day basis. When I was 16, it was totally on my mind ALL THE TIME, and I wore rainbows and crap like you do when you're 16 and wanting to attract mates. But now? I have my little rainbow sticker on my car because, in all honesty, I don't want people to get the wrong impression and think I'm straight. No seriously! I'd hate to be mistaken for a straight person, how weird would that be! And beyond that, I dunno. I act with my fiancee the way any other engaged could should act - loving and happy. I don't think this makes me different from anybody else.

Being gay is just.... normal. It's just life. Once in awhile, Alex turns to me with this look on her face, and goes, "Wow... we're gay." And I'll always say, "I know, that's so weird! I forgot."

So to sum it up - if you're gay or you're bi or you're straight or you're poly or you're asexual or you're this or that or whatever, amen and more power to you. If you're struggling to come out to your friends and family, hang in there. It's not easy at first, but it will get better over time, I promise. Will people get mad at you? Yes. Will people hate you? Yes. Will other people love and support you? Yes. My advice is to surround yourself with the good and loving people, because they're the only ones that matter. Life is too short to hate anyone or anything. There are too many good humans out there to love, so don't waste time and energy with the bad ones.

And just be gay. Whatever that means to you, just be it. If that means waving a big fat rainbow flag out your window, then go for it. If that means spending a quiet evening at home with your fiancee, then go for it. Just be you, whoever you are, whether or not you're queer in any way or have blond hair or brown eyes or are really tall or have a weird birthmark that's shaped like Texas. And love yourself. Always.


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In other news, Gogo is AMAZING. We had another incredible dressage session today that just blew my mind. She's becoming so confident and happy in her dressage work.. it's like having a whole new horse. She's literally been transformed. No longer is she is the skittery, anti-contact bundle of nerves that she was two years ago when I got her back from Crazy Trainer. This new Gogo goes out to my contact and stays there... and is actually heavier than I'd like sometimes, which is a whole new concept. This new Gogo takes manipulations through the contact without any great leaps, massive stiffening, major resistance, or rearing (all things we did two years ago). This new Gogo actually likes dressage, because she understands what I'm asking. She finally, finally, after all this time finally went OH! Okay. THAT'S what you want. You're not trying to take on my face or hurt me or scare me or take away my freedom. You want to help me be freer. But I can still do it on my own.

She's from a notoriously late-maturing, headstrong line of horses, but they're also amazingly smart and strong. I think she'd jump the moon if I asked her to, but she'd take full credit once we were back on earth again. She's proud of herself. I can feel it in her dressage-y swagger. I might be anthropomorphizing, but it's there. And if we can channel it together just right, there's nothing we can't do.

Groton House is almost, almost here.... and I can't freaking wait.

Happy 100th Post!

Yes, it's true! Eventing-A-Gogo! has reached its 100th post! In honor of that, all I wanted to do was just put up some of my favorite pictures of Quincy, Metro and Gogo. (Another horse named Sunny makes a brief appearance here too; he's the lanky bay with the cribbing collar on way too tight that's laying down, touching noses with Quincy. They were BFFs/lovers. I almost leased Sunny right before I got Quincy actually.)

So enjoy, and Happy 100th post to us :)















Love my boys and my girl.

Pictures of the Day

..... which are NOT Gogo, actually.

I present to you Philippe Karl.



Philippe Karl is THE MAN. This has to be THE most perfect piaffe that has ever existed on the planet. It is feather-light, Karl's position is absolutely impeccable, the horse looks completely comfortable and happy with a very soft eye, the work looks easy for them both, and there is a palpable sense of power there. This is the ultimate in collection, a level beyond what most upper level horses will ever be capable of. This is so classical, and so correct.

Now, compare this picture for example. This is a piaffe achieved through rollkur (if you don't know what it is, go here and you'll see why it is EVIL) and use of mindgames and force. This piaffe is front-end heavy, without collection, and is letting the horse's truck completely fall through. The horse is triangulating with its front legs, is falling behind the vertical, has the curb rein cranked tight, and looks annoyed. I'm sorry, but I can't stand Anky. She wins, and that is so wrong. She wins, and everyone thinks she's the Queen so they should copy her methods. But just look at this piaffe compared to Karl's piaffe:



That's at the OLYMPICS. WINNING A GOLD MEDAL. Sometimes, words just fail me. I don't even know what to say.

Here's some more pictures illustrating why I hate Anky:





And here's some more illustrating why I love Philippe:


(Pretty sure this is a mislabeled passage...)





Absolutely stunningly beautiful.




BTW, MY WORST NIGHTMARE COMING TRUE OMG.

A legit post coming soon to a theater near you. Or maybe to this blog, if you're lucky.

Six Things About Me That You Don't Really Care About

Hooray fun! I was tagged by Brego's" mommy Daun of "The Eventing Percheron" with the fun little meme "Six things about me." Now, I normally don't do these kinds of things but this seems like much fun so I am going to launch right into it.

• I am a traveler by heart. I can't seem to let this part of me rest while I put more important things before it. In actuality, I think little else matters more than this, save my horse of course. I need to get in a car and go, go and go and go, go anywhere and everywhere, go all the time, all over the place. I would kill to see something new every day. Traveling refreshes me and keeps me sane and whole. When I feel myself start to unravel, all I need to do is get in my car and find someplace new.

• I'm GAAAAAAAAAAY! Okay well you all knew that. I also am engaged to a very wonderful, very stubborn, and very sweet girl who I love with all my heart.

• There is a painting sitting right next to me right now that I KNOW i need to finish, and I just can't find the motivation to do it. This is a part of myself that I loathe. I love to paint, so why don't I ever want to? The duality of my nature isn't something I fully understand.

• I love crabmeat. Snow crab, king crab, STONE CRAB, OH! I die for crab! Close runner-ups on my favorite foods list are egg and bagel sandwiches, M&Ms, and zucchini.

• Somewhere in my heart I am a morning person. I love having the whole day to work with; I especially love getting things done early in the morning. It makes me feel accomplished and excellent and fresh.

• One of my life goals is to see every national park in the United States. I seem to be well on my way.

I'm tagging:
I Will Jump Sweet Jumps

One heck of a tail

In lieu of having other things to chat about tonight, I thought I would leave you guys with these:




Because she has one HAAAAAAAAAAAAIL of a tail. I have nightmares that western pleasure creeps will come in the night and steal it for a fake tail. Tomorrow I need to hack like 5 inches off of it.... because I let it go for a few weeks and literally, now it's touching the ground.

Ohiiiiiiiiiiiiiiio!

Taking a break for a few days to head down to Ohio to see my lovely fiancee and her crazy family and two horses. And she promised to buy me a couple of bags of grain if I clip her horse XD Sah-weeeeeeeet! Gogo is going to have a week off... she's been a little more sullen than usual, I wonder if she's not feeling a bit bored and tired with dressage and endless circles and serpentines and leg yields. I figure a week of play is good for the mind. Although I thought she was getting a bit moody, and then today when I went to go groom her and take her for a nice handwalk through the woods, she whinnied at me and came cheerily over, and happy cuddled and played with me while I was grooming her (play = allow me to give her head hugs and play with her ears a lot). So who knows why she'd been in such a funky mood lately. A week off will be good, seeing as next weekend we have two days of long, hard travel from Michigan to Connecticut. Loooooong drive...

Speaking of long drives, it's time to leave for Ohio. See you in a couple of days!

The long-awaited first post...

Well readers, of which I am certain I have zero right now, the day has come when I decided to finally create a training blog for the little mare and I. I'm still tweaking all these little gadgets that come along with trying to set up a new blog. Soon I'll have some real big girl posts... hooray!