Tag Archives: horses

Feb27

living and learning.

Posted on by
Standard

 

 

love seeing my granddaughters

riding while filled with a gentle spirit and mutual trust

love all the other grandies coming out

to see what they have been working on

love that they each have different things they love to do

karate, basketball, writing, swimming, cooking, reading, fantasy games,

swimming, horseback riding, drawing, helping people, flying, exploring,

floating, small business building, playing, celebrating

yet they all have the same tender spot for animals 

while living life and learning.

—

“from horses we may learn not only about the horse itself

but also about animals in general,

indeed about ourselves and about life as a whole.”

-george gaylord simpson

Sep19

fury.

Posted on by
Standard

back in the 60’s

so excited to begin my modeling hobby

 black fury arrived

took out all three of the pieces

two horse halves and a tail

 laid them out

along with my airplane glue

after reading the directions

carefully matching the halves

adding the tail

it’s black plastic body

smeared all over with glue

but it was together

 i had made it all by myself

gave it one last little squirt of glue

for good luck

which missed and went into my eye

my joy turned to dramatic squealing

zoomed off to the eye doctor

went home and looked at fury

with my one good eye

not sure what went wrong

learning not to add

one more little dab of something

when a project is finished

and began my foray into my new hobby

stamp collecting.

“when things go right it’s hard to figure out why,

but when things go wrong it’s really easy.”

-steven soderbergh

 

Jul27

ponyhenge.

Posted on by
Standard

No one really knows how these old hobby horses got here, but the herd keeps growing.

 ON A SMALL SLICE OF wide-open pasture in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, broken-down rocking horses, plastic ponies, metal ponies, and other assorted horse toys have been holding court. As if by magic, ponies have been proliferating along this winding country road, resulting in the peculiar “Ponyhenge.”

The horses started arriving anonymously sometime in 2010, with the placement of a lone hobby horse along picturesque Old Sudbury Road, about 15 miles west of Boston. How and why the rusty little fellow appeared is a mystery, even to Lincolnites who’ve been around a while. One story has the first horse hanging around after a kid’s short-lived lemonade stand, another that he was left over from a Christmas display.

Whatever the real story might be, after the first one appeared things started to get strange. More horses—hobby horses, rocking horses, and horse figurines—began appearing at the site. They are periodically rearranged, sometimes in a circle, sometimes in rows like race horses. Other times they are simply scattered and knocked around, as if they’ve come back from a long night of carousing.

The herd has been growing faster of late, with twice as many horses put out to pasture as there were a couple of years ago. Oddly, no one takes them away—the arrangement only morphs and grows, much to the delight of the family that owns the land. As the owner told the Boston Globe in 2015, “There was something lovely about it being anonymous, and now every time we go away, another one appears.”

While it’s on privately owned land, Ponyhenge is open to anyone who wants to visit.

—

“they swayed about upon a rocking horse. and thought it pegasus.”

-john keats

 

—

credits: atlas obscura, soaringraven

Dec15

when onesie is not enough.

Posted on by
Standard

2_32   fear not, there are onesies for ponies too

parts of the united states and the united kingdom might be experiencing unseasonably warm weather but that doesn’t mean winter isn’t coming. and of course, ponies get cold too. that’s why the fun-sized shetland pony named daffy was given his own fuzzy onesie to wear. dubbed a “foursie,” the festive red pajamas fit over all four of the pony’s legs. the red onesie even comes with a hood to keep the pony’s little noggin warm. it was created by ascot racecourse to celebrate ascot’s christmas racing weekend. 

“in winter i always worry about daffy getting chilly as he likes to spend so much time out of his stable,” owner and animal trainer jackie rowberry said in a press release. “i love the fact that ascot has created a special foursie for daffy so that he can get into the christmas spirit. he’s loved all the attention and is quite the envy among his stable buddies!”

—

 credits: rebecca o’connell, ascot racehorse, mental floss magazine, jackie newberry

 

 

 

Nov12

will is to grace as the horse is to the rider. – saint augustine

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_1687

the tiniest riders

babies r and v

numbers 16 and 8

get ready for their show

and then

with no fear

and great excitement

IMG_1709

off they go

IMG_1698

on their trusted steeds

IMG_1713

and home again safely

IMG_1714

with  blue ribbons

and happy hearts

—

care, and not fine stables, makes a good horse.
– danish proverb

Sep29



it is not enough for a man to know how to ride; he must know how to fall. ~mexican proverb

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_1143

on the beautiful island of  jamaica

a few years back

i

went

horseback riding

with my friend

and a ‘guide’

and no regulations

and no paperwork

and off we went

up

into the mountains

IMG_1142

only to  find

a tiny coffee shop

in the middle of nowhere

serving wonderful

 blue mountain coffee

IMG_1144

and

 a farmer

way up high

on the mountain

who had a cooler

of local beer

and

who grew

local crops

some legal

some not

IMG_1140

we stopped

for a rest

and a beer

and

tried out

the local crops

then headed

back down the mountain

and my horse

took off like a shot

 running

at top speed

and

we flew

through the trees

over the trail

into the bushes

i pulled back

on the reins

with all of my strength

to slow him down

held on tight

 planning to roll

when i would

at last

be thrown off

the guide

caught up

grabbed my reins

yelled something

to my horse

who finally

slowed down

and said

‘oh, mon. i forgot to tell you

 you are riding

‘lightning’

he loves to race

as fast as the wind

whenever

there are other horses around

glad you held on’

and my friend caught up and said

‘ i saw your sandals fly off

as you galloped away

 and it was one wild ride

to see from behind.’

and i said,

‘good thing

i wore my ‘relax’ shirt.’

though

i’m not sure

my horse could read

—

riding:  the art of keeping a horse between you and the ground.  ~author unknown

Feb24

making the turn

Posted on by
Standard

Image

headed out to the gym yesterday to workout and watch the big game. the university of michigan wolverines were playing basketball against our instate rivals, the michigan state spartans. i figured i’d serve myself up a little pleasure with my pain. 

 

as i got closer to the gym, i noticed that it was surrounded by an astounding number of opposing choices: taco bell, burger king, cottage inn pizza, noodles, mcdonalds, gourmet garden chinese, castle liquor store, subway, zingerman’s roadhouse. i could almost imagine my chalupa and mexican pizza and a cold beer.

or, there was –

 the gym. 

Image

it would have been so easy to accidentally turn into one of those other driveways, and then the next hour would be spent indulging in food and drink heaven instead of in gym hell. 

i made the turn. 

and when i found myself in the gym, i was not disappointed, and knew i had made the right choice. there were father/sons, couples, singletons, and people of every shape and size and color imaginable. what we all had in common, was the turn we made to get there.

the familiar maize and blue home team shirts were everywhere, and people cheered while on the elliptical, treadmill, with weights, and bars, and balls, and machines. it was a great first half. and while i can’t say where everyone went for the second half, the wolverines played a magnificent game, and  we won in the end. go blue! sometimes, it’s just a matter of choosing the right driveway. and if i happen to turn into the taco bell driveway next time, so be it. 

Image

One might as well try to ride two horses moving in different directions,

as to try to maintain in equal force two opposing or contradictory sets of desires.

 Robert Collier

—

image credits: michigan daily, oldtowneast.com, sweethorseranch.com