Just Horsing Around

Since I no longer own my horse, I have found some creative ways to fill that void. A couple weeks ago I was able to snag a polo lesson. It started out on the wooden horse in a "batting cage", then on foot in a 4 on 4 game, then right up onto a horse. The whole next week my right forearm was dead and useless but the experience was great!

On Labor Day weekend I found a horse race here in Kansas! It sure wasn't anything I expected. It was about a 20 min drive out into the country. Then out in the middle of some open fields in Halstead, Kansas there was a quarter of a mile race track. And these weren't just any cow poke horses....they were the real deal racing kind. Bets were shouted from side to side across the track and the horses flew by every 20 min throwing dust into the air. I just sucked on my Egg-Nog ice cream and enjoyed myself the whole afternoon.

Letting Go

When I was about 11 years old my dad had promised me he would buy me a horse if had prayed the rosary for others for an entire year. Being the gullible human being I was (still am) I did just that. A year later I approached him with a slip of paper. I had written the start and finish dates of my 1 yr and had it stored away inside a statue of the Virgin Mary. He had to swallow his words.

It wasn't maybe a month later, my parents and I visited a farm out in Andover, KS where a lady bred Arabian horses. She showed us around, talked and then walked up to the fence and whistled. Seconds later the fields where full of a thunderous sounds. A herd of beautiful Arabians came running through the back woods, down a dry river bed and back up into the field before us. The youngsters jumped hay bales and the elder horses pranced right up to us in search for that evenings dinner buckets.

After a couple hours of talking and sitting around bored inside the ladies home, we headed home. Halfway back my parents informed me "we just bought you a horse." I had no idea. I was clueless as to what was being discussed the whole afternoon! I said "which one?" It was one of the 2 youngsters that had been chasing each other in endless energy. He was a 1 yr old chestnut colored Arabian gelding with a blaze down his nose and three white stockings. And he was all mine.

For the next 17+ years he was my escape from life. He helped get me out and about in public even though I was extremely shy and would have rather stayed a basement girl. I took lessons on him, taught him, traveled with him and went to horse shows with him. He was one of my two favorite hobbies.  He was my pet just like a pet dog would be to anyone else. The closeness is still there and it's equally heartbreaking when you have to give him away.

The economy has been rough oh my family and I. We could no longer afford him so we had to sell him a couple weeks ago. I didn't want him to be sold to someone that lived outside the city or to some riding school. I was lucky, an old farmer bought him as company for his old horse and he said it was ok for me to visit. I am thankful and the thought of him buying my horse was comforting.

Blaze at his new home. Miss you already.

Sunday Chukkers

On Sunday afternoon expensive cars lined up and rolled in. Ladies in their sun dresses, big floppy hats and heels grab their small dogs and sipped their wine. Men adjusted their hats and smoked their cigars. Miss Kansas even decided to show up.  It was the opening game over at Fairfield Polo Club and the first chukker (period) had started. My mom had grown up on a polo field and had worked alot with the horses as a young girl and I had yet to even see a polo game. The Thoroughbreds (or as they say - ponies) raced from either end of the 300 yard long field and the mallets swung from side to side, hooking others and clubbing the ball up into the air. At halftime everyone stormed the field and stomped in the divots with champagne center field. It was a scene straight from the film Pretty Woman. I walked through the trailers and met a player on her break. She just happened to be a graphic designer at my old college. They even had some talented players from Argentina, one of the top countries for polo. Thank goodness the heat wasn't in the three digits because I had a blast. Maybe on another lazy Sunday I'll stop by and enjoy some more polo.

Interested in a polo school in Argentina? Learn from some pros and check out this link I found on this weekends magazine rack: http://polodays.com/

Photoshoot With My Horse

My sister and I had a very fast photoshoot out at the farm before the sun went down a few weeks ago. The lighting was perfect. She did an excellent job at changing how I view the old place and making it more interesting through the photos. I was excited because I was really wanting some new pics with my horse and she read my mind. The last foot shot is my fav.

Emergency Vet Visit

The cold weather has decided to try and slowly kill my Arabian horse this winter. And ironically he is having the same issues my dad had couple weeks ago and had to be taken to the ER. When I heard this news I was like "no not you too!" I'm not so sure I can handle something else like this right now. Even though I try and show a tough girl front, I can't always do it when everything rains down at once. My horse has always been this spunky crazy Arabian with a spirit that never fades. And now he just wants to stop eating and drinking water - causing his gut to tangle up and put him into alot of pain. Then he rolls on the ground trying to get comfortable. And once a horse is on the ground it's never good. So he has had a lot of babysitting this weekend and we decided to just take him to the vet today for IV treatment. He needed this IV bad, he was dehydrated and there is no way to make a horse drink. So I'm praying this Intravenous Therapy helps him out and I can have my horse for a bit longer.

And honestly cold weather, you can go now. You are doing me no good.

See him healthy at What A Stud

travel Inspiration #12

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”- Lin Yutang

Holga shots via Jose Villa , Mexico

What a Stud

So far this month, I feel as though I have been running around with my head chopped off. Would it be at all gross if I said it could possibly be better if it really was? And I'm sorry to any readers, but posts will come. My life this month has come in a package of many many changes all at once. One of which is that I moved my beautiful Arabian horse Skyflight Arax (see photography above) to a new home. It's further away and I hope that doesn't mean I see him less and less....I'm kinda lazy when it comes to driving.

Some other changes: nose ring - out. Sad. I've had it for a good 4-5 years but it had to happen sometime. And then there is my move to a new casa, constant back issues, many trips around the US, and then the newly frantic job search. Boo hiss. Lets just say my chi needs some cleaning.