I sure did pick the wrong sport to start in the summer.
Riding enormous sweaty mammal bareback = yummy. You should have seen the hysterical bum-print I left on his back. His fur was still curling and sticking up an hour later.
Also today I found out that my Grumpy Old Man is even older and more justified about his grumpiness than I previously thought — we figured he was in his mid-twenties but going by his teeth he’s actually OVER THIRTY which is ridiculous. Which makes today’s prancing and mischief seem miraculous in retrospect. Grumpy still knows how to bum-wiggle.
Anyway. Am recovering from encounter with enormous sweaty mammal. Blek.
But! I can’t be grumpy about the heat, even when I have to be out in it, because PRIDE DAY is on Sunday! I have plans involving costumes and festival-wandering and a lunch out for Ladyfriend and I, if we can survive the sky lasers.
In other news, am putting off business stuff like a total scrub, but hopefully next week will involve 100% less sickness and ridiculous family drama and I will have the shop fully operational. Wish me luck!
Have a good evening, my darlings.
So after I stopped leasing Ghost, the Ladyfriend invited me to come to the barn with her most nights so that she wouldn’t be alone after dark. Her horse is in rehab for an injury, so while he’s recovering, we keep him in shape by jumping on him bareback and messing about at the indoor ring. He’s a ten year old Lipizzaner gelding.
His name is Dante.
This is Dante eating some dried papaya.
He is not dignified.
I feel really good about catching up on all my emails this morning.
For personal reference, today I have to:
I’m hoping to start using this tumblr more often, but starting this month seems a bit crazy — I have a math course to finish, I’m starting to learn Arabic, I’m training with that young mudmonster of a horse I talked about recently, and I’m enrolled in that writing competition. We’ll see how it goes! I’d like to start blogging more about my Islamic studies and post more art/essays.
* Monday was especially hilarious. First, an gigantic dump truck came roaring down the stable driveway without permission, while I was in the paddock taking off Spooky’s blanket. Spooky, well, spooked. My knee might have been broken if it hadn’t been padded with six layers of horse blanket, but I do have a nice cresent shaped bruise anyway. Next, my mudmonster Ghost comes out of the trailer, walks nicely into one cross-tie, then proceeds to bash me into a metal bracket on the wall when I go to hook up the other one. When I was dismounting later on, I bashed and hyperextended my elbow. The icing on the cake was George biting my butt because he thought I had treats in my pocket. HORSES. Oh my god.
So today my horse decided that it would be a FANTASTIC IDEA if she took a mud bath right before I arrived to ride her.
Needless to say, I’m glad she’s a very patient young monkey of a horse, because I spent the next hour and a half scrubbing.
She’s actually all white, excepting her black face spots. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t believe me.
*head in hands*
