2009

Stella: Gamer kitty!

Today started with a vet visit with Stella for her fluids. She has been so good about it. Surprising, considering that she has limited patience. If something takes longer than five minutes, she will start protesting vigorously. The fluids have made a huge difference for her: the evening after she has her fluids, she plays hard. One night, she decided to help me play Guild Wars. This was the first time she took...

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Seeing Prize this weekend!

Ever since I sold Prize, I have felt guilty over what happened. To say I berated myself is an understatement. I felt like I had let down my horse. I had promised Prize I would never sell her, and then I had to. I swore that I would do everything I could to prevent that same thing from happening again. When you sell a horse in desperate circumstances, you have less control over...

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Prize… Again

Monday afternoon my Mom forwarded an email to me. A woman had emailed her asking if Mom had a daughter who had won a horse in a raffle… Prize is still alive! She’s 23 and living in Chapel Hill, 10 miles from where I live. I’m going to call the lady tonight and go see my old girl this weekend. I can’t believe she is still around. Related Images:

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One More Nite, aka Prize

When I was 16, I had a dream come true. On Mothers Day that year, we were at the regional show at Frying Pan Park, Vrginia. The horse show was part of the Eastern Amateur Arabian Horse Show Circuit. We arrived with a four-horse stock trailer with three horses, including the gray mare I was showing, Silver Run Sahsha. The show had a big event: a purebred Arabian filly was being raffled during...

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Clinic and Riding Lesson

The Bay Wonder Mare Senior did well in the clinic and in our lesson on Sunday. We did the in-hand work and also the under-saddle work. It is easy for me to forget how bright Isis is. One of the exercises in the clinic was to encourage the horse to lower his/her head by massaging and applying a little pressure behind the ears. When the horse lowers the head a little, you remove...

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Mean Kitty Song!

If you havne’t seen this YouTube video, it’s hysterical. Watch the antics of a mean kitty while his human sings about how mean the kitty Sparta is (not really mean, just wants attention). Very cute. Stella play-bites when she is very excited. She has never broken skin but she will nip. She loves to rough-house like Sparta does. Ambush will also play hard and likes to have his rump patted. In his youth,...

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Happy Valentine’s Day — and catchup

No, not the red stuff. That’s spelled differently. (Don’t ask the English major to spell. Most of us can’t.) Happy Valentine’s Day! I spent a wonderful day at a natural horsemanship clinic with Isis at her new barn (more on that later). Five hours with the Bay Wonder Mare Senior™. She was amazing. She did all of the ground work “textbook perfect,” as the instructor called it. I was most pleased. The drywall...

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Only horse people…

A friend of mine sent me this. I couldn’t stop laughing, and realized that if you don’t have horses, you’ll miss out on most of the jokes. Horses come with a specialized vocabulary that can be rather opaque. If you have a question, ask. I’ll be happy to explain a term. Only horse people… Believe in the 11th Commandment: Inside leg to outside rein. Know that all topical medications come in either indelible...

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Day in the life of a Geek

I am working from home today using a virtual private network (VPN) connection. I can then connect to my desktop Windows work machine using remote access. All of these connections are done through browsers so it’s pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, the VPN system we use is primarily setup for Windows and not Macs. Once I had heard about the weather forecast yesterday evening, I grabbed one of the IT guys to help me get...

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Inauguration

I’m watching the inauguration ceremony and my absolute favorite classical musicians are playing in an ensemble: Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGills playing a composition by John Williams. Wow. These are incredible musicians, probably some of the best in the world. And John Williams? LOVE his stuff. I love the bits from Lord of the Dance in the composition. The oath of office for the president is being administered. Can...

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Got snow?

I woke up this morning to a phone call from the vet notifying me that Stella’s evening appointment was canceled due to inclement weather. I looked outside and smiled. I am so glad that I am setup to work from home! Related Images:

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Sunday with the kids

Sunday morning was the weekly riding lesson. My last riding lesson was last Sunday and it went well. Unfortunately, my back hurt so much the morning after I had to stay home from work. Last night, I went to the company holiday party. Three hours of walking around in heels plus moving boxes out of my storage unit meant my back was a mess this morning. I took 400 mg of ibuprofen and...

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