Woops

Meant to post yesterday. I was SO tired though! Not particularly sore anywhere, just really worn out.

Yesterday I gathered my strength and went to check on Dixie. She was absolutely 100% fine - her legs were tight and cool, she was bright-eyed and alert, she scarfed down the handful of grain I offered, and her back wasn't sore at all. My local horse forecast appears to be mostly dirty with a chance of hair showers - she's just starting to shed. I hope she doesn't freeze in a late blizzard, but I am SO looking forward to seeing my horse again, not the muddy yak. My screen saver is a random slideshow of all the pictures I've taken - I had forgotten she has such a pretty jawline til I saw a picture of it last night!

I have a theory about why llamas are so scary. They are shaped a bit like horses, but with a much more upright neck - like they're always on high alert. But they don't look like equines. There's two basic kinds of monsters in horror movies - ones like the Aliens, with too many arms and claws and stuff, and ones that look like us but not quite. There's a preview on TV now for some demon movie - there's an old lady with eyes that are way too big and too wide set, and another creepy human who runs up the wall and onto the ceiling like a gecko and hisses at the camera. I think llamas scare horses in the same way - like us, but not like us.

I really think I like endurance. I don't have any desire to do arena stuff - it's too much politics and too much beauty show. That leaves the trail-type horse activities, and I've read up on most of them. Endurance appeals to my horse libertarianism - ride your own damn horse, at your own speed, and don't bitch about the people around you. I've heard so many stories of "I was at a big ride and people kept passing us and my horse freaked out!" That sure sounds like a training problem, not an "other people suck" problem. I don't think it would be fun at all to go to a poker ride or a big group ride and be expected to ride at the same speed as everybody else. I'm not so rude that I'd canter through a pack of riders without any warning, but I don't want to have to do 4 hours at a walk because someone in the group won't trot.

Also, I don't really want to win. I just want to do cool stuff with my horse. It seems like endurance is one of the few sports left where people generally buy prospects and bring them on, or just compete successfully with the horse they happen to have, instead of buying a starter horse, competing, trading for a higher-level horse, competing, etc.