Ten Questions

I don't normally participate in blog hops or question lists making the rounds, but I like this one.

It would be fun - and interesting for me - to hear from all of you.  If you don't blog, or don't want to post on this, pick a question or two to answer in the comments.  I'd love to get to know everyone better.

1. What is your earliest, clearest horse memory? 
My earliest horse memories revolve around when I discovered horse stables at the end of a street, a couple blocks from my home.  I found the stable, and started spending all my free time there, when I was about ten years old.  I remember the tall, leggy, black and white horse in a corner stall; the dark palomino stallion with a flaxen mane in a deeply bedded double box stall; a huge black horse (named Blue) that would lunge at you as you walked by his box stall (single, not deeply bedded); and the Shetland pony that I, eventually, was allowed to ride.  I remember the pile of clean wood shavings behind the barn; the stacks of sweet smelling alfalfa stacked to the ceiling in the hay barn where I went to escape the heat; and the coke machine with old-fashioned curvey bottles of ice cold coke.   It was a large boarding stable, probably 50 horses, and I can remember the layout of the property as well as I remember the house I grew up in.

2. Describe the perfect summer day.
I like to be outdoors, and active, but I don't tolerate the heat well.  So, in general, I am not a fan of summer.  I do, however, love the days that we escape to lakes high in the Sierras, with our kayaks and a picnic lunch.

3.  Are you reading anything right now?  Tell me about it!
I'm not reading anything at the moment.  We are up at 5:30 to do chores before the sun comes over the mountain ridge.  After I get home from work we are back outside until dark doing the evening chores.  We typically finish dinner at 8:30 or 9 -- then its a shower and bed.  Although I love to read, I really only have time to lose myself in a book on an airplane or on vacation.

4.  Do you follow a celebrity (horsey or not) that fascinates you?
Nope.  I used to be fascinated by Princess Diana and her sense of style.

5. What is your single largest horse dream or goal? 
Goals change over time.  I think my largest, current, horse dream is to ride Tex bareback.  I'd also like to be able to walk with my horses at liberty, all over the ranch.  I used to have a lot of dressage related goals -- I wanted to ride single tempi changes; I wanted to do a musical freestyle.  Now, I dream about complete connection.  I'd love to have the same connection with Tex that I do with Jackson and Lucy.

6.  If you were at Starbucks right now, what would you order?
Grande, two raw sugar, triple shot latte with chocolate and cinnamon powder sprinkled on top.

7. What is your biggest equine pet peeve?
People who think of horses as tractors.  -- no regard for their physical well being; just riding them into the ground.

8.  With everything going on politically and in the media, do you follow it religiously?  Tune it out? Something in between? 
I have an hour commute each morning and evening and I listen to NPR while I drive.  Other than that, I don't follow the media.  I am interested, but also often repelled, by what I hear.  Not a Trump fan.  I didn't like him as a real estate mogul, reality TV dude, or attention grabbing celebrity.  I like him even less now.  If that's possible.

9. If you had to show your horse to a song, what would you choose?
The horse would be Lucy.  She's an elegant horse...  And I love Bach.  I think Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Ode to Joy) captures how I feel when I am riding her; in those moments when we are in perfect harmony and sync.

10. What are you most looking forward to this summer?
Kayaking.  A visit from the kids in August.  It's hard for me to put "look forward to" and "summer" in the same sentence.