Category Archives: Uncategorized

So, maybe I should explain a few things. For most of you, the difference between English and western riding might not be that obvious. You could say that there are two major schools of riding: English, which stems from Europe, and western, which is used mostly in western North America. Then there are many otherContinue reading “Chapter 79: English versus Western”

The blurb of the Oxford World’s Classics paperback edition of “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy says that “Many believe ‘Anna Karenina’ to be the greatest novel ever written”. With praise like that, I had expected to be bored and confused for the first couple of hundred pages. The classics, especially the really highly esteemed ones,Continue reading “Chapter 78: The greatest novel ever written”

Yesterday morning, the radio was tuned in to Sonic again. But really, I think what annoys me most isn’t the monotony of the really popular music of today, it’s the crappy lyrics. And how some of them might even be harmful. One of the songs that is played each morning, without fail, on Sonic isContinue reading “Chapter 77: The radio drama continues”

And so, the day after Jay asked me to exercise Zena, he also let me ride his horses, Junior and Casper. They are two really beautiful paint horses, both barely three years old, and for all of you who don’t know horses, that is really young. That’s the age when you put a saddle onContinue reading “Chapter 76: Riding the three-year-olds”

Leo has used the banana plant by my bed as his litter box. I caught him in the act the other day and chased him away, but I think he has been visiting it quite frequently when no one’s inside, because sometimes the plant just reeks. Not all the time though – and luckily theContinue reading “Chapter 75: Bloody cat”

Every day, when we start working in the stalls, the radio is turned on. For two weeks, we had been working to Sonic, a station playing the really mainstream popular music, like Rihanna and Nicki Minaj and all those fake house-light hip hop-predictable electronic beats stuff. And honestly, I think they had a playlist thatContinue reading “Chapter 74: The radio coup”

Almost a week into my stay at Time Out Farms, I got my first opportunity to sit on a horse. Jay, the horse trainer, was having a lesson and when that was done, he let me ride for ten minutes or so, just to see how I looked in the saddle. And god, was itContinue reading “Chapter 73: Beginner again”

If there are any creatures that know how to enjoy themselves, it’s the cats. And of all the cats that I’ve ever met, Alex is the master hedonist. The first couple of days that I spent here, I barely saw him at all, because every time we bumped into each other he would run away.Continue reading “Chapter 72: Alex the cat”

Working with horses, you get used to things turning out completely wrong at times. Especially when the horses aren’t on a training programme and can spend all their mental and physical energy on doing things they shouldn’t. For example, breaking the gate to their own paddock. That’s what happened the other day. It was eveningContinue reading “Chapter 71: The great escape”

Harley Maggie Remi the teddy bear