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Reading The Principles of Riding by the German National Equestrian Federation felt like the world’s greatest exam review session. There was not much in the book that was new to me, but it did help bring some concepts together, clarified a few exercises, and confirmed everything I’ve been taught over the years.

Every once in a while I get an email from someone who wants advertising on my site or, at a minimum, a link to increase their search engine rankings.

I don’t know as much about online advertising as, say, Learning Horses, but I know a little. Enough to know better than to fall for these things, anyway.

So, I finally had the chance to go watch one of those much-vaunted A-rated hunter/jumper shows. It was an interesting combination of impressive and appalling. 

It’s much easier to window shop when you live in a relatively isolated area without much selection, don’t you think? That way, when you find a horse you like, you know he’s too far away to get. 

I finally broke down and ordered some books on dressage, and they arrived today. I’ll post reviews as I get through them, if anyone is interested.

I started with three:

I think I’ve said before on this blog that I don’t like racing. Love TBs, would like nothing more than to buy an OTTB and retrain her, but don’t like racing. I never have—in high school, it baffled my friends that I was so horsey and yet couldn’t say when the Kentucky Derby was being run, much less who was in it.

The first Carnival of the Horses is up at Hoofbeats—a great turnout, including a couple of blogs that are new to me.

The June 1 carnival will be hosted at Rising Rainbow. Deadline is… oh, I don’t know actually. Keep an eye on Mikael’s blog and see. The July 1 carnival will be hosted here. More details closer to the date.

Remember how stuck I get on the half pass vs. leg yield issue? I think I have my brain wrapped around it now.

Watch this video (sorry, can’t embed it here—you’ll have to see it via YouTube).

Over the past few weeks I have received an unbelievable number of “Wow, you shipped an eleven-year-old cat all the way down here? You must really love her, huh?”

Aside from the obvious (I need to stop talking about my cat...), why is this so unbelievable? She’s my cat. She’s not a bookshelf or a mattress or any other inconveniently large and ultimately expendable piece of furniture. Just what do people think I was going to do with her? Drop her off at the shelter? “Bye, sweetie. You’re a nut when you’re in a kennel, so it’s an absolute certainty you won’t get adopted. Enjoy your injection!”

Oh, wow. It’s been a while.

News: I’ve started lessons again, and it’s all Lynda’s fault. For which I’m very grateful, of course.