Warm It Up Kris!

I'm about to! Warm it up Kris-'cause that's what I was born to do!

Sorry...for whatever reason I have a plethora of random hip-hop lines (all from the 90's, sometimes 80's) in my brain, and they come out occasionally. This edition brought to you by Kris Kross. You're welcome.

This post is more for me than anything, and those lines of genius above really do relate, I promise. I rode Miles today and it was nice and cool, just perfect. He's still being fussy about bugs, which are basically non-existent at this point, so I was done indulging him. He was sprayed to the gills, he had his fly bonnet on-enough with the stomping and head swishing. I put him to work pretty quickly after mounting, with no lunging. He was sluggish and totally ADD. I thought, what the hell, I KNOW it takes this horse a long time to warm up some days, whether it's physically or mentally or both. So, I let him be less than forward (within reason). I let his head turn this way and that, as long as his body stayed on the rail. When he lowered his head and started listening, we'd do a circle. In the meantime, I focused on me-elbows, hands, heels, looking UP (something I think I've gotten bad about), shoulders, all of it.

Our first canter depart sucked hard-he swerved like a tool at a random object next to the arena we had passed 10 times that day already. I put him in a circle and we picked up the canter again, did a couple more circles, and went back to the trot.

Ahhhhh, and there was my boy. Finally forward, ready to work, connected to my hand, listening to my leg, all of it. I let him walk on a loose rein to give us both a break, and when I picked the contact up again he gave me a nice swinging walk (something that is very hard for him and that I haven't devoted nearly enough time to). I squeezed and there was the nice trot again-a little rushy at first, it became lovely and easy to post quite quickly (funny how that works). We did some circles and changes of direction, all while I avoided the very hard and very deep parts of the arena just to try to keep our awesome rhythm going, and it seemed to work.

All in all, considering this was our second real ride in awhile, I was a very, very happy girl. I like that even when he's being less than great to ride, he's SAFE, and that's the time I can use to work on my own issues (of which I have many). And what do you know, the better I ride, and the looser his muscles become, the better our ride as a whole becomes. Funny, that:)

He was SO adorable afterward too. I can tell when we've really connected sometimes by the way Miles interacts with me when I get off. He remains engaged and interested, instead of just glad to be done and go back to the barn.

I finally got to see Buck the movie this weekend, and one of his big lines (which you all have probably already heard) is that our horses are our mirrors. We don't always like what we see.

Dang if it isn't the very best feeling when you do, though.

Pony Moovies

In light of the fact that I have nothing of note to write about in the Miles department (he is lovely, as always, but what rides we're getting in are short and/or unremarkable-still he has kept me sane. I love him more than ever for just being the sweetheart that he is for me when I need to just *be* with him sometimes.), I thought, what better thing to write about on these rainy days than our favorite horse movies? Oh, I have so many...most are cheesy and horrible movies by cinematic standards, but they all make me smile. Below is a sampling of my best of.

Horse movie that's kinda mainstream and I will always watch when it's on TNT or USA or whatever...Something To Talk About, starring Julia Roberts, Robert Duvall (who appears to do his own riding, including jumping!) and Dennis Quaid. It's mostly about a couple working through infidelity in their marriage, but I will admit I'll watch Julia in just about anything, and when the backdrop is a big-time jumper barn in the South? I'm so there. A close second is Far And Away, for the last 45 minutes of the race for Oklahoma Territory...lots of amazing footage of people riding and driving fast horses. I'm going to throw Tombstone in there because it's my favorite modern Western, and also, young Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday. Yes indeedy.

Best racing movies...Seabiscuit and Secretariat. No explanation needed-both critically acclaimed and cutting-edge in their depictions of horse racing. Also probably the best overall movies of the bunch here. Except for...

The Black Stallion is in a class by itself. Its cinematic qualities are unparalleled. Also unparalleled? Its ability to make me bawl like a baby at the end, every single time. I also love the music in this movie.

Movie from my childhood I love, but can never, ever watch again due to its tragic ending? Phar Lap, tale of the great Australian race horse. That's all I want to say about that.

Two movies I watched dozens, if not hundreds of times during my childhood, despite their horrible acting, plot lines, and general ridiculousness. Danny, about a young girl who falls in love with a rich girl's cast-away pony, and Lightning, the White Stallion, about a French girl who, I don't know, somehow ends up riding a stolen horse in a big Grand Prix show (pay no attention to the fact that the horse in the show is a completely different color than Lightning, oy). There is blindness and stepfather issues and a goofy-but-sweet-boy problem. Also, Micky Rooney! Who has a gambling issue. Lolz, I know:)

So, those are my favorites. If you have some time to kill, look up the last two on You Tube-I'm pretty sure you can watch them both in their entirety. Poor horse-crazy kids today...what movies do they have? And what are your favorites?