Me “Golden”-Crown!
Seven most-precious jewels adorn
me metaphoric Golden-crown
Lady Candice! Beth! Becky! Z-man!
Lauren! Lexi! Anna! Found!
Amen!
Plus:
Day 264
English riding
lessons:
Dressage,
Jumping and Cross-country!
Once
you get into any hobby, the reach for excellence becomes an exciting goal. Each
new “bright-spot” derives satisfaction and a curiosity for further adventure.
With horses as the focus of the diversion, the “costs” escalate geometrically
with an advancing time table. Great!?
Oh!
It is not necessary to invest a
fortune in a horse; you don’t absolutely need
a stable-estate beginning at a half a million dollars; a truck and trailer can
wait; one can lease and board a horse.
But,
not one for lolly-gagging or malingering, we bought our steeds, purchased land,
constructed fences, acquired some mighty fine leather to rest our derrieres on.
I even spent a winter building “jumps” and painting them so the kids could
practice “jumping”. (Why a good ole dollar “jump”-rope wouldn’t suffice---I’ll
never know!) Yeah! I sure enough spoiled them!
I
rode (if you could call it that) western---cowboy-style…success was not getting thrown!
Candy
and the girls opted for “sophistication” where the equestrian niceties were
concerned.
English-riding was
their penchant within the broader scope of “equestrian’-pursuits.
Dressage displays a
beautiful anticipation of horse and rider in syncopated-fantasy dance.
The
rider in her smartly-tailored coat with crisp white blouse and tie sporting a
velvet-covered helmet along with high-top laced black boots and jodhpurs, black
riding gloves and crop, flows in symphony with the twelve-hundred pound beast
softy-beautiful in cadenced-rhythm. Subtle “cues” from master to partner
dictate waves of graceful solitude. A pleasure to observe. Wow!
Stadium-jumping pits the
rider’s ability and her steed’s power, agility and discipline against
horizontal, vertical and oxer standards to challenge the “expertise” of horse
and rider acumen.
Here
is an exciting event-show exposition dedicated to enhance the appreciation of
horse, rider, spectator and fellow-competitors alike. Talent and balance
combined with knowledge.
This
is not a participant-sport for the faint-of-heart or novice, either
rider or spectator!
Cross-country takes place in
the out-of-doors over hill and dale challenging horse and rider with stationary
jumps placed strategically to require talent and expertise to negotiate
unscathed.
Now!
Here is an English-riding competition
that will make an old man’s heart race at the viewing; one can literally feel the wind and fly the “unicorn” soaring the cerulean sky abyss.
Took
a very few cross-country challenges
in my day---even…stayed aboard one time!
Our
girls and the granddaughters excel in these events; here resides excellence-of-reality!
“Tally-Ho!”
Ah! Cookie Jar Sweet “Hold on to his ears!”
Memories!
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