Hippoi Athanatoi

Jumping today. Before I got to the stables, I was pondering whether I wanted to get a chance to try out Nelson at jumping as well or whether I wanted Murphy. Fortunately, I didn’t have to decide myself, and I wasn’t too upset to find out I had been put on Murphy. ;)

Murphy, alas, wasn’t too happy to be disturbed while eating, as the group riding before us had been delayed and he had yet to finish his hay. But other than a few baleful glances warning me not to try and steal his food, he mostly played nice while I got him ready. He did, however, try his best to avoid the bridle for a bit, so he could eat some more. But eventually I got him sorted out, and fed him some minty horse candy to make up for the inconvenience. He seemed happy enough with that.

After last weeks amazing ride on Murphy, I had a strong feeling things wouldn’t go quite so well today, regardless of who I’d be riding. To some degree, I almost hoped I wouldn’t get Murphy, since I’d put more pressure on myself then. As it happened, he wasn’t on the list for our group, so I ended up with Nelson instead. He’s now been bought and insured, which means he gets to be turned out with the other horses. As a result, he was missing bits of coat here and there. Apparently he’s rather cocky, and has had a few run-ins with the more dominant horses in the herd. He’s quite sweet in the stable though, albeit very quick to beg for treats. He’s one I’ll make sure to always feed in his trough instead of out of my hand.

Guy Gavriel Kay has announced that his novel, The Last Light of the Sun, has been optioned and that he is set to adapt the screenplay himself. This is another Hollywood development project for Kay, whose The Lions of Al-Rassan has been in development at Warner Brothers with Ed Zwick (Glory, The Last Samurai, and other films) attached to direct.

A few weeks ago, I had what I thought was a pretty hard-to-top lesson on Murphy. Today, I had one that in some ways was even more amazing. Not sure whether to thank Pilates (been trying to do that 2-3 times a week of late), the dog training books I’ve recently read (since we now have a 10 weeks old boxer puppy that is a little on the lively side) or just a higher power of some sort. Either way, things clicked in a weird and wonderful way, though I am not entirely sure what it was that I did that worked so well. I suppose that from now on I will have to take it as a good sign when Murphy is a bit grouchy in the stables; I can stand having my elbow bitten for rides like this. Though he did get a bit close to my nose once, too, and I’d rather avoid that one. He was also a bit contrary down in the arena, with a great interest in biting people and not standing still for being mounted.

A lot of people probably thought it would never happen, but never underestimate just how tenacious we can be. ;)

Yesterday, Blood of Dragons, our A Song of Ice and Fire MUSH, opened for roleplay. Granted, its a beta opening, not a full opening, and this is even a bit of a sneak-start since the official start will happen when the first ships return from Dorne with part of Daeron’s forces and the Dornish hostages. That will be in a week or so.

But, these buts aside, we have a game!

Today I got to make a new acquaintance. As we signed in, and our horses were assigned to us, our instructor asked me if I’d mind trying Nelson today. For a moment, I blanked. Nelson who? Was it the big grey they’d been borrowing for a while? No, that was Winston ... so, who? Ooh, the cute white pony! Once I remembered that, I quickly said that I certainly would not mind that one bit. Always happy to add a new pony to my riding repertoire, after all.

So, other than being white (pretty much all white), what’s Nelson like? Well, it seems likely that he’s got some Knabstrub in him, since there are faint spots on his skin. His coat, however, looks almost completely white, and its so thick (there must be some polar bear in him too) that it hides those spots pretty darn well. He’s quite squarely and sturdily built (just what I like), and he’s got a very roman nose and looks like he’s got a bit of an attitude. He was pretty sweet to brush and tack up, however, though he’s a bit mouthy (in a soft, non-bitey way) and a little pushy in a way that suggests spoiled pony to me. When I walked him down to the arena, he pretty much walked with his nose in my hand all the way, sniffing it for candy.

The second chapter of Belladonna can now be viewed on Anne Bishop’s own website. The book, due out in March 2007, forms the conclusion of the Ephemera duology which started with Sebastian.

Given how well the dressage went two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have minded some more of that today. However, jumping was on the menu this week, and this time I also ended up with Gamir instead of Murphy. I guess my instructor remembered what she said about making sure to put me on some other horses for a while (at least, I hope that was it, and that the reason wasn’t that Murphy was injured—he looked fine, though), and when that results in me getting Gamir for a jumping lesson I suppose I can’t complain too much. Except about one thing: these days, he’s worse to tack up than Murphy, who really is just testing who is dominant. Gamir, on the other hand, really doesn’t like the process. Not only does he kick when brushed and saddled, he tries to bite when you get closer to his head. Which tends to be necessary for putting a bridle on, for example. So far, he hasn’t actually made contact, though, so it might just be very realistic-looking threats.

Today, Elio and I went to see Levade Noble Horse Gala, now on its third year. The focus of this year’s show was a little different from the previous two, as it included fewer pure horse performances and more traditional circus acts. The reason for this was that Robert Bronett, the creator of the show, designed this one as a celebration of the 70-year anniversary of one the most prominent of the Swedish circuses, Circus Scott, which is run by the Bronett family. In addition to incorporating more acrobats, trapeze artists and so on, both alone and together with the horses, the show also included Robert Bronett telling interesting anecdotes and stories about Circus Scott and the development of the circus in general. Such as how they came to smuggle a hippo (!) into Sweden.

Theory was on the menu today, and this time it consisted of our riding instructor demonstrating some of the things we’ve practiced these last two weeks by having us watch her ride Spitfire. I helped get him ready, and since I haven’t ridden him myself it was my first experience working with him. He really is a terrible sweety, like everyone has said. He loves company, and when I led him down to the arena, he was constantly snuggling his head against my side. At first I thought it was just due to him having located my candy pocket, but I was told he always does that. He just snugged, really, without pushing or nipping or being intrusive. Very sweet. Too bad he’s a touch too tall and, from the looks of it, pretty big-gaited too.

Our task for today was to keep an eye out for how he tried to avoid work by doing various things, like throwing his hindquarters out to one side or not keeping his inner shoulder in. I do wish I got to watch others ride more often, so I could develop more of an eye for what is right and what is wrong, because it can be really useful to analyse things from the ground now and then. For example, watching the canter transitions closely gave me a very good idea of what it is that happens when Murphy goes well and when he doesn’t go so well.

I am still pondering trying to squeeze in a private lesson this week, to follow up on this display and last weeks lesson, but with the Levade show on Thursday it might be tight. Unless I can get driven down there on Friday morning.

One of the most consistently amusing, off-kilter superhero comics out right now is Warren Ellis’s Nextwave, published by Marvel.

I had thought I would probably be continuing on Sammy today, even though it isn’t that common for him to be available for our group, but instead I was back on Murphy. I almost felt a little disappointed, since last week had gone quite well, and I was concerned that my so-so riding of the previous weeks would kick back in. Murphy certainly seemed to be in quite a mood today, showing me a lot of his teeth while I was getting him ready. He also swished his tail a lot (including hitting me in the face as I was picking his back hooves), and I am not quite sure what it was that was bothering him. Might have been the new neighbour, Nelson, or maybe he was just in a peevish mode. He had apparently been in a fight earlier, when Campino tried to steal his girlfriend, Inca. Campino ended up giving him a cut on his cheek, but Murphy chased him off quite thoroughly.

Anne Bishop has posted the first chapter of her next book to her website. Belladonna, as its called, is due out in March 2007 and it forms the conclusion of the Ephemera duology which started with Sebastian.

As expected, I was not put on Murphy today. I had hoped for a chance to try out the new horse, Nelson, but someone else in the group got him while I was assigned Sammy. More than fine by me, since he’s so rarely used for our group and I really do like to ride him. It was kind of funny, too, as before the class I had chatted with another girl about the fact that with Malupin gone, we have very few small horses left and that of those left, Sammy and Fleur probably won’t be with us for too much longer. He’s 19 (12 years at the riding school), although he has always been very fit, and she’s getting on in years too. For those of us who like to ride smaller horses, this is definitely a problem, as all the new ones they buy seem to be either ponies or very large horses (several around 17 hands). I know they want horses that can carry a lot of weight, but to me it seems it would be more reasonable to go for smaller, sturdier horses, as they tend to be hardier anyway. The prejudice seems to be that heavier horses won’t perform well enough at dressage and jumping to be useful for the students beyond the lowest levels, but that’s certainly never been my experience of heavier horses. For one thing, both Sammy and Murphy have a fair bit of bone to them, being Irish mixes of some sort, and they do just fine.

This week I came the stables to find out we had lost one horse and (possibly) gained another. Sadly, the one lost was Malupin, a very charming little horse I’ve ridden quite a bit. Since he came to the riding school some years ago, he’s spent half or more of his time there injured, usually due to some accident caused by him acting like a bit of a clown. He never really seemed to grow up, and was constantly coming up with new antics to pass his time. I am not sure what happened this time around, but if I were to guess I’d suspect it was related to the serious injury to one of his hindlegs (a fracture even, I think) that kept him out of commission for over a year a while back. He’ll be missed, and he was very popular even though the riding school had been hoping to sell him since he was too small to carry most adults and too lively for most children.

The new arrival, still just there for a trial period, was Nelson, a sturdy fellow an inch or two shorter than Murphy. So, he’s just on the right side of the pony-horse limit. He’s also the whitest horse I’ve ever seen in person. Pretty much not a coloured hair on him, and lots of pink around his nose and his eyes. I am hoping he’ll turn out well so that they keep him and so that he’s interesting to ride, as he would almost certainly take my weight. As I noted last week I could really use another horse that I can ride.