Zip, grateful to have a job in this economy |
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his has been a big week
for gratitude. My gratefulness week
began with the article I read at Huff
Post about the thxthxthx.com blog whose author, Leah Dietrich, is writing daily thank you
notes, by hand (really! They do still make pens and paper!) and
posting them online. She’s thanked such
mundane things as a bad day for reminding her that there are good ones and a
head cold for helping her appreciate feeling good. That resonated with me, and I proceeded to
thank Zip’s hoof abscess for reminding both of us to be patient and that we are
mortal and easily damaged. Granted, my
thanks wasn’t in writing and it seemed to involve some untoward language, but
the feeling was there. She thanked the word "queer" for "being as hard to define as a person is."
And I enthusiastically thank the SMB
sports medicine boots (elite version in white) for being so easy to put on that I did it on the fly
as Zip trotted past me in the pasture to tide him over till dinner when I could
corner him for a full herbal wrap spa treatment on his puffiness.
And I thanked my
arthritis, earned on the backs (or under the backs) of more horses than I can still name over the years
and given a gold-medal boost by chemo.
The pain reminds me that my time for riding may be limited. The days without pain remind me that that’s a
crock o’poop and I’ll keep riding till someone pries the reins out of my cold,
still hands (or I can't find a mounting block with enough steps to let me just ooze onto the horses' backs). Not today. Most likely not tomorrow.
There’s an article in
the back of this months’ Practical
Horseman by a wonderful 81-year-old rider who shares her thoughts on the eventuality of giving up
riding. "Not today," her riding buddy reminded her. They were riding "today". Thanks to her for pointing out that the end
comes when it comes, and there’s no point getting one’s chaps flapping over
it.
Thanks for the child who filled my heart file with baby kisses and still lets me embarrass her as an adult. |
Thanks goes to the
Aussie researchers who did some excellent scientific research on the best footing
for horses at work. There will be a
separate post about that study, but they deserve thanks as I was in a
ring-footing crisis the day the results appeared and they saved me $8,000 on
unnecessary trendiness and set me on the path to Happy Horse Legs.
Thanks to Duke, who showed me a few days ago that my aging, arthritic body is more than sufficient to stop a panicked
300-pound animal at the far end of the lead rope. I recommend the prone position, face-down, preferably in tall weeds
for maximum traction. I thank the braided
nylon lead for not shredding.
A big shout of thanks to the little yappy dog across the street for reminding me in a less-than-fatal way that even the quietest, most stolid of horses can freak out given sufficient (to their minds) cause. Prying Leo out of my lap was almost as much fun as rescuing Duke from the demons in his head. Good day all around.
A big shout of thanks to the little yappy dog across the street for reminding me in a less-than-fatal way that even the quietest, most stolid of horses can freak out given sufficient (to their minds) cause. Prying Leo out of my lap was almost as much fun as rescuing Duke from the demons in his head. Good day all around.
I’m grateful to my
horses—the ones that never give me any trouble, at least—for being so accepting
of my idiocies. Last month Stacy
Westfall wrote about being tuned in to your horse and recognizing that they
have moods, too, and that what you did yesterday may well be affecting your
equine partner today, so cut him some slack.
He’s flexible enough to give up his bonding time with his buds to haul
your puffy butt around the block. You be
flexible enough to let him alone if he suggests today’s just not your day. Thanks, Stacy, for reminding us.
I’m most grateful to
my SA, Cliff, non-horse-guy that he is, who while I was taking Duke for a drag through
the neighbor’s shrubbery, was busily removing my Dutch iris rhizomes from a nest
of poison ivy in the flower bed. And I’ll
thank him in advance for replanting them and for loading and unloading the bags
of mulch to keep them clear of further infestation as my butt doesn’t take activities like Duke’s
roughhousing so well anymore.
There’s more to be
thankful for, but my head is starting to hurt.
It’s a beautiful, cool, sunny day for which I am most grateful, and it’s giving me a headache to miss it. Thank you all for taking the time to read
this.
I’m outie, 'cause today's not the day I stop!
5 comments:
Wonderful, Joanne! You made me smile, and think.
I'm going to start my own thank you list!
I am thankful for you Joanne, you are always a joy to read!
Glad I could give you a leg up, Susan. I'll enjoy hearing what and who you're thanking.
momamama, your artwork is always inspiring to me. Thank you for that!
Hey, you stated in a much more direct way what I was trying to communicate, thanks, I will recommend your site to my friends.
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