Sunday, February 10, 2008

A Mild Case of Insomnia Leads to Blogging

I'm up late tonight, finishing the final edit on my next book about horses. Fortunately the editor assigned to the manuscript didn't think that there were too many changes necessary, so the entire process was less traumatic than I had anticipated. But it's hard for me to simply shut-off my mind and go to sleep. So here I am, blogging at 2:00 a.m.

Besides, not too many hours from now I have to hitch up my trailer and haul the lesson pony I use to a local horse show for one of my riding students. I'm also meeting up at the show with two other kids that I teach, so I'll have three anxious, nervous, but wildly determined horse crazy young girls to coach for the day.

I'll make sure to eat a good breakfast.

The fact that I was working on the book edit today-- and giving riding lessons-- and that I have the horse show on Sunday means that neither Wally nor Lexi will get ridden this weekend. That means my rides on Monday will be "interesting." Both of my horses are so fit and the weather has (fortunately) been so pleasant lately that they have tons of energy. Of course, that is why God made longe lines, right?

By the way, I continue to enjoy the comments and emails you've contributed. When I wrote about how my horses dealt with the llamas in town I had no idea that many of your horses have also partaken of Introduction to Llamas, 101. Must say, though, I had to laugh at a reader who wrote that her horse is petrified of dairy cows. That makes trail riding rather adventuresome as she lives in the heart of Dairy Cow Land: Wisconsin. Truly, she shouldn't feel embarrassed about that fact. Both of my horses are well-trained western riding horses yet neither one of them can figure out what to do with a steer. The options they consider include whirling and exiting the scene, snorting in abject disapproval, prancing sideways, and remaining frozen in place. Needless to say, I try to avoid riding up to the neighborhood equestrian park when the PRCA rodeo is in town.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you have a fun day ahead of you. Spending the day with young girls who love horses must make for a very energetic day!

In Michigan we awoke to snow, high winds, an air temp of 4 and wind chills of -30. If I ride today it will be inside, which will be slightly easier because all the horses came in last night. I still love winter though, so I'm not complaining as much as many people I know. Enjoy your day!

Cindy Hale said...

Thanks! We did have a lovely day: a fun show (see my latest post) and beautiful weather. It was sunny-- but not blazing-- and about 80 degrees. Yup, nothing like Southern California in the winter. Well, at least most of the time. Next time the wind blows, the hail hits or the thunder booms I'll be complaining!

Anonymous said...

What book are you writing Cindy? I'm familiar with your "Riding for the Blue," but now you're writing a new one? That's so cool! I can't wait for it to come out!