Thursday, April 14, 2011

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....

Who's the fairest of them all? Well, apparently Gem is.....at least at my stables. :-)

I admit that when I am grooming him, my heart will sometimes skip a beat at how handsome he is. I compare him to the other horses at the stables and love his uniqueness. I think he knows he is different. He has a confident attitude. He loves being groomed (thank goodness!) and he usually stands tall while I brush him, willing other humans and horses in the barn to look his way.

Gem: Look over here. See how handsome I am?
Me: They have heard it before. Kinda getting old.
Gem: But, they should come over and admire me. I am, after all, magnificent.
Me: It's not all about you, Gem.
Gem: It's not!? What the heck?! I believe you are mistaken.

Sure enough, someone will eventually come down to the back of the barn and say hi, admire him and give him compliments. I swear he gives me that "I told you" look. Hmmm...perhaps Gem has some sort of hypnotic power of suggestion over humans.....

My riding "outfits" are colour coordinated. Fortunately, we are both dark haired, so what looks good on me will look good on Gem. ;-) His saddle blankets are coordinated and complimentary to the saddle and bridle. When we are in lesson or out on the trail, we look good! I mean, really, you have to be responsible to your public, right? You just never know now a days when someone will snap your picture. OK....have I gone mad?? :-)

Personally, Gem's hypnotic powers took hold of me the first time I saw him. His good looks have a drawback though. My classmate, CA, pointed out to me a couple of weeks ago that when I am loping Gem, I sometimes watch him and not necessarily where I am going! A couple of close calls with the walls of the arena have proven her to be correct - I was looking at him instead of steering! What?! Could this be why LA is always telling me to look ahead when I am loping??? !

After CA mentioned this to me, I realized that she is right! Yes, I do watch him. As we lope, I watch his long black mane flowing behind him sometimes brushing the back of my fingers, the rhythm of his shoulders and his strong legs out in front of him. I feel his power. I am mesmerized by his beauty! I am transported to my childhood dream for that brief few seconds; I am riding my big Black Beauty.

CA and I ride on Sundays. I have been practicing loping the last few times we have been out. There have been a few occasions where my steering has not been so great and she has asked "Were you looking at him? I think you looking at his flowing mane!" Probably guilty as charged. Must...learn...to....stop....looking....at....him. Must....stop....

Now that my loping confidence is better, LA is working on fine-tuning my hands, steering and seat. I suspect if Gem's beauty continues to dazzle me , learning how to steer and sit properly in the saddle at a lope may take a while. But, I am sort of OK with that if it means reliving my childhood fantasy, even if it's only for a few seconds. I just hope I can come out of this with the walls of the arena intact. :-)

What was I thinking....

19 comments:

  1. Well he is quite handsome... and what is that I spot? is that an English saddle on his back? Are you giving it another try?

    When I was trying out the Ansur saddle a cat came into the ring and flopped down. Of course I couldn't stop looking at it, so the horse immediately ran it down. "You were looking at the cat, weren't you?" Said the distributor. Yup.

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  2. Shannon - It's an old picture, but representative of how he usually looks. :-) I haven't pulled out my English saddle yet. I need to learn how to actually balance myself better for I dust it off! How funny is that that the horse didn't want to share the limelight with a cat! lol

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  3. He is very striking and handsome. I hate when I am so shallow as to prefer a certain color or look but I do drool over the Baroque breeds, and the color black!

    Bodhi is a very "cute" horse. I have never been the one to goggle over cutness (I prefer the more majestic types like Gem). I think that is why we work so well. Bodhi knows he is cute and lays it on pretty thick sometimes with his barbie pony whiles but I am on to him!

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  4. Golden - Funny, I have always been drawn to black, but the first horse I looked at was a gorgeous 15.1hh Norwegian Fjord and if he not had sensitivity going in a circle during the vet exam I would have taken him in a heartbeat. Bodhi is the perfect example of cuteness and I love that he works it! Hope that your grad work has still allowed time for some riding.

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  5. Haha this post definitely brings back some memories for me. One of my worst habits is looking down while I ride, and Net (riding instructor) used to joke with me and say "Mare, I know you think Missy is the prettiest pony in the barn, but you really need to look ahead where your going." Made me giggle every time.

    That's exactly why you look down. Gem's so handsome you can't help but admire his beauty:)

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  6. Mare - I can completely relate!!! LOL! Nice to know I am not the only one that has this "problem". :-)

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  7. Gem is one of the most beautiful horses I've seen. Love black horses, not all of us can have Black Beauty from our childhoods though,you are lucky to have found him.

    I've been known to look down at the horse instead of where I'm going too. Bad habit and it takes some time to fix it but I think I'm good now with Dusty. She's got such a short neck if I didn't look up I'd probably go over head first. I'm not used to riding a horse with nothing in front of me. Have fun on the trails and for safety's sake watch out for those trees!

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  8. GHM - I will pass your compliment on to the big guy and I will take your warning re the trails under advisement!! :-) I can't believe Dusty's neck is that short!

    BTW, I have been getting caught up on Donnie's story and what an amazing journey he has had with you and your daughter. He is soooo fortunate that you looked at him that day at the sale barn. You guys are his guardian angels. Wonderful.

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  9. He is very handsome! I cant blame you for wanting to look at him, but you really should look where you are going ;)

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  10. Wolfie, I relate. I'm hypnotized far too often by Saxony, and often lose time just standing there gawking at her. I swear she loves watching me watch her and slow blinks back at me that she gets how smitten I am by her.

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  11. That's funny! It's love for sure. I think that's wonderful. And I do think horses that are put together right have more confidence, too. I'm a big believer in the Linda Tellington Jones system of looking at a horse. It makes sense. Be careful of those walls!

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  12. Um, yes...I almost drove into the electric fence as I was leaving the barn staring at my horse...he was all shiny and pretty from a 2 hour marathon grooming session, and he was staring off in the distance with his neck arched like some damn beautiful statue...I swear he did it on purpose. Gem and beautiful boys (and girls!) like him just KNOW. Crisis averted, I did not cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to fence and vehicle, but it was close!

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  13. Good afternoon!

    JPS - I know, I know! Eyes up! :-)

    Linda - It sure is love!! :-) The arena walls are my motivation to start steering properly!

    Sarah - Of course, Miles stood like a beautiful statue! He absolutely knew you were looking at him! LOL!

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  14. Sorry, Muddy K! Almost missed you! That's what happens when work gets in the way of my blogging! :-) I admit there are times when I watch Gem outside playing or eating, that I loose track of time. I have to drag myself away from his presence. Saxony knows you are watching her and is basking in the glow of your love. :-)

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  15. "Were you looking at him? I think you looking at his flowing mane!" Lol!

    Gem is very handsome - there's no doubt! I love staring at my guy too - trying to make a habit of looking through his ears instead. I don't need any additional steering challenges! ;)

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  16. Love this post! He is very handsome!!!

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  17. He IS a very handsome guy, and yes, I believe he knows it too!
    I also believe it is sound to be in love with the horse you own...give him an extra carrot from Fame, will you? I think she would be mesmerized by him too!

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  18. Calm – Good idea! Hmmmm, I think I can still sort of see his flowing mane if I look though his ears... :-)

    Minus Pride – Thanks!! He thinks he is. ;-)

    HoC – I will definitely give Gem a carrot from beautiful Fame!

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  19. go 'western', or go home! :P lol

    ...and keep those 'horse' sugars handy! ;)

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