What Style of Boot Are You?
I haven't done one of these blog quizzes in a long while, so this sounded like fun. I thought maybe I'd be surprised by the results - for once.
Not exactly.
What style of boot do you think might represent you best, at least, in the eyes of the quiz makers?
Here are my results - along with a great big "Duh!"
You Are Cowboy Boots |
 You are incredibly down to earth and happy with yourself. You don't pretend to be someone else. You also tend to be very practical. You don't really have a lot of room for fluff in your life. You are a very honest and direct person. You will give anyone a straight answer, even if it's a bit uncomfortable. While you're quite sensible, you always like a little bit of flash in your life. You don't overdo it, but you do like turning heads. |
Preparing for a Filly's First Ride
My young half-Arabian sporthorse filly is training up nicely. She’s learning to move away from pressure, and she’s gaining rhythm and balance in all her gaits. This one shows plenty of promise.
Although it is still very early in her training, we’re getting quite close to the day when she will accept a rider.
For the past few days, before a professional trainer has worked with the young horse, I have experimented a bit with her. Because this filly and I have been together since she was foaled, we have enjoyed a trusting relationship from the start.
Spotting a friend playing with her somewhat skittish (formerly feral) mare and an old boot bag, I opted to try the technique myself with my green sporthorse.
I have been placing an old tall boot bag, containing an actual pair of riding boots, over the saddle while working with her in the round pen. The first time I did this, I allowed her to look at the boot bag and sniff it a bit before sliding it onto the top of the saddle. She looked at me (perhaps for assurance) and apparently decided to go along with the program.
This sacking-out technique seems to be working, as the filly is readily accepting the load and the bounce of the boots. She continues to move forward willingly and obediently, without concern for the slapping of the heavy boot bag upon her sides.
Walking next to the filly, I have pressed a boot against her side, and she has stepped sideways promptly, even as she will one day do under saddle.
These photos were taken with a cellular phone camera, so the resolution is poor, but the images display the technique.
Photo copyrighted by Nickers and Ink.
Soon, she will be ready to ride!
Does Your Horse Need a Winter Coat?
Icelandic Horse 
Heads Up for PBR Finals This Weekend
Las Vegas welcomes the Professional Bull Riders Association this weekend for the championship event in bull riding, The 2009 Built Ford Tough World Finals. The world's top bull riders will try to hang onto the world's toughest bulls for $3 million in prize money.
Who's gonna watch the PBR Finals? RFD-TV will televise the event.
Click here for additional rodeo-related articles from the National Equestrian Examiner.
Priceless Pesky Ponies
Are you familiar with French and Saunders, the British comedy duo? These comediennes from Great Britain fancied themselves as equestriennes, at least for a sketch. And they ARE a sketch.
Watch Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders in "Ponies." You might agree, they are absolutely fabulous. (Get it?)
Jigsaw has them in a puzzle, and Peter Pan refuses to fly. Not exactly natural horsemanship, and these two could benefit from a few horseback riding lessons, but the comedic value is a stitch.
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Enjoy!
Milli Vanilli Had Nothin' on Shag-Ra
Maybe you've seen this. If you haven't, it's worth a watch.
Phyllis Olson's Arabian Shag-Ra (the "artist" formerly known as Charlie Brown), who actually spends plenty of time inside Phyllis' British Columbia home, can do plenty of pet tricks. His more famous achievement, however, is lip-synching.
Shag-Ra and Miss Phyllis have appeared on several television programs, including America's Funniest Home Videos, Animal Miracles, The Late Show with David Letterman and To Tell the Truth.
Take a look at Miss Phyllis and Shag-Ra, the lip-synching horse:
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Here's Shag-Ra, presenting "Happy Birthday, Canada":
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Glancing at Prancing
All summer long, the streets of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, sported a rather unique herd of horses. Painted by local and regional artists, the Prancing Carousels adorned sidewalks, shop porches and store windows. At the end of the summer, the carousel horses were auctioned to benefit an area therapeutic riding center.
Here’s my slideshow, filled with photographs I took of the 2009 Prancing Carousels of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, this summer:
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One of my personal favorites, of all the Prancing Carousels of 2009, was Paisley Pete, by Sybil Brauneis Klug.
Paisley Pete
Photo copyrighted by Nickers and Ink
Bally-hue
With psychedelic patterned coat,
With tail a-flip and mane afloat –
A living statuary proud,
He gallops motionless ‘mid crowd.
Elusive though his spirit be,
No shame may fade his gaiety.
Restarting rainbow’s wondrous glow,
He prances proudly, off to show.
Aye, could it be he knows the cause
For which he prances without pause?
As now this technicolor steed
Displays his daunt for others’ need.
So riderless, yet on the edge,
Imagination pays its pledge.
One day, he’ll grace another home,
This happy horse with colored chrome.
c2009 by Linda Ann Nickerson
Posted for a variety of prompts:
Easy Street Prompts (“living statuary”)
Heads or Tails (“edge”)Meme Express (Friday Freedom)
Monday Poetry Train (poem/s)
One Single Impression (“elusive”)
Simply Snickers (“know,” “need” and “now”)
Sunday Scribblings (“shame”)
Totally Optional Prompts (“restart”)
Photo prompts:
Camera Critters (photo/s)
Scenic Sunday (photo/s)Sunday Stills (photo/s)
Thursday Challenge (photo/s)
Wordless Wednesday (photo/s)
Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging prompts.
Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.
Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.
Goody Two-Shoes
(The origins of this story are unknown, but it goes something like this.)
Two proud stallions were bickering (rather than nickering) in the show barn.
“I must admit, you are the closest I have ever seen to my own level of excellence,” the first stallion said. “Still, my overall confirmation is much better. My legs are straighter, and that counts for a lot in the show ring.”
The second horse stood up as tall as he could, puffed out his chest and responded. “Maybe your legs are straighter, but mine a naturally strong and straight. Everyone knows you have had thousands of dollars of corrective shoeing. Your foals will inherit the legs you were born with, not your highly skilled farrier.”
The first horse snorted and said, “You’re right. I stand corrected.”
Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging prompts.
Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.
Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.
Fabulous Freestyle
Do you believe in dressage?
No matter what equestrian discipline you prefer, you may enjoy this fabulous musical freestyle. Man, this mare can dance!
Here's Andreas Helgstrand on Blue Hors Matine in the finals at the FEI's 2006 World Equestrian Games.
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Danish dressage rider and Olympic bronze medalist Andreas Helgstrand and his nine-year-old mare Blue Hors Matine earned a silver medal for this performance, followed by German equestrian and Olympic gold medalist Isabell Werth and Satchmo (who placed third). The dressage freestyle gold medal was captured by Dutch equestrian and Olympic gold medalist Anky van Grunsven and Keltec Salinero.
The 2006 World Equestrian Games were held in Aachen, Germany. The games included 16 events, representing seven equestrian disciplines: dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, reining and vaulting.
Tickets are now on sale for the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games, which will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, in September 2010. (CTRL-click here for more information on the 2010 World Equestrian Games.)
