Spirit has a home

Dada found an unused pasture and the owner was happy to have a horse and little riding program there. It's a temporary home and pretty rustic, but it is a great start. Dada says she hopes I can start riding in about a month. How exciting!

Spirit seems like a wonderful horse. I fed her a few carrots, and when Dada opened the gate into the pasture she took off into it. She looked so amazing. She reminded me how much I miss riding. I won't even complain about having to ride outside in February, I promise.

Claren, my service dog, really liked the pasture, too. It is well-enclosed, so she can run free in it. Unfortunately, she decided eating horse poop was more fun than running free, so I need to work on that.

Get the Spirit

The papers are filed. The name of the new riding stable is Spirit, just Spirit I did a little page about it so you can see our first horses.

The page looks a little screwy in Firefox and I am working on it.

Name that riding center

We have to find a new stable still, but the biggest obstacle these days seems to be the name. You need to put a name on the founding documents. Dada wants spirit, bond, soul, hope, dream and a few other words included. Kate wants a pun.

Here are my suggestions:

• Stirrup your soul, but that is partly appropriated (stolen) from a riding program in Georgia my friend Lynne told me about.
• Let's ride Equestrian Center
• Horse-sense Equestrian Riding Center
• Galloping Spirit Equestrian Riding Center
• Unbroken Spirit Equestrian Riding Center

Undoubtedly better names are out there. Please, suggest some.

Future's so bright, gotta wear blinders

Dada has been energized by the whole fiasco with LMU. She and Kate and some others are almost ready to start a new riding program. I will be working on a website for it soon. It will be an inclusive program. Able-bodied riders will be welcome, so will therapeutic riders and para-equestrian riders (yeah!). We all have much to learn from one another and from horses.

Here is how I think a para-equestrian program can benefit everyone:

As the rider, I experienced joy I have rarely felt as I learned that I could compete in a physical competition and win it.

Other riders at Lift Me Up also benefited. One day during a lesson, Georgia asked if one of her rider could follow my dressage patterns. He likes that, she said. It seems that I was someone to look up to, a successful, independent rider, even though I was disabled. I sure never felt like a star; maybe I should have become a prima donna and demanded cinnamon pop-tarts and a private mounting stall? Probably not.

Finally parents also benefited. At the first Lift Me Up function I attended, the mother of a young girl with cerebral palsy seemed shocked and delighted to learn I held a job, lived on my own, was independent. I hold no illusions about my speaking, but I would like to think that I helped this woman realize that an independent and happy future for her daughter is achievable.

Crossing the Rubicon

I wrote checks and put them in the mail yesterday to return the donations to Keep Matt Trotting. Lift Me Up had sent me the a big check, so it did not come out of my money. Now, though, I can wash my hands with Lift Me Up.

I am sad about that. Despite problems there, which I often attributed to paranoia but were quite real, LMU sat me on a horse. I still remember all the help and protective hands, but more than anything I remember that I rode a horse. Me! I'll always treasure LMU for that and hope that the people there can fix a troubled program.

But that's the past, now I am focused on the future and it looks bright.