dear dad,
how would you feel if I can=ne home with a horse? they're the best type of therepy and I'm sure Prince could stay in the side yard. the bottom is dry enough to ride around and train Tucker, even along the fence next to the apple trees. think on it.

K Bye.

All the Pretty Little Ponies

I volunteered at Saddle Rock again this week and took some pictures. This is Jam, one of the therapy horses, he likes to pose for pictures:










I was interrupting lunch and Dusty would rather eat than pose, but Jam found the concentration within his horsey brain to multitask

I love volunteering at Saddle Rock but thet top ring that we ues in the summer is very uneven and sandy and there is a very steep hill to walk up to get there and my knee just wasn't having any of it after three hours. But I got a couple of nice pictures from the top:

And here are some of the horses fooling around in turnout:

The date stamp is way off on my camera and I just haven't bothereed to fix it so pay no attention to that.

Saddle Rock

I spent all of the morning and a little of the afternoon at one of my favorite places: Saddle Rock Ranch. They run an equine therapy program for people with mental and physical disabilities on the weekends and Tuesday afternoons. Every Saturday I go in at eight for morning grooming and tack and stay until around one. I help with the horse care and the lessons; leading horses and side-walking for the less independent riders. It is very rewarding to see children who are painfully shy get on a horse and sit up tall and be happy that they can do something on their own. Even the people who aren't as capable shine when they get on a horse. It's a healing experience, and a workout when the rider is capable enough to trot but still needs a person on the lead line, especially because the top ring is on a steep slope. It's a way for me to be around horses even though I can't ride at the moment. You can meet a lot of great people when you give your time and service to a good cause.

I got home around half past two and took a four hour nap. It's amazing how tired you get after five hours in the sun. I have pointy sunburn on my shoulders because I tied my t-shirt sleeves up with a couple pieces of string and my face is bright red, but it is most definitely worth tomorrow's discomfort after seeing how happy horses can make people. Next week my hands (and most likely legs) will be stained purply-blue because I'm bringing in Blue Kote to help with the horses' thrush, it gets everywhere and takes a while to get out, it's a spray so it mists all over places you wouldn't think it could.

I spent a good part of yesterday after noon starting on the monumental task of cleaning my room (shock, gasp), it was getting cleaner and actually staying clean until school ended and my locker exploded onto my floor and dresser and whatever space was left on my desk... so tomorrow will be spent trying to find my floor and maybe even some of my desk. I can't believe high school is over, but I'm happy I'm finally in college. I haven't had time to work on Granny's manuscript but I don't have a deadline and I don't want to rush through it. Until next time, happy reading.

Welcome To the Land Normalcy Forgot

Hi All,
Not my first blog, just the first I'll keep up with(hopefully). I'm Margaret, a college student, born and studying in New York. My father's family is all English so we spent a lot of time in Europe and we have a family summer home on the Island of Korcula in Croatia.
I love to ride horse, mostly English style. I jump up to 3foot 9inches and currently don't have a horse. I have an almost unhealthy obsession with reading fiction and write to save my life.
My current hobby, and I think it'll stick, is learning about and attempting to make herbal remedies and products. So far I haven't had the time to try any of the recipes I have found or made up in my head, but if anyone has ideas that they think I should try, I'm all open and will blog about the experience.
I also make embroidery thread bracelets and have set myself the challenge of making a bridle out of embroidery thread, so any designs anyone wants to see, post me a link and I'll see where I can work them in.
Unfortunately I injured my knee in a series of bad riding accidents and can't ride, or walk on some days, and my doctors are having trouble finding a way, sans a surgery that might not even fix all of the problem, to get me fully functional again.
So, welcome to my life, and hope you enjoy the show.