Horse Camp, Again

Yes, I'm back already—this time for a solo camp. I'm here for the horses and writing as always, but this time the other motive was to get me some quality quiet rejuvenation time so I can plunge back into wedding planning and other such things. dancinghorse is a terrific hostess: great food, a comfy bed, hot and cold running Lippizans, plenty of quiet writing time, and wonderful dinner conversation.

It's been beautiful—hot, but beautiful. I'll take some desert pictures today, but just to describe it, the air is hot but perfectly dry, which is fine by me. (I'm pretty tolerant of heat as long as it's dry heat, and as long as I remember to drink plenty of water.) The sky is bright clear blue (except at night, when it's absolutely black with a crescent moon and a hojillion stars) and seems somehow higher than it does in other places. Though the earth is the red-dusty of dry ground and stones, the trees and cactus make it surprisingly green—but a very different green than the dark lush wet-green of Seattle: it's a bright, pale, stubborn yellowy-green, like the plants are saying, "We're going to hang on here despite you, sun, so there!" And when I went out earlier to say good morning to the horses, I could smell the distinctive smell of a warm desert morning, when the slowly-rising heat wakes up the scents of all the plants. It's not the moist green smell of a more temperate forest or meadow, it's a light woodsy, fragrant scent, as though everything was dusted by the contents of a good spice shop.

Yesterday I had a riding lesson, which was a lot of fun. I rode Pandora again, who I love very much. The first time I rode her in October, she was very placid and gentle and did what I asked even when I didn't ask correctly. This time she was much more difficult. At first I was worried: had I somehow got suckier in between then and now? But the trainer, Stacey, told me that it was a sign that Pandora had decided that I didn't need babysitting anymore and that it was time for me to learn to do it properly, which was heartening! Humbling, but heartening. She's a good teacher, Pandora is. (And so is Stacey.)

Pictures beneath the cut, taken by the wonderful tcastleb!

( Me on a horse! (image heavy) )

I also got to see tcastleb and dancinghorse's lessons. tcastleb was riding Khepera, aka the Evil Gelding, and the two just looked beautiful together, physically perfectly matched. I got to see Khepera walk, trot and canter a little, and he has the smoothest and most beautiful gaits. dancinghorse was working with Camilla, who is a world-class Lippizan who had developed some fear of trainers (for good reason), but they worked through it, and my goodness, she's a beautiful horse and a beautiful mover.

I can't wait till I get to tour Raflyn Farm in Seattle and sit in on a lesson. Hopefully they'll work out for me and I can start riding regularly up there!

Today we're going to visit a mission, which has a very old and well-preserved Spanish church. I'll also get to see, sometime this weekend, what it's like when dancinghorse works with Ephiny, a young horse who's getting ready to start under saddle. And tomorrow and the next day, lots and lots of writing.

And sleeping. And relaxing. And being peacefully hermity in beautiful surroundings.

Hurrah!