Do not cloud the issue w/ reason and logic...

Little RC had the *best* canter transition today :) I was sooo happy. Yes it's the little things in life. hahaha if you're a horse-person, you'll get that; if you're not... well that's a shame >;-P Those who know, cannot explain; those who don't know, cannot understand.

I gotta admit, most of the critters I've been riding lately have led me to a new appreciation for Zel. Rhythm on her was pretty idiot-proof :) In fact most things on her by the end were pretty idiot proof *g* And yes I know, logically, that she still can't do what I want to do, but that doesn't make it easy to accept. Oh who are we kidding -- I did dressage for a YEAR to avoid accepting it >;-P hahaha That being said, b4 said year I doubt rhythm would ever have occured to me so perhaps I did manage to learn something from it >;-P

So the F-word discussion. We all know the standard F word; well in a random non-lesson conversation the other day Denny suggested the real F word is Fat. Particularly in relation to women (this whole thing started after some smart-ass comment about the fact that I tend to go *through* the fences that I can't go over (top rail is electrified) rather than around... And that I *just* fit... hahaha) -- if, generally speaking, you tell a woman she's fat, she's going to be far more p*ssed and/or hurt than if you tell her to F-off. We were talking about the out-cry when George Morris told certain riders they had to lose weight and how everybody and their sister got all huffy about it. But then realistically, how good an athlete can you be if you're not physically fit? (and yes I know you can be heavy AND fit; those are not the people we're talking about here :) And how can your horse perform to his best if he has to cart around xtra weight?

So I got to thinking about that -- n while it's obviously in *very* general terms, there might be something to it. And in a slight variation -- IF we accept the premise that the offence is true, what does it say about society? That being called fat (which in some cases is an inarguable statement of fact) is among the worst insults out there...

Anyways -- just struck me as interesting, if somewhat random...

And more of complete randomness: we had a NH type person in today who was killing time waiting for one of the girls, n he was going around and analysing the horses' personalities based solely on appearance (swirls, ears, eyes, etc). Entirely old-wives tales... But the thing is, there's usually a grain of truth in those somewhere. While I'm not convinced I believe it, the analysis was pretty close for almost all of them. Sort of interesting. Almost want to put together a crib-sheet for the next shopping expedition! hahaha Of course who knows how much he's heard about them b4 too -- although I doubt he'd've heard enough to know *which* of the dark-bay tbX horses he was looking @. N none of them are ever in their right stalls. I'm really not sure why they even *have* assigned stalls.

For the curious -- the little I remember about swirls. Most have one between or just above the eyes and that doesn't tell much. But if it's somewhere else... One long swirl in the middle of the forehead = super-friendly w/ people (was pretty accurate). 2 swirls connected is going to be difficult -- highstrung or unpredictable (that one was bang on - had everybody laughing when he came up w/ that analysis). One swirl right in the middle and low = very intelligent (able to solve puzzles, untie knots, open gates, etc... Anybody @ Myrddin reading this want to go look @ Marty for me???). Apparently way off-center to the left is likely to be opinionated and/or stubborn; way off-centre to the right you may as well give up and go home. There were details about all sorts of other things too, but it was the swirls we were running around looking @ so that's what I remember *g* Apparently Linda Tellington-Jones has a lot of this in her books, but I haven't read them so I couldn't say for sure.

Is there logic to this? The only thing I can think of is that swirls etc are inherited much as personality traits are and so both are handed down together. Beyond that, I've no idea... Anybody w/ more than 101 level genetics experience care to comment?

Of course there's the whole chestnut mare w/ 4 white socks thing too -- but I still adored Zel :) So not putting tooooo much faith in it :) Although it was a good excuse when she was being... ummmmm... interesting *g*