saucy_dryad

This is all over my friends list, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Dante (short for 'Dante's Inferno'), one of the Faire's long time and much beloved joust horses, passed away this morning. He'd just finished a great season. By all accounts, he was strong and happy and doing what he loved.* He and Oso were the horses that helped me learn to joust. They knew their job, leaving me free to fumble and sweat and make huge mistakes and, finally, get things right.

Best we could tell, Dante had it a bit rough before he came to Faire. It's good to know that the last dozen years were spent among people who loved him. He was sweet and quirky and absolutely gorgeous. Even though he ran over me once, he had to grace to look abashed, after. He was a joy to ride and a joy to behold.

My heart goes out to all that knew and loved him.




*I'm not being twee, here. He loved the show. Hated waiting in the pocket. Wanted to be on the list, thundering down the rail. On the off season, when he and Oso were turned out in the pasture, they would run at each other as if doing joust passes.

A bit of a break from All Dad-Updates, All the Time(though I'll slip in a quickie: he continues stable(ish) today. very confused. thought he was at Bear Mountain, where he summered as a boy and worked as a teenager. had a few moments of lucidity. still on oxygen 24-7).

Now then. Monday, I went up to Argus to go riding with Cat. As chance would have it, all of the Faire horses were there to be shod. I'm not sure why Kevin (the farrier) doesn't do them at the Faire site as he used to. Anyway, he chose to do the girls first, so Oso and Dante were put into one of the paddocks to await their turn. They had plenty of grass and each other's company, so all was well. We passed them as we went to one of the other paddocks to get our horses (Cat had Shadow, of course, and it had been decided I'd ride Lucy). I shouted out a hello to the boys. They lifted their heads, blinked, and went back to grazing. Until...

The moment I took Lucy from her paddock and started to lead her to the barn, Oso trotted over to the fence. He followed Lucy and I the entire length of the fence and, at the end, stood watching as I led away the horse I was going to ride. That's right: Oso, with a field full of grass, left off eating to trot(!) after me, as if he expected I'd be taking him, too. It's moments like that when all I have is Kevin Kline's best line from Silverado: "Can't you see this horse loves me?"

Later, Cat and I were letting the horses graze as we ran about filling empty water troughs (which, by the way? grrrrrrrr!. It was hot and humid and most of the troughs were bone dry. Not cool. Not remotely.) Oso was in a stall; Dante was being done and Oso was on-deck. He'd stuck his head out the side window, and when I called out to him, he turned his head in the other direction, as if he'd just noticed something terribly interesting in the treeline. *in Oso voice* "I'm sorry. Did someone say something? No... no, I must have been mistaken. Oh, look. The leaves are turning. Just like Rider's loyalties. Fascinating."

I adore that horse.

update, Part the Second:

It's brief, to be sure. I just wanted to keep it separate from the other stuff.

Last Friday I went a-riding at Argus. It was grey and chill and threatening rain, but riding time is riding time, dammit. Thanks to the holiday, vampcurse (Pam) had the day off and was able to join C. and myself.

There was much hanging out and chitchatting, and then the fetching o' the steeds. And more chitchatting in the barn. Lessons were learned (you are not allowed to put yourself down! *thwap!*), horses were tacked and to the ring we went; it's still too muddy for trails, alas, but we still had a good time. Oso was fair chuffed to be in the ring with his joust-life mate. He was all fast trot and canter (yes: Oso) and oh, my kickboxing-battered thighs felt every step. Shadow wasn't even having with the trot, and it was a joy to watch her very pretty canter as C. took her around - and around and around and around - the ring.

Later, Pam and I swapped horses (isn't a leg-up ever so much easier than you'd thought?) so that I had a chance to ride Dante, too. Not long after, C. had to get going. Pam and I stayed up a bit longer and ended with an impromptu joust pass. Oso dogged it (as he will do - next time, Pammy, he'll pick it up!) and I got a reminder of why I loved jousting on Dante (sorry, Ose; you'll always be my boy, but Dante has some moves).

We groomed and blanketed the ponies and turned them back out into the fields. It was only as I was driving home that this occurred to me:

hey! I just got to ride with the Hot Chicks of Argus. The only one missing was harpiegirl4. ::coattails!::






on a side note, if I ever joust on a white horse again, I'm naming it Arthur. Or The Doctor. *loves this icon!*

( Can't you see this horse loves me? )


p.s. yes, I am just that dorky that my 'horse' icon also features The Doctor.

I must be PMSing. I got cranky with Don when he told me he would be home this evening. I had thought he had rehearsal, and had already decided not to make dinner as that would entail a trip to the grocery store. He was lovely, assuring me I didn't need to worry, he would fend for himself. Naturally this made me grumble more.

Went up to the Faire and rode Smoke (or 'Freak-horse' as we affectionately call him). We got him last year on the assurance that he would be a 'perfect' joust horse. If 'perfect' means shying at everything from the flags to the drums to the lances, rearing up, trampling your rider when he does his fall, and ramming into a squire, 'perfect' he was! He's very high strung, and I suspect there's abuse in his past. He really is a sweetie, and so we're trying to work with him in the hopes that he will settle down. You have to ride him with a feather-light hand and a willingness to just go with any sudden movements. I rode him for about half an hour, and he did pretty well for me. There was that moment when he shied from the sound of sand against a large leaf, but otherwise no big problems, so I was pretty happy about that. I helped feed, which inexplicably left me feeling very content.

In the car on the way home, I heard Dar's "When I Was a Boy." I burst into tears. Once I got myself together, I started feeling guilty for my earlier grumbliness to Don, I stopped at the grocery store to buy ingredients for one of his favorite dinners (seafood quiche.. the low carb way!). Turns out he DID have a workshop to teach, and will be home late after all. That, naturally, increases further the guilt for earlier tatchiness. My moods have just been all over the place! *sigh*


"When I Was A Boy
Dar Williams

I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check.
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives out on the pirate's deck.
And I remember that night
When I'm leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it's not safe, someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home.
When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom,
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don't know how I survived,
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew.
And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, too.

I was a kid that you would like, just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw.
My neighbor come outside to say, "Get your shirt,"
I said "No way, it's the last time I'm not breaking any law."
And now I'm in a clothing store, and the sign says less is more
More that's tight means more to see, more for them, not more for me
That can't help me climb a tree in ten seconds flat

When I was a boy, see that picture? That was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change,
They got pills to sell, they've got implants to put in, they've got implants to remove
But I am not forgetting
That I was a boy too

And like the woods where I would creep, it's a secret I can keep
Except when I'm tired, except when I'm being caught off guard
I've had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard.
And I tell the man I'm with about the other life I lived
And I say now you're top gun, I have lost and you have won
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you see
When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked.
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too.
And you were just like me, and I was just like you. "