It's a new year, which for some reason seems to mean new opportunities even though it is just a flip of the calendar page. But we all love the idea of a fresh start and we love to write "1/1", especially when it's really "1/1/11". It's also a time to take a look at last year's hopes for the year we just finished and be either amused or appalled by how things turned out compared to plan. For example, just looking at last year's entry on this blog, Cowboy and I were both going to be ever so much fitter by now. Hmmmm. Well, at least I don't think I actually gained any weight. Can't say the same for Cowboy, but he needed to gain some weight, so I guess that was a success.
Fitness aside, there were some "missions accomplished" this year:
-Parelli Level 3 online achieved
-I got published! That was a biggie, something I had wanted for years, and amazingly easy once I made the effort. In fact, I see by the masthead that I am now the "editor at large" for the Sonoma County Horse Journal. I don't have any idea what that means but I hope it doesn't involve too much work. Running amok, dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s with wild abandon, I guess.
-Got my business website up and running. Not quite as spectacular as I had wanted but functional. www.inbalancebk.com.
Laura and I started out the new year in a couple of equine-inspiring ways. On New Year's Day, we, along with Laura's friend Tina, visited the nice folks at Black Sterling Friesians in Sonoma and got to ride 3 of their fabulous horses: Macho, Magnifiek and Sterling. Tina went for the lively Macho, while Laura and I traded off on the more mellow Magnifiek and Sterling. Sterling is the venerable namesake of the stable and the first horse the Goldmans bought several years when their daughter wanted a horse. Laura and Tina are below on Magnifiek and Macho.
Then on Sunday evening, Laura and I went to the city to see Cavalia! We had each wanted to go but were reluctant to spend the money--but last week we both got, from separate sources, the word that if we loved horses, we HAD to see this. And the show was extended a few days. So we got last-minute tickets and
found our way through the city like a couple of 
country bumpkins to the parking lot next to AT&T park. Once we were in the general vicinity, it was hard to miss the pristine white tents glowing in the night. The tent city alone was almost worth the trip. It's mind-boggling to think that this is put up and taken down for each venue. The procedures manual must be impressive! But nothing like the show. The stage was a bit smaller than I had imagined but what a lot was accomplished in a small space. The show is a surreal combination of horsemanship, showmanship, costuming, set design, choreography, acrobatics, lighting, music...the complexity and sheer beauty of the production is astounding. There were two or three teams of horses ridden Roman-style at a gallop around a tiny track up and down a ramp in a tent in front of a thousand or more cheering spectators with music blaring. Acrobatics tethered to bungees dropping from the ceiling onto the horses. A woman working eight white horses completely at liberty, including having all of them do simultaneous pirhouettes. And ending up with a pretty spectacular display of rodeo-style trick riding. Fifty two horses in all--all of them male. Twenty three stallions, the rest geldings. I'm sure there is a discrimination suit there somewhere. Although in reality, if you have 23 performing stallions stabled together, you probably don't want to throw a mare into the mix. It would be like, well, your average office building.
found our way through the city like a couple of 
country bumpkins to the parking lot next to AT&T park. Once we were in the general vicinity, it was hard to miss the pristine white tents glowing in the night. The tent city alone was almost worth the trip. It's mind-boggling to think that this is put up and taken down for each venue. The procedures manual must be impressive! But nothing like the show. The stage was a bit smaller than I had imagined but what a lot was accomplished in a small space. The show is a surreal combination of horsemanship, showmanship, costuming, set design, choreography, acrobatics, lighting, music...the complexity and sheer beauty of the production is astounding. There were two or three teams of horses ridden Roman-style at a gallop around a tiny track up and down a ramp in a tent in front of a thousand or more cheering spectators with music blaring. Acrobatics tethered to bungees dropping from the ceiling onto the horses. A woman working eight white horses completely at liberty, including having all of them do simultaneous pirhouettes. And ending up with a pretty spectacular display of rodeo-style trick riding. Fifty two horses in all--all of them male. Twenty three stallions, the rest geldings. I'm sure there is a discrimination suit there somewhere. Although in reality, if you have 23 performing stallions stabled together, you probably don't want to throw a mare into the mix. It would be like, well, your average office building.Anyway, we are freshly inspired to do fabulous work with the horses again. Assuming we ever get enough time and good weather. We did get to ride this evening. It was the first time in a couple months that I put the saddle back on Cowboy. The pressure sores by his withers have healed and I have re-shimmed the saddle and am trying to work on my sitting posture to shift weight back, so we shall see how this goes. Weather permitting, we are planning on riding on Sunday. My iPhone says good weather so we're probably good to go.
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