A Thursday to Remember . . .

Haven't we been having beautiful weather the last few days? It could be warmer, I'll grant you that, but the calm sunshine is slowly melting away that white stuff that we have all come to hate, and the slow melt is allowing the water to drain off gradually. Our back yard was a pond last Monday; it's now more like a marsh.

This week's chemotherapy was the hard drugs so I have been suffering tingly fingers all week. Fortunately, I only had three instances of my hands seizing up. I actually find the seizing up more distressing than the tingling. The tingling hurts, and the seizing doesn't, but the seizing makes me feel helpless. The last time it happened, the seizing included my wrist as well, so from about the middle of my forearm to my fingertips, I was paralyzed.

Yesterday came the day I have been waiting for for months: I finally got to get up on a horse for the first time in about 25 years (maybe more). I'm only going to put up one picture today and will put up a few more tomorrow. The horse I am on is Pearl, and if she looks rather scruffy, it's because she is. She is shedding, but when her winter coat is finally shed out, she will be quite a nice looking mare.



I didn't really ride Pearl on my own. Because she's a new horse and is unfamiliar to us, and we are unfamiliar to her, we need to take small steps and get to know each other before we can really start riding. However, Pearl was most well-behaved and didn't seem to mind at all having me up on her back. You may notice there is no saddle; I'm riding on a bareback pad on top of a saddle blanket. It lets you feel the horse moving under you but also protects the horse's back.

I also have to say that Pearl made lots of eye contact with me both before and after our ride. My sister says she is really coming around and is becoming more friendly and engaged in what's going on around her, both with regard to the human and the horse population at my sister's.

Even though I didn't ride for long and basically just walked around the yard on Pearl, the experience was exhilarating and I can hardly wait to go again. Hopefully next time it will be dryer and I will be able to wear my cowboy boots as well as my hat (it's a nice one, don't you think?).

-- Lori