Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

In the Arena # 128 - Being all that we can be...

I must confess - I absolutely love when the Olympics roll around. Witnessing athletes culminate a lifetime's worth of training, dedication and focus into an ultimate performance on a global stage... It often moves me to tears. The nationalism and annoying television coverage I could do without.

Anyhow, in honor of the upcoming opportunity to witness world class equestrian events, I propose a contest. As I very young equestrian, I dreamed of riding in the Olympics. I can remember being mesmerized the few times I caught the broadcast of the musical freestyle dressage performances. I knew that one day I wanted to share that kind of experience with my own horse.

Though none of us will be medaling in our chosen disciplines this go round, I'm quite sure our equine partners all have an extraordinary quality worthy of celebrating... and prizes!

Over the next two weeks, I invite you all to share your horses' special talents here. Photos and / or video, plus a written description will do for your entry. You can provide links for me in the comments, and I will take care of embedding. If you have any trouble, we can use email.

At the close of the Olympics I'll announce the winners - chosen at random with the help of my lovely assistant Val. There will be three - who will receive an awesome, official, "Dressage is #1" foam finger. If you aren't a dressage enthusiast yourself, I'll bet you know one or two... Christmas will be here before you know it.



✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥

To get the ball rolling I submit Valentino. Though an energy conserver by nature, he can multi-task with the best of them.

Occasionally he's seen busting a move like this...




but mostly he gets plenty of beauty sleep, and makes an effort with his nutrition - two keys for healthy living. :)



EDITED TO ADD: 
Contest and entries also located here on their own page 
Let the games begin!

12 comments:

  1. Well, despite being bumped off the short list by Pia Fortmuller and Orion, I still think Mr. Moon is Olympic-quality.

    His special talent? He dopplegangs as a race car. A "Horsche" (aka. Porsche Horse) to be exact! The most fabulous thing about him, is his willingness to tolerate whatever crazy antics I dream up, from competing in that car costume, to walking the dog from his back, to vaulting onto his back.

    Moon has the heart of gold and is my most willing partner. He might not bring home a gold (or any ribbons at all), but he ALWAYS brings ME home. : )

    (pictures of my "race car" can be found here: http://firsthorseowner.blogspot.ca/2012/05/my-one-trick-pony.html) : )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea for a contest - looking forward to the videos!

    When I was a young rider I wanted to go to the Olympics too - but as the vet that took care of the horses! I changed my mind when I got into pre-vet: the huge impersonal courses and the whole vet school "machine" - at this point it's hard to imagine myself at the Olympics and not ending up in jail for taking riders' horses away from them in the warm-up arenas for things like blue tongues and bloody mouths.

    Much rather see happy horses at home doing their own phenomenal things - so I'll just tune in here! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the photo of Val, awesome! And that treat face is just too cute.

    I'll look around here and see if there's a video hanging around or a picture I can take for the contest. It sounds like fun.

    Is that foam finger the only thing glove that will fit on your hand or is it better now...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, look at that trot! Go Val!

    For your consideration, I submit Jag, who can hold his own in NoseBall:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iP263nX-rE&feature=plcp

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUXHHaXMHx0&feature=plcp

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOL!! "treat face!" he is so cute. And obviously takes his naps, and treats, very seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I already have one of those fingers, so I shall abstain from the competition.

    However, I do think Spider has butt scratching down to an art form! http://shannonfornari.blogspot.com/2011/08/weird-stuff-my-horse-does.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. I did find a video of Dusty which I think shows just how smart she can be. Here it is:
    http://greyhorsematters.blogspot.com/2011/09/dusty-vs-latch.html

    Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did filming it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would like to submit Harley's Jedi powers, but I just got my own finger from SmarkPak, so this is for exhibition only. That suits my horse's nature anyway. ;)

    http://memoirsofahorsegirlblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-horses-jedi-mind-trick.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fun contest! Glad I found your blog, I look forward to reading a lot more! I'll have to look and see what I can come up with for Shy. Currently, her special talent is giving evil looks, but I know I can come up with something better than that!
    Thanks for the follow :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Here is the link for an article that was written about my horse. It highlights some of the things he excelled at. Unfortunately I had to put him down a week after it was published. I think it serves as a wonderful tribute to my best friend and the most amazing horse I've ever known.

    http://canterburylive.com/2012/07/13/a-horse-for-any-course/

    ReplyDelete

I love, love, love my readers, and knowing that you've stopped by - it really makes my day.

However, to avoid the new illegible blogger word verification, I've added comment moderation. Lesser of two evils.

Please don't let this stop you - keep those comments coming!! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...