Zen Cowgirl: Neither Old nor Young but Stuck in the Middle

They say that youth is wasted on the young, and in many ways I have to agree. The young are bursting with health, vitality, and enthusiasm ... all traits that they seem to take for granted with nary a second thought.

Those of us with a few years under our belt (not to mention a few colt-training "incidents") view such carefree physical exuberance with a bit of envy. We think to ourselves, "If only I had that much energy ... if only I so easily stacked 50 hay bales while barely breaking a sweat!" The "if onlys" could go on forever ... our bodies do not.

A Young Brain Stuck in a Questionable Bod
Lately I've been pondering the strange juxtaposition in which I find myself: I seem strangely ensnared between the mental callowness of youth and the lesser physical fitness of age. Mentally and emotionally, I am the same crazy impatient cowgirl I have always been--forever chomping on the bit that "things" are not getting done fast enough; colts are not progressing well enough under my care; my roping training is lagging somewhere between "sucky" and pre-novice.

And while my mental and emotional state currently reflect the that of a seven-year-old, my physical state shows every year of my almost four decades of physical exertion. Starting with swimming, gymnastics, and progressing to horseback riding along with a passion for starting raunchy colts, my body is feeling, well, just plain tired. I look at the horse's hooves and think, "Uggh, they really need to be trimmed but am I really up for this?" I look at the foxtail in my pasture (see the pic for an example of this gnarly weed!) and know I need to pull them out ... but some days I don't seem to have the physical reserves to get out there and do it ... right now!

Nike's famous "Just do it!" slogan just ain't doing it for this zen cowgirl anymore. I can no longer rely on sheer physical force to just do it.

Zen Cowgirl and Time Travel
So this zen cowgirl is off on a new time-travel adventure. My goal? To draw my seven-year-old mental and emotional state toward my thirty-something body. Hopefully both sides of me will meet somewhere in the middle.

It's gonna be a challenge. How will I do it? I have a few clues but no definite ideas. The clues involve taking the mind-bending and emotionally-relaxing supplement Eleviv, which keeps me somewhat sane despite my schizophrenic age split, as well as realizing that the world is a little messed up right now, all the way around. That means I'm crazy but I'm not alone. Somehow that's comforting in the wee hours of the night (which it is right now). It's not much but it's a place to start ...

Stay tuned for more crazy experiments in zen cowgirl time travel! And puleeze let me know if you have any great ideas!

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/genbug/3558085102/

A Letter of Thanks from a Zen Cowgirl to her Parents for NOT Buying a Horse

This is a letter of thanks to my parents for not buying me everything I thought I wanted (translation: a horse!) when I was younger. Now that may not sound like big news because every parent knows that they shouldn't buy their child everything he or she wants ... unless they want a very spoiled child.

The Child's Point of View
But what about from the child's point of view? It doesn't always make sense from a child's point of view why our parents won't buy us the very thing we most want. It seems unfair. It seemed unfair to me when I was growing up. It's not until now, when I'm in my 30s, that I realize what a favor my parents did for me by not buying me the thing I thought I most wanted as I was growing up: a horse.

I have been horse-mad since I was four years old, when my mom took me to my first riding lesson. Love at first sight. And of course I saw tons of other girls riding, too, many of them on their own horses. I soon began asking my parents for a horse of my own. I really hoped I would wake up on Christmas morning and find one in the driveway ... no dice and no horse.

But my parents did get me lots of lessons and lots of opportunities. They gave me the privilege of once-a-week lessons as well as often paying so I could rent a horse for an hour on the weekends. Later on they paid so I could lease a horse and really do some serious riding. I always thought that they were buying me riding lessons instead of buying me a horse. I didn't appreciate the difference at all. Little did I know that they were giving me so much more by not buying me a horse. Here's what they gave me by NOT buying me a horse:

1. A Desire to Learn "How To"
Because my parents didn't buy me the perfect horse right away, I rode lesson horses. Lesson horses, those poor, patient, and benighted animals, are often sour, tired, and kind of cranky. But since they represented my only chance to ride, I wanted, by golly, to make every ride count.

So I learned to make those poor tired lesson horses go, and I developed a deep thirst for learning how to work with lots of different horses. If my parents had bought me "the perfect horse" I would never have appreciated it. I would have just assumed that riding was easy and probably gotten bored with it. Instead I now have a great desire to "crack the code" on how best to ride every horse ... as well as how to solve life problems.

2. A Work Ethic
Even though my parents never bought me a horse outright, they gave me lots of opportunities to increase my riding time through bartering and work (in addition to giving me lessons outright). I remember my mom agreeing to trade dishwashing services for riding lessons (and overlooking many a still-greasy pot!).

I have to say that there was probably no greater motivating force in my childhood than a riding lesson, so by trading work for lessons they taught me how to have a work ethic, even though it didn't feel too much like work. They also loaned me the money when I wanted to buy my first horse (that's me and Marcus in that pic up there) and gave me extremely generous payment terms of $100 a month!

3. The Ability to Think It Through
Every time I asked my parents if I could have a horse, they would ask me lots of questions I couldn't answer. They wanted to know how much a horse cost, how I would know whether a horse was good, how to keep a horse in good health, how to find the right horse, how much it costs to keep the horse per month, and so on.

As a youngster I couldn't answer those questions at all, but I did find out. Later on, when I knew the answers to those questions, my parents taught me the budgeting and analysis skills necessary to buy and keep my own horse, without getting into financial trouble. Since my first horse I've had over a dozen and always known exactly how to plan for their care. The same applies to everything else I've ever wanted in my life as well. If my parents had just bought me the perfect horse, who knows? I might have ended up on skid row!

So Thank You ...
Although I probably pouted when I was a kid instead of saying "Thank you!" for not buying me a horse all those years, looking back now I realize what a huge favor my parents did me. Yes, I was green with envy back then watching those girls on $50,000 horses kick my behind in the show ring but now I can kick almost anyone's behind in a show ring on a $125 horse.

Mummy and Bubby (that's Mom and Dad in Chinese-English), you gave me that. You gave me the desire to learn, the confidence to know I can do anything I want in life, and the skills to take me to any goal. I didn't tell you "Thank you" back then, so I'm telling you now. I'm no longer that young girl but I'll always be your child and I so appreciate everything that you've done for me. Looking back this is just one of the ways you both allowed and guided me to be the happy person I am today. There are too ways many to write them all here.

Postscript ...
If you are a kid and you're reading this, I hope that you have the same opportunity I have had to really grow into knowing what I really want. I hope somewhere along the road your parents don't give you everything you want right away. I hope they hold something back, make you work a little, make you see what you're made of. It will be a priceless gift beyond any money or thing they could give you. And I hope you see and appreciate that gift somewhere along the way and say "thank you" to your parents, too.

Thank you and love,
Stephanie

Which is Cheaper and Better: A Shrink or a Roping Clinic?

Actually, I can't tell you from personal experience whether a shrink is better than attending a roping clinic, but I can tell that in the whole time that I have owned horses I have never needed the services of a shrink. Plus, I know what they charge, and it ain't cheap.

The reason I bring up this question is because, as all Colorado horse people know, we are heading into the deep dark tunnel that happens this time of year. It's called winter. Unless you live the life of Riley and have an indoor arena, winter basically sucks for horse people in our neck of the woods. The snow, wind, and icy footing (normal conditions for deep winter here) are a formula for disaster and injury. So unless we want to haul to an indoor arena to ride every day, it ain't happening.

But a day without riding is like a day without sunshine, as they say (at least horse addicts like me say that). So what's a zen cowgirl horse addict to do?

Did You Say Cheap Horse Activity? Invent a Roping Clinic
Well, zen cowgirls who don't want to go crazy will invent new cheap horse activities that have never existed before. My whole goal, on this blog and during this winter, is to come up with as many fun, cheap, mostly safe horse activities as I can so that as many horse people can have fun as possible.

So here's one I've come up with recently: a series of roping clinics. I know a pro roper who, aside from having won a ton of money and stuff, also has a fabulous indoor arena and lives about 10 miles from my house. I also know a bunch of crazy cowgirls like me who are pinching pennies and trying not to go stir crazy. So I call them all and ask them if they could like to participate in a series of inexpensive beginner roper clinics taught by this pro roper. I call the pro roper dude and I ask if he's interested in making a few bucks teaching a bunch of crazy cowgirls how to rope (we only know how to do penning, jumping, reining, and trail riding). He says, "Sure!"

So we're scheduling a series of beginner roping clinics in his indoor arena this winter. The curriculum will go something like this:

Session 1: Meet your rope.
Learn how to hold, swing, and throw your rope while standing on the ground. Learn to avoid hitting yourself in the head with your rope. Bonus: you don't need to haul your horse to this event because there's plenty to learn standing on your own two feet.

Session 2: Learn to rope a dummy.
After practicing throwing the rope for a while, it's time to learn to rope the Robo Steer, still from the ground, of course. Still avoiding hitting your head, of course. Again, no horse needed.

Session 3: Learn to rope on horseback.
Learn to throw the rope off a calm, gentle, caring school horse. Learn to avoid hitting yourself in the head in this new position. Learn to avoid hitting the poor horse in the head. Learn to rope the Robo Steer in this new position. Again, no horse needed, school horse provided.

Session 4: Learn to rope off your horse.
Hah! This should be fun! Starting with twirling a mere lead rope around and over top of your own horse, teach your horse to be comfortable with the lariat, with you on the ground or on his back. Yee-haw!

Session 5: Learn to swing the rope while your horse is moving.
Again, yee-haw! Learn to juggle reins and the rope, and swing the rope, while your horse is moving at various gaits. Learn to avoid runaways and whacking your head, your horse's head, or other objects in your vicinity.

Session 6: Learn to rope the Robo Steer from your horse.
Need we say it again? Yee-haw! Some horses will need help even getting near the Robo Steer, never mind following it. Then there's you--with the rope, reins, and black eye!

Get the picture yet? These clinics are fun, fabulous, and could generate reams of blackmail tape to be published on YouTube. I love it. In total, I'm quite sure that this activity will keep me from going stir crazy this winter, plus I'm sure I'll love it more than I would love seeing a shrink.

Do you agree? What similar crazy events could you come up with for your horse and your area?

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Photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34419934@N03/ / CC BY 2.0