Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

My participation in what some would call "fluff", but I am part of  
the touchy/feely crowd while appreciating the science.  My horses are  
part of the family.  Used to name my cats after something about their  
behavior.  This led to "Speed Bump", "Velcro".  Somewhere along the  
line I got clued in to letting them pick their own names.  (But  
Velcro likes hers, at 16, Speed Bump became "Vicki" at 10.)

When Ember (of the many nicknames) got pregnant, I began talking to  
the gestated kid using the name "Twerp", mostly for the performance  
late in pregnancy making mom uncomfortable.  Imagine my horror when  
the newborn responded immediately to "Twerp".  By the end of her  
first day I knew I had a problem.  Did not want her to live up to  
that expectation, but liked the "Tw" of Twerp.  So that is how Twerp  
became Twix (formal name Twilight Ablaze, more tw, but for the huge  
brush fire on day 3 and 4 of her life.)  (But she's still a twerp- 
sshhhhh!)

Names screeched at rides, imagine how many different intonations one  
can use for the name "Q"?  Yeah, Julie, after ST:TNG's Q.  Multi- 
syllabic Q-ooooh-oooh--OOOOO!  Then there's the gutteral version, low  
and dangerous.  It's hard to hate him when he has zero desire to  
unload me, only about getting down the trail (faster than his meanie  
governor will let him.)

Ember's vocal reminder is usually "Hey!  Remember ME?!"  Or a growled  
Em-BER!  She's pregnant again, on the diet plate (except for normal #  
of carrots and bermuda) and hates her brother Q for being a skinny  
thing who gets alfalfa along with freefed Bermuda, nice portions of  
grain, beet pulp, etc..  Today she took a big hunk out of him and  
went to snuffle his leftovers, when verbally chided about her girly  
figure, put herself back in her pen.  If you want a laugh, e-mail me  
for the funniest broodmare shot from the front EVER from a couple of  
days ago.

Lynne
Rem-member Me/Ember, Celesteele/Q and of course war-mare-in-training  
Twix


On Oct 21, 2005, at 10:51 AM, Karen Casemier wrote:

> I've recently been making a concerted effort to only refer to my  
> mare in positive terms. I used to, for example, call out "Hi there  
> fatty" every morning when I went to let the horses out to pasture  
> (believe me, she puts the "air" in air fern, and the "easy" in easy  
> keeper).
>
> A friend of mine, not a horseperson but truly one of the nicest  
> people I know (I don't understand these nice people at all) asked  
> me how I would feel if she said "Hi fatty" to me every morning.
>
> Never thought of it that way - no wonder she was always such a  
> bitch ;>)
>
> Anyway, now it's "Hello beautiful" or "Hello gorgeous".  
> Occasionally during a ride, the normal round of explative-laden  
> nicknames pours out, but old habits die hard...

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=