Sometimes, I need the drive.

Riding always involves driving for me. My lesson barn is about half an hour away, Edgar is half an hour in the other direction. Cherokee is a little over an hour away. Usually, I see driving as a necessary evil to get where I need to be – with horses. On Sunday, the drive itself was exactly what I needed to get my mind where it needed to be.

I was thinking about Mugwump’s new ‘Wordy Wednesday’ idea and had all these thoughts swimming through my head about stories. I kept replaying the details of one particular event in my life and, before I knew it, I was filled with a combination of anxiety, sadness and anger.

Now, you and I both know that is NOT the mind-frame to be in when riding! I think this is especially true when working with a green horse. Edgar needed me to be there with him, relaxed and ready to calmly communicate with him. Fortunately, I had 20 minutes left of the drive when I realized I needed to snap myself out of it.

So, what did I do? Well, I needed a distraction that would stop me from dwelling on thoughts but would also let some of the pent-up tension out. There is really only one solution to this, for me. On went Tori. I was lucky to have the album Boys for Pele in the car, it was perfect for the occasion. Especially the song “Horses,” here is an excerpt from the chorus:

I got me some horses
to ride on, to ride on
They say that, your demons
can’t go there…



too true, isn’t it?