Jousting from horseback at the Renaissance Festival

Last weekend Michael and I went to the Renaissance Festival. Although he had been there once before, it was my first time — but if I'd known it would be so much fun, I would have gone long ago!

Of course, one of my favorite parts was the jousting, which they do two or three times a day. The entire skit went something like this:

* The king, queen, and their court entered and took their seats
* Each of the four knights entered on horseback and was introduced
* The knights and the king exchanged some banter about the tournament (the knights wanted bloodshed, the king didn't)
* The knights made several practice runs on their horses — hitting targets with their lances, spearing small hoops, etc.
* The knights jousted
* The knights started knocking each other off their horses, and fought with swords on the ground
* The knights bargained with the king to get a rematch to defend their honor (the rematch was the last showing that day)

I had a limited amount of space on my camera's memory card, so I only recorded the actual jousting.

Michael and I noticed that one of the knights was a far better rider than the other three. While the others bounced around in the saddle with every stride the horses took, this guy's upper body barely seemed to move at all. After Michael pointed this out, I watched more closely and realized he was riding in a two-point at the trot and canter. His balance was excellent — so good, in fact, that he was able to twirl his lance impressively as he rode.

Of course, the video doesn't even come close to the excitement of actually being there, but still, I'm glad I got it on video!

Preparing to canter

I've been feeling so much more confident riding my horse lately that I've decided it's time to start cantering on him.

I've been a little nervous about cantering on him up until now. The first couple of times I fell off of him, it was when he spooked and broke into a canter while I was riding. He was a little unpredictable for quite a while there, being a baby and all, but also my riding skills weren't all that good. The last time I cantered was on my brother-in-law's horse a couple of years ago, and I felt pretty insecure; and the time before was probably 15 years ago, when as a preteen I took some riding lessons from a family friend.

The riding lessons my trainer gave me recently have really paid off, though, and I'm starting to feel much more secure on the horse. So last week I told Leslie that I want to start cantering on him soon, and yesterday she had me practice a skill in preparation for that.

Basically, she had me time my posting so that I went up when his outside front leg was forward, and sat down when his outside front leg was back. This is preparation for when I ask him to canter with a certain lead.

I'm planning to practice posting with this timing over the next few days, and hopefully next week I'll be able to start cantering on him under Leslie's guidance!

My horse's new snaffle bit

Well, I did it — I upgraded my horse's bit. One of the other boarders was selling a snaffle bit that was pretty small, so last Wednesday my trainer and I tried it out on him. To my surprise, Panama has responded to it really well, so I've decided to go ahead and keep using it.

One thing I've noticed is that Panama is much more sensitive to directions with the new bit, so I don't have to try as hard — for instance, just a squeeze of my fingers on the reins is all that's needed to get him to turn. He's also stopping a little better than before (though he still has some problems with this).

As much as I hate to admit it, maybe my trainer was right about Panama needing a tougher bit than that rubber training bit. I'm pleased with how responsive he is to the new bit — it's almost like he's reading my mind!

The plight of the mustangs

Mustangs — wild horses that live in the American West — are in some serious danger, according to this article, which talks about a possible change in how mustangs are treated: The government is thinking about euthanizing wild horses to control the population.

For years, mustangs have been protected from this kind of thing, partly because they have been perceived as a symbol of the American West. Think about cars like the Ford Mustang, and movies such as Spirit. To control herd population, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounds up mustangs and puts them up for adoption. Adoption fees are minimal, but you usually have to prove that you have enough land and enough horse sense to gentle a wild horse. Even after a mustang has been adopted, it is still protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

Unfortunately, in 2005 this protection was weakened substantially with a bill that allows mustangs to be sold to slaughter if they are older than 10, or have failed to find a home after three or more adoption attempts. Now the BLM is poised to all but eliminate the protection altogether by approving euthanization as a method of population control.

Did you notice that the article rarely called them mustangs? I noticed the curious near-absence of the term, and went back and counted: The word mustang was used only twice, while the term wild horses was used more than half a dozen times. My guess is that the media is aware of the symbolism that mustangs hold for many Americans, and that they were trying to soften the impact of the article — and perhaps avoid some of the inevitable public outcry — with their word choices. Think about it — while mustang conjures up images of the nobility and free spirit of the American West, wild horse makes you think more of stray animals.

I think the term wild horses was deliberately used more heavily than mustangs, the term that most people would recognize, in order to convey an impression of the horses as pests — like an overgrown rat population that requires extermination. I am appalled that our government would consider revoking protection for a national symbol such as the mustangs. For someone who lives in the West and loves what these horses stand for, it's kind of like deciding one day that it's perfectly okay for hunters to kill bald eagles.

Lower gas bills...or a home for your horse?

This afternoon I found this article on the New York Times website, about how rising fuel costs are affecting people who have chosen to live in the country. The article uses Denver and its "exburbs" to illustrate the problem.

The towns or "exburbs" the article talks about — Parker and Elizabeth — have been growing in popularity for years, though not the way that hip urban neighborhoods grow. The article is right: The people who choose to live out here are the ones that prefer the quiet and the wide-open spaces of living in the country.

And, of course, there are a lot of horse people. When Michael and I were looking for a place for his brother and his family, we looked in Parker, and I was amazed to realize how affordable horse property is there. Ever since, I have cherished a little hope of eventually moving to horse property out in Parker.

Although fuel prices won't affect me much, as I freelance from home, we'll still have to consider Michael's commute. Some areas of Parker are actually no farther from his work than we are right now, but Parker extends way east and north from there — and Elizabeth is way too far southeast for his tastes.

Do you live outside of town for the sake of your horses, and if so, how are the gas prices affecting you?