Ten Things - Depression Sucks

1 - Going through a low, boobs are swollen, head is achey...hey look, PMS!
2 - I still need to post my thoughts on Ellie, the new horse. I never understood horse-crazy people till I met her. It's like that.
3 - Went up to Sussex county where my seamstress friend is staying to get fitted for a part of my steampunk costume. We also had dinner and talked about stuff. It was pretty great.
4 - I am way better at being friends with women than I was 10 years ago.
5 - Have I told you lately that I love Prozac? Because I really do.
6 - Finished the latest Temeraire novel last night. It felt like Novik left it incomplete, rather than try to stuff too much into one. MUST READ NEXT ONE. WRITE FASTER, NOVIK!
7 - Nyan nyan nyan. That totally counts as a thing.
8 - Been working my considerable tookus off today, snaking emails left and right. Slacker coworker did a task this morning that belongs to me, and I got mad. Petty, I know.
9 - Making cauliflower casserole tonight. I love that stuff.
10 - I really need to spend more time stretching each day. All this working out is making my calves a touch tight.

Ellie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friesian_horse

Ellie is at least half Friesian. She is magnificent. She looks like Frollo's horse from the Disney version of Hunchback. She's all shaggy from winter growth, and her mane and tail are fabulously luxe. She's 16 hands (five feet four inches - a hand is four inches) at the withers (shoulders). Her feet are like dinner plates! Most horses go "clop clop clop" when they walk. Ellie goes "thud thud thud."

She's about 18 years old and came from a resort in the Poconos where she was a trail horse. She has very minimal experience in the ring. Last week, the instructors were not ready to let a kid ride her. But I got to! She's very alert and curious, not nervous or overwhelmed by her new situation at all. She seems to know what "good girl!" means, which was handy in telling her when I liked what she was doing.

The barn got her and two other horses from the same place at the same time, so she gets to share her paddock with her pals, which I'm sure is helping her to adjust to her new life.

She trots FAST! So fast I actually had to slow her down a bit! Which means that I was not sore at all from posting on her. I felt great! I had to crop her just once for veering away from the rail (she was ignoring me steering), and after that she did not ignore me. She still veered a little here and there, but all I had to do was put some pressure on the rein and she lined back up.

Her seat and her gait both feel like they were designed for me. I love riding this horse.

She started out pausing to look outside each time we rode past the door, and by the end of the lesson, she was going right past without stopping to look for her friends. She was good while I tacked her down, and she walked nicely when I led her back to her paddock, even though I could feel how excited she was, with her friends running up to see her.