Horse quiz

I'm picking up on a quiz that is circulating in horse-blog-world. See also Grey Horse Matters and A Bay Horse. If you want to join in the quiz the questions are as follows:
1. How old were you when you first started riding?
2. First horse ridden:
3. First horse trotted on:
4. First horse cantered on:
5. First Horse fallen off of:
6. Most recent horse fallen off of
7. Most terrifying fall:
8. First horse jumped with:
9. First horse who ran away with you:
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you:
11. First horse shown :!)
12. First horse to win a class with:
13. Do you/have you taken lessons:
14. First horse you ever rode bareback:
15. First horse trail ridden with:
16. Current Barn name:
17. Do you ride English or western?:
18. First Horse to place at a show with:
19. Ever been to horse camp?:
20. Ever been to a riding clinic?
21. Ridden sidesaddle?
22. First horse leased:
23. Last Horse Leased:
24. Highest ribbon in a show:
25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?:
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?:
27. Ever fallen off at a show
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?:
29. Have you ever barrel raced?
30. Ever done pole bending?:
31. Favorite gait:
32. Ever cantered bareback?:
33. Have you ever done dressage?:
34. Have you ever evented?:
35. Have you ever mucked a stall?:
36. Ever been bucked off?:
37. Ever been on a horse that reared
38. Horses or ponies.
39. Do you wear a helmet?:
40. What's the highest you've jumped:
41. Have you ever ridden at night?:
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?:
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?:
44. Most falls in one lesson:
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?:
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?:
47. Have you ever been bitten?:
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?:
49: Favorite riding moment:
50. Most fun horse you've ridden:

So my answers:
1. How old were you when you first started riding? about 8 or 10 I think.
2. First horse ridden: Jason
3. First horse trotted on: Jason
4. First horse cantered on: Midnight (see 9)
5. First Horse fallen off of: Midnight (see 9)
6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Dee
7. Most terrifying fall: I've been pretty lucky in that although I've suffered a few injuries, I've never had a really frightening fall. I think the most frightening experience was coming off Midnight when he bolted, but this was because I was very young, it was the first time I had cantered and he was completely out of control. In my memory he was a huge horse, but in reality he probably was only about 15.2 – I was riding little ponies mostly at that time.
8. First horse jumped with: Whisky
9. First horse who ran away with you: Midnight (see 4, 5 & 7)
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Dee
11. First horse shown :!) Whisky – but I've never had the opportunity to do this sort of thing very much.
12. First horse to win a class with: never won anything because I never really entered anything.
13. Do you/have you taken lessons: starting having lessons when I got back into riding in my late 40s, but I don't have lessons now.
14. First horse you ever rode bareback: Jason.
15. First horse trail ridden with: Whisky.
16. Current Barn name: Wyndham Livery.
17. Do you ride English or western?: neither really as I ride treeless and bitless. I use Western reins.
18. First Horse to place at a show with: never happened.
19. Ever been to horse camp?: no.
20. Ever been to a riding clinic? no.
21. Ridden sidesaddle? no.
22. First horse leased: never done this.
23. Last Horse Leased: never done this.
24. Highest ribbon in a show: I've never had a ribbon or a rosette ... sob!
25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: don't know what that means.
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: I think I did do a bit of this as a teenager.
27. Ever fallen off at a show: no.
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: no.
29. Have you ever barrel raced? no.
30. Ever done pole bending?: no.
31. Favorite gait: canter.
32. Ever cantered bareback?: yes - and stayed on! At one time I used to ride bareback a lot – out on the trail and everywhere.
33. Have you ever done dressage?: a little but only for fun, not competition.
34. Have you ever evented?: no.
35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: I'm tempted to say no ... but the truth is of course yes.
36. Ever been bucked off?: no - I have found I have been able to sit bucks on all the horses I've experienced this with ... so far.
37. Ever been on a horse that reared: yes, Dee. She reared a lot when I first had her – when I was on her and also when I was lunging her. Horses are very large animals when they are rearing in front of you...
38. Horses or ponies. I have always felt that 14.2 - 15.2 was my ideal size range. Red still feels a bit big for me at 16hh.
39. Do you wear a helmet?: yes, but I didn't when I spent a week on a dude ranch in Montana.
40. What's the highest you've jumped: about 2½ - 3 ft I would guess.
41. Have you ever ridden at night?: yes – in an arena.
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: occasional.
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?: yes, 2 years ago I seriously injured my right knee.
44. Most falls in one lesson: only once per lesson was quite enough.
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: I do occasionally but only if I have to.
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?: no.
47. Have you ever been bitten?: yes, a few times.
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: yes, too many times.
49: Favorite riding moment: jumping a really big log in the practice field at Pontcanna. Dee loves to jump and gave me the confidence to try because I knew I could trust her. At least one person had come off already at the jump because it really looked huge as you approached it – it was not terribly high but quite broad. Several other people in the class had refused to try it. I said to Dee: 'Come on Lass, we can do this' and we sailed over it, impressing our instructor.
50. Most fun horse you've ridden: I think that would have to be Whisky, a 6 year old gelding who I had the pleasure of riding for a few years as a teenager. I used to go out for day-long rides throughout the summer and had a really nice relationship with him. He taught me a lot and I realise with hindsight how much he trusted me.

I've been tagged

Before Christmas I was tagged by White Horse Pilgrim for a blog game – but then the busy Yuletide season began and I did not complete it, so here it is now. Thank you to White Horse Pilgrim for thinking of me.

The rules are:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know your entry is published.

1. I am a rather round person and have always been so. Twice in my life I have seriously attempted to get slim and each time I became ill – the second time ending up in hospital for five days. I have to really starve myself to be slim – in extremis. I am physically active, supple and mostly pretty healthy, so I have now accepted that it is better for me to be round. I did like how I looked for the brief period I weighed less than 9 stone (126lbs, 57kg) the last time, but on balance I think it's better to be healthy and fat, than ill and thin.

2. When I was 18 my parents sponsored my brother and I on a trip to the USA. We had a three month adventure exploring the country. We hitch-hiked up the east coast from Washington DC, across the northern states, down the west coast as far as LA, and then back through the central states. We met many kind and wonderful people and experienced some spectacularly varied landscapes.

3. 'ö-Dzin and I have just had our first guitar lesson. I had lessons in classical guitar for about 6 months 30 years ago, but have let it slip since then and never really learned any other style. We are now learning how to play chords and strum, with the idea that we shall be able to play and sing together.

4. It is interesting—having been tagged by him—how often my interests and those of White Horse Pilgrim are similar despite us disagreeing quite strongly in other areas. I also am not interested in equestrian competition and have only ever wanted to trail ride, and I also love fantasy writing, such as Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy, Tolkein, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, CS Lewis, and other similar genres such as Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. I used to love The Borrowers by Mary Norton as a child. Currently I am reading The Belgariad books by David Eddings. I also love films of this genre.

5. My primary work for my Buddhist Lineage is maintaining one of our websites, Aro Encyclopædia. I have no formal training in computing, but have picked up HTML and basic web design quite quickly and easily and really enjoy this work. It does help of course having a husband who is an expert in this field and has worked in the IT industry for over thirty years.

6. I love disaster movies. I know they are corny and the storylines are predictable, but usually such films feature people being kind to each other and prevailing despite the odds and I enjoy that. I even enjoy spotting those whose relationship is going to be saved by sharing the ordeal, and the one who is going to sacrifice themself for the greater good, etc. I like films to have a happy ending or at least a satisfying conclusion. One of my favourites is The Day After Tomorrow, and also Dante's Peak.

So here are 6 tags – I thought I would choose my family for 3 of them for fun:

My Beloved at Dolenni Diddorol,

Daniel at Hyper Star – perhaps it will encourage him to start using his blog more,

Richard at Kiml42,

Kira an artistic friend

A blog I enjoy – The Horseshoeing Housewife

& 7MSN whose photographs are so delightful

I've been tagged

Thank you Victoria for tagging me to join in the blogging summer games. Hmm . . . six things you may not know about me . . .

1. I have two cats called Smokey (mum - top pic) and Spots (daughter - bottom pic). Smokey was one of a litter of six kittens of a feral cat. We adopted her during a camping retreat. She is a quiet and nervous cat. Spots is like a soppy teddy bear and loves to be cuddled.

2. I love computer games and often join my sons on the Wii or DS to relax in the evening.

3. My first degree was in design, specialising in ceramics, and I still enjoy artistic endeavours. Currently I am working on an applique embroidery.

4. I was inspired to study homoeopathy after our experience with our younger son. He used to stop breathing as a baby - very frightening. My doctor and local hospital were wonderfully supportive, but could offer no explanation or solution, so I took him to a homoeopath who cured him with a single tiny pill. I practised as a homoeopath for a few years but then gave it up because of my Buddhist duties.

5. 'ö-Dzin and I have been married for 23 years and had a second wedding for our 13th anniversary. It was a wonderful ceremony led by our Lamas, with our friends, family and sangha - and of course we had a party afterwards. We may do it again when we reach 26 years. Thirteen years marks a special level of depth of commitment in our tradition after which many fruitful things become possible.

6. We lived without a car for about 10 years because we didn't feel we really needed one in the city. I used to take the boys to school in a trailer attached to my bicycle. Unfortunately this has proved to not be so good for my knees in the long term, so although I do still cycle, I now have an electric bike that gives me assistance as I pedal. I finally bought a car this year because I am getting too old to manage things like the shopping without one now, and I felt I wanted a bit more scope in my life for getting out and about.


I tag:
Nuzzling Muzzles
LJB at Horsey Therapist
Lynda at Hoofbeats
Grey Horse Matters