In which I'm leaving for a few blissful days in the *zzzzztt* wilderness
It's that time of year again: Sky and I are once again zzzzztttt taking our standardbred mares up into the mountains for a few days of zzzzzzzttttt peaceful zzztttt riding.
We have been zzzzzzztttt warned that the mos zzztt quitos are pretty powerful this (SLAP!) year.
I'll let you know about that when we get back. (squirting on copious amounts of DEET)
In the meantime, check out this cool vintage picture of the pacing horse Billy Boyce,
We have been zzzzzzztttt warned that the mos zzztt quitos are pretty powerful this (SLAP!) year.
I'll let you know about that when we get back. (squirting on copious amounts of DEET)
In the meantime, check out this cool vintage picture of the pacing horse Billy Boyce,
which I've featured on my new Zazzle mug "iPace."There aren't many pictures of people riding a pacer, and I'm not sure why. Until the automobile took over, trotting and pacing horses were found in every town in America.
They were used for riding, driving, and whatever else anybody needed a horse to do. Maybe they were mostly too busy to have their portraits taken in action?
If you've never seen a pacer under saddle,
click on the animated gif linked to the vintage photo above. The "movie" is made from a set of photos published in 1887, of a rider and a standardbred pacer called "Pronto". I love how the action demonstrates the smoothness of the pacing gait under saddle.
The horse is clearly covering a ton of ground with each stride, but the rider isn't being bounced to the moon and back.
Cool, huh? That's just exactly the kind of horse I plan to load into the trailer this morning.
Life is good.
Cool, huh? That's just exactly the kind of horse I plan to load into the trailer this morning.
Life is good.
A bad pace is as bad as a bad "death trot", and a good pace is better than a good trot!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful time in the mountains. Don't get too anemic to take pics for us!
i love the purple.
ReplyDeletebut the mosquitos....they bother my man, not me. we had one in our bedroom this morning, how strange. i went out and dumped the rain barrel onto the ground, full of larvae. haha, die!
a pace is way better than princess buttercup's trot. my lands, that horse tested every bra i no longer own.
you rode her once, and got jarred to death. brandi rode her with her arm across her boobs, saying, "how do you do this for 50 miles?" and i said, "i stand up."
but i have to know, have you ridden a really nice TWH? there is nothing like it and i'll never forget it. i floated along wondering why anyone rode other horses. but then i love a good power trot!
~lytha