In a message of , Meg Alfoni (1:330/173) writes:
 >[Magazines]
 >Same here.  Equus, PH, Mike Plumbs, Na. Geog., New Yorker...they sit in a 
 >pile in the bathroom...it's the only place these days I seem to find time 
 >to read (g).  I also just sent in my thing for a trial sub to John Lyon's 
 >"Perfect Horse".  Heard about that one yet?  I'll be interested to see 
 >what it's like.
No, I haven't been hit with an ad for it yet.  ;-)  Let me know, although I 
think I've finally reached some sort of maximum for horse magazines -- just 
can't keep up any more.
 > [musings on starting to sew again]
 >Ohhhhh!!  You could sew riding clothes?  Ever consider doing it for 
 >others...hint, hint? 
No, I can't sew worth beans -- it's something I wish I could do, because it's 
hard for me to find stuff that fits, and if I could do my own stuff, life 
would be a lot easier.  More on this in netmail, since it's not really 
on-topic.
Of course, the real problem with doing riding clothes is getting the right 
kind of fabrics, especially for breeches.  But if you aren't doing show 
clothes, it's probably not so bad.  
Anyhow, it's just like riding -- you have to start small and break the whole 
process down into little bits, learn one part at a time and keep building and 
building on what you know.  And most of us are too impatient, we just want to 
hop on the horse and be able to go!  We get bored with the baby steps; we see 
that it comes to other people easier than it does to us, so we get frustrated 
and give up; we try to learn on a sewing machine which is too high-strung for 
us instead of starting on a 'babysitter'; we tackle projects which are way 
too hard for our skill levels and get overfaced (this is my favorite 
problem); you show your stuff and there is always somebody with a bigger 
fabric budget and a fancier machine who winds up with the ribbons instead of 
you; you watch from the stands, see who wins and say "the judges gave a 
ribbon to THAT?".  You know how it goes.  
 >JM :>Olympic Games.  Still, it was awesome watching people
 >JM :>tackle three and four-star courses.  Three-foot-eleven
 >JM :>solid fences!  Yow!
 >
 >Yow is right!  I can't even imagine doing it.  These people have tohave 
 >nerves of steel.  I haven't been following the trials much.  I don't get 
 >ESPN and none of the local cable stations carry anything but rodeo and 
 >horse racing.
This is the first time I've seen any kind of TV coverage of the equestrian 
Olympic trials.  I've seen coverage of Kentucky before (on PBS) but only as a 
stand-alone program about that event alone.  All other three-day stuff (not 
counting the Triplecast) has been on cable.   
 >[new horse and Fiddle]
 >They seem to be getting along fine.  Shiloh is definitely the lead mare 
 >and Fid has learned not to get too close.  She'll squeel and raise a leg, 
 >but doesn't go after Fiddle.  Farrier coming tomorrow...think I'll have 
 >Shiloh's hind shoes pulled just to be safe.  I haven't seen Fiddle this 
 >calm and contented in a long time. This mare is obviously good for her.
Maybe Fiddle was lonely without other horses in her 'herd' and needed the 
company.  Makes sense to me, but of course there's no predicting these things 
in advance.  Keep us posted on how they get along.
--- QM v1.31 
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