What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.
The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this prompt was that I’d love to canter on one of my horses, to see what it feels like and finally go sorta fast. That’s just a little thing, but I’ve not moved forward in my skills enough to do it on Drew and Apache hasn’t moved forward in his skills enough. The one time I tried I ended up on the ground. I’m trying not to let myself get discouraged and enjoy the journey. But I’m human.
Little things can be good, though. For example, at the end of the work day I’d gotten to a good stopping point, and was looking out over my laptop as I sat at my porch “desk.” Something moved suddenly.
It was this absolutely adorable jumping spider, Phidippus arizonensis. I watched as it explored my laptop then jumped onto my mouse and checked out all my stuff. It waved its first legs around as it explored, and moved its mouthparts like it was tasting the air.
I can see why people have jumping spiders as pets, because this fellow was very entertaining and not at all concerned by my presence. I prefer them in the wild, but I do enjoy the bold jumping spider who lives in the mailbox.
I’d never seen an arizonensis before, so I looked it up. It’s definitely confined to this part of the world.
I had the best time watching this spider. That’s living for the moment. Mindfulness for the win.
Another little thing that made my day was just watching the dogs play. With all the medical issues in our canine community it’s easy to forget the happy, healthy ones. Carlton and Penney love it when I’m outside so they can run and play with an audience!
Time to get some rest and talk to my high school friends in Florida who are going through the hurricane. I do keep up!
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The Hermits' Rest 
I think of life as a string of good pearls, the kind with silk knots between them. The pearls are the moments of beauty and joy, the knots are the hard part between that hold it all together. “Ah, such is life.”
I think most of us ahem, “older” riders struggle with canter and gallop. I do. My old guy has some REALLY big spooks, but he does it at the trot too, hahaha. I almost went off the other day trotting in the state forest. Still not sure what he spooked at something in the woods, a shadow, a leaf in the wind… I’ll never know… Thank heavens for my “sticky” riding tights.
But my new horse had only four canters with his last owner (he is 3). A few weeks ago he surprised me when he picked up a canter on the trail to catch up with his herd buddy. It was nice, but I am ready yet. We’ve only been together for a little over a month and trust is still developing. Like you, I will work on this with a trainer. It takes as long as it takes to get there.
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Oh thank you for this! I keep thinking it’s easy for everyone but me. Thank goodness Apache isn’t too spooky anymore. Drew is, but those sticky pants are really handy!
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