The Work

I have a very important question for you equine folks. I'm missing a word. There's horsemanship, some use mulemanship, nobody uses donkeymanship. Equinemanship? There should be a word for the work/play/art/immersion of mind, body, and soul into... equine. I thought of just calling it The Work. Because no matter what, you have to put in the work. The Path? It's not equitation because it's not all ridden. Same with dressage, I think? What would you call it?

Horsemanship doesn't cut it when it's not all horses, and then I have to be a man, which I'm not as against as some women might be. We're all "man" after all. But still. If I can nitpick about the donkey part, I might as well lose the man part. Maybe there's a word for it in another language.

Maybe every person has their Work that they are so consumed by that they can't find a proper word for it, when the rest of the world is going, "Whatevs, it's just training." Or just running, or just drawing, or just numbers...

I forgot

Shoot, I completely forgot I had a blog. Took me a minute to remember how to post, after I read a few posts from my favorite blogs I'd forgotten about. Jeez.

Have I been so busy it made me forget? Maybe? Most days I have a few things on my calendar. Today I don't, but I have so much to do. Boring stuff. Housework, workout, go to the parts store for brakes. Eww. The snow is drifting badly, I don't wanna go! Not that my car has any problem in the snow, thank goodness for that.

I have started a weekly challenge through Ty Evans, the mule trainer. It makes me get out for at least 5 minutes a day, even if it's storming. This week we're "catching with quality." I should be doing it with all the equines but I'm just doing it with the donkeys. Juniper needs it more than Buster! She can be a spicy jalapeno.

Recently I got certified for CPR, yesterday I got certified for QPR, which is a suicide intervention much like CPR but obviously not for the same type of emergency. This weekend I'm taking a longer class on Mental Health First Aid. I don't know where this is going, if anywhere, but it doesn't hurt to have this kind of training. Considering EMT training too... We'll see. I can handle blood and gore but maybe not the heartbreaking situational aspects of the emergencies. Self harm. Kids traumatized. You hear stories... I'd rather do wilderness first responder. Seems like the accidents would be "cleaner" in a psychological sense. But probably not always.

Anywhoo. It's winter. Lots of snow piling up. Gross.