{"id":4100,"date":"2014-08-31T18:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T06:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dfmamea.com\/?p=4100"},"modified":"2014-09-04T06:44:26","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T18:44:26","slug":"hi-yo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/hi-yo\/","title":{"rendered":"Hi-yo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Until a couple of years ago, my attitude to horses was similar to <b>Billy Crystal<\/b>&#8216;s &#8220;Yeeha&#8221; in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0101587\/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt\" target=\"_blank\">City Slickers<\/a> (at 1:44 in the trailer below):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rpxVp1g8xMQ?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>My first experience with horses was a sunset trek with friends more than a few years ago. I remember being taken aback at how big these beasts are, never having thought through the amount of muscle and bone required to carry riders in countless westerns and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Beauty\" target=\"_blank\">Black Beauty<\/a> reboots. When we were led to a corral with horses, I requested a &#8220;quiet one with a touch of adventure&#8221; and was introduced to a gelding called Bruce.<\/p>\n<p>Bruce and I got on fine: he followed the rest of the group over various tracks in the hills behind Johnsonville. I remember thinking how westerns never show a horse pooing voluminously or farting freely as they moved about.<\/p>\n<p>A while into the trek an open paddock beckoned and the more experienced riders broke into a canter, leaving us behind. I remember urging Bruce on \u2014 with maybe a polite &#8220;Yah&#8221; and a tentative kick of the heels \u2014 and he accelerated from a walk to a trot to a canter, all the while I slid in slow motion from the saddle, hung onto his neck for a couple of strides, slipping further and further down until I was deposited on the grass and Bruce showed me his heels and backside.<\/p>\n<p>There were no hard feelings. I was only winded. I had requested a mount &#8220;with a touch of adventure&#8221; which had obviously exceeded my ambition. Someone caught Bruce, I got back into the saddle and the rest of the trek was uneventful.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve ridden a horse once since that trek, and although I&#8217;m told I &#8220;look good on a horse&#8221;, they&#8217;re not really my thing (though a part of me thinks horse riding could be a useful skill after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2345737\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Crash<\/a>). <b>The Goddess<\/b> is \u2014 there&#8217;s no other way of putting it \u2014 horse <i>mad<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p>Which brings me to an overdue introduction of the cavalry troop at Fortress Mamea:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4107\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4107\" style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Summer.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Summer-576x1024.png?resize=525%2C933\" alt=\"Call sign: SUNDANCE\" width=\"525\" height=\"933\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4107\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4107\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Call sign: SUNDANCE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Goddess&#8217; mount, <b>The Kaimanawa Pony<\/b> stands 14.2 hands high.<\/p>\n<p>In the past week, the troop has <strike>doubled<\/strike> increased by two-thirds with a new recruit:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4106\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4106\" style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C700\" alt=\"Call sign: BONFIRE\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?resize=480%2C640&amp;ssl=1 480w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140902-Bonnie-e1409612179588-scaled.jpg?w=1050&amp;ssl=1 1050w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4106\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Call sign: BONFIRE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A paddock companion for the Kaimanawa: <b>The Exmoor Mini<\/b> stands 10 hands tall.<\/p>\n<p>Onwards, ho, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Until a couple of years ago, my attitude to horses was similar to Billy Crystal&#8216;s &#8220;Yeeha&#8221; in City Slickers (at 1:44 in the trailer below): My first experience with horses was a sunset trek with friends more than a few years ago. I remember being taken aback at how big these beasts are, never having &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/hi-yo\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Hi-yo&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[1058,1057,1060,1061,1059,287,907],"class_list":["post-4100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","tag-billy-crystal","tag-city-slickers","tag-horses","tag-ponies","tag-the-exmoor-mini","tag-the-goddess","tag-the-kaimanawa-pony"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4100"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4122,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100\/revisions\/4122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}