NEVER. MIND.

Well.
That was quick.

In the span of just a few days last week, we first decided that we needed to let Tobbi go, then his previous owner agreed to have him back, then that took a left, and now we find ourselves quite possibly looking for a new home for him...

I'll post the whole story once everything has actually "worked out" and is "over" -- I feel sort of like I'm on jury duty and can't really blab until the case is closed -- let's just say that for now...it's back to the starting gate (NPI) as far as horses go. I'll miss our boy (in some ways he will always be our boy; in some ways I wonder if he ever was) but I know we're doing the right thing by him. You know how when you think something is working but then once you stop and really get it, you realize you've been forcing it, and you surrender and then it all feels for-real right and you get out of the way and you can breathe again? That's where we're at. It was a great idea, but didn't quite pan out the way we'd imagined. How cool to be able to admit that we made a mistake, and instead of worrying about looking bad (though I do feel utterly humiliated), just stand up, say OOPS, and move on.

I know it's not "his fault" -- he is a prince. We are just a little too new at this to know what the heck we're doing.

And so we're in limbo yet again...waiting...wondering...on hold...
Stay tuned. Hopefully soon I'll be posting an announcement that we've found someone delightful for him...

Seabiscuit

We watched the movie last night. I had wanted to see it when it was out, what, 5 years ago, but whatever...I finally rented it...I was ready for a great horse story, but the ulterior motive was that Tobey Maguire is just so dang cute! I thought, what could be better than the two together? It was like when David Bowie played Andy Warhol...two faves wrapped up in one package, right? OH NOOOOO. Have you seen it? No, not the movie. His hair. There should have been a warning on the box, some sort of parental advisory sticker or something, alerting the viewer that the Tobey they are about to see looks like the singer from Simply Red, or Carrot Top, or Annie. Two words: orange, and perm. Those aren't great words alone anyway -- but together, and on a previously cute guy's head, they are particularly atrocious. YES, I get that the real-life jockey was a redhead, but still.

I looked for photos on Google Images to post here, but all of them (cleverly, like the packaging) have T in a helmet, or a cap, or something that hides the shocking chia pet spirals of peroxide that lurk underneath.

But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Very much: With said helmet on, it was a fantastic movie. Does everyone cry when horses cross the finish line, or is it just me? Maybe it's a movie thing, a trick of the writers and the camera crew. Would I get all verklempt if I actually went to a real racetrack? Especially with all the mistreatment and tragedy that goes on in that industry? I remember going as a kid (I think it was Santa Anita) and sitting in the inside grassy part of the park and watching them go by, feeling them go by, the ground shaking under their thundering hooves; it was amazing, however, I don't think I got the choked-up thing. But every horse race movie I've ever seen...The Black Stallion...Dreamer...I just cry buckets as they round that last turn.

I swear to god, if I wasn't 5 foot 10 and pushing 40 years old (and my horse wasn't a 13.1-hand Icelandic), I'd seriously be considering a career change. I have it all worked out in my head, too: my colors would be periwinkle and deep royal purple, a harlequin pattern, the material a rich shiny satin, and the horse would have a matching mask. And we'd be so fast.