Mar 19

By  Liz Lundberg

Saturday, March 19, 2005

4:30 PM

(Note: Checking on the video in Feb. of '08; it no longer plays online - don't know why, but will try to fix!)

The problem is there's too much to say. I wanna start here, though. I have a movie. It's a lousy movie. I know they make movies at the real races that don't bounce around like this, but this is me, with my camera in hand, trying to take the thing myself while I'm on the horse. What I wanted to do was tell you how it feels to ride the horse, and how there's nothing like it in a million lifetimes:

Now, if this works correctly, you will see this movie (it's a fifteen second quick time movie file that won't take long to download). In fact, I'm gonna make sure it works before I do any more....

It works! it works, it works! This is  the most amazing software. For excellent BLOG software that does everything, click on the City Desk icon at the bottom of this page. It's FREE software, and you can be an ignorant racetracker and look really professional. AMAZING!!

Anyway, very quick, because I have to go back to the races and sell raffle tix for the kids' programs the Chaplaincy is sponsoring, I want to tell you about sitting on a horse. This horse in the movie, named Dazzle, is only jogging. ......He turns around later and we get to go top speed for half a mile. You don't see that, but you don't have to.

FIRST, watch it over several times. Use the FF to push it forward by tiny increments. Can you see how many changes in the position of the horse's ears there are?

 He can feel my balance changing as I try to hold the camera overhead with my right hand, his ears twitch back; he sees some oncoming horses, one ear twitches toward them, they go forward, they flatten a bit or turn to me. The horse's experience is being conveyed to me through his ears. He's relaxed; he's relaxed but something feels funny; what did I say? He heard me say 'easy, buddy'  you can see that one, it's like a radar.

   In the same fashion, I know he knows how I feel. He feels my calves on his sides. He knows I have good balance with him and will probably not fall off; he knows I am telling him to jog, and be quiet (thankfully he's going along with me) He knows I am happy and relaxed and that makes him feel at ease. He almost didn't know I wanted him to stay out of the 6 furlong chute because I had only one hand to steer with.

He looks like a Christmas horse, doesn't he? his mane falls on both sides, it's got lots of bounce. His jog is a swaying and bouncing, one- two, one- two rhythm. If you were riding him, you would be sitting on the one beat, and standing on the two beat, or vice versa, it doesn't matter, but it makes the ride smoother. You can always stand the whole way in the stirrups, or sit if you like bouncing. If you want him to go very slow, you would sit and keep the reins firm against his jaw (dazzle is a kind horse, and would be happy to oblige). If you want him to pick it up, you would post (the standing and sitting motion) faster, and sometimes with a lazy horse you would encourage him by squeezing him with your calves when you were on the up beat. (this takes practice). I have been doing this for many many years now and I have not gotten over it. It's like your dad shoulder riding you, it's a gift, it's like freedom, but you are sharing it with someone from a completely different culture whose language you've managed to learn. I often look down at myself in the saddle because I still can't believe I am here. As much as I hate going to work, there is nothing better than getting paid and appreciated for doing this. You cannot match it with all the tea in China or diamonds and gold in Africa, or oil in Kuwait. Eat your heart out oil barons.

O.K. now I have to get going. I get to watch Elite Brother run in the Second race..  Wish Tony Campbell good luck with his horse

Later...P.S. We sold a shitload of tickets. It was me & Chaplain Jim. Now if you want to meet a chaplain that just makes you flip out for Jesus, there's a guy for you!

Please don't get all miffy about my religious jargon. It's only religious jargon. It's a lot less work for me to believe in something inexplicable than to thry to EXPLIC it so I can refute it. How am I  gonna describe it? You have to use words, which invariably push somebody's buttons.

See that picture of the horse up there? See the movie? Well, if you pick any simple scripture, for instance "no- one shall come to the Father except through me?" Well, that may be the language trying to get around an experience as enormous as me & the horse sharing the most indescribably, overwhelmingly wonderous moment you could imagine. The horse & I don't need to check our beliefs to see if they match, we just have the experience, as God, To my mind, intended. The meaning is "don't  hold anything between you and another, be it a person or a simple truth, or else you will miss the beauty of every moment." The willingness to let go of whatever might stand between you and another is represented by Jesus in his statement "except through me". Language is a problematic vehicle for conveying formless, timeless stuff.  I ain't lettin the language get in the way of my experience, so I'll speak anyone else's language If that's what it takes to share the experience, and certainly NOT because JESUS said so; it's cuz it's a Great great place to be. Jesus would surely agree. I'm not "defending" Jesus. I don't even "believe" in "Jesus". Not if "Jesus" would keep me away from experiencing 'Jesus'. Hey, is that a 'Believer's' conundrum?

I am defending my right to self expression, though. If I wanna say "god bless you" and you take offense that's your problem. If an Indian said to you, 'may you be blessed with wealth equal to that of owning a thousand cows,' you wouldn't be offended..........

Anyway, Tony's horse wound up mid- pack, Heather won a race with a horse I gave the last breeze to on Tuesday, and THEY haven't won a race in over six months! When She and Will (her husband, Will Hall) began training together they couldn't make a mistake, and then everything turned to crap. One thing about it, when it rains, it pours, and it rained and poured all over them for a long time. So they took a vacation. (I know if you ask Heather she'll tell you "we just trusted in God....") And there, again, I agree....are they hurting anybody?) Hopefully it was just the refresher they needed. Horses aren't the only ones that need freshening up regularly. I didn't bet on her horse. I think right now if horses were trains I'd be Superman, because I've stopped every one I've bet on.

Doc was BLASTED. He said "I been drinkin since 11:00 this morning." (I guess what happened was he was at Short'y's where he always has breakfast, then got on the dang machine and worked his bicep till he won $170.00. Then his buddy Chuck said "you buy the first round", and it was all down hill from there. "Well, I'm trainin tomorrow,  so you better be there, cuz I will!"

"Don't worry about me", I say, but "Doc, if I were you I'd just head back to Shorty's til after last call and back to the barn,  because once a man lays down after all those hours of drinking, it's HARD to get up" and that's when I left the Bar, and the track, and Doc asserting that he 'just keeps on goin.......'

God Bless, I say to my readers, in my language.