It's a thing of beauty!

Wow. Look what Natalie over at Retired Racehorse tagged me with! I am humbled! I hop on over to her thoughtfully written, informative and funny blog every day, hoping to glean a little more insight into training these wonderful retired racehorses I love so much. She and I have quite a few of the same training philosophies and methods, I believe, and it is so nice hearing how her training is going with Final Call and watching as some of her issues with him echo the ones I've had with Gabe.

Well, apparently, part of this Beautiful Blogger award involves me divulging seven secrets about myself.

Do I even have seven that are still secrets? I dunno. Maybe?

1. When I was young I taught my mom's hunter, Mike, to rear on command when I tapped him on the shoulder with a crop. While mounted. Needless to say, she was NOT pleased with my training results.

2. I once attempted to imitate bareback bronc riders on my pony, Blaze. I jumped on her bareback, wrapped a rope around her flanks, snugged it up tight and let 'er rip. She flung me into a solid board wall and knocked me out. My sister thought I was dead.

3. I used to force my sister to ride with me in the "forbidden areas" when we were kids. We once broke a federal law and rode across a military shooting range/bomb testing area we had very specifically been ordered not to go any where near.

4. I was once a carnie. My family still makes fun of me but it was an experience I treasure.

5. I write professionally. I have written and sold some stories of the ummm....adult variety.

6. I would love to ride haute' ecole airs above ground movements on a well-trained Lipizzaner.

7. I have ridden naked. It was a Lady Godiva kind of moment.

Whew. I feel like I've been to confession today.

The second part of this award requires that I tag 15 bloggers and link them. I'm going to tag and link until I get tired of the process...probably before I reach 15.

Several of my horsie blogger friends already have received this award, but I'm going to link them anyway simply because I enjoy their blogs. Those tagged don't have to play along if they don't want, but if you haven't read some of them, you should!

If you haven't stopped by 7MSN Ranch yet, you don't know what you're missing. She let's her beautiful photos and hysterical animals tell the stories for her. In case you are wondering, 7MSN stands for "7 Miles South of Nowhere." LOVE IT!

Kate at A Year With Horses posts beautiful photos of the young and the old horses at her barn and writes thoughtful insights into the minds, habits and personalities of her horses.

You haven't stopped by to say "Hi!" to KK over at All Horse Stuff yet? Why not? Get moving! You won't be sorry. I'll bet she'll make you jealous of the amazingly inspiring, serene places she rides! I know I always get jealous when she posts photos of her rides.

Jaz and Poco are the stars of Leah's Barn Door Tagz blog. If their antics don't make you smile you have a hard, hard heart. Leah captures their personalities and shares her ups and downs as a horse owner in a way so many of us can identify with.

Mugwump Chronicles. Need I say more? Yes, she's a western trainer, but her thoughts about how the horse mind works and her myriad of experiences and stories are universal to the horse world, whether it's dressage, reining, jumping or pleasure riding.

I've got mud. Oodles of mud. So does Tammy at Horse Trail Riders. I feel her pain. I love her house and her farm and her horses. Stop by!

Horses. Dogs. Cows. Rattlesnakes. Desert. Oh my! The Horseshoeing Housewife has it all! And she's absolutely hysterical.

Nuzzling Muzzles has a little Arab mare by the name of Gabrielle. She's a gorgeous gray, like my own Gabriel, and is in the process of training the young'un. She also has really irritating neighbors (whom I would have killed and quietly buried a long time ago!) and two other Arabs who share her horsie life: Bombay and Lostine.

Billie at Camera Obscura has been a powerful blogger voice against rollkur, powerful and loud enough she attracted the attention of the FEI, the pre-eminent voice and rule-maker in all things dressage. It probably helps that she is a beautiful writer who obviously has much passion for not only her own horses, but for all horses and their welfare and treatment.

And finally (because I'm getting tired of the tedious process of linking blogs on this stupid work Mac. It's not a simple copy/paste function. Noooo...of course not!) you must, must, must stop by Vet on the Edge. Not really horse-related, but animal related. In Alaska. This blog is an absolute pleasure to read and I look forward to each and every post. If you don't love it, feel free to beat me with wet noodles.