Sort it Out!

not too bad...

Any LSP worth his salt likes to go for a ride on Thursday after Morning Prayer and lately this means charging about on a 100 acre field on JB. It's fun, clears the head, helps keep up a basic level of fitness and further trains horse and rider, which is an ongoing project -- you never stop learning.

Ride over, and trying not to melt in the Texan sun, I was busy congratulating myself and horse when I looked at a couple of pictures of the progress. A salutary lesson, because there I was with my feet pointed out at an angle from the horse. Bad error! Why?

what a shambles, but good looking horse.

Because it takes your leg off the horse, destabilizes your seat and gives inconsistent leg aids to the animal.

make like Iceland

In other news, I liked this from ZeroHedge:

We have no doubt that everyone is tired of bad news, but we are compelled to review the facts: Europe is currently experiencing severe bank runs, budgets in virtually every western country on the planet are out of control, the banking system is running excessive leverage and risk, the costs of servicing the ever-increasing amounts of government debt are rising rapidly, and the economies of Europe, Asia and the United States are slowing down or are in full contraction. There's no sugar coating it and we have to stop listening to politicians and central planners who continue to downplay, obfuscate and flat out lie about the current economic reality.

Advice? Learn to ride, shoot and grow your own food.

LSP

New Place To Ride Ordinariate

There's evidently this rural myth doing the rounds of Malone about some man who walked his horse 20 miles just so he could find a new place to ride...

With that in mind, and with the caveat that the myth won't be repeated, I'm happy with the place. A good mixture of dirt road and large fields to move around in; I'd say the variation is good for the horse's mind. Doesn't do the rider any harm either.

the space is deep

In other news, Cardinal Wuerl looks set to make an important announcement about the Ordinariate in CONUS. This is Benedict XVI's arrangement for Anglican clergy and people to convert to Rome while keeping elements of their liturgical and pastoral tradition. It also allows the former Anglicans a degree of permanence and self-governance, which was perhaps lacking under the Pastoral Provision.

where's that dik-mik?

Several friends have suggested that I join the Ordinariate and I'm very sympathetic. But I'm not about to abandon Bishop Iker and my Missions while we're being sued for all we're worth by the Pelosionite followers of Inclusivechurch. I think that would be disloyal.

Perhaps as a nod in the right direction I should rename the horse -- "Ordinariate" has a certain ring for a Thoroughbred.

Stay in the saddle,

LSP

Iron Horse, Real Horse

Iron Horse, Real Horse

Found myself scouting about the used car shops the other day, checking out 4x4 pick-ups, when I saw a chopper nonchalantly parked up in a place of its own. It reminded me of Nam, Chelt'Nam, that is, the town's bikers and, of course, "Iron Horse" by Motorhead. But all that was a very long time ago.

Now I get to go on a real horse and find myself returning to basics - spent the morning walking JB around obstacles and over ground poles, with special emphasis on circling to the right. She's forward now, so it seems time to concentrate on control, which'll make a good base for going very fast and jumping over things. That's my plan, anyway.

She managed three successive flying changes the other day; people tell me that's very impressive and it indicates high athletic potential on JB's part. I wish that I'd asked for them deliberately...

Stay on the horse,

LSP

Horsing About

small herd of mares

Had an interesting ride the other day, not least because JB's horse mind was a little distracted by the loud attention of several stallions. She hears them calling her, you see, and answers back with a mind to galloping off to wherever they are - which isn't where we are. This can be disconcerting, but you know what they say, stay on the horse. Not always easy, I can tell you.

Finished off with a .22 plink about before the sun began to set; neat to see the mares silhouetted, like some kind of Western, which, in a way, it was.

where's that stallion?

On a different note, a Calgary parish has opted to become Roman Catholic, thus making the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) even smaller than it already is. More on that later.

Cheers,

LSP

Church, Horse, Gun

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts, but life has been hectic with various deadlines and the work of looking after several missions - to say nothing of keeping track of the ever diminishing ACoC and its somewhat larger sister, TEC.

Still, I've managed to increase the amount of time spent in the saddle, which is important. How can you expect to train up a horse if you don't ride it? With that objective well in mind, I'm pleased with the result; JB is certainly forward and fast, whereas she wasn't before. Still, a word of warning. Keep your heels down, LSP, it's no fun coming off at 45 mph...

There's been time for shooting too, mostly plinking about but some dove hunting before the season ended. One bird was extremely large and tasty. I told a parishioner about it.

"It was like an eagle, parishioner."
"Oh, you shot a pigeon."
"No, parishioner. It was a dove, the size of a mighty Condor!"

Protests to the contrary, the harm had been done. Must work out some way to redeem the reputation; perhaps against coyotes.


On the religious front, some of you may be aware that the trad Diocese of Fort Worth and its Bishop, Jack Iker, are the victims of multiple lawsuits brought on by Schori's TEC and its potemkin diocese in North Texas. If you go to TEC's diocesan website, you'll find the litigation they've initiated under an interesting title. "Holy Stewardship," they call it. Nothing quite like redefining words to suit your purpose.

God bless our veterans.

LSP

Get Back on the Horse!

After an annoyingly indoors kind of week the toe healed sufficiently to pull on my boots and get out to the horses. JB's made real progress -- she stands still when tied, walks, trots, canters and, for the most part, goes where's she's asked to. In brief, the last month or so has been given over to instilling forward movement, response to the aids and confidence in each other.

Nothing wrong with that, so to celebrate progress we moved into a larger pasture with plenty of room to gallop about. After a short longe we moved out at a walk, followed by a trot and fastish canter; pleased at that I turned her 'round, barnwards, and asked for speed.

Well, there's nothing like obedience and JB was only too obliging to hurtle at breakneck pace towards a small herd of mares and the general direction of barndom and a thorn tree. I stayed on, just, she ducked, I lost a stirrup, she went faster, I lost a rein and held onto the mane, so she bucked and off I glided into the thorns.

No harm done; climbed back on and galloped about the field in a largish way. Set to do the same tomorrow, it's a great thing to go fast on that horse. Must combine that with a long overdue shoot, and that's no bad thing either.

Stay out of the thorn tree and God bless.

LSP

Horse & Steak

Back in Texas, which means horses -- mine appears to have regressed and now thinks she doesn't have to be ridden -- and steak. The latter's alright, but how to fix the former? Much more riding, daily if possible, and lots of patience. Well worth it, as the offending quadruped's a joy when she's going well -- very fast, powerful and smooth in her gaits. When she's being difficult... different story altogether, but whoever said life'd be easy?

Viz. steak -- I prefer a charcoal Weber, after using a propane thing in Canada. Regardless, dove season's right round the corner and with it the opportunity for some mixed grill and a chance against the avian acrobats.

On a different theme, two Metroplex lesbians tried to enroll their daughter at St. Vincent's Cathedral School in the diocese of Fort Worth, only to be rejected. Now, like it or not, diocesan policy is pretty clear about its trad stance on sexual ethics and St. Vincent's reflects that in its teaching. So why would two people try to enroll their child in a school that's openly against their lifestyle? Surely Jill and Tracey Harrison weren't trying to use their child to make some sort of political capital? I mean, its not as though two people who made the effort to go to Canada in 2006 and get married might be lesbian activists, or anything like that.

Just a thought.

Cheers,

LSP

Horse & Dog

Back in the far off, halcyon days of mid '90s London, when bushcraft and associated pursuits were still a concept in the mind of SBW (great blog) and King's Cross seemed like a good place to go dancing -- well, I would have raised a quizzical eyebrow if you'd said that I'd be a country parson in rural Texas. How things have changed, thank goodness.

These days I like nothing better than to get up for one more perfect sunrise, say the Divine Office and head off to the not so distant lure of...

ferocious dogs.

Highbrow Throroughbreds,

and a brisk workout in the equine way; good for mind, body and soul, especially when allied to guns of all sorts. But more of that anon.

Hunt 'em up.

LSP

Belloc - Modern Attack

Belloc -- the Anti-Crowley

From time to time I like to read to read Belloc, one of the more aggressive catholic apologists of the last century and a sort of 'bad cop' to Chesterton's good one. Here's what he had to say about modernism and the nascent secular state:

"The Faith is now in the presence not of a particular heresy as in the past - the Arian, the Manichean, the Albigensian, the Mohammedan, nor is it in the presence of a sort of generalized heresy as it was when it had to meet the Protestant revolution from three to four hundred years ago.

The enemy which the Faith now has to meet, and which may be called "The Modern Attack," is a wholesale assault upon the fundamentals of the Faith, upon the very existence of the Faith. And the enemy now advancing against us is increasingly conscious of the fact that there can be no question of neutrality. The forces now opposed to the Faith design to destroy. The battle is henceforward engaged upon a definite line of cleavage, involving the survival or destruction of the Catholic Church. And all, not a portion, of its philosophy."

You can read the whole thing here, from chapter seven of The Great Heresies (pub. 1938).

I think his analysis is pretty much on target, whether his conclusions follow remains to be seen.

In the meanwhile, horse training proceeds apace, with Jeanne Belle (Thoroughbred mare) making excellent progress -- lunges well, gaits are becoming smoother, there's increased collection and all 'round improvement in manners. Still, a long way to go for the pair of us; I'll post some photos when the camera decides to work again/is replaced.

Cheers,

LSP

Gone to the Dogs

There's a good new tradition here - ecumenical dog trials, which take place at the local Cowboy Church's arena. Our Mission provided the food; pulled pork and brisket today and very tasty it was too.

So was the canine action, with plenty of sharp work between the hooves. The average score came in at around 7 minutes and 30 points, with the best achieving double that in the same time. I'd say the skills are similar but it's altogether more high energy than the sheep variant, not that there's anything wrong with that either.

After the dogs it was down to the hospital to visit the sick, say Evening Prayer then visit the horses. They seemed well; I'm looking forward to working with the new mare tomorrow after Mass.

Cheers,

LSP

New Horse

A very kind person donated a horse to the cause today, a nine year old thoroughbred mare called Genie who was trained for the track but never raced. We worked her out a little on the lunge line and she did well, then rode her about after being told she hadn't been ridden in seven years and, you never know, I geared myself up all kinds of trouble. It never came, though there'll have to be some work on forward movement and she had a tendency to toss her head about...

My feeling is that she'll go fast, which is fine, and people who know about such things say she could work well at dressage.

So we'll see; I'm looking forward to getting to know a new horse.

Cheers,

LSP