Barn Pixie

I made it to the barn and rode the red mare this morning, feeling like a complete cad because I left the kids behind and vamoosed. I would have stayed with them in previous years, and done fun vacation things, but I didn't. I got all selfish and rode instead.

The mare has been moved out of the perpetual and appalling mud, into a pen by day that has a good deal more solid ground and a stall at night. She seems calmer and cheerfuller, I think being able to move around more easily makes her substantially more comfortable. We had a nice ride outside - relatively relaxed for her. It helped that the weather was warmer - cold really gets into her back and makes her tight and grumpy. I was working on forward, and bending. She was working on doing less. It was not a good combo for a while, until she decided bucking was doing not much for either of us. Some work for me without stirrups, but it just makes her cranky and tight, and I would rather improve both of us together without relying so much on her good nature. I think part of it is the stirrups banging on her, so I can try crossing them, before removing them completely, and see if either of those matters. Part is also my continuing inadequacy at the sitting trot, which unfortunately is hard to fix without further sitting trot. We are negotiating that.

This afternoon I found a fistful of Peter Wimsey videos at the library and had an orgy. The older ones, circa late 1970s, had a nice feel but Lord Peter was too old and too fat and not blonde. Ian Carmichael it was, and he may be a fine actor but I couldn't be convinced he was the right one. I found 3 out of 4 parts of Murder Must Advertise (1, 3&4) and watched them all back to back. Then I watched all of the 1987 (plus or minus) version of Gaudy Night. For that one the Lord Peter was much better, and Bunter quite lovely (although not what I had in my mind) but Harriet was nothing like I had imagined. They took considerable liberties with the story to make it fit, but still left in or fabricated from whole cloth some pretty mysterious bits. 

After mentioning fanfic, I found a bunch of Wimsey things on Yuletide, so I've been working my way through that with a certain amount of interest and amusement. I stand by my original thought - no one can animate Lord Peter quite the way Sayers can, and the differences, though small, can be jarring.