After a seven-mile ride in mud and snow, I bring the horses back to the paddock, toss them hay, and sit on the fence. Sitting on the fence is not a metaphor, it is what horse owners do as we watch, contemplate, and maybe – though it seems highly indulgent – cherish our time with […]
maddy butcher
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
Somehow, by the grace of God, I weathered the most recent coronavirus storm
PANDEMIC STORM Someone sent me a playlist of dance songs this morning. By eight o’clock, with two cups of tea in me, I was dancing around my kitchen and living room, feeling relaxed and free of cares. My dogs watched. “Who is this woman?” It was different from that night last week when I hit […]
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
What my horse taught me about working through the difficulties of coronavirus
Late last year, I was riding my big project horse, Barry. (“Project” because we’ve got stuff to work on and “big” because he’s 16½ hands.) We’d moved up and down through the gaits and had had a lovely two-hour trail ride. Returning home, I grabbed a water bottle I’d left on a fence post at […]
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
Of whoopie pies and wilderness, and how isolation robbed me of my ability to focus
Here’s the thing about whoopie pies: They aren’t that good. Never were. The official Maine State Treat is a century-old tradition with a similar shelf life. Made mostly of sugar, flour, lard, and cocoa, they live somewhere between a cookie and a cake and are decidedly not pies. They are ubiquitous at the check-out counters […]