Fighting With....

I have been busy in the background, doing things for the site and designing new jewellery, both on comission and for the site which should be updated soon.

I've been having a fight with my Rheumatoid Arthritis in the past weeks, and am hopeful that I will be prescribed new medication soon which may improve things. Of course my RA has an effect on my work output, though I try and appreciate the good things in life rather than concentrating on the difficult ones.

Last year I visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and what that brought home to me was that as much as I felt my illness, compared to some of the people who were up there for treatment, my own troubles are insignificant; of course, it doesn't always feel like that and there are days when I lie in bed in the morning and think 'I just can't today'; but then I remember Merlin who will be waiting for me in his stable to let him out in the field, I drive to the yard, let him out, watch him for a while with all his horse friends, and life feels better immediately....then I might start mucking out, and after an hour or so, this thing going on within my body seems so inconsequential that its possible to almost forget it.

Of course, having RA does impose limitations, such as I have not ridden Merlin for over two and a half years, but riding is such a small part of being with a horse....the whole point is the relationship, the love between horse and human, and the moment when he chooses to put his head over my shoulder, relax a little and exhale deeply, feels like complete contentment to me.
Merlin is my first horse, and now my day is not complete until he whinnies as I arrive at the stable-yard gate (each horse 'shouts' to their own human), treasure the moment when I release him in the field and he chooses to stay with me to give me time that could be spent galloping around like a mad thing with his friends; or when he goes over to the rolling hollow, rolls over on his back and throws his legs round which always makes me laugh because he looks so ridiculous, then snorts with excitement and gallops off to find his friends and his mares....this is when I know all is right with the world.