Blog Hop - What's In Your Name?

Back in 2007 when I returned to the PNW from NYC, I found myself with all sorts of time on my hands.  I was no longer working a ga-zillion hours a week in a weird blur of finance/politics and media but instead found myself at my happy little family business which looks at you funny if you're still in the office after 5:07pm.

I could only fill so much time with Happy Hours and concerts, so it probably took me about 25 seconds to let horses back into my brain and begin percolating on how to get a regular ride again.  I stumbled onto some good horsey blogs during lunch hours (Andrea's being an early favorite) and loved getting to follow along with other people's journeys.  I quickly vowed that when I had a regular horse to ride again I would absolutely blog and enjoy the process of sharing and stewing on my own adventures.

This is actually my second blog.  The first was called "bumbling along with belle" and was named for a glass-legged tb who I leased for a while and was planning to own. (in hindsight it was probably a-ok to not get the horse who had already fractured two legs..).

Belle, she was definitely pretty and had an enviable forelock...

When things fell through with Belle I was crushed, but realized I really was ready for a horse of my own so I began a not so long, or all that arduous, search.  The Boy and I spent a couple weekends driving all.over.the.place and looked at some really nice young-ish prospects when we found Pia.  I loved her from the moment I saw her dreamhorse ad and was pretty sure I was going to end up with her.

from my very first ride on the mare.

Apparently I was stuck in a remedial alliteration phase because when I abandoned Bumbling Along with Belle, the only (literally only) title I could come up with was "Pia's Parade."  It stuck, and we were off.  I tried to be as honest as possible in our ups and downs (oh were there plenty) and really enjoyed the process.  For the first couple years I had only a handful of followers so there wasn't much affirmation in terms of traffic or comments, but I loved the process of thinking about our days together and organizing my thoughts.

I'm not a very savvy blogger.  I don't have my own hosted URL, I don't have ads, I don't bother with any formatting that isn't immediately obvious on my "layout" tab... but I do really enjoy the act of stringing my thoughts together and feeling like I'm part of some weird horsey-blog-internet-community.

It's just plain fun.

I haven't ever changed the name to really include Prairie or Gus - and I guess like everyone else I worry I'd lose readership if I did.  But I also don't care too much. P is still what got me on this path and she's a good little red mare.  Even if she finds a new home I suppose she can still lay claim to this blog and all my other horsey ventures that ensue.