Wednesday, March 12, 2014

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.


8 comments:

  1. Your blog is definitely one of my favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  2. After Carlos I feel like there may be many horses in my life I would like to write about rides, which is why it didn't make sense to me to change my blog name, or else I may be switching blogs a lot and not just readers, but ideas and memories would get lost along the way. Glad to have stumbled upon you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your blog, also one of my favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hands down, your blog is probably in my top 3 favorite horsey blogs I read on a daily basis! I came across Pia's Parade through Wyvern Oaks' sidebar, and will freely admit that after reading some of the more recent posts, I went all the way back to the beginning and followed along so I could get to know you and your mares! I totally enjoy your commentary and tack-ho-ness (gotta learn from the best, right?), keep it coming! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love your blog, and love getting to know more about the thoughts behind the naming.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I want to echo everyone above, your blog is one of my favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love your blog! I am a recent enough follower in that I missed the majority of the Pia years *LeShames*; I do have the best intentions of going back to the beginning some day but time is so fickle & continuously skips away from me...maybe some day ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your blog! It's one of my favorites. :D When I first started following I went back to the beginning and caught up on everything with Pia because I started following right before she went to summer camp and wanted to know the history. I've loved reading along and I'm so happy for you to have found Prairie and getting to live your dream with her. :)

    Also I changed the name of my blog at one time and didn't lose any of my readers. It's only changing the url that can cause problems I think. :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails