March 2020 Issue

SPRING IN HOPELAND

What is it about the cadence of a swaying swing that soothes a tired mind? Is it the rhythmic pace that matches a heartbeat? Or the frayed memories of swishing to and fro, wind upon a face? Or the push, pump of a child reaching for the sky – such expectation! In this season of my life, I seek out solitude. No voices. Just the rapid gurgle of a nearby stream, The light flutter of leaves in the early Spring, Their shadows ever-changing on the path beneath my feet. In this sheltered spot, there is an embedded etching of a horse’s head – A hint of the ethos of my

Equestrian Social Media

Social media is great for finding people with similar interests, and equestrian sports is no different. Whether you’re an experienced equestrian, just learned to ride, or prefer to watch from the sidelines, there’s an online community for you. I asked around and compiled a list of the best websites and social media groups for horse people here in Aiken. The Chronicle of the Horse (chronofhorse.com) Everyone I asked mentioned this site as the best place to find horse-related information. The site is based around the Chronicle of the Horse magazine, and it also hosts active blogs on a wide variety of subjects, forums where you can ask and answer questions,

Twelve Years Of Joye In Aiken

When the Joye in Aiken Performing Arts Festival kicks off with its Second Annual New Orleans-Style Jazz Funeral Parade on March 5, it may change the way some Aikenites view the city’s unique relationship with The Juilliard School. Far from being a series of formal black tie concerts, says President Sandra Field, the festival week is meant to be a citywide celebration of Aiken’s tie with that world-renowned conservatory, with events in multiple venues, formats, and genres. “True, we’ll have classical concerts by Juilliard faculty like Paul Jacobs and by other Juilliard-trained artists like those of Decoda and the St. Lawrence String Quartet,” Field says. “And those concerts will be

Live Life Enthusiastically

“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” Bo Bennett You may inherently tend to be more “Miss Susie Sunshine” than “Debbie Downer,” but the truth is enthusiasm is a choice. Enthusiasm is derived from passion. Sometimes that passion is instinctive and at other times we have to train our brains to think enthusiastically. Living as an enthusiastic person requires motivation and dedication. Since we live in a world that bombards us with negativity, it also takes true grit. This may sound like a lot of effort and it is. The good news is that recent research indicates that people who live enthusiastically not only live happier,

The Golden Rule | That Made Me Blush

It happens to the best of us. It is not a good feeling when you realize that you have made a major mistake and you want to knock yourself in your forgetful head. You are traveling. You reach your destination. You open your luggage and you realize that you have left most of your toiletry items at home. It is late, so you make the most of the hotel micro mini toothbrush and tiny tube of toothpaste. Until tomorrow … when you realize that most of your makeup is also in that toiletry bag! Now, it’s serious, especially if you are a Southern woman whose momma taught you NEVER to

Hold Your Horses!

Quit horsin’ around and use your horse sense to read all about horse idioms and sayings He said I had to choose him or my horse. I miss him sometimes. Cowgirl Spirit “Does anyone know where I can find some road apples?” Everyone else kept playing Bunco but I froze in my seat. I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where Amish and Mennonites mingled their horse and buggies in traffic. If you just washed your car you tried to avoid road apples dumped on the street by uncaring horses plodding along to get to the next stop. You were careful to walk around piles where the horses had been

Let’s Do Some Math

What does % mean when it pertains to equine nutrition? It means that you need to know a little bit about math. We can get into part per million and grams, but that will be another day. Let’s focus on percentages today. Throughout the years of feeding horses, feed companies have trained consumers, not with purpose, to buy a specific type of feed based solely on protein percentages of 10%, 12%, 14%, or 16%, since the choices were rather limited. These percentages do not tell you the quality of the proteins, nor does it tell the amino acid breakdown. That being said, many high quality 10% protein feeds can out

Frodo: From Racehorse to War Horse to Home

It was nearly half a decade ago. Yet I remember – I will forever remember – the day I met a horse named Frodo. It was on the grounds of the Aiken Equine Rescue, and Frodo was a participant in the remarkable Saratoga WarHorse program conducted there — an equine-based, peer-to-peer, veterans program that addresses the unseen wounds of both military post traumatic stress and off-the-track Thoroughbreds. I wrote about Frodo then, as I will write about him now. Frodo was bred to race. Frodo, however, amiably declined. A large, gray, beautiful Thoroughbred, Frodo simply refused to conform to the life of a racehorse. He just didn’t have the heart

Think Inside the Box

It’s outside what you expect The spaceship that I was driving must have been going a million miles per hour. At eight years old, I was enjoying the man in the moon while avoiding being seen by the Martians. It was a wonderful trip, and my box had once again made the exciting journey possible. Only moments later, I was in another world of adventure and my cabin (box) was protecting me from all the wild animals and possible spies in the surrounding forest. I had food and supplies for several days and could survive the storms, which were brutal at times. My box was my world of imagination and