Heart and Desire: Knitting socks and horsemanship... no, really.

very now and then I have to ask you to just bear with me on a thought. I hope I've earned your trust, because I'm going to ask you to do it again - which you probably anticipated once you read the title of this post.

Knitting socks and horsemanship? "Oh, goodness, what IS she thinking?" raced through your mind, right?

First - here are my socks. And yes, I knit them.

They're hardly perfect. But they're warm and cozy.

I've never knit socks before. It always seemed just a bit beyond my skills - like by miles... Hundreds of scarves and extremely simple knit caps are easy and fun for me. So I knit them - over and over. Everyone I love has received a scarf or hat from me over the years. I whip them out every winter. I feel great as I bind off the last row of stitches every time.

But my knitting never improves. My skill has never developed beyond what it was when I was ten. My fear of the Dreaded Knit Sock remained perfectly intact.

So as I found myself in the fabric/craft store for a simple sewing project, I noticed a rack of beautiful sock yarn. The yarn was gorgeous, fine and called to me. Beside it (perfect merchandising, my compliments) was a collection of inexpensive books and the title "EASY KNIT SOCKS!" caught my eye.

My first thought was, "oh, well, maybe I can make a hat with this yarn..." But my second thought was "Don't practice what you're good at. Practice what you're BAD at."

Yes, the voice of Pat Parelli rang in my ears, even at JoAnn's Fabric Store.

"Practice what you're bad at."

Print that out and nail it up at your barn.

Because guess what happens when you practice what you're bad at? Yep. You get good at it. Your skills increase and improve. Your imagination has more room to wander because you've just handed it a new toy, a new tool. Your horse becomes engaged in a new way because you've surprised him with the unexpected.

You begin to think, "Hmm, canter pirouette? Not impossible!" And you get good!

And... then you find something new and different that you're bad at. Only this time when you notice the 'something new you're bad at' you can think, "Ah-Ha! I know how to take care of you!"

Meanwhile, if you'd like to read an incredible book - seriously great - which comes with the recommendation of Dr. Temple Grandin, who called me after she read it to say, "I loved this book and could not put it down" - and also the disclaimer that it was written by a dear friend of mine and if you purchase it through this Amazon link, I will possibly make a tiny tiny percentage of the sale price to support this blog (not sure if I've done the link right is why I'm not sure if I'll get anything...but you'll get something from the book, so I'm excited about that part)

ANYWAY - here's the best book you'll ever read if you love dogs. And if you don't love dogs and read this book anyway, you WILL love dogs by the time you're finished. If you have a friend who recently lost a beloved canine, this is a fabulous spirit-lifting gift of comfort.

Plus, Congratulations to Dr. Temple Grandin and all of those folks associated with the HBO movie based on her early years & career for their MULTIPLE EMMY Awards! If you haven't seen the film, "Temple Grandin" starring Clare Danes, it is amazing. Temple was especially pleased because it depicts her thought processes in a way that she felt was genuinely accurate, plus they used her original drawings. (if you don't know her, I'm shocked, since I mention her work all the time, but there is a video here. Dr. Grandin is a designer of humane animal handling systems, professor at Colorado State University and is also autistic, and author of multiple fabulous books about animal behaviour. My personal favorite is "Animals in Translation" but her newest "Animals Make Us Human" is awesome and I always recommend it) Temple said, "Clare Danes became me at that age. It was amazing to see." Check it out while you are on Amazon getting "A Dog's Purpose."

Next post: I'll tell you what Dr. Grandin believes is the reason many horses buck at the canter when they are first saddled.