Yesterday I wrote about gloating. Those who are humble do not gloat. I am not humble, so I gloat. In interacting with these very wonderful dog and ponies, I have earned my second Pee ache Dee. The initials stand for piled higher and deeper. This second meaning is twofold. I have often thought that in working with the animals that I have been in over my head. Also, I have had to be judicious in keeping up with the pen cleaning. Four horses produce a lot of shit.

Today, I first took the dogs for a walk, then figured that I’d get to doing the clean up later. Then I realized that I’d have two sled loads to pull up behind the hoop house, so I put off eating breakfast and cleaned the pen. I again cleaned it after going for three rides.

Tonight, I got in after dark, at 6 p.m., after cleaning the goat pen. There, on the table was a puffy package from the International Agility Horse Club. It contained two first place ribbons from last month and Tyra’s reserve champion ribbon for the year. It’s a beautiful ribbon, blue with stars on it. Okay. This is reason to gloat. Tyra and I, over the course of a year, faced some stiff competition. But somehow, we managed to place second. Gloat, gloat, gloat.

And gloat some more. I am gloating privately of course, although I am thinking, who can I tell about this?

Tyra with her Ribbon

My friend Claudia has innumerable ribbons on the walls of her dog training facility. She is extremely competitive, and yes, she gloats. Her ribbons attest to the fact that she comes by her gloating honestly.

Me, I have put all our horse ribbons on the kitchen addition wall. It is so full of first place ribbons that I don’t have room for any more. I also have a supplement tub full of second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place ribbons. I think that this summer that we are going to build a shed for the combined horse/dog agility equipment, so I will then put the ribbons up in there.

Gloat, gloat, gloat. I got all the horses out on the trail today, and the dogs as well. The temperatures were in the twenties. I took Tyra out last because it was starting to get cold – we did a shorter ride. She is always curious and never fearful. A snowmobiler stopped at the intersection of the trail ahead of us. Tyra alerted on him by raising her head and putting her ears up. However, she did not balk when I asked her to move on. Rather, she looked curiously at the hooded man and his helmet as we passed.

More and more, I feel closer and closer to these wonderful animals. The dogs too. As I tell anyone who will listen, I am fortunate to be surrounded by such smart, kind, and happy creatures.

Gloat, gloat, gloat – I am prouder of having earned my second Ph.D. than my first. This one I truly earned. Gloat, gloat, gloat.

Next: 29. 1/29/21: A Conversation with Tinni