OHSET

I just spent a fair portion of the evening looking for music for my OHSET drill team.  This of course allows me a nice transition into  providing a quick description of OHSET. 

Oregon High School Equestrian Teams is a program in the State of Oregon (WASET is in Washington) that allows high school aged kids to compete in equestrian sports.  Participating schools treat OHSET like a regular team sport, so kids can "letter" in horses.  Can I just say, WAY COOL.  I would have given my left toe to have had this program when I was in high school.  It it a pretty neat concept in that it has classes for the most common horse disciplines - gaming, dressage, jumping, cow events, drill, driving, in-hand events, trail, working rancher....  I have to say, they've done a pretty good job of setting things up so that, unlike other equestrian programs, "S(he) who has the shiniest saddle" doesn't always win.  It isn't a perfect program, but it is pretty stinkin' cool. 

So, anyhow, I coach the drill team for one of the OHSET participating schools.  This is my fourth year with this particular school which means that kids that were freshmen when I started are graduating this year.  Ugh.  ( They always have a way of reminding you that you're getting older. )

As a coach, I have to say, I've been very lucky.  I've gotten to work with a lot of cool kids.  I've had several kids who, when they started, knew nothing about horses, horsemanship, or riding.  But, they wanted to learn and were willing to work hard.  The end result of that kind of dedication is that kids who started the season barely able to stay up on their horses usually finished the season carrying flags and loping around the arena full speed.  It's a great thing to see.

I don't have any kids of my own, so these kids are the closest I get.  I keep the senior pictures of my graduates on the refrigerator.  That way, I can see and remember them. 

Anyhow, I guess I would encourage anyone who is horsaii in the states of Oregon or Washington:  If you have a little spare time, find yourself a team and volunteer.   They can use all the help they can get and I promise that it will be a rewarding experience.  Sometimes, you will want to pull your hair out, but most of the time, you will laugh and have a good time. 

And yes, at some point, I will figure out how to post some pictures....

Beginnings - Names are a pain in the %$$

I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I finally decided that, perhaps, now would be a good time.  I mean, heck, I'm about to start a second job, I actively volunteer, and I have a couple super time-consuming hobbies.  So why not take on blogging too? 

To my mind, blogging is not something to be taken lightly.  There are a lot of decisions to be made - should you have a theme?  Should you stick to just one subject?  Should it be funny or sad?  Maybe it should be about a particular cause, like "Save the rabid squirrels!" 

I finally decided, "What the heck!  Just do it and see what happens!"  So here it starts. 

..... And it started with a name.  Did you know that every cool blog name on the planet is taken?  Even really obscure cool names that I thought would be totally unique were taken.  There are some of the (I thought) fully awe-inspiring blog names that I tried:  "A blog with no name", Blogzilla, Blogalicious, Blognasty, Blognacious, Blogacity..... Yeah, I tried a pile of them.  All taken.  I could have riffed on one of the names - done something clever like misspelling the name, but that just seemed lame.  So finally, I tried "Heather's Homespun" and nobody has it.  Yay.  Not that it's brilliant or anything, but I'd like to think I'm just the littlest bit unique, even if I'm really not.

So here's the deal, as often as I can, I'll try to post something up here.  Whatever happens to be on my mind.  I've got some pretty varied interests.  I own horses and ride "equestrian precision drill" (I'll do a post on what that is some time), I volunteer with OHSET (another explanitory post coming), I have my own alpacas and I spin wool, I own and show mini-donkeys,  I work in the computer industry, I'm married to a farrier, and we are animal lovers so we have cats, dogs,  and chickens to go with the horses, 'pacas, and donks.  Therefore, don't be surprized if I'm talking about egg production one day and bashing the latest MicroSquish product the next.  It happens.

By the way, the concept of "Heather's Homespun" is that the blog is about my own homespun thoughts.  Plus, I am a spinner, so it was hard not to make a reference to one of my favorite hobbies.  Like I said, all the really groovy names were taken. 

Finally, since this is my first whack at the whole blog thing, I ask that you be kind.  I always appreciate constructive criticism, so feel free to tell me that the blue background is really annoying and hard to read, or that you wish I would quit using ITALICS.  However, if your comments start with "You're a dumb %$#&!!!!!"  I'm probably not going to take you seriously.

Anyhow, enjoy!

-Heather