hauntedhorseshoes

The Author’s Own Riding Experience and Horses

Mia — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:00:02 +0000

Since I am writing about characters that ride horseback, much the same way, and doing the same things I did, I thought I’d post a picture from time to time. Although I never ran into a secret lab underground in the desert and got captured by a mad scientist, but I had great fun and most of the time during those 30 years, I was on a saddle from before sunrise to after sunset, and in the summer we really did go on moonlit, midnight ‘weenie rides’ just like Quirt lead Brody and Suki on in the first book, ‘Rattlesnake’. We’d be out all night, riding, and only stopping long enough to road some hot dogs on paloverde tree sicks. Pictured is me and ‘Robby’ a horse given to me for ‘experience’. He was a ring-soured dressage horse and I was to put some rough miles on him to show what work really was. And boy did I!

I’m no illustrator :D

Mia — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:53:19 +0000

I know everyone, draws better than me these days, but sometimes what’s in my head just wants out, and this is one way. ^.^)
These are the lion/wolf-like chimeras that attack the three teens when they’re out for a ride, in Quirt and Brody, Ride#1 Rattlesnake. In my head they were a lot hairier and were a little more lion like.

I ran into a job scam

Mia — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:53:49 +0000

For times when I’m not writing, I really need a job. My first book has come nowhere near supporting me in the manor I’ve become accustomed. I want to pay my electric bills and I also like food.

It’s been 6 months now since I quit the job that was giving me chest pains and hives. At first, when I returned to South Dakota from Arizona, after my friend died, I looked for employment on the internet and applied and begged at every business I went into to hire me, part time, full time, temporary, contractual. My schedule is open. To this day I haven’t even been called for an interview. I am looking for work with more enthusiasm since it’s been so long, and even decided to try “Craig’ List”.

On Craig’s list there were jobs for Rapid City SD. One of them said it was office work in a chiropractic office. Sounded perfect for me. I would expect a job that would require moving around, answering phones, filing, taking people to rooms for the doctors as well as sitting if I needed too.

I responded in an email and attached my resume even though the instructions about how to apply were vague.

I few days later I got an email from someone who called herself ‘hiring manager’ or some other title. Never gave the name of her company, but the URL had ‘hiring’ or some other buzzword in it. Other than that it sounded kinda professional.

She stressed that the business that hired her to do this for them was wanting to hire as soon as possible, so I had to hurry. [it took her several days to reach me] She instructed me to go to a URL and fill out a form, the next step in the hiring process. She also wanted me to get a credit report on myself saying it my credit good or bad wouldn’t change my eligibility for hiring, [then why ask for it?] She gave me another link for that. She stressed again the urgency her ‘clients’ felt about hiring someone, yet told me after I did as she requested, she’d get back to me in 3-5 days.

First I went and filled out the form. It was just a simplified, one page, ‘are you white or Hispanic’ type form. I followed the link for the ‘free’ credit report and of course they wanted my ssn. They also wanted a credit card, for this free report because if I didn’t ‘cancel’ whatever I was signing up for, they would bill me $19 per month. The site looked like freecreditreport.com, but even if it was, why would I sign up for something I’d have to cancel right away just to maybe be considered for a job, that I knew nothing about at the time?

Is this what ‘hiring managers’ are asking for these days?

I have applied online for many jobs and the ones that I know to be real, never asked me to do anything like that, not even for the job I was offered.

I wrote the woman back and told her everything that I thought was wrong with her request and never heard back from her after I requested more information about the job first. If there really was an actual job behind all of that, I guess I won’t be getting it ^.^)

The Third cover for the upcoming Quirt and Brody book, Bizarre Ranch

Mia — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:32:40 +0000

Quirt and Dorthea, book cover for Bizarre Ranch

Ride#3 Bizarre Ranch, Rotter pays a demon to kidnap the spoiled rotten teen, Quirt and take him far from home, to Wyoming where he learns what really hard work and being mistreated is all about.

Staying out of a horse’s dance space

Mia — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:41:45 +0000

While in the saddle, if you ‘stay in the middle with your legs on both sides’, you can usually make it safely through anything that happens. A good rider uses balance and mindfulness, not muscle.

But in some ways, handling a horse from the ground is more dangerous than being in the saddle. When you’re working with animals on the ground it’s like ‘dancing’ with a thousand-pound unpredictable animal – with very hard feet.

Even if you’ve been around horses all your life or perhaps especially if you’ve been around them all your life, you know how unpredictable they can be, given the right circumstances. And still, because you’ve been around them a long time, you become lax in your handling of them. It works out fine, most of the time.

Even the animals that seem mean to us humans, never start the day thinking, “I’m gonna get him today.” Many new horse owners are clueless about an animal’s nature or its natural ability to hurt you without trying to and if someone is hurt, they blame the horse, ‘oh that’s a baaaaad horse!’.

So many animal owners seem to have been raised in a Disney movie, where all the animals sing and just love ‘people’ and will save ‘people’ from danger. I read once it’s called anthropomorphize or something.

Animals start off pretty neutral. It’s how humans interact with them that makes them seem a certain way. One of the basic horsemanship rules is ‘don’t ever stand directly in front of a horse’ and newbie dudes often follow that rule better than the old hands.

Allowing a horse to man-handle a human even in a way that seems affectionate or harmless can lead to problems. Horses don’t rub on people because they like them. They do it because they itch and they’re just using their human for a scratching post. Horses should respect their humans more than that. Given the right circumstances, not respecting their humans space could result in the injury of the human or even the horse.

Allowing a horse to be too close or too ‘familiar’ can result in the animal thinking he can be too close at other times and even try to dominate their human as though they were another horse. If they are too close and they are spooked by something for example, they horse could just run over the human to get away. Horses bang and bump on each other all the time in a herd. The horse must never think you are part of his or her herd.

Brody lets his horse, Archer get away with breaking all the rules sometimes, but the teenager is athletic and most of the time, can get out of the way. He and Archer also have an unusual understanding between them, and even the horse seems to know when it’s important to respect Brody’s space. Not everyone is as athletic or strong as Brody is, and not all horses are as well mannered as Archer is.

If rules are broken, sometimes . . . there is no place to go to get out of the way.

New Computer Problems Update – and more!

Mia — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:19:44 +0000

Update 10.3.11 – my new computer had to go to the manufacturer for warranty work!

The cooling fan died and it was overheating. In the past when the cooling fans quit, i just put an external fan on it and made sure it had good airflow. This time i sent it in, because it was only a couple of months old and still under warranty, and also it seems that it is programmed to ‘protect itself’.

This new computer insisted i have it fixed right away. It knows that its cooling fan isn’t working and shuts itself off every few minutes. When you restart it, it warns you that damage may occur and gives you the choice about whether to start it or not. I chose to start it a couple of times to be sure i had all my files and settings deleted and mailed it in.

I felt so sad when i took it to fed x. Another friend gone.

[it should be back in a few days.]

A comment has been submitted for Quirt and Brody Ride#1 Rattlesnake

Mia — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:27:11 +0000

I loved your book I already finished it finally, cannot wait until
the next one.
~Lauren, TX

Software

Mia — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:58:00 +0000

I got a new computer that won’t run photoshop and other non microsoft programs. It would have been much cheaper to fix that old computer rather then replace the computer or all the non-microsoft software i have that won’t run on 64bit.
My writing continues, since MS word and office suites still work. The free software, open office works too, and i like it very much. the only reason i went back to MS office was that some sites would only accept files from it. Open office can open and save as doc files too, but since i had ms office it was just as easy to do it this way for a while.
Really, i don’t use it that much anymore, but i do like to restore photos from time to time

A new review/comment has been submitted one of my stories.

Mia — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:41:52 +0000

Gone Too Far
Chapter: 3. Chapter 3

From: Automail-gHost

… I’m at a loss for words…
That was so amazing…
Your writing is so vivid and so well done, that was absolutely AMAZING! .
The plot was so original, the character acting and interaction was fantastic,
I seriously could not stop reading. Great job! ^.^
I’m gonna go see what other good things you have written, really good job,
keep going! ^-^)
{Shameless Self Promotion} ^.^)

Quirt & Brody Ride#2 Doppelganger cover!

Mia — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 07:11:05 +0000