A great time was had by all (though Bonny was pretty sure that the big, round boulders in the water were actually lurking cougars ready to eat her)! Note it is nearly impossible to take photos while mounted without catching the tips of Tony's ears!

You really have to love Vancouver Island - here we are on a sunny, warm day in June, a Sunday no less, and just look at the throngs of people on this sandy beach!!!! Not that we minded - we were quite happy to let the horses stretch their legs and race up and down the beach a bit. No worries here about stomping on little kids' sandcastles!

You'd be laughing, too, if you lived in paradise! 

Ok - I can't resist... this is a Proud Mama Moment... Here's my lovely mare Bonny during a riding lesson today. She's being ridden by my lovely daughter, Dani... both being coached by the amazing Karen! 

 

 

Such massive animals, but so gentle and curious!

Working on several horse-themed books and making the most of the good weather to enjoy my own horses, I find I am never bored! This is a good thing, I suppose, as the long grind of writing a book (and training an horse) could drive a person crazy.

To build my stock of equine photos (to be used in various upcoming articles and books), I've been spending lots of time at barns, horse shows, and race tracks - always with a camera close to hand. And speaking of hands, the one in this photo belongs to our friend Julia who came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. 

The photos and interviews collected at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, at Windfields Farm, Woodbine Racetrack, Stampede Park, Equine Guelph, and other such horsey venues are all part of the very cool project I'm working on for Fitzhenry and Whiteside. Each title in this new series will focus on the behind-the-scenes workings of another equine activity. The first two books (Behind-the-Scenes at the Racetrack and Behind-the-Scenes With an Equine Vet) are scheduled to come out in spring of 2007. The Karen Brain Biography (Sono Nis Press) is also slated for a spring 2007 release, so I guess that I'll be spending a whole lot of time thinking about horses during this coming year! How painful is that? NOT!













This handsome fellow is SeeMore, a life-size model used in Equine Guelph's equine education programs.




















And this is Let's Go Golfing, a thoroughbred gelding we followed on race day at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. Golfin' was quite talented in the face-making department, but not quite so good in his race - he finished well back and out of the money. The best part of Golfin's day was his bath, a relaxing affair that left him sleek and shiny after a tough race in the mud.

And from Calgary, it was on to Toronto where Dani and I spent several days taking photographs and conducting interviews with various people in the horse business.








We started with a tour of Windfields Farm - one of Canada's finest Thoroughbred breeding establishments. We saw young race horses being trained...

... and even younger foals stretching their legs.

Even the cat at Windfields was well educated in racing matters...

A frosty morning a the track!
I'm in Calgary at the moment, doing a bit of research for a new non-fiction book called, "Behind-the-Scenes at the Racetrack." The book will be published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside as part of a series. My fingers were a little chilly after spending some time hanging out at the rail, but what fun to watch the horses in training being exercised! 

Sometimes the exercise riders look more like trick riders! 

As promised on my other blog, here are a couple of scans from Karen's childhood papers... As you might expect a completely horse-obsessed teenager, every inch of Karen's walls was covered with horse-related paraphernalia.  

Even in Grade 1, Karen had horses on her mind.

Iago - enjoying a moment in the spring sunshine.  

Elliot - Before
"Hello? Hello? Anybody out there?" 

Basil - Before 

Elliot - After
"Yes, there was a sophisticated poodle in there somewhere..." 

Basil - After
"Do you really expect me to get off the couch to have my photo taken?" 

Spring?

Or winter? These two photographs were taken just minutes apart - one in the front yard and one in the back... 

The snow was irresistible - abundant and sticky, perfect for building! Jim, Diane, Gus, and I set to work, rolling giant snow boulders down the driveway. These became the building blocks for a lovely snowwoman... 

Adding the finishing touches...

Me with Gus on the long driveway from Paradise Valley Road up to Sono Nis Press. Note the toasty warm knitted hat from Iceland. It was great fun to be a kid again for a while, building snowmen and throwing snowballs. Somehow, the mud and slop back in the endless rain of home don't have quite the same appeal.

Made it home after a detour via Calgary (that's what happens when the clouds roll in and fill the bowl where Castlegar sits...). What was I reading on the plane?



Rita Moir works part time at Sono Nis and was kind enough to sign a copy of her new book, The Windshift Line. Strangely enough, I saw Rita on her last day of work before leaving for a month-long writing retreat a copule of days before I was to head home after finishing my own retreat. The book is excellent - a memoir exploring, among other things, stories recorded on tape by her father. Warm, funny, and sad, this is a sensitive and honest piece of writing. Very much looking forward to reading whatever it is Rita is creating right now while she is holed up in the snow laden Kootenays!

During the first snowstorm (there's another one on the way!). Note the satellite dish - when it gets covered in snow we lose our Internet connection. There's a special low tech broom by the back door specifially for brushing off snow accumulation...  

Wish I'd brought a better camera! My little old digital just doesn't do the light, shadows, or texture of the snow justice. I'd forgotten just how special it is to go for a walk in winter...