Tag: horses

Hiatus is Over

Laura Highcove

My hiatus is now over, as by the time you’re reading this, the Show Team is back from the National Appaloosa Championships and Youth World Show. Because of the extra hours I put in to make up as assistant manager while the manager was gone, I took the past two and a half weeks off from writing, and let myself play lots of Disgaea 5. But now it’s time to shift back into work mode. First thing on the list is to start reading the comments from my wonderful beta readers for the Law of the Demon King. Looking forward to the inside I get there, as well as regaining some of my motivation for working on that story.

There will be a few days of reading comments during which time comes one of my favorite parts of revision, making the list of edits! Even though this list ends up being extremely long, especially at first, it always encourages it because it’s tangible. Lists also help me organize the story in my mind since I’m looking at the whole thing at once, instead of piece by piece. I even color code the list items based on how much work I estimate it will take, which usually determines in which order I will tackle each item. In addition, my beta readers are both coming to Otakon with me this year, which will afford us more talking and brainstorming time. Mwahahaha!

Once I have a list, I’ll be able to estimate my timeline a little better. I’d like to get through with this book by the end of the year, but right now I have no idea if that’s feasible, or way too easy. And who knows, maybe I’ll get some more done on the Wizard in between bursts of revision.

What is My Greater Goal?

Laura Highcove

I started Camp Nanowrimo at the beginning of this month with a goal of 700 words a day, and actually challenged myself to get the typical 1,667 words required to win Nanowrimo Proper, on the days I had time. Turns out that was most days in the first week and a half. I had 14,871 words before I went to a horse show this past weekend, which created four days of no time for writing.

I had great success due to, before the month started, prepping by making a list of all of the scenes, situations I still needed for my novel. Each day I would take one or somtiems two if it was short, and write it.

Now on the other side of the horse show, I’ve found that I lost some of my momentum, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s due to taking so many days off writing, or if I need to revise for a bit to organize what I have and find the path forward.

I wrote 700 words yesterday and today, but I am planning to sit down and try and organize the scenes I have written and expand my list with other scenes that I will need. Once that’s done we’ll see if my momentum comes back. Getting my goal of 20k words is not going to be a challenge, so I’m just going to push forward with however much I can get done each day and not drive myself crazy.

I’ve also been inspired by a facebook post from Gabriela of diymfa.com and as such, I’m adding a little more to my journal posts. Gabriela posed three questions as a weekly check-in. The first two I already ascribe to: “What have you accomplished this week?” and “What’s on deck for next week?” But the question she posed that got me thinking was: “How do these activities serve your greater purpose?”

For the most part, I figure my answer to that last question is “So I can finish my book.” But I think that might be a little too broad. The same way as answering: “So I can become a published author.” That’s all well and good as a goal, but there are tons of smaller steps that need to happen.

I sat down to think about what my goal is for right now with this book. I feel like finishing the book is still a ways off, so I came up with a more specific goal: “To write all the scenes that need to be written to give myself a draft 0.” After that’s done, the goal will be to turn what I have written into a rough draft (which is what can be read by a beta reader.) I hope to have that first goal of a draft 0 done by the end of this month.

The Importance of Patience

Laura Highcove

Patience is something everyone needs more of. It’s a constant struggle in a world that moves so fast. Working with horses is a good, constant reminder of the importance of patience.

I was reminded recently how important patience is. We had a horse get cast at the barn where I work. For those of you not familiar with the term, ‘cast’ is when a horse rolls over in their stall and gets stuck against the wall in some way that means they can’t get back up. Horses are prey animals and survived for millions of years by running away from danger, so if a horse can’t get up, they can’t run, and so in this situation most of them will panic.

For the horse who got cast, this panic manifested as labored breathing, sweating, and thrashing, which was dangerous both to the horse and the humans (me and my coworkers) who had to flip over a thousand-plus pound animal.

Once we had successfully freed the cast horse and it had regained its feet, it stood there still sweating and shaking, (Thankfully it had not been injured.) and I was reminded of how important patience really is.

I have a gelding named Nick. He was born at the barn and has been trained since he was a baby to accept the confinement of a stall, or being tied to his wall. Nick used to cast himself a lot as a baby. He was still figuring himself out. His training in accepting confinement, however, taught him that being cast wasn’t a cause for panic.

In his world, he would bang a bit, realize he couldn’t get up, and then a human would come and see he was cast and flip him over. As such, Nick never got upset about being stuck. No elevated breathing or sweating and as soon as a person came into the stall he would lay there perfectly still. Even when we flipped him over, he would lay there and allow the humans to move out of the way before climbing to his feet.

It got to the point that when he got bigger and heavier, that he learned how to get himself out of a cast state. He could either flip himself back over, or push against the wall such that he was far enough away to then get up. It got to the point where I would hear him banging a a bit and I would walk up to his stall and tell him, “You can get yourself out. If you’re having trouble, bang around some extra and I’ll come help you.” I knew I could do this because he was not upset about his confinement. Nine times out of ten, he would bang around a bit more and extract himself. The other time we would come (because we were listening to make sure he was okay) and he would wait patiently while we extracted him from a particularly bad angle.

This makes me think of how patience works. Sometimes things happen to us as a human. Some circumstance pops up and we get all hot and bothered. We ‘sweat’ and ‘thrash’ and end up doing damage to ourselves and others, even if mostly mental.

When what we really should do is stay calm and ask for help, (We can do it more efficiently than a horse.) or have someone remind us that we can do it on our own. That person can even be ourselves when the situation calls for it. What doesn’t help is the thrashing and the worry which can often get in the way of getting un-cast.

So next time you find yourself somehow stuck, try calming down (feel free to cry a bit first if you need) and then look at the problem from a different angle. A lot of times you’re not as stuck as you might think.

How my Writing Taught me to be a Discovery Rider

Laura Highcove

I have been a discovery writer since before I knew what that was. I always balked at outlines in school and avoided them when I could. English papers were created with no rhyme or reason and not edited before they were turned in. (Okay, maybe sometimes I read them over once.) I never got very good grades on my papers and, as a result, I hated English class, much preferring math and science.

My writing has always been like that. I don’t know what I think until I write it. I can’t plan how my characters are going to react until I’m in the scene with them. As such, writing is like magic to me. I discover what is happening as a result of the decisions my characters make, as they each grow to be more and more real.

As I’ve become more serious about my writing, the one thing I’ve found is that I can’t just think my way through a story. When I try, I generally just get stuck staring at the screen. Sure I get little bits of inspiration (that I need to write down as quickly as possible before I forget it) but I never really plan things out in my head. Or if I do, when I get back and start to actually write down the words, I’ll find I forgot or misjudged something important and it has to change.

What works for me is to sit down at my keyboard and start writing. Sometimes I pick a character or a situation first, sometimes I put word after word until I realize what I’m writing about. And what I produce is a rough draft. It needs to be organized and cleaned. But because I have taken the action, I have something to work with, something to learn from. That is my process, and I end up with good results eventually.

However, when I started riding and I learned a new technique, I would listen to the instructor describe the process and then think through the process. I would talk about it. I would ask questions. Then I would try the technique, get it wrong, stop, and try and figure out what was going on.

Suffice it to say it took me a long time to realize that I needed to treat my riding the same way I treat my writing and become a discovery rider. I take the general idea of what I want to get done, trust the skills that I have learned, and then I go and try the new technique. I inevitably get it wrong, adjust, and try again.

Because all of that thinking and analyzing never helps. I am never better at doing something new by thinking about it because I have absolutely no feel yet. As I’ve said before, you can’t develop feel without getting in the thick of it so you make mistakes and figure out how it’s NOT supposed to be, which eventually distils into what it IS supposed to be.

I’m not saying to ignore instruction, either in writing or anything else, but sitting there and thinking about it instead of acting doesn’t do you any good. In the grand scheme of things, the only way you’re going to learn and get better is to do, and being a discovery writer and a discovery rider has taught me that.

What is something that you haven’t done as a result of over-thinking it because you’re worried about getting it wrong?

What I Do Besides Writing

Laura Highcove

I have a number of other hobbies outside of writing. I work at a horse barn part time and I currently own two horses and ride somewhat regularly.



I am rather creative outside of writing as well, and I like crafts of various kinds including painting miniatures for my table top gaming (another hobby), crochet, and newbie attempts at creating gourd lamps.



I also play video games (though far fewer than I used to), watch/read the occasional anime/manga, and I love well-written TV and flashy movies.

Author Photoshoot

Laura Highcove

At a certain point, a few years ago, it occurred to me that I needed to have a nice picture of myself to put up on my social media platforms. I have always taken lots of pictures, but I have never had lots of pictures taken of me. So I planned a day with a friend where we staged a photoshoot at the barn where I work. It ended up being a rather cloudy and windy day, but we did the best with what we had. Here are some of the pictures from that shoot.

The horse is Nick, my Appaloosa gelding who was born on the farm. These pictures are from 2014 when he was 2, so he’s quite a bit bigger now. I haven’t changed all that much.


Doug Schembri Memorial Show 2015

Laura Highcove
  • So two weekends ago (at the end of my three weeks of ‘vacation’) was the Doug Schembri Memorial Horse Show in Tampa, FL. We don’t normally go that far for a horse show, but the people running the show, the Schembri’s are old friends of Deb, Morgan, and Cassie, and own the farm Char-o-Lot where I went for my six month internship. Suffice it to say, we like them and this is a good excuse to both go to a horse show and see friends. We arrived Thursday (Aug 6th) night. Spent Friday lunging and training, and then we showed on Saturday and Sunday.

    My day started out wonderfully, I placed second and third in Non-Pro Hunter in Hand, and got two thirds in Open Hunter in Hand. I was also in Most Colorful Geldings (halter class), since Nick has so much Appaloosa coloring. I got second in that class as well.

    Then my day continued wonderfully as my horse began to fall apart. Yes, I said wonderfully. At Advantage Ranch, we go show to figure out who we are as people in stressful situations. (Well it’s also fun to show and nice to win ribbons when they happen, but I digress.)

    I just posted an article this past week about people’s attitude toward horses and the training of them. If you haven’t read it, it’s very informative. The following is the relevant bit:

    The problem with this approach is that 1) it assumes a horse is something that it is not (such as a dog or a child); and 2) it rewards a horse for inappropriate and/or disrespectful behavior. Horses are noble, magnificent animals that inspire and awe me daily. They deserve respect for what they truly are — which is livestock (prey animals with hooves) of the highest order. Horses do have emotional and psychological needs — but those needs aren’t the same as the human equivalent. It is a form of disrespect and dishonor to treat the horse as anything else. And it harms them, sometimes almost to the point of no return.

    When a person and their horse go to a horse show, you tare taking an animal whose very nature is one of fear (prey animal) and putting them into a loud, confusing, and unfamiliar situation where emotions and nerves are high because of competition, and then expecting them to preform the same way they do back home.

    By the time we were preparing for Showmanship, Nick was pushing back against, testing the alpha mare (me) he relies on to keep him safe, and I, in my nerves, had been dropping the ball over the course of the day until I couldn’t walk him around without him attempting to walk all over me.

    We got through the Non-Pro Showmanship with a balk at the trot transition, though his training really came through in that I was able to bring him back and complete the pattern. After that, I realized that I didn’t trust my horse to not come completely unglued in the next class, so I handed my horse to my coach and I went to the tack room to cry.

    And yes, all of this is wonderful. Because once I cried, I went back out and I had a lesson on how to keep Nick’s mind (and my mind) focused more on the task at hand. And this was more valuable to me than the good runs I had in my Hunter in Hand classes, because as I am learning how to deal with the stresses of a horse show, I am really learning how to deal with the stresses of life.

    “If things are done correctly, the heat and pressure generated within the crucible of competition should burn away all that is base and false, leaving only the pure and true.”

    ~ James C. Wofford,
    USEF Combined Training Coach
    and 2 time Olympic Competitor

    And this is the work that is done at Advantage Ranch that is harder to explain to people when they come simply wanting riding lessons for their kids. The program itself is focused on teaching people about themselves and giving them the skills to tackle life instead of being at the mercy of it.

    You may remember my post a while ago about my recent bout of depression. This is an example of how what I’ve learned at Advantage Ranch applies to my real life.

    That being said, I am now going to use my fledgling influence to tell you about a new project that Advantage Ranch is getting ready to launch.

    It is called Resilience Retreats, and it is a summer camp experience for teenagers of military families, who are dealing with parents or siblings who have gone away to war and are having a hard time reintegrating into their families.

    While there is support aplenty for the returning soldiers, there is a sad dearth of programs to help the teens cope with these changes.

    The Resilience Retreats will help the teens discover who they are and who they are being in this world, which will better equip them to be confidant in themselves in the face of the struggles their loved ones are facing. And we want to provide this experience to them free of charge.

    You can find out more information on the website for Resilience Retreats, which will also have a link for the INDIEGOGO campaign which is happening this coming Tuesday the 25th. We are looking to start out strong with our donations and every little bit helps.

    Also, check out Advantage Ranch’s Facebook page where there will be posts you can share in order to get the word out. Thanks so much!

    • Depression

    Laura Highcove

    In the spring of 2003 I started taking medicine for depression. It wasn’t a huge deal at first, I would have a day or two a month where I would feel overwhelmed and cry on and off all day. I called this “crashing”.

    The medicine worked well, helped to even out my moods. I would only have problems when I neglected getting refills, desperately hoping that this time I wouldn’t need it anymore. That this time I would be okay and that I was no longer dependent on some drug to make me able to live my life. Then I would crash again.

    I remember hitting my low point, where I was at work, staring at the computer screen, trying to figure out how many more hours I had to work until I had another sick day accrued.

    I wondered what the hell was wrong with me, that I had a wonderful husband, perfect job (with great pay, coworkers, doing work I loved to do), financial stability, and I was still depressed. I was so depressed that I quit my job and my husband and I moved back to Blacksburg, Virginia.

    When I think back on those times, it just feels so different from how it is now. I was blessed by God’s grace to stumble on Advantage Ranch, just a few miles from my home, and that the people there (and horses!) helped me learn to better control my mind, and the suffering I was causing myself. Three years ago I realized that this time, I no longer needed the medication.

    This change was brought into stark relief as I mentioned in last week’s post, I fell back into that depression. For three weeks I struggled against the helpless feeling that brought me to tears in seconds and made me despair that I had broken and that I was going to have to go back on depression medicine.

    But even from the depths of that hell I knew I had people that I could trust with anything and so I put my pain out there. I was able to put it out there because there was no judgment, because these women have made it their life’s work to make the barn a safe environment and because they could still see the beautiful person I am, even trapped as I was.

    They helped me realize that I was caught in an immense trap made from the guilt I feel over my cat’s coming surgery. A feeling that my mind had buried to where I couldn’t see it, but it could torture me. And as soon as I knew where the pain was coming from, I cried for maybe a minute, and then I was fine.

    I went from wanting to bury myself in a dark corner to being back to normal in minutes. Now, I admit, it took me years of work prior to this, to get to the point where I knew myself well enough and I trusted the people enough for the change to come that easily. Even in this case it took me two weeks to realize something was actually *wrong*.

    But it was a reminder of what my life had been like, and how different it is now. For a while I actually doubted that what I had gone through was depression. I never struggled with suicidal thoughts, I only had certain days that I was depressed enough to crash, and even the fact that I was eventually able to come off the depression medicine made me think perhaps I had never been that bad.

    I was wrong. I was depressed. There was no ‘faking happy’ in that place. There was only my mind turning me against everything that was good in my life. My mind, but not my soul.

    I’m left wishing there was some way for me to let everyone who suffers from depression know that you’re not broken. You haven’t failed. And yes, there are people out there who can function without medication; and there are people who can’t. That is a statement of fact and nothing more.

    I was able to better control my mind, and thus my depression, with a combination of the Landmark Curriculum for Living, Ashtanga Yoga, and coaching from the facilitators of Advantage Ranch (who I am lucky enough to call friends) over a period of three years. It is not a quick fix, and the study is ongoing, but I am convinced it is worth it and that anyone can do it.

    Sorry for this interlude, I am back to writing. There will be an update next week.

    Revision Update: Maybe Not So “Revision” Anymore

    Laura Highcove

    So the horse show this weekend was put on by the barn where I work. While I didn’t get sick this time, I got home at 5:30 (the show ended early because there were so few people there due to the unseasonably cold weather), took a shower, ate pizza while finishing the last hour of the Pride and Prejudice mini-series, and then went to sleep until 7 the next morning.

    I woke up still exhausted and after shopping for Wrestlemania (which is tonight for you non-wrestling people), I tried another nap that got me up to a functional level. So I didn’t get any writing done the past two days, which is why there was no post yesterday.

    However! Before that I had a good week. I went back to the Cinderella storyline to add a piece there which took off beautifully, and I’m very happy with it. Added to a little bit of character back-story I then realized that I didn’t need the second Cinderella scene at all.

    I’m not sure whether I’m happy about that or not. On one hand, it wasn’t working all that well to begin with, so this may be a blessing, on the other hand, I now have even less of an idea what I’m doing with the second half of the book.

    I continue to be stressed about my apparent inability to create a full story. I even considered giving up on writing this book entirely for a while, but then I realized I couldn’t stop being a writer. It’s too ingrained in who I am for that, so the only course of action is to figure out what my malfunction is and fix it. Luckily I have another coaching call with Gabriela coming up, so maybe she will be able to shed some light on it.

    Specific measurable result for the coming week: 750 words a day barring a complete change of plans that may or may not come about from the coaching call.

    Revision Update: Rewriting

    Laura Highcove

    Last week was rough for me and as such I gave myself permission to not have to strive for any goals. I jotted down some notes, but there’s not a ton to report on.

    Just yesterday I began to get my creative juices back, thanks in part to the DIYMFA podcasts. Sometimes when I just don’t feel like writing, reading about (or listening to, in this case) people discuss writing can spark things.

    Like I said last week, I did reach that measurable result, and the week before last went really well. However, this week I am planning on going back and rewriting some random scenes that new ideas want to change. There are two of those, one is in the Cinderella storyline, which will help to drive a particularly slow moving (though necessary) scene forward, and the second is during the revisit to the Cinderella storyline. If I get finished with those, I will probably clean up all the scenes in the Cinderella folder a bit. However, I have events for the next three weekends that include two horse shows, a wedding, and a Wrestlemania party, so I’m not going to kill myself trying to do too much.