Say hello to Bruce. He is the spokesmodel for The 2018 Long Ears Tour, an unexpected title bestowed on my last stop in England. My head was still spinning but a tourist usually stands around blinking, almost always the last one to figure anything out. Best to celebrate awkwardness, I think. Thank you, Bruce. Very handsome.
It’s my new hobby; I’m a tourist. That means among other things, I hold out my hand and ask shopkeepers to pick out the money they want. It’s tourist math, I smile and say thank you. And this thing called jet lag; depending on direction, shouldn’t it be called jet spurt? Any other reason for me being bright-eyed alert at 2am?
My real job is being a clinician; I arrive at a horse facility where a group of horses and riders are organized for two or three days of equine education and sharing. Sometimes people are a little starry-eyed about me, but I am ridiculously un-cool, especially about my new-found crush on UK ponies.
I caught an airplane cold on the way over. At one clinic I discretely (I thought) moved my microphone to the side to blow my nose, but instead managed to alarm one of the dozing auditors. Another yelled, “Good one!” I’m surprised that someone hasn’t called it The 2018 Phlegm Tour.
For me, a clinic it feels a bit like being the perennial new kid in class. I’m slow at learning participant names, a bit quicker with horse names. The nametags usually stay on until mid-morning the first day, after that, I guess. Everyone is passionate about horses, and it’s a clinician’s job to stir that up a bit. Days run long. We barely catch our breath. Horses lift us up, surprise us, and manage to teach us just what they need us to know. I love this work. I might have been born for it.
It was a great group at Market Rasen. Everyone was funny and kind and really cared about horses. People took care of each other and I so wanted to show my gratitude. Participants had been quick to get me tea, so I made a pot and brought it to the group table. I hoped I got it right when I asked, “Shall I be mother?” It isn’t like I haven’t watched Masterpiece Theatre all these years. I poured tea. Bad tea. It was so pale that milk would have made it darker. Tourist tea.
By Sunday night, it’s time to wrap up the clinic. It’s always similar. We go around the group and people share their feelings. I’m always surprised by what comes up. We’re vulnerable after two days with hoof-prints on our hearts. I feel my throat tighten giving my parting thoughts. I care about these horses, they’ll stay in my mind forever. I’ve fallen in love with their people, too. Riders who try every day to do their very best, as a way of thanking their horses for the privilege of their company. We are the lucky ones. Horses have made us a herd.
It never gets old or easy or simple. As the journey to the next clinic begins, I leave part of me behind. This gypsy lifestyle exacts a cost, but if it doesn’t hurt a little as the clinic ends, then you aren’t doing it right.
I travel on, delighted with the best view, the rural part of a country where horses live. I know I gush on about how beautiful each country is, and England is no different. Words would only minimize the view. We’re blessed with a magical planet. I wish we’d stay fresh to that fact.
Getting from one clinic to the next is a creative endeavor because I don’t want a rental car. I fear that I’ll make news for scaring pedestrians rather than breathing with horses, but does one sound less disconcerting than the other?
Traveling by train is comfortable and it suits my English literature fantasies, skimming across the land that my favorite authors immortalized. I toss my 44-pound suitcase on board like a bale of hay. It announces me: Tourist! As if the Crocs aren’t a dead giveaway.
Sometimes, I leapfrog along to the next stop hitching rides with horsewomen. We talk into the night, learning how alike we are. One stop, I got to meet a lovely pack of Siberian Huskies, over two dozen in a large enclosure. They whispered a soft-mumble howl like a cool breeze. A family pack that lives naturally, they reminded me of the Przewalski’s horse herd in Scotland. Wild among us.
I write, especially when I travel. Words are my companions, experiences become real only when my words meet the images in my mind. But then they surprise me. Maybe I write a simple declarative sentence, something like I’ve completed the UK clinics and am spending a couple of days editing my next book in Dorset. And I pause, as the words mock me, “Are you kidding? Really, who are you and what have you done with that horse-crazy gray mare?”
On a rest day, I’m a tourist version of Christopher Columbus. In the wake of my totally-amazing discovery of kangaroos in Australia and castles in Scotland, I would like to announce my equally totally-amazing discovery of cathedrals in England! The one in the photo (above) is a thousand years (that’s one, comma, and three zeros) old, Wimborne Minster. It stands witness to history, outside the window, just on the other side of my cream tea. Keen eyes will note that I’ve desecrated my scone by putting jam onto the cream, seriously flattening it. Sigh. Tourist.Â
Big news! I’m also the tourist version of Margaret Mead, fancying myself an anthropologist with my totally-amazing cathedral/barn discovery. Cathedrals all have the same floor plan; they are a cross-shape flat to the ground. Not the best use of space inside perhaps, but the symbolism works. The ceilings are incredible interlocking domes but look with I found! It’s a farm shed, a cross-shape to the ground, and okay, the ceiling is a bit more rustic and the photo is from a different angle, but really. There it is, a dome. It’s the missing link between churches and barns! I’ve always known them both as sacred spaces, but here’s proof. You’re welcome.
Finally, an apology for a previous mistake, a poor word-choice correction. It seems I’ve alerted the world that I don’t like hugs. Apparently, I’ve said it more than once, but I misspoke. This mistake was made obvious to me at every clinic. Oh my, so sorry. I think what I meant to say in the beginning was I don’t like being grabbed by strangers. I never meant to make you feel awkward, too. But meeting so many good people has turned me around. Now I find myself blurting out, in fine bluntness, “I’ll need a hug from you!”
Pigs fly, it seems, but I’ve never felt better about our species. Horses might be getting us domesticated after all.
A great, noisy, tourist-sized thank-you to the clinic organizers, volunteer drivers, participants, new friends, and most of all, the incredible horses who always find something to teach me. I am so grateful. And please know that a little bit of you came home to Colorado with me, too.
What a lovely read. Sitting on a plane heading to Colorado myself :0) And yes, I would have hugged you….just like you would have hugged Skyler except for your respect for his preference. Glad you cleared that up. Now you can get plenty of hugs wherever you go. Welcome home you tourist you.
Thanks, Susie. Oh, the politics of hugging horses and humans!! Have a good visit.
Anna, your writings delight and amuse, cause pause for thought and laugh-out-loud moments. Thank you for these articles about your travels this year. As a Anglophile myself, I can relate especially to this one.
Thanks, glad you enjoy these travel blogs, they are so fun to write.
What a beautiful reflection on your time as a “…tourist, …clinician, …anthropologist, …horse woman extraordinaire.” Your heart must be so full of wonderful memories. Thank you for letting us hear all
the details.
Thanks for reading, Meredith…
Anna, can you ever believe where God has brought you? If we listen, life is an amazing gift!
Thanks, Maureen.
After touring all the English cathedrals that could be crammed in to my visit, I decided – religious affinity aside – (mine tends towards Buddhist) I would gladly climb steps that have been trodden (?) for a thousand years to “worship” in a cathedral. Awe inspiring.
I believe there is a connection between the gratitude you share with us, and your many blessings. Thanks for another lovely post.
It is awe inspiring, whoever we are. Just sacred… Thanks. And yes, gratitude.
Lovely post! You say the nicest things about your visit to my country (I’m from Yorkshire) and it reminds me of my feelings about being a tourist when I visited America years ago (though sadly not Colorado). And as for English ponies – I grew up riding them and have never stopped loving them, so I’m so glad to hear you say you love them too!
Oh, I’ve seen so many on this trip, it’s impossible to not love ponies! I hope we were as kind to you as your countrymen were to me! Thanks, Dapplegrey.
Thank you for sharing your trips with us, Anna. I look forward to each and every one that may come my way. I have to admit that a part of me wishes I could have been there, too.
Jean, you would have loved the whole wild thing. Room for you, not all the dogs, though. 🙂 Thanks.
You are so much fun! Thanks for taking us along on your adventures!
You’re welcome, Janice.
TY Anna. What a great trip !
Where we going next ?
Good question, Lynell. I wonder where next, too!
What a delightful blog…Anna Blake! I grew up just North of you at Longbranch on the Southern tip of the Key Peninsula…spent 10 lovely years with ‘sunny sky days’ in CO. Have had several trips to Scotland & one to Middlesbough in the UK. Have loved horses as loooong as I can remember & decided to renew my youth with an big Appaloosa in 2011…what delightful adventures we have shared…& I pray for the privilege of many yet to come through the rest of my 70’s & well into my 80’s….and, why not? Cath in WA
Nice to meet you, Cath. Appaloosas in common, too! Thanks for commenting.
I visited England many years ago. Lovely place for sure! Loved the fish and chips. I too love the ponies…and tea. You continue to make a better life for many a horse with each clinic. =-)
I think people are really receptive to new ideas. Well, the ones I meet are… thanks, Deb.
Ana Blake, your writing is wonderful and I always find myself laughing softly and breathing deeper. My horses and my writing are always trying to get me to stop over-thinking everything, and you have most certainly brought the horse to the writing in that way! Mostly, though, I want to thank you for the way you bring such a sweet connectedness to all the places you are going, and the horses and people there. It’s fun, it’s deep, and so needed! Donkey kisses to you…
Thanks, Deb. Especially for the donkey kisses.
I’m happy I come across your blog. This is such a lovely read. You have a great style in writing! 🙂 <3 I am a Filipino and also a travel blogger. Hope to learn from you 🙂
Thank you, Cha. I’m coming up on nine years, commitment is the key.