Coming soon in print -- a new forum for my horse stories

Calabar, my big brown muse, anxiously awaiting my first column

I've been writing off and on for our local horse publication, Sonoma County Horse Journal, for the last several months. It's a quarterly publication and I've submitted several things as a reader that have been well-received.

Cool, right?

Well the editor, JoDean Nicolette, offered me a regular column! She has several trainers who write for each issue, but likes my writing style and my perspective as a learner.

The writing is the easy part, but then came the challenge: "What do you want to call your column?" JoDean asked.

Uh. Drat. Titles, headlines and catchy one-line advertising lines are my nemesis. Always have been.

"How about 'Up and Down the Learning Curve?'" I said to Steve. "Too complicated," he said. Katie just told me no.

Then my marvelous and intelligent daughter came up with several ideas based on the places sand goes when you fall off before blithely tossing out, "Spitting Sand."

Brilliant.

So my column will be called "Spitting Sand -- A Learner's Journey" and debuts in the next Sonoma County Horse Journal, due out shortly.

What more could a horse junkie and amateur writer wish for? I guess I could wish my dad were here to laugh, too, but I know he's proud of me wherever he is.