On the Line

At the end of this week I’ll be back in Florida, my home away from home. And thank goodness; it’s been a stressful few weeks of meeting deadlines and planning stories. Have you ever typed so much that every tap causes a little shock wave of pain from fingertip to knuckle? I hope that’s not what they call arthritis?

But instead of blogging about my stress level, I’ll try to look ahead at what will be an exciting weekend. Once my last story is filed, I’ll finally be able to focus on what to ask my next article subject: Rodrigo Pessoa. Along with the rest of the horse world, I’ve long admired Rodrigo’s incredible talent and success, not to mention his deep brown eyes, intriguing accent, the way he looks in a white pair of breeches. . .

Hmmm, “focus” might be hard to come by during this interview. I admit I’m a victim of the Rodrigo-effect. Maybe I rode in a Pessoa saddle for too many years and it seeped into my skin. When I spent a season living in Florida a few years ago, I spent much of my time like this:

Yes, that’s me in the blue baseball hat, circa 2008. Staring at the eye candy in the warm up ring at WEF was a brief but intoxicating hobby (and one that I’ve been resoundingly mocked for ever since.) But my days of staring from afar are officially over. Now that I’m a serious equine journalist, I’ve got to plan my approach and write up a list of questions to ask. Suggestions, anyone?