WINTER BARN STYLE: HOW I FELL OFF A HORSE

Cozy Christmas Cottage

Yesterday at the family Christmas dinner at my tiny little cottage in the Hollywood Hills, we started talking about barns. JS, long time family friend, said her next big home project is that she is planning on building a barn at her home in Maine. Love the idea of a barn!

Maybe her barn will look like this! Wouldn’t it be great to have this barn? In the snow or in warm weather…I love the idea of a barn. I used to ride horses and I’ve always loved being in a working barn.

How I Fell Off My Horse

About 6 years ago, I used to ride horses, 3-5 times a week in fact. Dressage. I rode a horse named Kip, a handsome Thoroughbred – a huge regal horse, who was over 16 hands high. I leased him. He wasn’t my own but I adored him. Under my horse lease arrangement, I had the right to ride Kip 3-5 times a week…and I enjoyed pretty much every minute of my regular rides – I conquered a lot of fears over the 5 years I was riding and it felt good. After some doing, Kip and I developed a wonderful relationship – I think he liked me …or maybe it was just the carrots I brought him every day.

I used to get to the stables at about 6am to ride with Kip on weekdays before work. I loved riding. Horseback riding is really a very quiet sport…a very intimate relationship between rider and horse that an observer would never see…with a breath, a small shift in seat, a flick of a small finger, or the slight pressure of a leg, you can communicate with what I think is a rather magnificent animal. Kip was magnificent but Kip was also so easily spooked by the small things in life. He also had a little leg issue which made him stumble from time to time. Don’t know whether he stumbled or got spooked the day he was trotting along with me on his back…he flinched and then before I knew it he was falling on his head doing almost a complete somersault with me on his back.

He did something though to protect me…somehow I fell but kind of just slid down the back of his neck right before he and I both flipped over…he was fine…I was fine…scary for both of us though. I got back on that day and rode for another few months. I got back on because of that saying…when you fall off the horse you MUST get back on (think that has great application to the rest of life too). I have to admit though…riding was never the same for me after that fall…I got back on. A few months later, however, I hung up my cute velvet helmet, my stunning black leather tall field boots (the riding boots with the cute laces), long crop, array of jodhpurs and have not really been on a horse again. I will get back on a horse in 2011. At least just once. I will. I still adore horses…miss riding, miss Kip and miss going to the barn…I do. Well readers it has happened again..I totally digress…as usual…help…need to figure out how to maintain focus…help…back to barn architecture.

Anyhoooooooooooo…in addition to a barn being a functional workspace, I love the concept of a barn transformed into a living space too…the high ceilings, the rustic architecture, the classic exterior…love love love.

A green barn with red trim, metal roof and weather vane…standing oh so proudly in the snow…perfect!

Happy Sunday! Hope you had a Merry Christmas! Now onto New Years!

xo
Coco

Photo: Jeff McNamara