palace of winds

I had the greatest time with Ev last night. We were both in a bit of a silly mood, and since there was no one else there he got his nose played with a lot and I got my face thoroughly snuffled, and I spent a long time attending to the itchy spots up by his ears and under his head and especially the left underside of his throatlatch oh yes just there, and oh the faces he made. I also let him run loose around the arena a bit, but he wasn’t feeling particularly wild and he hasn’t yet shown an inclination to roll in there — though while we were riding Margaret came out and let her mare have a brief roll; Everett seemed astounded by the whole process and kept a close watch, so maybe next time he’ll give it a try. My first horse *loved* to roll in the arena. Actually, a few weeks ago I rediscovered the videos my sister and I took of him, and watched somewhat appalled as we gleefully let him roll and roll in the stockpile of clean shavings. We had no clue how expensive they are; the barn owner never said anything about it, and maybe she didn’t care. It’s not that he made them unusable or anything, just spread them out a bit. It was a little crazy watching him again after so long, and I wish I could step back in time and have another ride on him. He had the most gorgeous, floaty trot, and I don’t think I properly appreciated it. I wish my old self knew half as much about horses as I do now (not that it’s much). And I wish I remembered half as much about jumping as my old self knew.

Anyway, here is Everett, who doesn’t understand about standing still for cameraphones:

And here is the new list of show name ideas/thought-sparkers for him (with particular thanks to Allison for her many and fabulous suggestions!):

• The Potions Master
• Mischief Managed
• Wands Away
• Everett Ollivander
• Essentially Everett
• Everyday Hero
• Never Ever
• Everready
• Neverland (In Neverland? NeverNeverLand?)
• Happily Ever After
• Ever the Gentleman
• Everett Butler

I have a list at least thrice as long of ones I like that don’t suit him at all, and it makes me wish I had a whole stableful to name (if I had a grey he’d have to be ‘London Particular’ — slang for that famous fog). Which is neither here nor there. What do you think of the matter of Everett’s name? I need to choose it within a week so I can get it on his Coggins on vet day.