Send Me Dead Flowers

There are many similarities between playing music and riding. Most of them are physical---hand/eye coordination, focus, and timing to name a few. Some transcend the physical. A strong work ethic to practice and improve is a key to success whether riding or playing music. Playing music improves skills for a host of activities. It makes everything better.

Sitting still and playing, especially alone, creates the opportunity to reflect and to develop insight. I stumbled into a pretty important one a few weeks ago. Standard guitar tuning on an acoustic guitar puts the instrument in a straight jacket. A guitar cannot relax and enjoy itself in standard tuning. But if you tune it down about four frets a guitar will take its shoes off and sit back on the sofa. Tuning it down four frets allows a guitar to take its tie off and quit faking who it really is.

Your horse is not happy when tuned to a standard pitch either. Standard pitch for horses requires them to be clean. Want to see how much your horse hates standard pitch? Turn him loose and watch him wallow. Standard pitch requires horses to be shaved in the winter and blanketed to replace the hair that you just shaved off. Tune your horse down at least four frets. Let him wallow. Don't shave your horse. And if you feel that you must put a blanket on your horse during "turnout" be fair to him and purchase one that has clearly emblazoned on each side, "Don't blame me for this blanket. It's my owner's fault."

Tune your horse down at least four frets. If you are not willing to risk the disapproval of all of your horse owning friends, (who are likely the most standard tuned bunch of people one will ever encounter) by tearing your stable down, at least take the door off of it. Quit feeding him that standard pitch horse feed. Drop him back four frets to a good diet of hay and grass.

Face reality--your standard tuned horse is not going to get you to Carnegie Hall. However, if there ever is another Woodstock your horse will be delighted to take you there as long as you and him have been living at least four frets low.