Virtual Brush Box

Lessons of the outside world. Autonomous Dressage: Ohio Adventures Part 1 – Saddle Seat Lesson!

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Boogie
Stepping Stone Farm
22 October 2026

I am here to tell you that ASBs do not steer with one hand. Got photo. Got in the ring. Got started.

Perhaps I should ride the horse I plan to show? On the Thursday before, I did so. Furthermore, I mounted in the barn and went right to the big ring. If that’s what I had to do on Saturday, better do it for my lesson, right? [Report]

Doesn’t sound like a big deal. Somehow I had made a big deal of riding a fancy horse in the big ring. I’ve had several lessons with Boogie recently, but all driving. [Trying to Give Myself a Hand]

I rode him back in July, but in the smaller, covered ring. [The New and The Old]

I rode in the big ring in May, but that was on Optimus. [Caretakers On The Hoof]

I’m realizing my lizard brain gets intimated easily.

Anyway.

Saddle seat position? Check. No hunt seat.

Saddle seat riding? Not so much. Boogie took exception to pond end of the ring. No problem. I bent him to the inside & pushed him over with my inside leg. BZZT. Wrong! That’s hunt seat. It did not get better. Going past that end of the ring started to become a thing. Finally I got it right. Forward with both legs, steady on the outside rein – the ridiculously short outside rein, if you ask me – and gentle taps on the shoulder for guidance. Boogie understood and said he’d give it a try. A few more laps & we were trotting around just fine.

Poor horse, I was squawking at him in a foreign language.

By the end of the lesson, we built up some of the speed and zip we had in the cart. [Hand]

Onwards!
Katherine

Shows of the outside world. At Louisville this year, SSF rider Reagan Upton won the ASB Adult Three Gaited Country Pleasure Div II and took Reserve in the WCC Adult Three Gaited Country Pleasure with It’s General Holiday, owned by Anita Britton, trained by Stephanie Brannan. Big noise! Go team! [Watching Louisville 2026]

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More from the show. [Report]

Nerves

Yes.

Mostly worked up about work. Why does work get me so stressed? I. have. no. idea. It is a simple assignment, one I have done before, and one that I am good at. And yet I get anxious to the point of inaction. The joy of being me.

The show piled on top of that.

Texts

Text to a friend who was also riding in show. I was all sage and supportive. “Dont think toooo much & get in your own way. Ride like you know how to do.”

Pause.

Second text. “Now I just need to take my own advice …”

So easy to say. So hard to do.

Technicalities

For those who do not have my show calendar on the front page of their Bullet Journal. I did show earlier this year. No ribbons. [The Ride, AHJA Kick Off Show 2026]

I did get ribbons earlier this year. They were for shows in 2025. [Back in the Bling, ASHAA Banquet for 2025]

These are the first ribbons earned this year.

Onwards!
Katherine

Shows of the outside world. Blog contributor Karen and her USDF Gold Medal horse Hampton, get loot, face cows, and go cross-country in costume. Contact: Wins, speeding tickets and dirt for lunch. [Saddlehorse World vs. Dressage, Part I, Part II]

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Stepping Stone Farm Barn Show
Chelsea AL USA
24 October 2026

6. Adult WTC Showmanship. 1st of 2.
7. Adult WTC Equitation. 2nd of 2.
Thank you to the Kasperian Family for Boogie.

I had the opportunity to show the horse I showed last year in Tennessee. [Trip to Tennessee, Show Report, Southeast Academy Championship 2025 text, Ribbons Are A Family Affair, Pro Photos from TN Show, photos]

I managed to remember where I was and rode an adequate saddle seat. We did not get the zip we had in the lesson two days earlier, but neither did we have the errors from that ride. More about the lesson anon.

I felt good and thought we looked good. Of course, I had the leisure think about styling because Boogie is such a nice horse. It is absolutely true that a good horse makes the rider look good.

As usual, a great ride is wonderful to live through but doesn’t make for gripping narrative. We went in. We did what we were supposed to do when we were supposed to do it.

The only item of note was that we had four immediate, soft canter transitions, which I have not been getting over in hunterland.

To paraphrase Benny from The LEGO Movie, Horse show! Horse show!

Onwards!
Katherine

Words of the outside world. Last Friday, 23 October, HOBBIT counted as a legit entry in the word search puzzle Squaredle.

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First ribbons of 2026.

More tomorrow. It was a small show, but I’m still going spread it over as much of this week as I can manage.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Virtual Exhibitions.

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Bag from upcycled baling twine
October 2026

Monica Newman Moore is one of those folks who I will listen to or take a class from whenever the opportunity presents itself. Talking with Moore at this year’s Moundville Native American Festival inspired me to dig out my twining loom – bought from Moore – finish what was on there & see what I could do with baling twine. It is after all both plentiful and colorful.

The pattern & color variations are from her demo this year.

Technical Notes

Verdict – Method

Success. Enjoy. Should do more.

My hands ached. Not surprising, given my tendency to tighten & hold. But my wrist didn’t hurt, despite this being a new move. [From Cursewords! to Soft Progress]

Verdict – Form

I have questions.

I dislike the tube method of bag production. The security of the contents relies on my ability to sew the bottom. I think I would prefer to weave the front, bottom, and sides, then fold the bag, then sew the sides.

I could use this loom create to flat, narrow panels the width of the loom, much as I did for completing the flap.

Verdict – Material

Not suitable for this application.

Baling twine is stiff, unravels, and is hard to finish off. The final product does not fold easily. The knots either have to be dealt with, or be considered part of the decor. For the truly organized, you could cut the baling twine off the bale at the knot. Not likely to happen.

In an ideal world, the warp & weft would be different colors. I swapped them once or twice. Nothing that was hard to sort out, but two colors would be less confusing.

For the right use, this could be a nice fabric. The result is sturdy yet flexible, and more colorful than I anticipated. Mats would be a piece of cake, but to what purpose? Perhaps suitable for some sort of openwork basket?

Links

YouTube: Virtual Moundville Native American Festival – Twining (Monica Newman Moore)

UWA: Monica Newman Moore brings Black Belt history to life

Onwards!
Katherine

🪨🪨🪨

It was almost time for another rock trip.

When the people came to the edge of the mountains just after the rainy season, she would take two or three of the strongest men or women and go up into the mountains to gather rocks for the rest of the year.

Small ones for decoration and as rattles for musical instruments. Mid-size ones for tools and work surfaces. Big ones for anchoring tents in the wind. Every few years, she would arrange for a large rock to be carried back by two people. It was a lot of person power to devote to one rock. These would be the ones left at the stopping points to be used the next time the people passed that way.

She knew them all. The tiny. The large. The pretty ones. The plain ones. Which rocks would last. Which would shatter along the appropriate fault lines to make smaller, more useful rocks.

She had all that knowledge in her head. What she didn’t have was an apprentice to transmit that knowledge to.

It was easy enough to get people to go once, particularly young folks who were willing to look at it as an adventure. It was good for them to see the mountains and the rivers. To live briefly in other environments. It helped them understand what the desert demanded of the people, and what it gave to them.

It was difficult to get folks to go a second time. It was a rough trip. Lots of walking, lots of carrying, all of the people were used to that. But this was walking up and down hills on hard terrain. That was tough on feet and legs unused to those conditions. She was not in any better shape for the march, but the rocks drew her, as they did not draw the others.

The hardest part of the trip was that every pound carried for food or clothing or shelter meant fewer rocks carried back. It was a lean trip. Again, she didn’t mind if it meant more rocks. Not everyone felt the same.

She found rocks fascinating. She knew the capacity and purposes for each type. The rest of the people were happy to use the rocks and let her get on with keeping track of them.

She had hopes for the new girl. Although a bit young to be coming out on a rock gathering trip, she’d been hanging around asking questions. Maybe seeing where the rocks came from would inspire a lifelong interest. She hoped so. She really needed to get started training an apprentice.

🪨🪨🪨

Afterword

Rocks of the outside world. “Alabama’s mineral diversity relates to the rock types found in the state.” Encyclopedia of Alabama: Minerals of Alabama.

Rocks from the revetment of the Black Warrior River
October 2026

Although the rocks in this photo are being used for a structural purpose, the idea of contained rocks gave me the idea of rocks being valuable.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “This vital river basin is home to over a million people and is entirely contained within Alabama, America’s leading state for freshwater biodiversity.” Black Warrior Riverkeeper: About.

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Black Warrior River
Downstream
Moundville Archeological Park
October 2026

Black Warrior River, upstream

Tow boat and barges head downriver. “The Black Warrior is a busy commercial and industrial waterway.” Black Warrior Riverkeeper: Black Warrior River Watershed Facts

Inadvertent Impressionist image.

Onwards!
Katherine