Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Lawyer, Guns, Money: Collective trauma response, Campos, September 24, 2023.

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Last weekend we had plans to meet with people to talk about possible horses, as IRL follow-ups to earlier conversations. Preliminary discussions rather than trying out horses, but progress. [Small Steps in the Horse Search]

Alas, plans fell thru.

I bring up this non-event because got me thinking about probabilities. One of the horses for sale was a mare. The other was a handful of Warmbloods. These are two groups that are statistically unlikely to contain my next horse.

A good horse is any color or any breed. Absolutely.

OTOH, we can’t ignore 45 years of history. These are two types of horses I do not automatically bond with. I have mentioned this. [Mares and Me, Not So Much] & [Get Off My Lawn, And Take Your Warmblood With You]

I don’t see it happening.

Of course, I will pursue. I hope to get back with these people. I am not averse to being surprised by a mare or a Warmblood. New Horse doesn’t have to be a Thoroughbred.

Could be a could be Saddlebred. [Another Class For My Imaginary Horse]

Or maybe a Welsh Cob. [Update]

Particularly if horse will be doing dual duty as a driving horse.

Yes. Yes. We all know New Horse is going to be a bay, TB gelding. Allow me my illusions.

Horse Search Posts
[Horse Search Start]
[Horse Search Update, August 2023]
[Small Steps in the Horse Search]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Interesting decisions to be made about allocating health care. Kevin Drum: Did I receive CAR-T treatment because of white privilege? July 31, 2023.

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We have reintroduced riding. The horses have been going for walks.

The same thing as we had been doing. Same path. Same distance. With the addition of saddle & rider. [The Morning Constitutional]

First Weekend

Milton on Saturday (16th) with Rodney walking in halter as escort. Rodney on Sunday; Milton, halter.

Milton got (mentally) tired by lap 3. Allowed himself to be calmed & finished strong. Good Boy.

Rodney did the standard five laps. At first he could not believe it was that easy. He never can. By the end, he was chill. Day two came out still chill. Good Boy.

First Week

Rodney continued with saddle while Milton accompanied. Rodney gradually relaxed over time. While he was good all days, each day started out further along the chill curve.

With this horse, we cannot make the steps too small, nor have too much repetition. I don’t think Rodney is capable of being bored. He likes bored. He likes same. He likes predictable.

Second Weekend

Team walk!

Haven’t managed this since … Virtual Tevis 2022?

On One Hand

Riding the horses for short walking strolls in their own backyard. Gold stars! Progress! If you are on a horse you’ve already won!

On The Other Hand

Riding the horses for short walking strolls in their own backyard. It is disheartening that such tiny, tiny steps count as victory.

Which leads to …

The Whining Section

Not being able to run and jump and show does not constitute an actual problem.

Many (too many) people have (too many) legitimate troubles.

Be grateful for the abundance in your life.

Trust me. I have said all this to myself. Repeatedly.

And yet.

It’s my dream and it’s fading and that’s not fun.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Henshall, C., Randle, H., Francis, N. et al. The effect of stress and exercise on the learning performance of horses. Sci Rep 12, 1918 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03582-4

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Walked into the barn and saw this …

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… gory photo incoming …

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… Milton is fine. He was at the time and is now. This was over two weeks ago. The area is healed & fuzzing over …

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“Being so extreme that it … (is) … amusing … Over the top and farcical, intentionally exaggerated so as not to be taken seriously.” Urban Dictionary: Campy.

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Update. Milt gets fed hay in a muck bucket to reduce waste. We figure was flinging the bucket about and bonked his head on the fence the bucket is attached to. Proving he did no learn from his mistake, he did the same thing a few days later a few centimeters higher up his forehead. Similar size, not quite as dramatically gory. Both injuries healing fine. There is now a blanket hanging over that section of fence as padding.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. New Humanist: What does the term “Judeo-Christian” actually mean? 2019.

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[Fractal Alphabet]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Fifty years ago last Wednesday. “One of the most watched televised sporting events of all time, no tennis match before or since has been seen by so many.” Billie Jean King: Battle of the Sexes.

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Time: mid-1960s.

Scene: New York City emergency room

I was 5 years old, give or take. I had a misunderstanding with my finger and a heavy steel fire door. I needed a minor adjustment to have the pressure taken off the nailbed. I will leave you to imagine where this falls in the triage priority of a major metropolitan ER.

The procedure was to heat up a paper clip and poke two holes in the nail. It probably was more medically technical, but that was the idea.

I have a strong visual memory of lying on a hospital bed in a room with my mother and a nurse.

A third woman walks in.

She says she’s here to treat me.

I announce loudly …

I don’t want her. I want a real doctor!

Wherever that ER doc is today, I’m so sorry.

Onwards!
Katherine

Photos from the outside world. NYT: The World Through a Lens. I don’t think it is pay-walled, but I don’t always understand where the NYT draws their lines.

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Beeswax Creek flowing toward the Coosa River
Beeswax Creek Park
Shelby County Alabama USA
September 2023

Technical Details

Creek. f/18.0, 1/250 sec., 80.0 mm, ISO 400. Manual & auto-focus.

Post production. Resize, border, and watermark. Also cropped this time.

Meh. The image is nice but blah. I can’t even count it as a river pic. The green wall is a promontory of the park, rather than the opposite shore of the river. An overly optimistic reading of Google maps lead me to believe that I would have a line of sight to the river from here.

Oh, well.

As with the first Beeswax Creek photo, “Maybe getting out and about is enough of a result for now.” [Photo Safari The First, Beeswax Creek Park]

Previous photography post [Pedestrian Bridge]

River posts [archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Coach Kate went undercover in mini-world and brought back this report. Welcome Coach Kate!

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The 2023 Shetland Pony Congress had something for everyone, almost. There was daily free food (donuts, pizza, tacos, BBQ), there was daily kid-friendly entertainment (arts and crafts projects, ice cream sundaes, movies) there was shopping (jewelry, dog supplies, two mobile tack shops, Shetland Pony show merch, silent auction treasures), there was music, oh, and there were hundreds of ponies, in all shapes, sizes, and colors. As a show-competitor of only “regular” sized equines, I did feel a tiny bit like I was trespassing on their party. But I should have known, if you are willing to hold a horse for someone (whatever size) or straighten a rein or retrieve a dropped ribbon, you’ll be adopted pretty quickly!

This year’s Shetland Pony (ASPR) Congress ran Monday to Saturday, July 24-29 in Lake St Louis, Missouri, with 482 classes spread from 8 am to midnight many of the six nights. Many halter classes, lots of driving, some jumping, some obstacles, some riding, and several costume classes.

I went out to help groom for my good friend Patti Wolf, from Ivanhoe, TX and her mare “Derby”. They were competing in the Classic Carriage Driving division. Now carriage driving is something I actually feel competent to help with. Interest in carriage driving within the ASPR has been growing. Uniquely different from many of the other ASPR driving classes, in that the turnout should be more appropriate for safely and smartly getting around town/down the road, rather than knocking your socks off with big action, or possibly running into the next county if driven outside of a ring. This year the carriage division started with 14 turnouts.

As of Wednesday night, Patti had two firsts, a second, and sixth (she says the sixth was due to driver error).

Here are a sampling of pictures from the show.

Patti and Derby.

The jumping was impressive – a course of 6 fences, with several set over the ponies heads…

The costumes were elaborate, with whole families dressed to a theme – there’s a pony carrying this full-sized shed (meant to be Dorothy’s Kansas house).

Assorted weanling classes were a semi-controlled chaos.

Kids had their own classes for showmanship skills

There was even “Western” driving – giving competitors an option for showing their Shetlands that naturally move with a flat topline and knees.

I had a blast, and I think I’ll be allowed back next year.

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