Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. No one is talking about Covid much these days. I for one, plan to mask in airports & on airplanes forever. So many people. So close. So many germs. Outside with people at a moderate distance – a common situation – I do not. Everything in between is a question.

~~~

Virtual Tevis
100 Miles in 100 Days
19 April to 30 July 2023

Rodney – 10.04 miles
Milton – 7.45 miles
Wed 19 April to Mon 24 April

All mileage handwalk in halters.

Due to current fitness levels, going on multiple short walks each day.

Rodney went out all six days. Milton sat out the first day. [Poop Watch]

Rodney continued to pull ahead on several walks, doing my daily mile while Milton took breaks.

Counting Every Step

In the past, I have been cavalier about mileage, often rounding down to err on the side of being conservative. This year, hundredths of a mile are going to matter.

If Rodney is wearing halter and we are walking, I count it. This includes leading him in from the pasture. It’s legit. We come in, I pick his feet etc., then we turn around and walk the exact same path back and forth for VT.

I carry my phone and run the GPS each time. For example, we do .57 mile. Instead of ‘this route is approximately half a mile’.

Explanation The Tevis Cup: Virtual Tevis Cup 2023

Previous Post [Team Snail Hits The Trail, Virtual Tevis 2023 Begins]

Virtual Tevis Posts [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. The Robot Report: Ingenuity helicopter completes 50th flight on Mars, Wessling, April 18, 2023.

~~~

Milton spent last Wednesday night at the vet clinic. He’s fine. He was probably fine when he stepped off the trailer at the clinic.

Timeline

Tuesday evening. Looked punk. Refused cookie from me. Took cookie from his minion. Vet consult. Banamine shot. Stood quietly while we stripped the stall. After a while, perked up! So, something had been bothering him enough to be affect by the Banamine.

Poop watch. 5pm. Recent pile in run-in area. Given the location, probably Milton.

Into the stall you go, my lad. Every leftover twig of hay had been removed. He was! not! pleased!

Poop watch. Nothing.

Poop watch. Nothing.

Poop watch. 11 pm. Poop!

Poop watch. Overnight. Checked every few hours. Poop on alternate viewings.

Hard to see, as it was ground into the shavings by Milton’s moving hooves. Definitely stomping about looking for food rather than pacing in distress.

Milton was napping several times. Again, looked content rather than thrashing about. Since Rodney was also meatloafing, we weren’t worried.

Poop watch. Morning. Happy to see it. Looked good from a distance. When I went to pick it up, it seemed small, both in total volume and size of bolus.

Per vet orders, gave a small amount of hay & turned everyone out. Contented grazing.

Later, Milton was back in the barn, lying down. Rodney out grazing. This was unusual, but a long night was had by all.

More later. Minion checked as he headed off to work. Milton was laying down again.

Enough of this. Time for an expert opinion.

The fastest way to get him seen was take him to the vet, instead of waiting for the vet to have time to come to him. Then, if we had a problem, there would be lots of resources at hand.

Poop watch. Getting on the trailer. Standard, especially if he hasn’t shipped in a while.

Poop watch. Arrived at clinic. Open door. Second pile. A big, solid poop. The kind you want to see.

Clean exam. Vet found nothing. Possibly had an mass or slowdown in the large intestine. If I followed the anatomy lesson correctly, the large intestine is easier to clear than the small intestine.

Kept overnight for observation.

When we left him at the clinic just over four months ago, we woke up to surgery. So, some tension chez nous overnight. [When The Poop Emoji Is Your Favorite, Patient Report #1]

All fine. Brought him home on Thursday.

Well, the horse was fine. The people, not so much. The vet clinic is nice enough to let folks leave trailers. When we drove off in the truck, the lights were still connected. Thursday morning was spent installing a new plug.

So, does trailering help a colic? The American Association of Equine Practitioners thinks so. “A trailer ride also jiggles the bowel to achieve similar relief for a simple colic.” AAEP: Colic: Updates and Prevention.

Are we obsessed with horse poop? I prefer to think of it as an appropriate attention to the details of equine health.

💩

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. earthday.org: Learning Through Art.

~~~

Keep the holiday spirit after the holidays.

Keep the environmental spirit after Earth Day.

Onwards!
Katherine

Writer: Hello, Muse.

Muse: Hello.

Writer:

Muse: Stuck again?

Writer: Trying to think of a holiday movie plot.

Muse: Sounds familiar.

Writer: Yeah. We’ve done Christmas and Thanksgiving. [Creating A New Classic, Cooking Up Another Holiday Movie]

Muse: You have quite a sub-specialty going there.

Writer: Not all winners. They didn’t like the City Christmas movie. [Country Boy in The City, Plot for a Reverse Holiday Movie]

Muse: Why not, that was fun.

Writer: I know, it’s my favorite. They said it conflicted with the brand.

Muse: I would think variety would be good.

Writer: Variety is one thing. They didn’t like the second-order snark.

Muse: Second order snark?

Writer: Yeah. The plot itself was straightforward but they felt it impugned the standard small town movie model.

Muse: Well, you did cast shade intentionally.

Writer: Fair point.

Writer: They did like the New Years Day idea. The idea of a new category of movies. I got a bonus from that. [A Marketing Proposal for New Holiday Movies]

Muse: So, do they want a new category or a new movie?

Writer: They’ve love a new category, of course, but I think they’ll be happy with one movie for a holiday we don’t usually cover. They figured if I could do it with New Years day, I could do something with making Earth Day into a movie. I mean, we could do something. I don’t mean to deprive you of credit. You’ve been …

Muse: That’s nice and all, but you are avoiding the topic. What have you got so far?

Writer: Nothing. Everything has been said. Earth is alive. Earth is angry. Earth is taking revenge on puny humans for their lack of foresight.

Muse: What do you want the movie to say?

Writer: Sit back, relax. Spend money with our advertisers. Tell your friends so that the viewing numbers go up and I get another bonus.

Muse: I don’t think mercenary self-interest captures the spirit of Earth Day. I know you have some ideas, even if you don’t like them.

Writer: I guess a romance with a meetcute during litter pickup. Or drama with a dead body found during clean up. It’s all so blah.

Muse: What if the main character is against Earth Day?

Writer: Scrooge. Do the three ghosts. Past, present, and future would certainly film well. It could work. Could even lead to a whole three-ghost theme for each holiday. I dunno, I’m not feeling it. Grumpy Industrialist as Evil Villain feels flat. I keep picturing the guy in the monocle from Monopoly. Even thought it’s not true.

Did you know that Rich Uncle Penny Bags didn’t wear a monocle? “Some people believe that we imagine a monocle because most pictures of men with a mustache and a top hat do also include this accessory. Our brain expects a monocle, so we’re convinced that we’ve seen one.” Or possibly overspray from Mr. Peanut. Monopoly Land: The Monopoly Man Has NO Monocle – It’s The Mandela Effect, Jenni 2022

Muse: Focus. Don’t make me disconnect your Internet.

Writer: No. It’s for research. I’ll be good. I promise.

Muse: Who else would be against Earth Day?

Writer: Hmm. Someone who used to be really big in the environmental movement? Someone who got discouraged? Thinks it’s a waste of time? Past would be his – her? their? – former self. Present would be what friends are still doing. Future would be tricky. Don’t want to go dire. I mean we could have the world fall apart without them but that’s too simplistic …

(sounds of rapid keyboard clicking)

… future, not dire, but world slight worse without them, and rotting gradually. You are not the only answer but you are part of the answer.

(more keyboard clicking)

Their crime is hopelessness, which is understandable. Futility. Disillusionment. Movie message – keep the faith, work when efforts seem futile, light the small candle … it’s only X. Okay, so do X …

(metaphoric smoke starts to emanate from keyboard)

Muse: My work here is done.

~~~ curtain ~~~

Afterword

Free Fiction For You. Metaphorosis: All The Daughter Sing, by Jan Priddy, 3 March 2023, text & spoken. Full disclosure. I did not read this due the likelihood of thought-provoking ideas. My brain is currently subsisting on the reading equivalent of ginger ale and plain rice. Verdict from my beta reader (waves hi & thank you). Well-written. A delightful story, with the caveat that it is post-apocalyptic. The author talks about the story, Imperfect Patience: ALL THE DAUGHTERS SING.

One more movie plot post that I didn’t manage to work into the above, [Notes For A Holiday Movie, Friendmas]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. The National Canine Cancer Foundation. A sad topic but good news that people are working on it. Dunno anything about this organization specifically. Found online as proof of concept. A while back, I asked my medical advisor why it seemed so many folks were dying of cancer these days. His response, ‘We’re curing everything else.’ I would think this would hold for animals as well. Hugs to anyone with an ailing dog. 😦

~~~

Birmingham Kennel Club & Tuscaloosa Kennel Club Dog Show
6 April 2023
Columbiana AL USA

Artistic Photos

Waiting for the Winners
Bryan McNabb Dogshow Photography

Endless Task

Game Face

Amusing Photos

Technical Details

On auto with no flash because I had to move fast. I am not ready to make setting decisions on the fly. Indoor. Remembered my lesson from MTCC to respect my camera’s abilities, and not to expect high zoom in low light. [Tennessee Travels]

Post-processing limited to cropping, watermark & border. And one leveling. Image manipulation is a challenge for future me.

Point Of It All

Nothing that wows me, although turned out better than I thought while I was snapping. Regardless. The point is to practice.

Go somewhere? Check.

Take photos of things? Check

Therefore, success.

Frustration of not remembering how to twiddle the knobs & mash the buttons? Also check. That appears to be par for the course.

“Completely, blatantly using the blog as combination carrot & stick to motivate me.” [Photo Theory

Camera is sitting on a dog bed I bought at the show. I have low willpower around show vendors.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Your Dressage: Where the Real Action Happens, by Jennifer Bryant, April 6, 2023. The warm-up ring at the FEI World Cup in Omaha. Some riders went to the warm-up ring AFTER their tests, “for a short cool-down consisting of a stretchy rising trot and a couple of laps of relaxed walk before dismounting.” I did not know this. Cool.

~~~

Saddle seat lesson scheduled for today.

I don’t want to go out.

I don’t want to ride a new horse.

Neither do I want to sit on the couch for the rest of my life.

Two weeks ago, I tried to schedule a lesson. Got myself all wound up. Loins girded. As I said, “Take lessons at the barn that has welcomed me.” [Making Time For The Other Horses]

Only to find that the barn was off in another state at a show.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I am so far out of it as to let the show schedule slide. Even if I’m not showing, I keep track to know when the ring is available to take the home team over.

So that week was a no. The week after was logistics, blacksmith I think. On to this week.

I plan (hope) to be bold about new horses, but maybe not the first time I’ve ridden since the show.

Show was 18 March. [Bringing in the Year with Blues, Show Report, Spring Fun Show]

Today is 20 April.

Over a month.

It is annoying to be hip deep in horse shit and to have only ridden twice this year.

In the grand scheme of things, this is sitting on a yacht, complaining about the ice cubes. Given the yacht that is my life, riding is a pretty big ice cube.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Western States Endurance Run: Trail Stewardship.

~~~

We’re off. Virtual Tevis 2023 starts today. We have until Sunday 30 July to ride 100 miles. Counting the start and end days, I get 103 days to ride 100 miles.

After their extended time off, the horses top out at a mile. That leaves us almost no wiggle room. Consistency is going to be a key factor this year.

The plan.

One. Get out every possible day.

Two. Count ring work. I’m using 2 mph as an estimate. So 15 min of ring work is 0.5 mile. I haven’t included ring work in the past. This is not the year to leave steps on the table, as I did in 2021 or 2022. [Moving the Goal Posts, Virtual Tevis, 98 Miles and Holding, 73 Days 2021, Virtual Tevis Announced For 2022]

Three. Work up to longer mileage. We need miles in the bank for days when the weather dice or the logistics of life don’t roll in our favor.

It’s doable. We need to start diligent, stay diligent, and hope everything stays shiny side up.

“In 2020, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Western States Trail Foundation Board of Governors voted for the first time in history to cancel the annual Tevis Cup Ride. But we wanted to offer a way for our riders, crews, volunteers, supporters and lovers of the trail to still be able to participate. Thus the creation of this virtual event, which was so well received we have decided to host as an annual fundraiser.”

The Tevis Cup: Virtual Tevis Cup 2023

Virtual Tevis Posts [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine