Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Nutrena: Creative Reuses for Plastic Feed Bags. Hat tip to M.

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Ramsay
Stepping Stone Farm
Saddle seat lesson
August 2025

A kind schoolmaster is in the academy program until the end of the year. So, I’m learning what I can while I can. After all, as Bree says, “No one can teach riding so well as a horse.”

Ramsay knows all about going in a show bridle. I do not. So, I’m taking advantage of the opportunity to learn from an understanding horse, one who rewards correct effort and does not hold a grudge at my hamfistedness.

Do I need to know how to ride with a show bridle? Probably not. You can use one in academy classes but you don’t have to. But why not? Additional skills are good. Learning is good. New & different is good.

A school horse endures mistakes. A schoolmaster lets you know when you are doing it wrong.

Previous Double Bridle, Show Bridle Experience

George 1986. The horse’s owner brought home a beautiful set of bits from England. We looked flawless standing still. Moving, not so much. As for the reins, I barely touched them. [What’s In A Name]

Skippy 2017. It’s not double reins. I’m fine with those on a pelham. It’s having the second rein attached to the second bit that causes the agita. [Different Versions of the Same Thing]

“While I have ridden and shown with it, I am still in the Do No Harm phase. I don’t actually know how to use the the daft thing to influence the horse.” [Why I Am Not A Saddle Seat Genius, And Probably Won’t Be] 2018

Dottie 2019. “I decided that I felt more confident doing this with the work bridle … All the time learning to finesse the show bride had given me a clear idea of how I wanted to ride with the work bridle.” [Show Report: NACHS 2017, Riding]

Optimus, I think I had a lesson with Opt in a show bridle, circa 2019. If true, I did not mention it in the blog. OTOH, the blog says I used a show bridle in January 2024. I have zero memory of this, although I recall the show and the classes. Go figure. [Staying With The Series, Show Report]

“Coach Courtney called my hands gracious.” [Having A Light Touch] 2024

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Waves hi to SSF at Louisville. I’m not getting livestream this year. Smaller contingent & no guarantees on how much screentime your rider is going to get. [Vicarious Louisville 2024]

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Last week, Milton sound. Abscess reabsorbed? Cool. [The Year of the Foot]

Sunday morning, trotted in to breakfast.

Sunday afternoon, head-bobbing lame.

Foot in the bucket, my lad.

Meanwhile, on the other hoof, Milton is jettisoning the dead material from the previous abscess. His sole is involved, so it looks quite dramatic to the minions. He’s fine with it. Nice strong new sole underneath.

Blacksmith made (another!) unscheduled visit. Poked a hole in one hoof. Pared the sole on the other hoof. Scroll down for photos.

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Right hind, new abscess

Relief as soon as the area was opened.

Left hind, old abscess

The sole is even more startling IRL. We discovered the sloughing when my hoofpick slid between the layers. !!! Cue panic. One can think of so many reasons this would be a bad thing. It’s all good. He grew new foot before ditching the old.

Previous post with after-abscess photos, [Milton’s Foot Diagnosis Develops 2020].

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema offers free uterine hygiene products in the men’s room.

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Rodney is a hard keeper. Always has been, except for about six months when he was 15. Here are the types of hay we have fed recently to pack on the pounds. Milton gets a taste of whatever.

Coastal. Vet does not like coastal hay. He thinks it contributes to colic. Do I agree? Maybe? Most of the horses in this area are on coastal. Doesn’t that make the denominator too large to be statistically relevant? OTOH, are we going to mess with Milton’s diet plan, given his history of colic surgery? Nope. Therefore, no coastal on the property.

Timothy. Broccoli for horses. Good for them, but they don’t always like it.

20% alfalfa/80% timothy

80% alfalfa/20% timothy. They both sort through to pull out the good stuff. Milton goes back to finish the rest. Rodney does not.

Alfalfa, or as I think of it, shredded money.

Alfalfa hay cubes. Must be set to soak a half hour before serving, with enough water to rehydrate but not so much that Monsieur has soup. Monsieur does not like soup.

And now, chopped alfalfa. The store was temporarily out of alfalfa bales.

This is just hay. Does not count grain or supplements. Nor does it take into consideration the location variables: in a hay net, on the ground, in a bucket hanging from the wall.

It is a PIA.

At 26 years old, you get to be a PIA.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Scientific American: Cats Are Perfect. An Evolutionary Biologist Explains Why, Wong 2023.

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Four pieces of paper glued at the outer corners. The result folds on itself in an infinite loop. In the gallery above, the corner photos are the four phases states. The mid-line photos show one side folded under. More of a flexi-square than a true flexigon, which is a portmanteau of “flexible hexagon”. If the image does not display as a 3×3 grid, it may render more accurately on a larger screen. Phones screens do weird things to galleries.

From an online workshop about flexagons given by Nancy Akerly, Liberty Grove Paper Arts, as part of The Paper Year, run by Helen Heibert.

SciAm: Here’s How to Make Flexagons—Folded Strips of Paper with Strange and Surprising Properties, Gardner 1956.

Onwards!
Katherine

👽👽👽

First Alien, sits down on alien couch-equivalent: Oof.

Second Alien: Tough debriefing?

First Alien: My reward is a month on fourth shift to give me the opportunity to reflect.

Second Alien: I take it the outing to the science fiction convention did not go well?

First Alien: Worse than the dog show. [Faces In The Crowd]

Second Alien: Ouch.

First Alien: Well, okay, no one got bitten, no one got abducted, and humanity still doesn’t know that aliens are watching. Other than that, I cannot add a single leaf to the mural of knowledge. I was playing catch-up the entire time.

Second Alien: What was the problem? Or problems?

First Alien: The main problem, really the only problem, was that I did not blend in. At all.

Second Alien: I thought that was the whole point of infiltrating the science fiction convention. You would be just one of many shapes of intelligence.

First Alien: Exactly!

Second Alien: (flinches)

First Alien: Extend me grace for hurting your ears. But it was such a good plan. It should have worked.

Second Alien: When did it start to go wrong?

First Alien: From the very beginning. People kept asking what book or movie or web comic I was from. Turns out most of the costumes are referential.

Second Alien: So there were rules.

First Alien: Not so much rules as norms. Sometimes the costume brings a specific character to life. There was a Weeping Angel that quite gave me the shivers. Sometimes there is a creative spin. Combining a character from one place to another. Orcs as Storm Troopers. Sometimes there is interpretation. What a superhero would look like after retirement. The level of technical ability was high, given that they don’t have matter extruders.

Second Alien: Isn’t our aim to discover human norms?

First Alien: The debriefing dialogue participants felt the area of discovery was too narrow. Perhaps it could be combined with the norms from other subgroups at a later time. But I think they were just throwing me a bone.

Second Alien: Throwing a bone?

First Alien: Dog show flashback. Nevermind.

Second Alien: What did you do?

First Alien: I tried referencing an obscure old book. The first person I talked to knew the book, knew the aliens in the book, and politely told me that those aliens were red and marine-based. Alright, the color is wrong, but marine-based? Marine-based! What does that provincial, backwater human think these are? They want gills? I’ll give them gills! Sure, they are not the gills on the fish they dragged out of the river for their dinner last night …

Second Alien: I think you need a moment of tranquility.

First Alien: (respires)

Second Alien: Better?

First Alien: Thank you. I will chose to look upon the positive, supportive gesture that several individuals told me where I could go to get help with my costume.

Second Alien (not laughing, not in the slightest): Then what?

First Alien: I tried saying that I was doing my own thing. I made up a name and a few random facts.

Second Alien: That sounds like a good plan.

First Alien: You’d think so, wouldn’t you? They all wanted to know what my book was about. Was I publishing trad or indie? Where was my podcast? They wanted to follow me on social media. These folks are insatiably curious. They kept having more questions. Always more questions.

Second Alien: Couldn’t you use the disguise you have used before?

First Alien: I didn’t take it. I didn’t think I’d need it. That was the whole point of attending a science fiction convention.

Second Alien: Did you get any advice?

First Alien: From humans, yes. From us, no. You know how it is. You are not supposed to make contact unless in dire need. The fact that my personal credibility was taking a nose dive did not constitute dire need for the communal good. I will become tranquil about it. After all, someone has to take fourth shift.

👽👽👽

Awareness of the outside world. TFW you pull an item of clothing from the depths of your closet, put your hand in the pocket, and realize you have no idea how long that peppermint or horse cookie or dog treat has been there.

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Wheels
Stepping Stone Farm
Photo by Greg Walcott
August 2025

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Association. Yes, bike polo. I admit, I chuckled. Turns out the version on grass has been around since 1891.(!) The hardcourt version originated with off-duty bike messengers in the early 2000s. Calgary Bike Polo: What is Bike Polo.

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ASHAA Fun Show
Stepping Stone Farm
Chelsea AL, USA
Saturday 19 July 2025

10 Academy Driving – 2nd of 2
With Optimus. Thank you to the Gray & Parr families

30 Academy Showmanship Adult WTC – 1st of 1
31 Academy Equitation Adult WTC – 1st of 1
Ridden as combined classes with 32 & 33 Aca WTC 14-17.
With Optimus. Thank you to Courtney Huguley.

Exactly as before. [Summer Showing, July 2025]

Preshow I

Driving. Third class needed to qualify for year-end awards.

Riding. Academy class with Optimus has an element of Groundhog Day. Was there a point? I decided that any saddletime is a positive.

Preshow II

After a most excellent lesson. I was a wee bit excited. Had a turned a corner? Did I finally understand saddle seat? Might I, perhaps, be able to edge out folks whom I have never beaten (in one case) and almost never beaten (I assume a grievous mistake was made in that instance)? It was a small fun show but you don’t horse show if you don’t want to win. [Notes from a Successful Saddle Seat Lesson]

First Class, Driving

Ability to recreate what I had done in my lesson? Close to 100%. Easier due to sitting on a seat in the cart. Chin up. Lift. I radiated elegance and poise. Optimus was loving it.

Ability to follow directions? Not so much. At the extended trot. The announcer said “Xaskj”. I could not hear. I guessed walk. Nope. Back to trot. Then walk. At which point we were in the corner.

Optimus: I know what comes next, we reverse.

Me: No, no, we have to wait for me to ask. No, really. I’m supposed to be steering back here.

And then we both made a hash out of the turn into the line up. I did not realize it was possible to cut quite that tight a turn in a cart.

Second &Third Classes, Riding

Ability to recreate what I had done in my lesson? Chin, success. Although a few times, my chin got a bit too high. I looked like a misguided astronomer searching for stars in the daytime. Still, better up than down.

I had a harder time keeping my ribcage lift & pelvic alignment. At the end of the second class, we finally had a little bit of flair. It is much easier to give your horse space when he uses it.

Learn Something New Every Day

Toward the end of his career, Sam use to like getting ready early and moseying about before his class. No work. Just walking and chilling and letting the gears begin grooving. At this show, I got anxious about being late for my class and was ready a bit too early. Optimus Does. Not. Like. After his joie de vive in the driving class, he spend most of the riding classes being stuck. Not slow, just stuck.

Optimus: We stood around too long and it’s all your fault. (He was not wrong.)

Me: Darn it. This is so hard. Well, I guess the lesson went better because I was on a different horse. No, wait, I wasn’t. I was on the same horse. I should be able to do this. I guess the lesson went better because. And so on.

He finally forgave me toward the end of the second class.

We also broke once at the canter, when Opt chose to be distracted by a voice in the corner. But I don’t think the judge saw. Hard to tell as I was alone in the class, if not in the ring.

Lack of Media

My personal paparazzi took a multitude of action photos. You are not going to see them. I’m too discouraged. My riding looks terrific. Strong. Confident. Like I’m having fun up there. What I don’t look is the slightest bit saddle seat. Yes, clearly, I can live a rich and satisfying life without ever being a saddle seat equation star. What is deflating is that I really really thought I was doing the thing. Or at least getting closer. I wasn’t.

Post Show

Successful because horse show. Semi-successful because I neither replicated my lesson nor raised my results. In one case, the placing stayed the same. In the other case, the competition stayed home.

Onwards!
Katherine