Virtual Brush Box

Words

Writer: Hello, Muse.

Muse: Hello.

Writer: It’s that time of year again.

Muse: Time to write the holiday movie.

Writer: Yup. ‘Tis the season. While everyone is in Christmas mode, they want a draft script to get started on next year’s movie.

Muse: What have you got so far.

Writer: A lot of questions. Animation? Live action? Historical? Present day?

Muse: Have they given you any direction?

Writer: The same thing they say every year. Give them another Diehard.

Muse: Well, it is a good movie.

Writer: Sure, but why is it considered a Christmas movie? It could be the corporate 4th of July BBQ and Hans Gruber would still fall off the Nakatomi tower at the end.

Muse: Barbecue grills in a high-rise?

Writer: So, they got takeout. Work with me here.

Muse: It has a great cast.

Writer: Yeah, I can’t do anything about who gets cast. We’re not going to get the equivalent of Rickman & Willis in a made-for-TV movie. BUT. A good screen play will attract good actors. I can’t control what happens after, but I can control that.

Muse: That sounds familiar.

Writer: See, I listen.

Muse: That’s good. Back to the task at hand.

Writer: (in monotone) Stay on target. Stay on target. I wonder what holidays they had a long time ago, in a …

Muse: You are getting distracted again.

Writer: Arggg.

Muse:

Writer: This is where you jump in with the brilliant idea.

Muse:

Writer:

Muse: How about Christmas in Mongolia?

Writer: They don’t celebrate Christmas in Mongolia.

Muse: Exactly.

Writer: ooooh … or Africa or Asia or the Mideast … some non-Western country … avoid places Christmas is banned … too political … are there places it is still banned? … (clicks on tab) … no, look that up later … a country where Christmas is sympathetic but not a big deal … young person … working abroad … alone-on-the-holidays sympathy … maybe a small village … heartwarming scene of kids surprising the main character with tree decorations … maybe a big city … bound to be other Christmas celebrants if the city is big enough … local church if we want to go religious … maybe a Christmas friendsgiving with other expats … scrambling to find decor … food … maybe has to work that day … maybe celebration includes someone the main character doesn’t like … enemies to lovers if we want to go romance …

Muse: You will have to make choices at some point.

Writer: No, no. I mean yes, absolutely, I’ll need to decide on a story line. But they like it when I provide options. I’ll give off ramps at key points, change of characters, change of venue, different genres, different countries. This is great. I can work with this. What do I owe you?

Muse: Same as always. Do your best work.

Writer: Merry Christmas, Muse.

Muse: Merry Christmas.

(Sounds of rapid keyboard clicking.)

~~~ curtain ~~~

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. “A portion of all proceeds from this event will go to ‘Make-A-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana’.” Medal Dash: ‘A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS’ 5K, Description.
~~~

(Medal photo pending. Having trouble with sun. No complaints. Been gray and ick all week. Yay for sun!)

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS 5K
Homewood Shades Creek Greenway
Saturday, 11 December 2021
5K time – 56:21 minutes
Total walk – 57:42 minutes
Map My Walk

This 5K was of the buy-a-medal, do-as-you-will variety. I have decided that I prefer the vicarious travel aspect of having my virtual walks tied to an IRL location, i.e. zoo fundraisers, marathons etc. However, this was last minute. Take what I can get.

… muddy … need a paved place for my daily mile … haven’t done a official walk here … hmm, the total trail is 2.6 miles … that’s close to 3.1 … I smell a 5K …

A quick Internet search and I was signed up for this.

I get the mental satisfaction of finishing a 5K. I get a medal. I get a seasonal blog post. Most importantly, I get the impetus to continue wandering around the shopping mall parking lot for half a mile to finish the 5K.

“Broke many of the rules prevalent for animated holiday specials during the 1960s: it didn’t make use of a laugh track; real children were used for the character voices instead of adult actors imitating children’s voices; and Biblical references were used to illustrate the true meaning of Christmas.” IMDB: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Trivia

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding, Horsekeeping, The Horse World

Awareness of the outside world. Tune in tomorrow. Mental Floss: Why Did NORAD Start Tracking Santa? Soniak, December 19, 2016 (Updated: November 12, 2021).
~~~

Happily liberated from Anxiety at A: Would you Rather: Horse Edition. Ended up being a bit of a cheesy clip show. I’ve been doing this for so long that there is usually a blog post on any given topic.

Spooky or Steady

Steady. I can be, shall we say, high-energy. This is great if you are veteran show horse such as Alvin or Dottie. Let’s do this! [Missing The Saddlebreds]

Not so great if you are a horse of sensitive disposition. Milton is still traumatized by encountering me in full show mode.

Me: “Once those gates shut, it is on.” [Hanging With The Saddlebros IIa]
Milton: (Egad! Who dropped a ferret down my pants?) [ibid, Someday This Will Be Amusing To Look Back On]

Matchy Matchy or Mismatched

Classic. I’ll do show colors for shirt and saddle pad. I won’t go out of my way to colorized things that are usually brown or black. [Doctor Whooves and The Master, photo by Meg McKinney]

I balance my desire to be a curmudgeon with the knowledge that riding needs to lighten up. As long as you are clean, tidy, & tucked in, I don’t care what colors you feel the need to express yourself in.

Tall boots or Half chaps

Tall boots. Practice in what you intend to compete in. Don’t get used to one and they try to show in the other. [My Heart Is In My Boots, and That’s a Good Thing]

When I wasn’t showing, well-fitted half chaps worked fine. [New Equipment: Britches & Boots]

Or that’s the happy version. In reality, I bought half chaps in a fit of anguish, “My chances of ever riding in tall boots seemed so remote that the thought of buying a pair was too depressing.” [Heart]

Indoor or outdoor

Good footing, then I don’t care. Of course, this answer changes as one goes farther north. [When Life Gives You Rain, II]

Bay or chestnut

I would say either, but all of my horses have been bay. After dealing with Milton’s bumps, I’m going to be a hard sell for another gray.

As in, all of MY horses, i.e. Rodney, Previous Horse, First Horse & so on, including those leased & bought. Mathilda was never my horse. Milton? Jury still out.

Long or short mane or roached mane?

Anything but roached. Once rode an big time Three-Gaited horse. They show with no mane. Not at all happy about no grab strap in front of me. Used to give Mathilda a buzz cut in the summer. I always left an emergency handhold halfway down her mane.

Lazy or hot horse?

Lazy. See Question 1. Tact has never been my strong suit.

Private barn or a boarding barn?

Private barn. After having horses at home for almost 30 years, I would drive a barn manager nuts. [Why Not Rack Off Into The Sunset ?]

Create your dream barn or own your dream horse?

Horse. As long as the barn is safe, I can work out of it.

Ride an Olympic-level horse or take a lesson with an Olympian?

I like AaA’s answer, “Um, how about both? Can I take a lesson from an Olympian on an Olympic-level horse?”

If I had to chose, I’d go for the lesson. An Olympic-level horse would have to be super understanding as well as super talented. Those rare unicorns exist. I suspect most O-horses would have no patience with me.

Own a miniature horse or a donkey?

None of the above? I could see a sporty driving pony, but not a mini. Don’t have enough experience with donkeys to know what I was getting into.

~~~

I didn’t answer all of their questions, so I rounded out the dozen with one of my own.

Would you rather have a good ride or win?

My virtuous side wants to say a good ride, but I do like winning. Both, please? [Show Tweets, Georgia Fall Classic 2015, Show Report]

~~~

Looking over my answers, including the questions I did not post, I lean heavily toward both &/or neither. If I have an opinion, it is in stone. For example,

Someone else caring for my horse? No. Someone else making decisions about my horse? So much no. Someone else riding my horse on a regular basis? A thousand times no … Not now. Not ever.

[Why Not Rack Off Into The Sunset ?]

The rest of the time, meh, whatever flips your skirt.

Which would you rather?

Update, Other People’s Choices
Anxiety at A: Would you Rather: Horse Edition, the originator
Breed.Ride.Event: Blog Hop: Would You Rather
Fat Buckskin in a Little Suit: Blog Hop: Would You Rather
A Enter Spooking: Blog Hop: Would You Rather
Gray Flannel Horses: Blog Hop: Would You Rather, makes the point that top riders don’t automatically make good coaches.
Bel Joeor: Blog Hop: Would You Rather, If private barn means not your own, I agree, “Horse people are crazy, even the ones I love, and I would not want to sour a relationship like that.”
Raincoast Rider: Would You Rather?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Ancient Alabama, part six, “Alabama has the most complete geologic column in the United States.” Jun Ebersole, collections director for the McWane Center, AL.Com: Hunting the largest shark ever in ancient Alabama, Pillion, 19 Nov 2021.
~~~

New horse at Hunter Barn last week. As my third ride, horse shall be know as Trey.

Trey and I cantered a course! While it was only four crossrails, each was on its own line. So it was a full course of inside, outside, inside, outside. Yay us! Mostly, yay Trey, but I was along for the ride.

A course means changing direction. A course at a canter means changing leads.

Hunter Barn horses are taught to maintain their pace after jumping a line. One must continue to canter around the turn. Only then is one allowed to walk. This is to prevent the habit of dissolving into a heap at the end of a line.

If you land on the correct lead, all well and good, you may continue.

If you land on the wrong lead for the upcoming turn, you must address the problem.

Being a well-educated soul, Trey knew all about lead changes.

After I made a hash out of two lead changes in a row, it became clear that I did not know all about lead changes.

I realized it is possible that I have never asked for a lead change.

I starting showing at a very basic, local level of hunters, in which we were happy to get eight decent jumps. We didn’t need no fancy, schmancy lead changes.

Then the switch to eventing and jumpers. Being on the correct lead for a turn is useful but not scored. Memory says that First Horse was good about listening to a tap on the rein in order to land on the required lead.

Plus, eventing includes dressage. One absorbs the dressage attitude that tempi changes are difficult and complicate maneuvers that await one at a much higher level. [Different Versions of the Same Thing]

Previous Horse had the balance of a gyroscope. On a tight turn, he’d throw in a lead change if he needed one. On a wide sweeping hunter turn, he saw no reason to bother. So I left him to it.

Ride lead changes? Yes. Ask for one? No.

Once we switched to a simple change through the trot, all was good.

Huh. Lead changes. A gap in my riding education that I didn’t even know was there.

Previous lesson, with Rodney! [In Which We Almost Have a Jumping Lesson]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Solstice. The cold is coming, but so is the light. “The 2021 December solstice moment – when the sun reaches its southernmost point in the sky – will happen on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, at 15:59 UTC.” EathSky: 2021’s December solstice falls on the 21st, Byrd, December 17, 2021.
~~~

Completion ribbon for No Stirrup November by Equisarte. Red, gold, and black streamers, with glitter accents. Custom button. Fancy. [Lessons from No Stirrup November]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. ThoughtCo: How Do Mood Rings Work? Helmenstine, Ph.D., 2019.
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Note to self. Winter riding is gonna suck pond water. Note to self. That’s okay. Note to self. The plan is to buckle down & wait for the warm.

Whenever we have a frustrating ride this winter, I need to remind myself that winter is not our season. Yes, riding at all is a privilege, blessed, etc. You know what I mean.

Item one. Rodney has never liked cold. You get a different horse depending on the temperature. Ah, yes, this is the 50-degree Rodney. This is the 70-degree Rodney. It has nothing to do with being senior. He has been heat-lovin’ from the day he arrived. [Piling on the Therapy 2012]

Okay, you northern folks, cold-ish. Cold for us.

Item two. With some horses, you can tell whether tension originates in mind or body. Previous Horse might have been in a mood, but his body would be loose. Or his muscles might be tight from work, but his brain was still online.

Rodney, not so much. Rodney has never believed in the mind/body duality. If he is anxious, his body is tight. If his body is stiff, he gets anxious.

Combining item one with item two makes for a long winter of working a horse who lets cold weather go to his head.

The other day, we had ended with some nice work. This was, of course, due to my brilliant, progressive training plan. It had nothing to do with the fact that the sun came come out halfway through and kicked the temperature up 10 degrees.

Sigh. On the up side, it means he takes hot Southern summers in stride. As much as one can.

So, we will plug away. Rodney will maintain fitness. I will maintain saddle time. Maybe we will make a smidgen of progress. Then we will emerge like a sun-warmed butterfly in the spring.

~~~

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. “WCS’s {Wildlife Conservation Society} goal is to conserve the world’s largest wild places in 14 priority regions, home to more than 50% of the world’s biodiversity.” WCS: About Us.
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Part of the loot for joining the Bronx Zoo as a Virtual Member. Most zoos offer virtual resources. As far as I can tell, this is the first membership program designed for virtual participation. Zoo membership is usually about admission perks.

On A Broader Note

It will be interesting to see what part virtual plays in our lives. It was coming. The pandemic sped up the process.

After two years of virtual, Breyerfest is returning to KHP. “BreyerFest: Prost! will be the first ever hybrid BreyerFest, so tickets will be available for both the in-person experience and the online experience, and each will come with its own set of perks and access.” Breyer: BreyerFest Ticket Information! Given the category descriptions, they appear to be prioritizing attendance over virtual rather than creating equivalent tracks. Their party; their choice.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine