Awareness of the outside world. “75 percent of eligible Americans have received at least one shot, and 70 percent support mask mandates in schools … a strong majority of Americans support requiring proof of vaccination to travel by airplane … parents who plan on vaccinating their kids has climbed to nearly 70 percent.” Press Run: Sorry Chuck Todd, America is not hopelessly “divided” over Covid. Boehlert Sep 8. Article is mainly about journalism practices. Wanted to take note. Not obvious from where I live or from reading the news. ~~~
Stirrups have been yanked up.
I had dropped them down to make it easy on my knees during the long, leisurely rides for the Virtual Tevis. [Tortoise Power]
When I went to raise them, I figured I might as well get it over with all at once. Why mess with successive approximation? Previously I had been riding with moderate dressage length stirrups. Zipped right past that. Stirrups are now at proper hunter/jumper level. For the first time in who knows how long.
I have signed up for No Stirrup November through Equisarte Shows.
“The main goal of the challenge is to complete the 10 rides without using stirrups for a portion or all of the ride.” Equisarte: No Stirrup November
While I can ride without stirrups, this one is not a gimme. My mounts right now are Rodney and new-to-me horses at Hunter Barn. Neither option shouts, ‘Yes, lets do weird sh*t together.’ Previous Horse? Sure. Equitation exercises at SSF? Been there, done that. [Leg Lessons]
Speaking of lesson, dropping my stirrups during lesson #2 was probably what put the idea into my head. Or more accurately, had the idea at the front of my brain when I saw the ad for the challenge. [Return of School Horse]
No Stirrup November has been around for years, but the timing never seemed right. This year it does. As with all virtual challenges, I could certainly do this on my own. It’s fun to have an external metric.
I am setting the bar super, super low. Ten rides will mean 10 times were I drop my stirrups at a halt. I will try for more than 10. I will try to do more than stand. However, 10 no-stirrup halts will qualify as mission success.
Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a start.
Did I do this for self improvement? To have something to blog about? For the finisher ribbon? These objectives are not mutually exclusive.
Process notes. Inkscape. Top. Widen stroke color. Middle. Swap. Bottom. Tiles. Pleased with effect of diagonal stripe using tiles. Fiddled with getting rid of faint vertical line. Finally gave up in the new spirit of time management. Background & border as box in Inkscape. GIMP to change file type.
Awareness of the other blogs (and blog-like objects). This one is on point for a narrow audience. In the Instagram highlights, dressagequeen_of_memes has compiled advice on competing at the USDF Finals at KHP. Also of interest to us tackbox quarterbacks. [Referral Saturday] ~~~
Am questioning if taking all day to write one post is the best use of my time. Other things to do, both chores and things I want to do.
For example, the post I wrote on Thursday required data compilation, photo processing, and organizing my thoughts on the subject of walking. I didn’t finish until 4:30 pm. By the time I got the mail, took the dog out, and did the barn water, I was riding at dusk. Did I enjoy writing the post? Yes. Was the resource allocation the best reflection of my priorities? No. [October Walks]
The blog is a hedge that grows out of control if not pruned back. The blog is a time sink that expands if I don’t keep an eye on it. Pick your metaphor. This is me reeling it back in.
Short version. Blog not going anywhere. Working to improve my time management. Expect shorter posts. For a while, at least.
World: (silence) Blogger: Did I tell you about the time when … (writes 500 words)
A conversation with a member of my online walking group (waves hi!) got me thinking about my choice of parks. I have a pasture right out my back door. No need to go anywhere. So why do I?
I’ll spare you the pontificating. Result. I have decided to stick with new parks and the pasture.
New parks. I am loving this project. Parks are interesting as both civic amenities and as land use exercises. What was available. What was done with it. Research turns up parks tucked into places I never suspected had the space. The exploration is fun, even if I never walk on what I look at by satellite imagery. As an example, a suburban high school has a nature park behind it. I had no idea. I may check it out to see that it exists but probably won’t do more than look. I prefer to stick with paved. Walking rather than hiking.
If I ever travel anywhere again, I will definitely to see what that area has done with the concept of walking trails.
So, new parks as I find them.
At the other end is laps of the pasture. [My Two Horses]
This is the green option. Both in terms of not driving anywhere, and of being surrounded on three sides by trees. Yes, the path is dirt and there is some hill. Technically it would be hiking. Easy and familiar hiking. Since part of the goal of walking is to clear my mind, repetition works in my favor.
The mushy middle is going back to walk in places that I’m not that fond of while I’m out. This offers neither novelty nor simplicity.
The exception would be when the ground itself is mushy. My knees are good with back & forth. Side to side, not so much. However, I need to return to walking the pasture and not fall into habit of inventing errands to leave the house because I am bored.
There is boredom in walking the pasture, but more in anticipation than in execution. It is a dislike of the idea of doing the same thing more than actually being bored once I get out there.
So, pasture when possible.
That’s the plan. I’ll see how it works.
In case you are wondering how an online walking group works. Anything live required doing things while walking. We decided against that. We walk at our own place at our own time. Then we report back to the group by text message. The effect is sharing and support more than accountability by stern taskmasters. As I said elsewhere, it helps keep the subject of walking at the forefront of my mind.
Stepping Stone Farm, Sorta. New area for walk. Went over to help load. Got there early for walk. Headed up the driveway. I figured we made the horses do it; I should do it. Previous SSF walk was around the rings and barn. [Whatever Happened To Saddlebred Wednesdays?]
4 October 2021 1.2 miles 30 minutes
Unnamed Elementary School. Track open to public (I checked) but on school property. Kids came out for recess in upper right area. Teacher said walking around the track was okay. I chose not to. I don’t understand the rules around kids – even the non-Covid ones, so I err on the side of radioactivity. Probably wouldn’t go back. Track has access to cross-country track, also open to public.
12 October 2021 1.02 miles 26 minutes
No media, since I am being mean.
Prejudices Confirmed. Driving through exurban development. Rows of large houses cheek by jowl. Not big enough to qualify as McMansions, but in the same taxonomic category. Why drive this far out and have to look into your neighbor’s window?
Stop judging. People are are people. I’m sure the houses are nice to live in. There are probably people here I could be friends with. I have no idea what their stories are or why they live here.
Cute little meadow connected to lake.
Lovely lake. Scenic. Shaded. Perfect size for my walk.
Sign.
Private Lake NO TRESPASSING RESIDENTS ONLY
Finished walk around the micro meadow & got out of dodge. I hate Big Suburbia. [Walk 6.5]
7 October 2021 1.12 miles 27 minutes
Downtown Birmingham. Got into town early for appointment. Parked in order to have leisurely half-mile walk. Severely underestimated distance. Hustled to make appointment. Note the pace on the first walk! Afterward, walked back to truck. Slowly. Interesting how different the walks felt. Second walk was easy-peasey despite being the same distance. I’ve often felt that I could walk a marathon, if they would give me 10 hours to do it in.
Dance. Went every week except once when conflicted with blacksmith appointment. One week went twice, then decided not to do Tuesday classes,
Biking. Bikes were dusted off and ridden! Twice in two days, during surge of weekend warriorness. Must remember biking as an option. When the pasture is still muddy, the roads are dry. [Great Ocean Road II]
Stretching. Cardio. Weights. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Data Dump
Total by calendar – 23 motion days out of 34 days, September 24 (previous post) to October 26 (yesterday), inclusive. 67%
Total by effort – 25 activities in of 34 days. 17 walks. 5 dance. 2 biking. 74%
Feeling pretty good about the effort, even with 11 days off. Missed days were either weekends or had a reason, i.e flu shot, sick horse, Hunter Barn lesson, etc. Two extra walks on days when it was too nice a day not to go for a walk after dance/lesson.
O School Horse, why do you do me this way? I thought we were buddies. [Second Lesson]
At my lesson last week, I could NOT get School Horse to canter.
I blame saddle seat.
After the clinic with Stephanie Moseley, I have been pretty good about prying saddle seat out of my position. Sit in the middle of the saddle. Legs under me. Little finger outside the reins. No need to swap the whip when you reverse. [Clinic]
I even remember to revert back to inside rein, outside leg canter aids. [Show Report]
Saddle seat horses canter off of outside rein, outside leg.
I should say, saddle seat horses canter off of outside REIN, outside leg.
Riders are told to tip & tap. Tip the head to the outside. Tap on the shoulder with the whip. There are some weigh shifts and legs aids, but lots of hand signal. Way more hand signal than hunters. The hunter canter cue is leg supported by hand, but mostly leg. I’m thinking that dressage canter cue, at least for serious dressage, is mostly weight. But I digress.
The saddle seat hand signal is not a yank or pull or anything harsh. It is a small signal that the horse has learned to associate with cantering. You can find folks online who will pontificate at great length about how having the head to the outside frees up the inside shoulder. You will find other folks pontificating the same thing for having the horse look to the inside. Meh. Having ridden both, I think it’s a learned response. You could yodel La Marseillaise and the horse would learn that you mean canter. But I digress. Again. It’s a habit.
So there I was, unconsciously wiggling my fingers, while School Horse proceeded around the ring wondering what I was going on about.
Instructor tells me to stop pulling.
What?
Tell me to shorten my reins, close fingers, or sit up. Sure. I know what you mean. I’ve heard it often enough.
Tell me to stop pulling and I have no idea what is going on. I don’t pull. I am much more likely to drop the contact, and therefore need to shorten my reins and close my fingers. See above.
When I was told to stop pulling, it didn’t even register. I wasn’t pulling. I was tipping and tapping. I might have been better off pulling. At least it would have made sense in context. Neither School Horse or Instructor had a clue what I was doing. Not clear that I had much of a clue what I was doing either.
I finally figured out that I was speaking saddle seat to a hunter. Maybe. It was toward the end. We may have simply run out of lesson. I will try to remember for next time.
So, there was the general frustration of not riding well and the specific frustration of not doing well on the part that one is usually good at. Pffft.
The jumping was canter poles, a cavaletto, and a crossrail. All at a canter. All a hot mess. OTOH, if they weren’t a hot mess, I wouldn’t be there.
Virtual Brush Box 