Virtual Brush Box

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Texas. With the added unpleasant wrinkle of the snitch factor.
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Question: How does Rodney feel about flags? We know he gets anxious with standards. Flags could go either way. Another form of standards or something completely different, and therefore not scary.

Answer: Flags NBD.

Cross-Country Schooling at Full Circle Horse Park

1st trip. Walked in-hand until everyone settled down, both horse and rider. The plan was to walk around the field. Ended up walking over most of the itty-bitty course plus a few others, including our first ditch. This worked out well, as I found out he could step over bigger things than I had thought.

2nd trip. Mounted up. Walked the path of the course, walking past each fence, narrating as we went. Get straight. Weight in the heels. Look up. And so on.

3rd trip. Walked over all nine fences.

Break. Performed excellent statue exercise at X in the dressage arena while watching Milton work. Relaxed so much, I decided to go back out. We compromised on doing half the course.

4th trip. Fences 1-2-7-8-9. Skipped the walk down the hill and back up. The trot was right there. If we had jumped anything at all, even so much as a cross rail in the last two months, would have trotted one or two.

Small potatoes? Physically, yes. Mentally? When I stood in the start box and gave myself a countdown from 10, I almost choked up. So yeah, there’s some baggage here.

No Show

Yes, there was a show on the grounds the day before. No, I did not go. I didn’t say anything because none of us need another ‘Why I didn’t go to a show’ post.

Short version.

After our first cross country school back in June, I had Plans. Might we, maybe, bop around the baby, baby novice course? [Achievement Unlocked]

Many, many things had to go right. A month of rain was not on that list. [Weather Update]

Mini-event was out. Maybe go for a repeat of dressage and crossrails? [Back In The Ring]

Nope. Logistics in August prevented us from schooling.

I considered going anyway and seeing what happened. However, Rodney is not a horse who functions well with surprises. So, we went the next day to address the flag question. Management was kind enough to leave the course dressed.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Work. One from the vaults.

Awareness of the outside world. “Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world’s population —  experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.” UNICEF: Water Scarcity.
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Put an elastic bracelet around your pump handle/hose faucet/whatever. When you turn on the hose, put the bracelet on your wrist. When you turn off the hose, return bracelet to handle/faucet. If the bracelet is still on your wrist, you have forgotten to turn off the water.

[Barn Hack, Hose Reminder]

I posted this February 3, 2020. I continue to do this whenever I turn on the hose. Every. Single. Time.

It’s only a minute. I’ll remember. Nope.

I’ll put it on my belt and see it there. Nope.

I’ll put it in my pocket … Nope.

It goes on my arm until the water is off.

There are those on the farm who give the idea the side-eye/eyeroll. Go ahead. It keeps me from leaving the water running.

Reshout-out to Darlene Flanagan for the life hack.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

The Horse World

Awareness of the outside world. The cognitive dissonance is strong. In one corner, cheering for my friends. For people who have welcomed me, have been good to me, have given me a barn home, which is no small thing. In the other corner, being appalled at the sea of maskless faces crowding the indoor seating in the same state as CNN: National Guard will be deployed across Kentucky to help overwhelmed hospitals. Holcombe and Sarisohn, 24 Aug 2021.
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I caved. I got the Richfield Video livestream of the World’s Championship Horse Show last week. The Stepping Stone Farm entrants were spread out over enough days that buying the entire week made more sense. For an I-need-an-excuse definition of ‘sense’.

I got excited about the show.

I got nervous before classes.

I yelled during the rides and cheered for the results.

I’m exhausted & I’m two states away.

To me, Peter Doubleday is the voice of big jumper classes. It’s always weird to hear him calling for riders to Rack On!

During the Lexington livestream, the Tour de France was on. This week, it was the the Vuelta a España. At one point, I had dueling screens – TV and phone – happening. [Couch Jockey]

One division had the top 7 move on to the championship class. Top 7?!? Top 4, top 8, top 10, sure, but top 7?!? What in the name of all that is satiny and shiny is going on here? Yes, as you may have guessed, one of the SSF folks came in 8th in this deeply annoying division.

Super props to the young lady who wore a helmet in her Show Pleasure Class.

Helmets showed up in the expected places. In the Hunter classes, where a few helmets were mixed in with the hunt caps. In Roadster driving and undersaddle, where juniors are required to wear helmets.

I got all excited to see helmets in Open Road Horse Under Saddle. Then I realized they were probably juniors and had to. I couldn’t tell from their other classes.

One helmet spotted in Amateur Road Horse. AFAIK, amateur means adult. So, yay.

OTOH, this was an easy reach. A colored helmet fits in with racing silks. The young lady pictured above may have been the only person on the grounds wearing a formal saddle seat suit and a helmet.

Saddle seat helmets are coming. I have no doubt. You heard it here first. Meanwhile, I will totally admit that it is hard to be in the vanguard. Doesn’t bother me, but I am old and crotchety. Bucking the trend as an Under 13? Girl Power!

Speaking of little used safety measures. To circle back to the outside world. The only messaging I heard all week on masks was from a horse. Retirement video for Mr.’s Bones. East Coast Equestrian: Rescued Horse, 71 Year Old Owner, Are Repeat World Champions, Lawson, 2009. The pair continued to win big after this article.

Update. Past helmet posts [Archives].

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Lots of nasty in the news: Afghanistan, Ida, and so on. I have not commented here because a) you are already well aware of it, & b) I have nothing to add to the conversation other than ‘Ick’. [Taking a Poll]
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With an average speed of 2 mph, our 100 miles is going to take us almost 50 hours, most of that at a relaxed walk. Therefore, I have been amusing myself with exercises to do at a walk.

Heels down. Let your weight sink down. Feel what this means.

Sit up. Stretch up. Shoulders back. Practice all those position pointers that you are usually too busy to perform.

Eyes up. Look around. See how the movement of your head affects your balance.

Look up. Look at the tops of the trees. Keep that up for a set distance.

Keep your center line over the center line of the horse.

Notice how the movement of the horse’s back shifts your position.

Overall, the walking has been a great attitude-building experience for both horses. I think it gets overlooked as a tool because it’s not flashy and it takes time.

Turtle power!

Where are we virtually?

Milestones. Milton.

Milestones. Rodney.

Map. 63 & 71 miles in. Graphic from Tevis Cup: About the Trail, shading mine.

Tevis Cup: Trail Sections & Historic Notes

Data dump

Tuesday, August 24 – 1.89 miles, 51 minutes
Wednesday, August 25 – Milton 2.14 miles, 52:49 minutes/Rodney 1.72 miles, 55:08 minutes. Rounding up recorded time.
Thursday, August 26 – Milton 2.28 miles, 56 minutes/Rodney 1.94 miles, 52 minutes
Friday, August 27 – 2.08 miles, 56 minutes
Saturday, August 28 – 2.13 miles, 57 minutes
Sunday, August 29 – Milton 3.59 miles/Rodney 3.09 miles/both 1 hour 30 minutes. Rodney stood while Milton did ring work. Full Circle Horse Park.
Monday, August 30 – 1.63 miles, 41 minutes

Distance this week – Milton 16 miles, 15 Rodney miles
Time this week – Milton 6 3/4 hours, Rodney 6 1/2 hours
Rides this week – 7

Total distance – Milton 71 miles, Rodney 63 miles
Total time – Milton 30 3/4 hours, Rodney 28 1/4 hours.
Total rides – Milton 32, Rodney 30
Total days – 38

Pace, time to go one mile – 26+ minutes, per VT results page

Numbers rounded off for ease of reporting. May not add up as given.

My Links
Last week [Milton Takes Point, Virtual Tevis, 55 & 48 Miles, 31 Days]
[VT Archives]

Official Links
Tevis Cup: Virtual Tevis 2021
RunSignUp: 2021 Tevis Cup – Virtual Western States Trail – 100 Miles in 100 Days
RunSignUp: VT results

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. The Last Word On Nothing: The Finkbeiner Test: A Tool for Writing About Women in their Professions Aschwanden 2017. TLWON: What I’m Not Going to Do Finkbeiner 2013.
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Rodney: Rider on. Cookie now?

Me: Yes, I have your cookie. You have to wait until everyone is ready to go. Mounting cookies are a team event.

Me: Here ya go.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. What you can find when spend way too long down the rabbit hole. A screenshot of my father in Time magazine, March 12, 1965. Related, Yale Alumni Magazine: Throwback Thursday: the campus awakes, Branch, 2015.

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Process notes. I was this-week years old when I figured out that pulling on the line drew out the handles from both ends. I didn’t have to click-shift-mouse each one. Good to know. Worked off eye instead of grids & guides, partly theory, partly curves made this too complicated, and partly I ran out of time (I had work, yeah!). Inkscape/GIMP.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Blogging About Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.
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In an effort to bring balance to my interests, I tried a 100-day challenge. The thinking is that if you do something for 100 days, it will become an ingrained part of your life.

I chose daily art.

I would draw something, anything, once a day for 100 days. Lettering. Doodles. Random marks all over the page. Didn’t matter what. Fill up one small notebook page with ink images.

Doable?

Ha!

I lasted less than 25 days even after reducing from a full page to a quarter page. It was a 5″ x 8″ page to start. One quarter of that is 10 square inches. Not a big space to fill.

You’d think, right?

Again I say, Ha!

That 25 days even included letting myself miss a few days.

One issue is that I have trouble doing things for no purpose. Doesn’t have to be a grand purpose, but a purpose none the less. Write to order? Sure. Write a daily blog post? Okay. Journal? Fiction? Crickets.

I’m the same with photography. Almost every photo I have every taken has been to fulfill a specific need, i.e. a professional assignment, class homework, blog post, or text message. Recently, I was scrolling thru my photos to see if I had a one I could use for a quick stand-alone post. All of them had been taken for a reason and used. No spares.

I wouldn’t argue good or bad. That’s too judgmental. I will say it is limiting way to go thru life. There leaves no room for serendipity. [Accidental Art, Horse & Cart]

Good, bad, or limiting, it’s not a habit that I am likely to change at this point.

New plan.

Weekly art …

… for the Sunday post.

My internal hall monitor appears to feel that the blog counts toward purpose, see above examples. I did this with the letter B last week and the blog logo for tomorrow. Success for n=2. We’ll see how that goes. [The Week Brought To You By The Letter B]

You may not see a huge change. Since I recommitted to weekend posts, Sundays have been about about images. This will continue. Maybe a bit more of my own, probably lettering. Images from others only as they are particularly appealing. Or I need to fill the space. [Weekends NOT off]

Mostly, this is a change of internal messaging. If this works, next up is music. Possibly a lost cause. [The Music, and The Mirror, and The Chance To Dance, One Out Of Three Ain’t Bad]

Thus ends this month’s glimpse into how the sausage is made.

Do you have a current self-improvement project?

State of the Blog [archives]
Above, July logo [Blog Logo, Mesh Gradient]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine