Virtual Brush Box

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. National Recreation and Park Association.

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Three more local parks from my walking adventures. I realize that Birmingham-area parks are of limited interest to people who do not live in the Birmingham area.

a) Humor me. Now that I’ve started this project, I like to keep track of new places.

b) Enjoy the pretty pictures.

c) Think of it as a study in urban land use. Where do we build parks? Why do we build parks? Who uses them?

I have a two walking trails near me, both associated with towns. The parks and walk loops proliferate as one heads into town. Must be an urban/suburban thing.

Seems to me that the Romantics decided nature was inherent “good” for us and the idea stuck. So we build green spaces into our cities. Such spaces definitely get used, but they don’t necessarily have to be be green. A shared urban space could be a plaza or an outdoor mall. Nature used to be a scary and dangerous thing that we wanted to be protected from. Once nature was no longer trying to rend us limb from limb, we deemed it cute.

I almost majored in Urban Studies in college. Decided that would be a stupid thing to do in the wilds of New Hampshire.

Anyway.

The suburban parks I have found are almost all associated with creeks. I assume the nearby water makes the site more expensive to build on. Since the land pressure is not high, developers toss in a park, call it an amenity, and move the house lots a few feet down the road.

Cahaba Lily Park

July 13, 2021
1.14 miles
31:43 minutes

Meadowlawn Park

July 20, 2021
1.03 miles
34:27 minutes

Walked through the puddles on first pass, then back and forth to avoid them. [My Non-Virtual Life, Weather Update] photo

Avondale Park

July 20, 2021
1.15 miles
44:34 minutes

July Stats
Daily one mile walks – 11
Weekly dance class – 3, one closed for holiday, one missed for blacksmith.
Biking – 0
Long walk [Hitting The Bricks, Walk Report, Splash of Color Dash Virtual 5K]

Update. Daily mileage to [Biking and Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Part One, Minnesota]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. No dog in the hunt so I have not put any decision-making capacity into the question of school openings. Digital props to everyone who is.
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Milton styling in his new bridle from Two Horse Tack.

It’s made from beta biothane. Which is wrong. Tack is leather. She says, losing the argument rapidly. Plastic saddles. Plastic horse boots. And now a reasonably fancy plastic bridle. Snazzy-looking. From the distance of a judge’s booth, you couldn’t tell that it’s plastic. Certainly for the level of dressage &/or other showing we do around here.

Milton’s driving tack is biothane. Can’t argue with the convenience. Ain’t no one got time to clean that much leather. [New Equipment: Zilco Harness]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Guest post by Contact. Notice the call for questions at the end. [Part I]. Welcome.
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Part two! This post is sort of a mish-mash of thoughts. I am trying to summarize some complicated differences without writing a 20-page novel. So again, these are just my own observations.

Back/Hindquarters

• Saddlehorses: You will almost always see a hollow, dropped back. This is important in the gaited classes because the “extra” gaits are lateral in nature so in order to get that smooth slow gait, or rack, you have to hollow the back, thus destroying the purity of the trot and they “fall into” the lateral 4-beat gait. I will say that the slow gait is really smooth and quite fun to ride though! Some horses are more naturally gaited than others. The hind end often has quite impressive hock action, but little engagement. That is in general, you DO see saddlehorses who can sit and push but it is the minority. Hocks often trail behind the horse and the trot – especially in the five-gaited horses – is frequently not pure. Almost not even two beats anymore. There is a LOT of diagonal dissociation, and frequent negative DAP (which is another post in an of itself but here is a general link about DAP) I think I will go more into gaits in the next post.
• Dressage: The back and hind end are the most important focus for much of dressage training. Looseness, lift in the back, engagement of the hindquarters, rotation of the pelvis all come into play as you go into more advanced work. Purity of the gaits is really important. You see more lateral walks in dressage than the saddle horses, but I am going to go out on a limb and say a good portion of that is caused by hand riding. But because dressage focuses so much on correct back and hind end development, dressage horses tend to stay sound and compete much longer than saddlehorses. A 15-year-old Saddlebred is considered quite old for the show ring, whereas in dressage he might just be hitting his peak. There are always exceptions, though. I am just generalizing. 

Feet

• Saddlehorses: There are some people who loop the saddlehorses in with the Tennessee Walking Big Lick horses. This is not true. Saddlebred, Morgan, and Arabian folks do not sore their horses. The trot is the most important gait for these horses so anything that would produce unsoundness and destroy the trot would not be desirable. There is no incentive to sore the saddlehorses. However, they DO use weighted shoes and pads. Most shoes weigh between 12-24 ounces. A couple of divisions do have weight and shoeing rules (like Country Pleasure), as well as rules on how long the hoof can be. Many times a band will be used to keep a heavier show secured. Because of these shoes, most Saddlebreds do not get turnout, except perhaps in winter when they are out of their “show shoes.” By the way, if your horse throws a shoe during your class you can call a time out and the farrier will come tack it back on for you and you can continue the class. For a more detailed description of what shoes are ok for what Saddlebred division, click here, Shoeing for Different Divisions – Saddlebreds.
• Dressage: Dressage horses are shod according to whatever shoe they are most comfortable in. There are no weights (I think?) but pads are fine, and any variety of shoe that makes the horse comfortable. Many dressage horses are barefoot and compete successfully that way, too. I could not find any specific shoeing rules, other than you can’t paint your horse’s hooves with glitter and such haha. If your horse loses a show during your test, you can either keep going or retire. Tough cookies. ha.

Next: Gaits, tails, riders, misc roundup! And, I will answer questions. Thank you all for reading!

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Having a Garfield Monday. World will have to take care of itself. (Posts drafted & scheduled in advance, hence the time slip.)
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At dawn, we ride.

Drama aside, it’s cooler then.

In other news, Milton went the extra mile.

Literally.

While Rodney test drove his new shoes, Milton took in a few laps of trot. We calculate that it added up to a mile of extra distance.

I’m keeping it in the bank, as it were. To be added if needed, i.e. Rodney does solo work &/or Milton takes time off.

Meanwhile, Rodney has a normal pace versus …

Rodney’s last lap, heading home, I-wish-I-could-get-this-across-the-diagonal-in-a-dressage-ring, power walk.

Where are we virtually?

Milestone. Watson’s Monument, highest point on the course, Tevis Cup: Watson’s Monument.

14 miles in. Map from Tevis Cup: About the Trail, shading mine. On the map, we have passed Robie Park (start), Squaw Valley, High Camp, & Emigrant Pass.

For the record, last week’s shaded map, 4 miles.

Tevis Cup: Trail Sections & Historic Notes

Data dump

Tuesday, July 27 – 0.

Wednesday, July 28 – 0.

Thursday, July 29 – 1.8 miles. 48 minutes.

Friday, July 30 – 1 miles. 30 minutes.

Saturday, July 31 – 2.2 miles. 1 hour, 6 minutes.

Sunday, August 1 – 2.9 miles. 1 hour, 8 minutes.

Monday, August 2 – 2.4 miles, 55 minutes.

Miles this week – 10.

Speed this week – 2.3 mph.

Time this week – 4 1/2 hours.

Total miles – 14.

Pace, time to go one mile – 25 minutes.

Total hours – 6.

Total days – 10.

Average miles per day – 1.4. Need to keep this >1. At least. More would give us a buffer.

Extra Miles, Milton – 1.

Numbers rounded off for ease of reporting. May not add up as given. I’m keeping track of the fractions behind the scenes. Would you expect any less?

My links
Last week [Tevis, Virtual and Otherwise, 4 Miles, 3 Days]
[VT Archives]

Official links
Tevis Cup: Virtual Tevis 2021
RunSignUp: 2021 Tevis Cup – Virtual Western States Trail – 100 Miles in 100 Days

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. “We live in a world where girls and women are FINED for trying to cover up while playing sports, but also EXPELLED from schools if their shoulders are showing. Again, I dare you to ask why we’re angry.” @ida_skibenes, Twitter
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At most of the places we buy hay, some obliging young man loads the hay. At least, when the little lady is buying. One store is more DIY. For this particular occasion, the feed store person tossed hay from the front of the tractor-trailer to the back. I loaded the bales into the truck.

Stand one foot on truck bumper.

Stand one foot on metal steps piled with loose hay.

Load several bales.

Get clever.

Decide to toss bale into place rather than lifting into truck bed and rearranging later.

Forget about momentum inherent in a bale of hay.

Swing goes the bale.

Counter-swing goes the body.

Descend into space between truck and stairs.

Break fall with dropped bale.

Jump up.

Look around to make sure no one saw that.

Resume loading hay. Carefully.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. Flags as manga & anime characters, World Flags.
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The Summit
Birmingham, AL
July 22, 2021

[Gallery, Views of Vulcan]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Words

Images

Images of Words

On the last Saturday of the month, I do a State of the Blog post. Meh. Not feeling it. Any thoughts I have on the subject can wait until next month. Instead, here’s one from the vaults for your amusement. [SotB Archives]
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Awareness of the outside world. Little Free Library. I would do this in a heartbeat, if I lived or worked or hung out in an area with foot traffic.
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“The Lenox copy on display, printed on paper, is the first Gutenberg Bible to come to the United States, in 1847.”
The Gutenberg Bible
New York Public Library
Photos taken in 2019

Down The Rabbit Hole
History.com: 7 Things You May Not Know About the Gutenberg Bible, by Andrews, 2015, updated 2018.

“As historian Ada Palmer explains, Gutenberg’s invention wasn’t profitable until there was a distribution network for books.” Business Telegraph: 7 Ways the Printing Press Changed the World, 2019. Included because I love Palmer as a source. Her, I don’t doubt. I question the rest of the article due to the inexplicable howler at the very end. [Numbers and Weaving]

Update. I did not repeat the howler under the theory that one should not propagate incorrect information, even to correct it. But that means you had to click over. Instead, I should have restated the info. Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents, but he was not president. OTOH, the Internet says this is a common mistake. Huh.

“It is the declared objective of the Gutenberg Foundation in Mainz, Germany – the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg – to make his heritage accessible to the public and to preserve it.” Gutenberg Foundation.

NYPL: Patience and Fortitude Celebrate 100 Years, 2011. The lions in LEGO bricks by Nathan Sawaya.

NYC [archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine