Virtual Brush Box

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.
~~~

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

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. Vox: 4 lessons from the early pandemic that no longer apply. Samuel. Aug 25, 2021. Two take-aways. Abstinence-only is not a long-term answer. We need to think globally, if only out of self interest.
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Continued. [Places and Parks, August Walks I]

Cahaba Heights Park
Circling sport fields
17 August 2021
1.05 miles
30 minutes

Leeds Memorial Park
Shade on a sunny day
18 August 2021
1.01 miles
25 minutes

Ross Bridge
Using the buffer land between road and golf course
I was there for a party (?!?)
21 August 2021
1.22 miles
25 minutes

Shelby County Arts Center
Scenic sidewalk
23 August 2021
1.08 miles
28 minutes

August Stats
Daily one-mile walks – 17
Weekly dance class – 1, session ended
Biking – 1
Long walks – 0 [Little Walking]
Total movement days – 19 as of Aug 26
Stretching days – it is to laugh [Or Not]

Accuracy vs rounding. I’m accurate with the mileage since I actually walked those steps. I’m less tight on the time since it includes stopping to take pictures & stopping to take notes. The total elapsed time is relatively meaningless in terms of effort expended.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. The ultimate political divide. A high tide raises all boats. If you win, I win. VERSUS Life is a zero-sum game. The only way for you to win is for me to lose. It’s hard to see a middle ground between these two. Either you cheer for the success of others, or you fear it.
~~~

Lots of new places this month. Split over 2 posts.

Started a group chat for walking. (Waves hi with both hands.) I don’t find it as much a matter of accountability as keeping the idea in forefront of my mind. For example, my in-house mechanic was off doing something useful at Lowe’s. I realized I had 20 minutes and and could fit in a walk. (I delude myself that a miles takes me 20 minutes.) So I walked up and down the sidewalk of the strip mall at Colonial Promenade. This led to several sidewalk walks this month.

This week’s takeaway message for those who might not be interested in Bham info. Find .25 mile stretch. Do it four times. Boom. Mile done. Plus the pretty pictures.

Walks tracked with Map My Walk. All mileage credit to [Biking and Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Part One, Minnesota].

Colonial Promenade
While waiting
7 August 2021
1.01 miles
25 minutes

Zaxby’s, as was
Parking lot of former fast food restaurant while waiting for oil change and tire rotation. [Shod]
13 August 2021
1.04 miles
30 minutes

Pepper Place
Around bike race [Giving Birmingham Its Due]
14 August 2021
1.5 miles
45 minutes

Lee Branch Shopping Center
Running errand.
16 August 2021
1.13 miles
27 minutes

Parks are pretty but they don’t usually come with fries. Lee Branch.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Tokyo 2020: Equestrian Paralympic Schedule & Results. Check out the Grade I, walk-only tests, FEI: Para Dressage Tests. Imagination fails me; I have enough trouble with a single diagonal. Paralympics started yesterday (got bumped for Covid news). While I am still dubious about the wisdom of gathering in large herds, I did want to give para equal time. [Splash of Color Dash]
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On one hand (hoof?). The shoe Rodney has been wearing. Lighter. Takes several days post-shoeing to adjust. With diligent bootie protocol, he has not pulled one this year.

On the other hand (hoof?). At the last shoeing, blacksmith tried a new shoe. Heavier. Same make, different model. More suited to Rodney’s size. Rodney LOVED them. I was able to ride the day after the shoe appointment. Went right back to work that weekend. With diligent bootie AND bell boot protocol … he pulled one in three weeks. [Milton Takes Point]

Slippers that are too thin but stay on.
versus
Workboots that are sturdy but fall off.

Two notes for non-horsefolks. Pulling off a shoe often involves tearing off a chunk of the hoof wall as as well. Doesn’t hurt, but leaves the blacksmith nothing to work with. Think a breaking a fingernail. Rodney grows very little hoof between shoeings anyway, so he has little to spare.

Also, some horses can live with a few days of barefoot. Previous Horse and Mathilda used go au natural over the winter. Tried it with these two. Not pretty. Even a day or two without a shoe requires several days to recover.

Yes, Rodney has annoying,Thoroughbred feet. Horses should not be 17 hands and TBs were selectively bred for speed not for hardiness.

Result. Blacksmith went with regular, lighter shoe. Will look into middle-ground possibilities. We are back to booties and a few days of adapting. Although, not too bad. Perhaps a few weeks in workboots allowed his feet time to toughen up. I would love for Rodney to wear those all the time. I guess, as with all things, you can’t plan for the average. You have to plan so that the failure case is acceptable.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine