Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. TFW you pull an item of clothing from the depths of your closet, put your hand in the pocket, and realize you have no idea how long that peppermint or horse cookie or dog treat has been there.

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Wheels
Stepping Stone Farm
Photo by Greg Walcott
August 2025

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Association. Yes, bike polo. I admit, I chuckled. Turns out the version on grass has been around since 1891.(!) The hardcourt version originated with off-duty bike messengers in the early 2000s. Calgary Bike Polo: What is Bike Polo.

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ASHAA Fun Show
Stepping Stone Farm
Chelsea AL, USA
Sunday 10 August 2025

10 Academy Driving – 2nd of 2
With Optimus. Thank you to the Gray & Parr families

30 Academy Showmanship Adult WTC – 1st of 1
31 Academy Equitation Adult WTC – 1st of 1
Ridden as combined classes with 32 & 33 Aca WTC 14-17.
With Optimus. Thank you to Courtney Huguley.

Exactly as before. [Summer Showing, July 2025]

Preshow I

Driving. Third class needed to qualify for year-end awards.

Riding. Academy class with Optimus has an element of Groundhog Day. Was there a point? I decided that any saddletime is a positive.

Preshow II

After a most excellent lesson. I was a wee bit excited. Had a turned a corner? Did I finally understand saddle seat? Might I, perhaps, be able to edge out folks whom I have never beaten (in one case) and almost never beaten (I assume a grievous mistake was made in that instance)? It was a small fun show but you don’t horse show if you don’t want to win. [Notes from a Successful Saddle Seat Lesson]

First Class, Driving

Ability to recreate what I had done in my lesson? Close to 100%. Easier due to sitting on a seat in the cart. Chin up. Lift. I radiated elegance and poise. Optimus was loving it.

Ability to follow directions? Not so much. At the extended trot. The announcer said “Xaskj”. I could not hear. I guessed walk. Nope. Back to trot. Then walk. At which point we were in the corner.

Optimus: I know what comes next, we reverse.

Me: No, no, we have to wait for me to ask. No, really. I’m supposed to be steering back here.

And then we both made a hash out of the turn into the line up. I did not realize it was possible to cut quite that tight a turn in a cart.

Second &Third Classes, Riding

Ability to recreate what I had done in my lesson? Chin, success. Although a few times, my chin got a bit too high. I looked like a misguided astronomer searching for stars in the daytime. Still, better up than down.

I had a harder time keeping my ribcage lift & pelvic alignment. At the end of the second class, we finally had a little bit of flair. It is much easier to give your horse space when he uses it.

Learn Something New Every Day

Toward the end of his career, Sam use to like getting ready early and moseying about before his class. No work. Just walking and chilling and letting the gears begin grooving. At this show, I got anxious about being late for my class and was ready a bit too early. Optimus Does. Not. Like. After his joie de vive in the driving class, he spend most of the riding classes being stuck. Not slow, just stuck.

Optimus: We stood around too long and it’s all your fault. (He was not wrong.)

Me: Darn it. This is so hard. Well, I guess the lesson went better because I was on a different horse. No, wait, I wasn’t. I was on the same horse. I should be able to do this. I guess the lesson went better because. And so on.

He finally forgave me toward the end of the second class.

We also broke once at the canter, when Opt chose to be distracted by a voice in the corner. But I don’t think the judge saw. Hard to tell as I was alone in the class, if not in the ring.

Lack of Media

My personal paparazzi took a multitude of action photos. You are not going to see them. I’m too discouraged. My riding looks terrific. Strong. Confident. Like I’m having fun up there. What I don’t look is the slightest bit saddle seat. Yes, clearly, I can live a rich and satisfying life without ever being a saddle seat equation star. What is deflating is that I really really thought I was doing the thing. Or at least getting closer. I wasn’t.

Post Show

Successful because horse show. Semi-successful because I neither replicated my lesson nor raised my results. In one case, the placing stayed the same. In the other case, the competition stayed home.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Seattle WorldCon starts today. It is primarily an in-person event. However, they are promising a strong virtual component for members. There will also be several presentations open to the general public, at no charge, on their YouTube Channel, including the Hugo Awards Ceremony.

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Optimus
Stepping Stone Farm
Saddle seat lesson
August 2025

Since Optimus is such a reliable dude, I opted to work on things from my hunt seat lesson, specifically keeping my helmet brim up and lifting from the top of my head. [The Lessons Continue]

The phrase Coach James uses to explain this is ‘Lift Your Chin.’ This command, combined with the two previous thoughts hit my brain in such a way that it actually worked. I’ve been told to lift my chin before, many times. Coach Courtney will say, “chest, chin” as a ringside reminder.

Why did it work this time? No idea. This must be one of the joys and frustrations of being a teacher. Joy that they finally get it. Frustration that you have been saying the same thing in different ways for weeks, months, years.

From a biomechanic point of view, lifting the chin could be interpreted either as rotating the skull or as bringing the entire assembly higher off the ground. I chose to interpret the words as combining both actions.

Coach James then added ‘lift the ribcage’ which I have also heard before, more than once. Somehow, this time, it worked. The combined actions of lifting my chin, pulling my head up, and keeping my brim up opened up space for me to life my ribcage into.

It was amazing. I felt light, solid, in balance. All the wonderful things. It was energizing, even magical.

At least at a walk.

At a trot, I could maintain the lift in my chin & ribcage, but everything else fell apart. My legs went everywhere. This doesn’t happen. My lower half assembly is solid. Usually.

Back to the walk to reevaluate. At faster speeds, I was failing to keep my pelvic bone in a vertical alignment. I did this thing. It helps if I think about leaving space for an ASB to be expressive with their front end.

Return to trot. Good thing I was on Optimus because I could barely ride. Steering and other horse-related activities had fallen off my radar. Work in progress.

The canter went well, but then, my canter does.

Optimus was all for it. I was in balance, out of his way, making myself easier to carry.

When it went right, it was amazing. All the pieces fit together. It was simplicity itself to stay in the correct position. Suddenly. I had more use of my arms. Maintaining the canter all the way around the ring was a piece of cake

Would I remember this next time? Funny you should ask. Tune in tomorrow.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. I am filled with rage and the desire to blame, none of which is helpful, including to myself.

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Agenda. Walk with the horses each morning. One mile, back and forth in the pasture, combination of in hand & at liberty.

Currently. Milton is choosing to take short laps and to sit out the occasional lap. We suspect he is brewing an abscess in the other hind foot. [Milton’s Yearly Drama]

What is up with Milton’s feet this summer? Grot. Abscess. Pulled shoe. Now this. Rodney joined in with the ankle grot, but not the rest. [Fun With Foot Grot, Not, Why Do We Horse, Shoeing Edition]

I declare it the Year of the Foot. Horse feet. Husband’s foot. My foot. Two friends with foot adventures, one of which was a hoof stomp. [Foot 2025, list of posts]

Horse feet problems are most likely due to the excessive wetness this spring. Dunno what’s up with the people.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Scalzi coined the phrase, “The failure mode of clever is ‘asshole.’ ” Whatever. I would like to posit that this is true for men. If you are female, the failure mode of clever is silly. Ask me how I know.

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Milton. Outlast. Bordering on miracle cure. He lets us touch his ears now. Like, actually reach up and rub them. Not just sneak up from the side to check for ticks. Have his problems in the past been rooted in stomachaches?

Rodney. Gastroguard. Has been on Outlast. We finally interpreted the minion messages and realized it wasn’t working. After one dose of Gastroguard, the change is night & day.

Same breed. Same living conditions. Same exercise regimen. Same hay, feed & grass. Wildly different requirements. I don’t think I will ever understand horses.

Nor will I understand what on earth my horses have to be stressed about.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. MOPOP: Online Collection Vault. The Museum of Pop Culture is in Seattle WA USA. Posted here in honor of Seattle WorldCon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, which starts this week.

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Fuchsia in color. Fabric in theory.

“Fuchsia is a vivid pinkish-red color, named after the color of the flower of the fuchsia plant, which was named by a French botanist, Charles Plumier, after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.” Wiki: Fuchsia (color).

“Traditionally, historic blackwork is done on very fine plain-weave linen, typically 80-90 threads per inch.” The Little Book of Historic Blackwork by Toni Buckby (IPN 2024), p13.

Process Notes

Outer form from E alternate. Has the advantage of maximizing interior space for the pattern. [E Variations]

Partial interior pattern. The rest are single Fs in one of four orientations.

Arrangement I would have used if I wasn’t trying to fit the inner design into the outer shape.

As with any of the square letters, – F, T, etc. – you have to be careful of unintentionally producing culturally fraught symbols.

Project Description [Colorwork Alphabet Introduction]

Previous Posts [Colorwork Alphabet]

Onwards!
Katherine

This was supposed to be a Faces in the Crowd exercise, wherein I make up stories about strangers as fictioneering practice. However, I chose a food hall that shall remain nameless. The food was so astonishingly bad that I had to go somewhere else for lunch. Plus, the floor plan is not set up well for people watching. But I digress. Enjoy the cat. Archives [Faces]

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Skittles, aka The Shed Monster
May 2025
Stepping Stone Farm

Onwards!
Katherine