Horses & Other Interests
Awareness of the outside world. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Livestream.
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Process notes. MathJax_Script & Padauk Book fonts in Inkscape. Finished with GIMP.
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Dear Laura:
Well, I’ve experienced my first Landing Day here on the moon. It was intense.
It’s a much bigger deal up here than it is down there, as you can imagine. Does anyone on earth even bother to remember what happened on July 20, 1969?
We do. I can tell you. At 20:17 UTC, the whole place stops. Doesn’t matter who you are, or what you’re doing. If you are on the moon at that moment, you pause to think about what we, as humans, have accomplished.
The Tranquility Base History Center stages a live landing of the Apollo Lunar Module. Crowds gather in the indoor viewing areas. A tricked-out hopper flies in. The loudspeaker plays the radio communication.
In the normal course of things, when I when see the mock-up of the LM inside the History Center, it reminds me of a line from an old movie. ‘You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.’
Then you see a very convincing repro dropping out of the sky. It’s hard not to be awed.
We copy you down, Eagle. I get chills.
Houston, Tranquility Base here. I’m not crying; you’re crying
The Eagle has landed. The crowd roars.
Go ahead, read this and tell me you are not amazed, NASA: Apollo Expeditions to the Moon, CHAPTER 11.4
One thing you might not expect, up here, we are really big on celebrating Collins. You know the guy who DIDN’T get to walk on the moon. He made the trip and then got to stay in orbit.
Life on the moon is impossible without teamwork. You rely on other people to keep you alive. Every component of a team is important. We also serve who sit and circle.
“In his autobiography he wrote ‘this venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two’ “. Wiki: Michael Collins (astronaut)
Rock on, Dude!
Yours from the Lunar Landing site,
Liz
[Archive]
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Awareness of the outside world. “A portion of the proceeds going to support Old Friends Equine.” BreyerFest Blog: Splash of Color Dash!
In other news, the Olympics starts today. Can’t say that I think it’s the best choice. Then again, it’s easy for me to sit at home and shake my finger. NBC Olympics: Equestrian Schedule & NBC Sports: How to Watch Tokyo Olympics Equestrian: TV & Live Streaming Schedule, Yetzer.
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The Virtual Walk
Splash of Color Dash, RunSignUp, Photo
BreyerFest 2021 Virtual 5K
Overton Park, Mountain Brook AL
Date, Official – Sunday, July 18, 2021
Date, Me – Friday, July 16, 2021
Placing – Well, it’s like this. If you wanted to be considered for awards, you did the walk on Sunday with the official app. If you wanted to do it another day, here’s your medal, enjoy. Last year, I was 97th out of 127. Awards aren’t a consideration when one is walking in a running event. Plus, I didn’t want to walk over the weekend. I walked on Friday, so it was at least during BreyerFest. [Gaelic Gallop]
Time – I did use a GSP. I did track my time. Since I didn’t file an official time, I’m using this as an exercise in letting go. I walked. I finished. What does it matter what the numbers were? They were slow, I can promise that. My time? I had a good one.
The goofy look is me concentrating on aiming the phone down to include the bib. I considered trimming my face from the photo. Weight isn’t the only reason we are embarrassed to see ourselves. “Our vanity is no longer enough of a reason to avoid the camera.” So You’re Feeling Too Fat to Be Photographed…
I used a GPS mostly to do the lap counting. The path is 2/10 of a mile. No way was I going to count that high without dropping a lap. This way, I simply kept walking until the phone said stop.
The IRL Walk
Scenic pocket park with a brick-lined 2/10-mile walking trail. Off to the left is the playground, which I did not photograph because kids & privacy.
I had company for part of the walk (waves hi!). Forgot to take picture.
The walk was surprisingly easy. Maybe I’m in better shape. Company, and the anticipation of company, definitely helped. A busy park gave me things to look at. Mostly, I suspect the small loop was easier mentally. No feeling of, ‘I have to walk ALL THE WAY AROUND again.’ Just toodle up here, circle around, toodle down there. There was a slight slope, but it didn’t really figure.
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Wildfires in the western US. Terrible floods in Europe and China. Extreme heat everywhere. If only we’d had warning.
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tldr: Amount of rain up; amount of riding down.
Rain. So much rain.
We’ve had gully washers.
This is a walk in a local park *after* the flood had subsided. This was NOT us. When we have big rain, it makes a mess and then goes away, draining down the hill, taking our driveway gravel with it.
We’ve had days of rain. Days and days and days. Even a light rain day means heavy cloud, which means no sun, which means no drying time. The sweltering Southern summer sun is usually at least good for this.
We’ve had thunderstorms.
My mother was worrying – as mothers do – about storms in my area. I reassured her that afternoon thunderstorms are a standard feature of summer.
That was a few weeks ago.
Standard summer storm pattern. Show up on radar. Blow in. Go boom. Blow out. Get on with your life.
Lately the storms have been unsettled. Unpredictable. Blowing up from nowhere and then disappearing. Wrecks havoc on outdoor planning.
Why all this weather talk?
We don’t have the footing for these conditions. We haven’t ridden in days. Not even a quiet walk around the field. Rodney hikes up his skirts, minces along, and spends the entire walk going Eww, Eww, Eww. After a while, the level of annoyance grinds me down. Usually by that time, the ground has started to dry out. Now, not so much.
He has a point. Footing is terrible. I don’t walk in it. [Little Walking]
However.
I would have more sympathy for Mr. Princess Paws if I didn’t get to watch him canter downhill in the mud for breakfast. Canter. Downhill. In mud.
Anyway.
We could go somewhere with footing, but then you have the storm factor. Don’t want to get caught in the middle of an XC field during a thunderstorm.
I’m not whining. Okay, I’m whining a little. We had finally (finally, finally) gotten to the point where we could actually ride our horses. Now this.
The good news. Our temps have been ridiculously low for summer. It’s still hot & sweaty out, but not the incapacitating oven that summer around here usually is. [Summer Routine]
… and probably will be soon.
… and then I’ll complain about the heat and the hard ground.
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Kori approves of horse show programming. Cat and TV belong to …
[Macho Dresses Up As Dr. Whooves]
… Michelle, of Tardis dress fame. She and I each bought the Richfield Video livestream of the Lexington Junior League Charity Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. We spent the week cheering …
… the Stepping Stone Farm entries. Pictured, Coach Courtney, acting as header for Buster.
We watched. We texted. We shared from afar. I realize this is old hat to you hyper-connected digital natives, but this old fart was vastly amused.
Michelle was kind enough to ask questions, which gave me the chance to pontificate, which is a horseperson’s second favorite activity. [MGD Archive]
Show your horses!
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. “Lunar Communion Sunday is still celebrated annually at Webster Presbyterian.” History.com: Buzz Aldrin Took Holy Communion on the Moon. NASA Kept it Quiet, Blakemore, 2018, updated 2019.
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Last week was a festival of passive participation. Television coverage of the Tour de France. Livestream of the Lexington Horse Show. Virtual Breyerfest. Three events; three modalities.
Naturally, the Tour de France had the best production values. Full-time reporters following the race. Professional commentators covering every move.
Personal favorite was Lexington because I knew people. More tomorrow.
The most varied content award goes to Virtual BreyerFest. Hours of live and recorded coverage. Talks. Workshops. Art contests. Demos.
Wouldn’t it be fun to combine them?
Imagine a horse show with a virtual component to watch from the comfort of your couch. Full coverage of the ring(s), of course. Real-time results. Barn tours. Interviews with riders, trainers, and owners.
RVP tries to add value to their coverage. They stick a microphone on front of every winner as they come out of the ring. While I admire the effort, this is not the optimal time for quality interviews. Trust me, you will not get anything coherent.
On the way out, the folks from Richfield Video interviewed the winners. I talked five times to the poor man holding the microphone. I managed a usable soundbite once. The rest were the same ‘It was great. The horse was great.’ drivel that I used to get when I covered horse shows.
Team Awesome, Pro-Am 2016
Much of the information exists, but one has to cobble it to together. Schedule from the show. Results from a horse show recording page. Livestream from the videographer. Stills from the photographer.
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a landing page with all of this accessed from one place?
Okay, not every horse show, but the top handful from each discipline. Local shows tend to get watched by family members. Although, would grandparents pay to watch a few classes? Would a parent who couldn’t get off work? Fellow barn rats?
And maybe not TdF-level money, because then we get TdF-level scandals. But take some of the coverage ideas.
It wasn’t all watching. There was shopping.
Say what you want about content and fan-engagement, Breyer is a business. Their prime directive is to sell plastic ponies. BreyerFest makes it disturbingly easy to buy plastic ponies. I went a wee bit nuts with the shopping. I will confess to the extent once they arrive.
An outsider’s view,
Her horse is the lightsaber and Han Solo in Star Wars; the ring as well as Samwise in Lord of the Rings. The call to action and the companion.
Gizmodo: 72 Hours in Model Horse Mecca, Menegus, 2016
Later,
Make a horse walk funny and horse people lose their shit.
Ibid
Model Horse [Archives]
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Huffington Post: Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong.” Hobbes. Counterpoint, USNews: Everything You Know About Obesity Is Not Wrong, Markey. All of this was back in 2018. Still a worthwhile discussion. I want to say both sides have good points, but we can’t use the term “both sides” anymore can we? Anyway. “Just as horrifying as the disease itself (scurvy), though, is that for most of those 300 years, medical experts knew how to prevent it and simply failed to.” Hobbes. “What messages prevail isn’t just about what doctors put out, it’s also about what consumers pick up.” Markey. Assist to friend who posted on FB.
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Me. (Goes out to check footing for possible afternoon ride.)
Milton: I vote for bath!
Rodney: Yes. Bath.
Me. (Considers weather. While temps not as hot as they will be later, humidity says summertime. Considers horses sweaty from simply standing around.)
Me: You are not wrong.
(By bath, they mean rinse off with hose. One of their favs.)
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 