Virtual Brush Box

Images

Dentzel Carousel Coloring Book: About the Cat

Down The Rabbit Hole

[Spirit Of Mississippi, Toomsuba, MS]
Meridian MS chose carousel horses for their version of Cows On Parade, Around Town Carousels Abound. Probably because of the town attraction, “Both the carousel and the carousel House are National Historic Landmarks.” Visit Meridian: Dentzel Carousel.

🎠
Emojipedia: Carousel Horse

LEGO sets. Brothers Brick: Grand Carousel, Brothers Brick: Carousel, with designer commentary.

The Battery Conservancy: Seaglass Carousel

National Carousel Association

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Words

Fiction Bit The First
Character One: Like the song says, life is a carousel, old chum.

Character Two: Cabaret.

Character One: What?

Character Two: ‘Life is a cabaret, old chum.’ That’s what the song says, The word is cabaret.

Character One: That doesn’t make any sense. Life is much more likely to go up and down and around in circles than to break into a song and dance routine.

Character Two: (shrug)

Fiction Bit The Second
I carve carousel animals.

When I tell people what I do, I’m generally met with dead silence. People understand the words but have trouble parsing how a grown human can make a living that way. Then I get one of two responses.

Disbelief. People do that? How? What? Followed by embarrassment at being shocked. Sometimes the disbelief is followed by more disbelief. The latter usually comes from family members who think I should be doing other things with my life.

Or.

Enthusiasm. Wow! That’s awesome! … wait for it …. “When I was a kid …” I’ve heard every variation of the childhood carousel story. I can usually identify which carousel they are talking about. I don’t mind, if people didn’t like carousels, I wouldn’t have a job.

Kate said neither. She glanced down at my hands.

“Power tools or hand?”

It was my turn to be startled into silence.

“Um. Both. As needed.”

She nodded.

Other People’s Fiction
From the bookshelf. Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee. Baen 2010. First in the Carousel Tides series. Read as an ebook. Magic is among us. Carousel animals are special. The tropes are familiar enough to qualify as a comfort read; different enough to be interesting. Name above in honor of the CT protagonist.

Down The Rabbit Hole

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down

The Circle Game

Joni Mitchel: Song Lyrics, The Circle Game. With background story.
~~~

I like to catch brass rings on the merry go round
The one that goes up and down
…
While my sweety in the rear says I ride like Paul Revere,
On the merry, merry go round.

Merry Go Round

YMCA CAMP LOOWIT CAMPFIRE SONGS: Campfire Song Index, MERRY GO ROUND

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. “Mission Statement. Bringing Native arts to the world by inspiring artistic excellence, fostering education, and creating meaningful partnerships.” About SWAIA.

~~~

Medal arrived from the Santa Fe International Virtual 5K. [Disc Stroll]

Clay medallion by Tesuque Pueblo potter Wesley Vigil. Per cover letter, “The wheel design – passed down amongst Tewa potters for generations – signifies moving forward.”

Artist bio, Poeh Cultural Center, Facebook.

The name Tesuque is a Spanish variation of the Tewa name, Te Tesugeh Oweengeh, meaning the “village of the narrow place of the cottonwood trees.” SWAIA: About Santa Fe, Tesuque Pueblo.

I’m thinking one can’t call oneself a true hermit if one enjoys pretty things showing up in the mail.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal

Awareness of the outside world. Raw Story: US state of Maryland retires pro-Confederacy state song, Agence France-Precise May 19, 2021.
~~~

Bell boots. Because we are running out of places to put things on these horses.

First day. Got a few steps of fancy trot and a canter I could sit. Sold!

Rodney doesn’t seem to mind them flapping about. After all, his booties flap and clunk, and he loves those. Seriously, he will lick and chew when I put them on.

Booties for turnout. Leg boots for riding. Special padding for his saddle. A maintenance program for stomach issues. Now bell boots. Yes, there are times when I feel as if my horse is made out of tissue paper. He’s big for a Thoroughbred. I guess when you are outsized to design specs, you have to expect some structural issues. Although, in his defense, back, tum, and neck – from counterbalancing – problems are rooted in foalhood trauma. Mechanical issues with legs and hooves are the parts of the symphony that come from being a 17-hand horse on TB feet.

The bad news – or possibly the good news – on that first day, we did a line of trot poles and he just about trotted me out of the tack.

Shipping bell boots for the moment. Looking into sport bells.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal ASB

Awareness of the outside world. It is not a HIPAA violation for a business to ask if you have been vaccinated. Katelyn Jetelina: HIPAA Violation?
~~~

Last week, I went over to Stepping Stone Farm help load for a show. [Wednesday]

I Miss The Horses

[Pro-Am 2016 Show Photos by Shiflet]
Alvin telling me that I can’t handle the trot, showing me what a good drive feels like. [Trot, Team Awesome]

[Show Photos: NACHS17]
Dottie teaching me showmanship. [Show Report, Life With La Prima]

[More Thoughts]
Tigger, the World’s Greatest Horse. [Thoughts, end]

[Saddlebred Three-Quarter Century Club]
And of course, Sam, aka Captain Fabulous. [So many posts. Some horses you just hit it off with.]

Among a herd of others.

Most of the horses I knew have moved, are gone, or are resting in happy retirement. I’m sure the new crew have as many memories to make.

Note for balance, I recognize that it’s not all about competition. I do have wonderful, non-show, ASB memories. Shows are where the photos are taken and the stories are written down.

I Do Not Miss The Horses
All of the above are retrospective views. Prospectively, I have the same gut-level response that I had at my first lesson 9 years ago.

Perhaps body language is one reason for the Saddlebred’s hyper reputation among hunter/jumpers and others. Picture a horse with a high head, bulging eyes and ears so alert they almost touch. In a Thoroughbred this means lift-off is immanent imminent (altho the former may be true as well). In a Saddlebred, it means hello.

[Sam I Am 2012]

Rationally, I know that Saddlebreds are not Thoroughbreds. An ASB is more likely to go on the boil than a TB. They are less likely to blow the lid off the kettle. Particularly given the Saddlebreds I ride versus the Thoroughbreds I own. I know this. I believe this. [Pick Your Crazy 2016]

However.

My hindbrain is imprinted on Thoroughbreds. It takes one look at an ASB in a good mood and runs around shouting ‘She canna take any more, captain. She’s gonna blow.’ (To be read in a Scottish accent.)

I was leading horses who were heading to a show to be ridden by tots. I had not the slightest interest in getting on a single one.

Where does that leave me? I have no idea.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal

Awareness of the outside world. Work today. Must focus. Oh look, laundry …
~~~

Unrelated photo for visual interest. Pasture last Saturday.

Here’s a theory. Predicting the worst is the mind’s way of making a making a side bet with itself. You want X to happen. You decide not-X is going to happen. If X happens, you get what you want. If not-X happens, at least you get the bitter satisfaction of being right. Pain protection.

Another theory. Any job is 50% skill set, 50% dealing with people. The other 50% is paperwork.

A final theory. I wondered if I should post this. What if either person sees this and is not amused? I have no faith in my ability to predict how anyone with react to anything. Easy to say be yourself and let your people find you. Hard to do.

Enough meta.

Never heard back from the New Barn. It’s a bit odd. At several points in our conversation, they promised to text me the details. I never actually got any specifics. They repeated said, Oh I’ll send that. I entered the number into my phone and texted while standing there. So the ball is definitely in their court. [Looking For a Lesson Horse]

Yes, yes, I could text or email a reminder but

a) Is this representative of the attention they pay clients? Probably not. Once I go from potential money source to actual revenue generator, the response would improve.

b) I am feeling petty. This isn’t failing to respond to an email in a overstuffed inbox. I made the effort to haul my carcass out to the barn.

Oh well, I don’t impress the horse world. I had same problem buying horses, i.e. getting people to take me seriously.

&

c) Getting on my high horse is so much easier than coping with the hesitation I feel about riding new horses.

In contrast.

We sent the June clinician preliminary questions. [Clinic on the Horizon]

Prompt and complete response.

Excellent. So far so good.

A few days later, while we were still pondering, we got a second email asking if were were still interested?

Well, that was perky … bordering on pushy.

Wait.

That’s not fair.

I can’t fuss about people who don’t respond (this was before the New Barn visit) and then complain about someone taking an interest in promoting their business.

Well, I did admit to being a problematic client. [Chiro Update]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. What is an inclusive way to address a handful of people? I was writing an email to three women, two of whom I have met but don’t know well. I began with “Ladies:” But then I thought, Really? Do I know that? They have feminine names. They present as female. Should I be making this assumption? Persons? Conversely, where I live, a generic inclusive term could be seen as a lack of respect and/or cause offense. I don’t think that is the case here, but am I making assumptions about social politics as much as assumptions about gender? Folks? Am I overthinking this? I stayed with Ladies & crossed my fingers.
~~~

Note: Heavily-discounted introductory offer ends TOMORROW.

The screenshots pretty much say it all. Ride Like An Athlete, a new online fitness program for riders.

“You put your horse through specific workouts to get them ready for the dressage ring, the fences, long trail rides and races. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a workout routine for you? … The FitRider membership is a rider fitness training program and community that shows you exactly what to do to be a balanced, supple, fit rider.” RLAA: FitRider

Horse Hunt Fairy Godmother is one of the coaches. [Mail Order Horse]

I signed up as a gesture of support as much as anything else. They would undoubtedly prefer an exuberant gym rat to a mildly motivated couch potato. Who knows. Might turn out to be exactly the thing I need. I certainly ought to do something.

I have to admit that I don’t hold out much hope for this program to revolutionize my life. I’m not a moving media person. I don’t do video, even with the best of intentions. After watching parts of Virtual DragonCon last year, I paid extra to have access to their video library for a year. Have not looked at a single one. My phone has an entire screen stuffed with links to videos that look like they’d be fun. Yet, I never go to them. I’ve even managed to mostly miss the Zoom avalanche that was 2020. I am open to being proven wrong.

If it sounds like your thing, please give them a look. The intro offer is sweet.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine