Virtual Brush Box

Riding Journal

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

Images

Awareness of the outside world. While we are on the subject of images. At my appointment last week, the dentist took an impression for an onlay. Think of it as a shallow crown. Instead of asking me to bite into a hunk of softened chewing gum, they scanned my tooth and the environs. The bionic part will be made from the scan. Digital dentistry. Welcome to the future. [Wednesday]
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Design Notes
Spent way longer on this than the results might indicate. Started with all diagonals. Round moon versus sharp, jagged letters. However, the pointy Os looked too much like fangs, which was more of a rat statement than I wanted to make. Made the Os square. Put slightly rounded corners on everything. Hello 70s. Square grid wouldn’t work with a circle as the base shape. Tried axonometric, i.e. triangular, grid. Got nowhere. Internet surfing says that the axonometric is mostly used for creating perspective.

The background image is the darkside from the NASA archives. If I ever did anything commercial, I’d want this to be a drawing. Something I can envision but not execute. Photo source & credit – NASA Solar System Exploration: Earth’s Moon, Galleries Lunar Far Side, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University, 2019.

The question I could not resolve was whether the two pieces of text should be treated the same or differently. The first is a more unified identity. This is who we are. The second approach introduces contrast/conflict/balance into the heart of the culture. We are several things at once. Both have advantages.

Process Notes
Inkscape. Learned how to use Path > Difference for the silhouette letters. Used Object > Clip for the circle. From pen tool drawing. No grid. Go me. GIMP for reformating & watermark, per usual.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Laura:

Well, I said I’d tell you about the lunar arts scene, which mostly means Moon Rats. They’re the ones with the leisure time. The rest of us are either working all out to maximize our limited time here, or exercising to keep our system in shape to go home. When they say We Live Here, they really emphasize the “live.” As in, all parts of the human experience. Except for walking through a U-pick orchard and eating fruit right off the tree, or sitting on the beach watching a sunset, or not worrying that you are one blow-out away from dying a sudden and decompressive death. But I digress.

So, anyway.

Really, you already see a lot of what gets produced up here. All the electronic works get published on Earth immediately. The comic, of course, that’s what the Moon Rats are best known for. Also, novels, animated movies, music, digital artworks, lunar documentaries, yadda, yadda, yadda. Even the color poems get reproduced on Earth. I saw a few before I came up.

That leaves dance. Ya can’t really perform lunar dance in full gravity. Well, they call it dance. I’m not sure what is dance-like about hanging by one foot from the ceiling. It’s more of a combined acrobatic/gymnastic/dance … thing.

I was going to say demonstration, but of course it’s not a demo. It’s more of a dance performance combined with an exercise class. You have to participate. It’s part of the package. The audience is not allowed to sit and watch. Part of the choreographer’s mandate is to come up with moves for us lumps on the ground. I’ve had people sit on my shoulders. I’ve been swept into impromptu waltz steps.

It’s fun, but sort of weird and disorienting. Am I watching? Am I dancing? Am I trying to both at the same time? I suspect the disorientation is part of the point. I’d probably get more out of it if I had a more artistic soul. I mean, I can get confused by dance performances on Earth when I’m just sitting and watching people on stage.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Say hi to Felix for me.

I just reread this. It’s not as us-and-them as I made it sound. There is a range. People are here for days or for years. A few folks live permanently on the moon but not in the tunnels. Being people, they have all kinds of opinions on the viability of different choices. Having said that, there is a bit of a two-camp feeling. It seems you either plan to go back home or you plan to stay and therefore embrace all of what that entails.

Yours from on high,
Liz

[Archive]
~~~ curtain~~~

Riding Journal

Pix from the Prof!

Photo guru Meg McKinney brought her critters class to the show as a photo field trip. She was kind enough to send photos. Welcome Meg! [Show Report, Guest Photos I, Guest Photos II]

Rodney offered to narrate this set of photos. (I added the specifics.)

That’s my dressage test. They are talking about meeeee! (Averil Loague in checked shirt)

Modeling

Why am I not eating grass now?

Hoomans. Amiright?

Horse show paparazzi. Are we done yet? (Rodney, Me, Averil Loague, Ginni Best).

On Course
(Jumping post. [Conversations With My Horse])

Gimme a minute. There’s a lot of stuff to look at here. Where we going? That one? Okay. Let’s do this. (Post salute. Still walking. Heading for fence 1.)

I don’t care if I could step over it. It looked like a lot of jump and wanted to give it a lot of room. (Jump 5.)

Of course I’m handling this well. I’m amazing. Also, please keep holding my paw. (Jump 7.)

Thank you Meg! [Post archive]

Update
[Doctor Whooves Is Ready For His Close Up, FCHP Schooling Show, April 2021, Guest Photos]
[The Return of Doctor Whooves, FCHP Schooling Show, April 2021, Guest Photos II]
[Doctor Whooves and The Master, FCHP Schooling Show, April 2021, Guest Photos III]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine