Virtual Brush Box

Training Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won.

 

Awareness of the outside world. Year for the first Black members of Congress? 1870. U.S. Capitol Visitor Center: The Second American Revolution. Lithograph by Currier & Ives Library of Congress: The first colored senator and representatives – in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States.
~~~
 

The ride is virtual. The gaits are real. Our trail walks around the pasture have become trail walk & trots, with even a dollop of canter.

Milton’s Walk
Milton putts along with the rider’s reins on the buckle. His neck is stretched out, with a sweet curve that says he’s relaxed but interested in his environment. Ears are perked.

Milton’s Trot
When he is trotting behind, Milton’s face bears an adorably earnest grimace as his feet fling about in an effort to catch up with Rodney. When Milton is in the lead, I watch the several false starts it takes to get trotting.

Rider: Milton trot!

Horse: Hums quietly to himself. Walks along.

Rider: Milton trot!

Horse: How would you feel about a fast walk?

Rider: Milton trot!

Horse: Not a fast walk. Okay, then, trotting it is.

Rider: Milton trot!

Horse: Keep your shorts on. This is a trot. Kinda.

Milton’s Canter
Right at the top of one hill, Milton threw in a few strides of canter, using momentum as an aid to hauling himself up the slope. The last time Milton’s rider cantered may have been a dressage test with Mathilda in the 90s. Driving? He’s a cantering fool. Riding? Not so much. Everyone did great.

Rodney’s Walk
Rodney is not stupid. He learns plenty fast. However, it takes him forever to accept a new concept. The processing time is long. He was just starting to get the idea that he could stroll along, think his thoughts, watch the scenery. The ears were just starting to reach a happy place. Then we added trotting.

Rodney’s Trot
Rodney is pouting.

He is learning a trail trot, i.e. a slow jog to stay behind Milton when we are following or not get too far ahead when we are leading.

Technically, he is perfect. Loose rein. Good speed. Maintains the pace. Artistically, he is doing everything he possibly can to misbehave while still being correct. Trotting with a sideways bend in his neck. Acting sullen. He’s convinced this is a horrible new thing and that he will hate it.

He’s not bored. During our stand exercises, this horse would stand for 20 minutes or more admiring the world around him. He’ll get there with trotting around the pasture. Eventually. [Switching Horses]

Rodney’s Canter
At one point we got far enough behind Milton that I asked Rodney if he wanted to canter. We lasted 5-6 strides and dropped back to trot.

He does the same thing in the ring. He will try to break into a canter, particularly around a corner. ‘I don’t want to trot. I must canter.’ Sometimes, I say no. Sometimes, I let him. He canters maybe a quarter of the way around the ring. ‘Okay, enough of that. I’d rather trot.’

(Actually, the best times are when I stay centered and we keep our balance and he doesn’t feel the need to threaten/offer to canter. But that’s a different story.)

Spooking and Fussing
Milton got a wee bit overwhelmed trotting uphill while simultaneously slaloming though the trees. He felt the need to express himself. Rider not fazed. Says he’s dealt with that maneuver many, many times on longlines.

Rodney did not like the look of the red cart seat that he walks past multiple times a day. No sir, he did not like the look of it at all. In his defense, the red was remarkably bright in the sunlight.

Both of them objected to trotting in tall grass.

The Joys Of Riding Thoroughbreds
I doubt real Tevis horses have this many thoughts about what they are being asked to do. A horse would be exhausted if they keep this up for 100 miles.

[VTevis archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Thoughts

 
Awareness of the outside world. We will never know if we overreacted. We will only know, to our sorrow, if we underreacted.
~~~

Cats of the Birmingham Zoo. Lion. Lion. Pallas kitten. Bobcat. African Wild Cat. Sand Cat. The Wild Cat & the Sand Cat were stalking each other from across the aisle.

Last Mood post was a month ago. I haven’t posted one because not much changes. I could & paste from previous posts. Which is good in some cases. [Mood on Monday, When This Is Over]

Still no personal connection with the virus. Yay. [The Mood On Monday, The Ugly Bits]

Still blogging, riding & biking. Still ineffectively staring into space otherwise. Yay. Boo. [Mood On Monday, Exhaustion and Dead White Men]

Still hanging out at home. Until last week, the most non-essential activity I had done was to buy a donut. : ? “It can also mean an unsureness of what facial expression would be appropriate in this situation.” Urban Dicitonary: : ? Emoticon. [Mood On Monday, Putting The Outside World In Time Out, I should note that mask-wearing compliance was 99% the last time I was at this store. Everyone had a mask on, one employee had their mask half on. Missed 100% by a nose.]

Still benefiting from the shift to virtual. This week The Great American Stamp Show. : ? Just assume this emoticon for the rest of the year.[Mood On Monday, Upside, Hard To Be Happy]

Still horrified by the news. Boo. [Ugly Bits]

Not Happening
I canceled my dental cleaning over the summer. Cases were on the rise in my state. Despite the outstanding procedure on my first visit, standards had slipped when I went for my second visit. I decided routine maintenance could wait. I may have to go back anyway. My other lower, hind molar is aching. I’m starting to suspect that I clench or grind my teeth at night. I wonder why. [Outing Report, In Which I Venture To The Dentist]

Happening
I finally had a small outing. Was in town. Had a few hours before my next appointment. Went to the zoo. Minimal risk as it would be outdoors and uncrowded. The zoo had done a great job adapting to current events. Traffic barriers kept people in a one-way loop. Masks were universal. Frequent sanitizing stations. High-touch points were identified. I did go inside two buildings, but there were few other folks and I stayed away from them.

Attitude
I find my attitude shifts over time.

I spend July in a daze. Burnout. Quarantine fatigue. Call it what you will. I look at a calendar and wonder how we got to August.

This month, I have been getting pissy.

I watch other countries and think, this is why we can’t have nice things. During CoNZealand, they announced the location of a meeting and invited any local people to stop by. My first thought, they shouldn’t be gathering like that. My second thought, in New Zealand they could. We have no excuse for where we are as a country other than a disinclination to get our collective shit together.

Locally, I sit on the sidelines while I watch people conduct themselves as if life was unchanged. I want that. Of course I want the virus not to exist and not to have to remember a mask and to be able to hug my friends and to make travel plans and to generally get on with my life. These are not good choices, certainly not in a part of the country with high case counts and undesirable positivity rates.

I am right? Are they right? Am I overreacting? Are they underreacting? The only way to be sure is for something to go wrong. The only way to convince people that a pandemic is actually happening is for someone to get sick. I don’t want that. So, I sit in my corner and rage inside my head.

Plus, it’s August, Not my favorite month in any year. [Hello September]

And that’s what I have to say about this moment in 2020.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Words

 
Awareness of the outside world. Daily Science Fiction! Free short fiction AND they pay their writers. Okay, not New Yorker rates, but better than paying in the dreaded Exposure Dollars.
~~~
Fictional this & that after binge reading Let’s Play, links below.

Text Exchange
Indie Game Designer: Your package arrived.

Eva: Awesome!

IGD: Stop sending your orders to my address and requiring a signature.

Eva: Sorry. 😦 You know my building has porch pirates.

IGD: Just because I am WFH doesn’t mean I’m not busy. Do you know how irritating it is to pull yourself away from negotiating a diplomatic treaty with goblins and remember to speak muggle-English? Postal drivers object to be addressed as Foul Lord of the Deeps. Plus I have to find pants.

Eva: 😦 😦 😦 Pizza? 🙂 🙂 🙂

Comic Idea
Let’s Play has characters represented by animal avatars, e.g. Monica as a pink wolf in in episode 80 (listed as 84 online), and Link as a protective lion in the dog park during episode 45 (listed as 48 online).

What if a comic expanded on that? Every human character would be accompanied by an animal to represent their non-verbal side. Animal characters would be accompanied by human avatars that would convey the animal’s interior monologue.

Sometimes, human and animal would act in unison, as with B*tch Wolves United, in episode 81 (85 online).

Other times, the human and animal would diverge.

Scene. Two people sitting at a restaurant table having pleasant conversation over dinner. Meanwhile, their animal avatars are circling and growling. Or sniffing and flirting.

Scene. Kid at school or adult at meeting. Human sitting up, appearing to pay attention. Meanwhile, their animal avatar is wandering around, peeing on the furniture.

It would be double the work, since you would be telling dual stories and every character would have to be drawn twice, once as human and once as animal. Plus fitting all the creatures into each panel.

The animal avatars could grow or shrink depending on the internal needs of the story &/or the external space requirements of the comic.

What’s cool is that it emphasizes the advantages of the graphic novel/comic format. There would be no way to do this in text without insane amounts of exposition.

And then there are copyright issues. I have no grasp as to how much of that idea belongs to the creator of Let’s Play. How much does one have to change an intellectual property to make it one’s own? When does Romeo & Juliet become West Side Story? Or would WSS be copyright infringement if Shakespeare were still alive. Any IP lawyers out there?

Meta Moments
In places, the author has the characters refer to comic tropes or refer to an awareness of being in a comic. For example, in episode 101 (105 online), two characters eat lunch in an alcove rather than in the open area of a pub. As they sit down, one of the characters says, “… And with this as a backdrop for the scene, the artists don’t have to worry about drawing a lot of people in the background.”

This could easily be translated in text, thereby giving the blogger a third item to round out the post.

A “Dear Reader” for the 21st century.

Let’s Read
Read Let’s Play for free here. Kickstarter for volume 2 here. Volume 1 is available as tier or add on. Check out the funding amount!?! Fandom here. Assist to a recommendation by Whatever.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Narrative Photography

 
Awareness of the outside world. Forbidding people from wearing masks. Color me a whole new level of appalled.
~~~
 

2020 Tevis Cup, Virtual Western States Trail

[VTevis Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won.

 
Awareness of the outside world. Sweep Riders of the Sierras.
~~~
Overall

We have added trot to our repertoire! The possibility had been discussed as a future prospect, but then Milton’s rider got all Mr. Perky Paws and off we went. On our last day this week, we trotted in 6 out of the 7 laps. Just trotting the flat parts of the field trimmed our time down to within spitting distance of 3 miles per hour. Go, Speed Racers, Go!

Plus, adding one lap, 7 instead of 6, will help us gradually pile up the miles. For example, this week we are one mile ahead of the 7-mile-per-week average. A little bit more each day adds up. There’s a life lesson cleverly hidden in there somewhere.

This was another front-loaded week. Blacksmith comes today. Rodney has been taking a few days off after shoeing. Lets hope it’s only a few days off.

Milestones
Crossing Highway 89. Approx. Mile 6. This involves going under the highway via an underpass, climbing up to the highway, using the highway to cross back over a river, and then climbing off the highway. Glad we are virtual.

High Camp, listed on the map at Mile 13.

Watsons Monument. Mile 14. Highest point on the course, at 8774 ft.

Daily Log
We are doing our rides in 1/3-mile laps around our pasture. Link to standings, Doctor Whooves, Major Milton, All

Thursday, August 6. Day off. Punk from vet visit on Tues. Rodney probably could have gone back to work. Milton’s performative pitifulness earned two days off for both horses. [Woe is Us]

Friday, August 7. 10 min light work in ring to get joints moving.

Saturday, August 8. Today 6 laps, 2.05 miles. Total 8.1 miles. Time 51:34 min. Pace 25 minpermile/2.4 mph.

Sunday, August 9. Today 7 laps, 2.37 miles. Total 10.5 miles. Time 57:20 min. Pace 24 minpermile/2.5 mph. Trot test of concept.

Monday, August 10. Today 7 laps, 2.33 miles. Total 12.8 miles. Time 49:05 min. Pace 21 minpermile/2.9 mph. Trot on!

Tuesday, August 11. Today 7 laps, 2.35 miles. Total 15.1 miles. Time 49:46 min. Pace 21 minpermile/2.9 mph. Small add-on to make the distance. Some days the GPS giveth; some days the GPS taketh away.

Wednesday, August 12. Day off. One of us had to be at work early. Horses ready for day off. Horses not the only ones.

Streetview of were we stopped for the week. I think that is the trail on the right. So much no.

Recent Posts
Mine
[Miles 1-6]
[The Tevis Skyline]
[Tailgating, Virtual Tevis Style]

Others
Jorvik Equine Massage: Robie Park – The Start

Go Pony: Virtual Tevis An endurance rider with several Tevis-related posts.

Moonlit Pastures: Virtual Tevis Week 1: Watson’s Monument Taking the non-rider option.

County Island: The Tevis Trail: Highway to… Where Now?
County Island: The Tevis Trail: Lyin’ in Waste!

[VTevis Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won.

Awareness of the outside world. Wear a helmet. This includes presumptive Presidential candidates. Yes, I am a one-note wonder. No, I will never stop.
~~~

Rodney really does follow that close. Seriously, Rodney rides up so close that one time he tripped and just about faceplanted on Milton’s hindquarters. Milton doesn’t seem to mind.

Except.

At the end of one of our long rides, Milton kept stopping. Although I couldn’t see anything other than his fuzzy, grey butt, I got the distinct message of a tired and cranky horse saying, ‘Enough already. Don’t crowd me.’ When this didn’t work, he turned and gave us an absolutely evil mare glare. I suggested that Rodney ease on back a bit.

In general, they are cool with swapping out who leads and who follows. When Milton leads, Rodney has to take it down several gears to stay behind. I try to convince him that the speed is the same a few feet back versus riding on Milton’s rear fender. That works as well as you would expect.

When Rodney leads, his long legs keep him out in front. Except going uphill. Rodney tends to dog it, while Milton likes to use momentum to defeat gravity. I have to give Rodney a small reminder to keep the pace uphill.

They have a few rules. Of course they do.

Milton leads the first lap. After that, Rodney is a complete star about taking the lead. I guess he wants Milton to clear out the cougars, or possibly the cobwebs. He’d also prefer that Milton take the lead on the reverse, but that’s because he is busy complaining about the steepness of the hill in that direction.

When we swap the lead, Milton comes to a stop. If he’s waiting, he’s cool with Rodney going by. He hates to be passed on the move. We think it brings back his unsuccessful racing days.

Milton also dislikes riding side-by-side. Rodney in front, fine. Rodney behind, even violating-his-personal-space behind, fine. Rodney pulling alongside the slightest bit? Activate Ears! So much for strolling along together, letting the humans chat.

Rodney has been known to put on a burst of speed when they are walking next to each other. It is the only time he offers an 8 walk. Brat.

They don’t like to be out of sight of each other, or even think they might be left behind. That one is at least normal. We’ll work on extending the anxiety limit.

Virtual Tevis. Keeping us amused one mile at a time.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott