Virtual Brush Box

Art of the outside world. World Famous Crochet Museum. Website is dated 2019. Trip Advisor has reviews dated 2025, TA:WFCM.

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Scheduling conflicts necessitate taking a break from art class posts. Back next week. [Acrylic Class #3]

Atlantic Coast Yarns, Shannon DK – 92% merino, 4% cashmere, 4% silk, #9753. Mostly because it looked pretty & felt nice.

Process Notes

Single crochet. Simple. Easy to work. Narrow band on right first. When this reached a good length to hold a cat in meatloaf position, turned & finished wider section going off to the left. No pattern.

Onwards!
Katherine

Back in the mists of time, my grandmother was recovering from surgery. History does not record the exact ailment. Or at least my 7-year-old self did not record. The bottom line was that she was fine, she was not leaking from important places, and she was supposed to stay seated as much as possible.

My grandmother hated to impose. She would never dream of asking another person to inconvenience themselves by getting up for her. Instead, she would wait until one of us stood up. Then she would say, “While you’re up …” Of course, we would do or fetch whatever.

In the short term, it became a thing. You had to be really sure you wanted to stand up because you knew you would be sent on a mission.

In the long term, it became a family joke. Person X would be comfortably seated, feet up on an ottoman, enjoying a good book. Person Y would turn to them and say, “While you’re up, dear ….”

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Wetumpka Impact Crater.

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Bibb Graves Bridge
Wetumpka AL USA
September 2025

Coosa River
Wetumpka AL USA
September 2025

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Phys.org: The complex origin story of domestic cats: Research points to Tunisia, Jackson, April 16, 2025. Hat tip to G.

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Husband Greg came out to Stepping Stone Farm with me and had a drive with Ramsay. They were stars, both horse & husband.

Ramsay noticed a difference between Coach Courtney and Husband Greg. I thought in a few ways, Ramsay looked better with the second driver. Not that I’m biased or anything.

There was discussion about the difference between the way men and women drive. Whether it’s nature or nurture, men tend to address problems by using upper body strength. Ramsay noticed the difference. He didn’t necessarily dislike. But he did notice.

It was great to see husband drive. It’s been a while since he’s been in a cart at all. It’s been a longer while since he & Milton have done more than test of concept. I would love to get him a reliable driving horse. I would super love to get him back into CDE. He’s so good at it.

No media because I was that excited. Totally forgot.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Studio Legenda: Catropolis Metro.

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Now that I’ve had a few lesson in each discipline.

Chilling with Razzy. [So This Happened]

Things I Have To Remember Each Time I

Where exactly do my pinkies go?

Hunt seat. Pinkies out. Rein runs between third & fourth fingers. Better grip with a finger on each side.

Saddle seat. Pinkies in. Rein runs around all four fingers. I assume because that is where the snaffle goes with a show bridle.

Things I Have To Remember Each Time II

Aids for canter depart.

Hunt seat. INSIDE rein, outside leg.

Saddle seat. OUTSIDE rein, outside leg.

This was particularly amusing when I had a saddle seat show on Saturday and a hunt seat lesson on Sunday. Wait, what?

Fortunately only the rein changes. The leg stays the same. If I had to change leg as well, I would get hopelessly lost. In contrast to the temporarily lost I get now.

Difference

Lesson duration

Hunt seat. Longer. More casual, more breaks, see photo. Partly an artifact of the group lesson format when you take turns jumping. More strolling.

Saddle seat. Shorter. Does not take breaks. Go in. Ride. Get ‘er done. Go home. Saddlebreds enter the show ring at a trot. They do not stroll.

My saddle seat lessons are much, much shorter than my hunt seat lessons. The dollar per minute rate works out about the same. Despite the time difference, my exhaustion level is higher after a saddle seat lesson. Go figure.

Combining Knowledge

Using my lower leg.

Now that I get to use my lower leg (finally!), I am dredging up all the bad habits. Put leg on horse. No, not that way. It is temptingly easier to roll the leg outwards and use the quads to pull the leg in – think plié – instead of keeping everything facing forward and use abductors to draw the leg sideways into the horse.

Noticed this from photos after a lesson. Score one for riding media.

The fix is to keep the legs loose and facing front. The discovery is what I think of as a double hinge. The tendency is to simply use the lower leg in isolation. Instead, it works much better to lead with the upper leg and then swing the lower leg on. Thirteen years of using only my upper leg has improved my lower leg. Imagine that.

Previous posts

[Dissecting My Position, see Nooooo remarks]

[Compare & Contrast Between Disciplines]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Congress.gov: Find your members, Senate & House. US Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators. US House: Find Your Representative. US.gov: Find and contact elected officials, includes federal, state, & local.

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Saturday afternoon lunge session. Both horses had been seen cantering back to the barn when they thought snacks might be on offer. So we knew they were mostly good.

Rodney is fine. Whatever it was is not any longer. [In Which Rodney Takes Over The Top Spot On The Injured Reserve List]

Milton is 95%. Almost as if the foot is awkwardly shaped and he’s waiting for it to grow out. Think running in one heel and one flat. Usually the growing out part is done sound but this one has been weird. Maybe the abscess hole is in a place that twinges while filling in. [Foot Festival Fades into the Distance, Finally?]

Speaking of running. Milton’s status is an estimate, judged between hopping and running about. I was walking Rodney while Milton lunged. This meant that Milton was yards. Entire yards! From his herdmate! A tragedy not to be borne!

Rodney has less separation anxiety. [Rodney’s Semi-Permanent Gold Star]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Replaced ancient mattress with 3″ dense foam. Comfy for sleep. The weird part is that it doesn’t bounce when you sit down on it and it doesn’t wiggle when you roll over. You get used to things that you don’t even realize.

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Solution 11% All Grain Feed
Tucker Milling

Previously, I talked about changes to horse feed. [Feeds and Breeds]

Another part of the change is the prevalence of pellets. Everything is pellets these days. Related to ease of manufacture? Better storage? For Warmbloods? For the other reasons and Warmbloods don’t care? No idea.

Anyway.

We decided to go old school. We found an in-state mill that makes a grain-based feed. It still has some pelletized bits but overall looks and smells the horse feed use to look & smell.

Rodney gets grain. He is doing well on it. Gradually putting on weight without having the calories bubble out his ears. He still gets pellets, so we still add water to his meals. Minions need to remember that grain does not absorb the way pellets do. One needs to drastically reduce the amount of water. Otherwise sir gets soup. Sir does not like soup.

Milton does NOT get grain. He had an immediate reaction. It was like being inside a laundry detergent commercial. The ears were earier. The kicks were kickier. Fortunately, he had an equally immediate reaction to being take off. Much calmer, almost hungover. ‘Wow, that was some trip.’

Two horses. Same breed. Wildly different responses.

SMH.

Onwards!
Katherine