Virtual Brush Box

Training Journal

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

Awareness of the outside world. Whatever: What We Knew, What We Know, and Why It Matters. What he said. I would add that I get the sense Trump wants to win the reelection because it is a contest and he must be victorious in all contests. I haven’t see any sign that he actually wants the job on Wednesday the 4th.
~~~

Overall

Added a few laps of figure eight by cutting across the middle of the field, thereby adding a touch of fitness work from climbing directly up the hill. Start and stop are in different places due to an early end, see below.

Milestones
Volcano Canyon/Volcano Creek, noted on map.

Forest Hill, Mile 68. Image source & additional photos, The Tevis Cup: Foresthill.

Daily Log
We are doing our rides in 1/3 or 1/2-mile laps around our pasture. Link to standings, Doctor Whooves, Major Milton, All. Daily screenshots from VTevis results page.

Wednesday, September 23. Today 3.09 miles. Total 69 miles. Time 1 hour 14 min. Pace 24 minpermile/2.5 mph. Half-mile loop laps.

Good ride. Cool weather. Well-behaved horses. Although Rodney kept offering to turn around, if that would be more convenient, you know, if I wanted to go that way instead.

Saturday, September 26. Today 1.49 miles. Total 71 miles. Time 39 min. Pace 26 minpermile/2.3 mph. Two 1/2 mile laps, two figure-eight laps.

Mission terminated due to excessive commotion in cow field next door. Major mooing. Cows would not shut up. Rodney obsessed over missing the latest chapter in the ongoing bovine drama. Rider? What rider? A known issue. Milton less worried about cows; more worried about Rodney. [Saddletime, Secret]

Tried again later in the day. Neighbors had moved on to making miscellaneous loud noises. Milton hates construction noise. Sends him off the deep end. Another known issue. Rodney wondering about noise, but no comparison to his interest in cow conversation. Not particularly worried about Milton’s responses. [Missing Lesson]

We found out later that the neighbors were building a fence in the cow field. Morning noises were probably from a round-up. Afternoon noises were from a tractor pile-driving posts into the ground.

Sometimes it’s better to stop and go home.

“On June 19th to 24th 2016, the American Trail Running Association partnered with the Google Maps team to capture 360 degree panoramic “street-view” imagery of the entire Western States Trail using the Street View Trekker backpack.” The Tevis Cup: Foresthill.

Recent Posts
Mine
[Miles 62 – Mile 66]
[Virtual Extension]

Others
County Island: The Tevis Trail: Swingin Through Deadwood

Haiku Farm: In which our Summer is over, but Winter hasn’t started (quite) yet

[Tevis post archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. We are making an effort to support local restaurants by getting more take-out, particularly from restaurants that are making effort to be safety compliant.
~~~

A while back, I informed the universe that I was open to a third horse. [Tertium Quid]

I decided it would be fun if this magical new horse were to be a Saddlebred. [Finding A Horse To Match The Hat]

Among other places, this ASB unicorn and I would go to the jumper class at the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show. [Saddlebred Versatility, Jumpers]

None of this is new.

What is new is my flash of genius. Not related to horse shopping, alas. A class shopping f. of g.

Back in 2013, the hunter class at St. Louis was one jump in a work-off. I watched. [I Want It All]

Now, the jumping happens outdoors. The videoing happens indoors. I can’t watch.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Stills.

Howie Schatzberg has years of show proofs from the jump classes. What have I learned? The hunter jumps are tiny. True, they are bigger than what I am jumping now, but tiny in the grand scheme of things. Several of the gate panels are resting on the ground. The jumper fences are bigger, but well within the scope of my three-foot Miracle Horse.

The advertised height is not the only determinant in the difficulty of a class. At St. Louis, the hunters are 2’6″ (if memory serves, I can’t locate the specs) and the jumpers are .9 (2′ 11″). The hunter jumps look as if they would need to stand on tiptoes to meet the listed height. The jumper fences were closer to height but still kind. Both courses had well-build jumps with enough filler to be inviting but not so much as to give the feeling that you are jumping across a hedge. No robust, square oxers. No spreads that you can stand in the middle of. Any horse who can get around Novice eventing should be able to get over these jumps.

I can’t tell the course from the stills. The hunter class could have bold, demanding lines. The jumper class could have daunting technical combinations. I doubt it.

On the downside, presentation photos indicate that the jumper winner gets a blue ribbon and blanket. The hunter winner gets the full St. Louis treatment with loot, trophy, and that multi-rosette championship neck ribbon unique to St. L. On the upside, all the hunter class ribbon winners get a victory pass.

At least I’d get a chance at participatinge in a victory gallop, er, victory trot if I did the working hunter classes as warm-up for the jumpers. We wouldn’t win. Even a miracle unicorn wouldn’t turn me into a hunter rider.

There is also a full division of non-jumping Hunter Country Pleasure classes, which are a whole ‘nuther kettle of Saddlebreds. In my fantasy trip to St. Louis, I might or might not take a swing at these depending on the schedule in relation to the jumping. Even more unlikely to win in an arena full of flat-focused equines.

Would I drive all the way to St. Louis for the chance at one jumper class? In a heartbeat.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Images

 
Awareness of the outside world. “Samaritans and Jews despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man.” Wiki: Parable of the Good Samaritan. The message here is not simply to help people. The message is to help the people that you would not cross the street to spit on if they were on fire. Yeah, those people. Listeners back in the day would have gotten the point immediately.
~~~
 

A selection from recent arrivals.

Horses

Buildings

Minsk, Belarus
Annunciation Cathedral, Kazan

Landscapes

Deception Pass Bridge
Lavra, Ukraine

Stamps
Shot in a wad to reduce the amount of cropping & smudging required to obliterate personal messages.

~~~
Process note. Who doesn’t love diving down a research rabbit hole? Sadly, while the number of possible rabbit holes on the Internet outnumber the grains of sand on the beaches of the world, time and energy do not. Comprehensively documenting each postcard & stamp had rendered my Postcrossing posts burdensome. Once again, I let my enthusiasm blow a project out of proportion. Echos of the bike photo deliberation. Do I want to pursue the obsessively detailed research? Yes. Is it a good use of time? No. Perfect is the enemy of good. [Life Lesson]

New theory. Here! Look! Pretty pictures! Interesting stamps! Onwards!

Previous Postcrossing post [Pretty Picture, A Postcrossing Parade, Plus One] July 2020
Postcrossing posts [Archive]

A rabbit hole for your amusement, here.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Blogging About Blogging

 
Awareness of the outside world. Women in Aviation International: Girls in Aviation Day.
~~~
Didn’t I say I was going to take weekends off? [State Of The Blog: Weekends Completely Off]

You are not wrong.

I said that.

I meant it.

I discovered …

1) The idea of breaking my streak bothered me even more than I thought it would.

2) I should have looked at a calendar. Don’t make major decisions at the tail end of my least favorite month. September is here! Kermit Dance!!

3) What’s wrong with filler?

New plan is to post things that amuse me. I hope some of them will amuse you as well.

Saturdays will be all about text. Words. Books. Thoughts. Blogs. Lists. State of the Blog, once a month – that’s enough meta-level navel-gazing. Fiction, if any strolls by. Essays. Neologisms. Writing Career.

Sundays will be all about visuals. Logos. Graphics. Postcards. Stamps. Cachets. Inktober. Jewelry. Signs. Art. Video Games. Maps. Fabric Design. LEGO builds. Witenry. Figure running/GPS art. Letters. Coloring. Comics. Cartoons.

That’s a false distinction because text is visual, unless it’s braille or audio, but you know what I mean. Information with an emphasis on content vs information with an emphasis on presentation.

Keep weekends simple. Me overcomplicate? Never! What, never? Well, hardly ever.

State of the Blog [Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 
Awareness of the outside world. Protests. Pandemic. Politics. Is there any part of public life that isn’t poisonous right now?
~~~
Question for those of you who keep horses at home. Do you have a standard barn routine? Or are you constantly making adjustments?

We are tweaking things all. the. time. What to feed. How much to feed. When to feed. Turn in. Turn out.

Sometimes, the cause is human. Ride in the early morning to beat the heat. Rearrange the schedule for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, the cause is equine. The older horse gets hurt and suddenly we have to juggle split turnout.

Sometimes, the cause is environmental. Previous Horse & Mathilda used to drop their hay consumption by half when the spring grass showed up. One load would carry us through summer. The current two maintain a more consistent level of hay consumption throughout the year.

Sometimes the cause is supplier-driven. Even if we buy the same hay from the same place, they may have a new load from a new place. Hence, new hay.

The latest batch of hay has caused a complete rearrangement of the morning.

Note, this is not the hay change that we are blaming for the recent excitement. That was the alfalfa appetizer. This is the coastal main course. But it may also contribute to Rodney feeling better. But I get ahead of myself.

For a long while this year, the grass was green and the hay was meh. Didn’t matter when or how we fed. Everybody had as much as they wanted. There were always leftovers for nibbles.

The new load is yum. Milton vacuums up his serving and then pushes Rodney away from the second pile. Milton is an easy keeper; Rodney is not. Steps had to be taken.

We have fed grain separately for a long time. Now, Rodney gets left in the stall for several hours with a full breakfast: grain, two kinds of hay, & water. He eats in peace. Has time for a nap. Enjoys his me-time away from Milton.

His attitude has improved immeasurably, even after a few days. Feeling peckish makes most of us cranky. In addition, his delicate digestive system probably benefits from having more to process.

So, that’s the arrangement. For the moment.

You?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride & Photography & Thoughts

 
Awareness of the outside world. I was almost sociable. Gasp. Clutch pearls. Had plans yesterday to walk with a friend. My first social event since March. Person had unavoidable, last-minute work commitment. Non-bubble encounters have been mostly brief ones with store, doc, or husband’s co-workers. Weird.
~~~
 

A photo of this medal was supposed to accompany the trip post back in July. [Virtual New Zealand, A Screenshot Slideshow, Biking Virtually, New Zealand]

I want you to envision a bucolic yet athletic image of my bicycle resting against a tree, medal draped artfully over the handlebars. You know what’s hard? Getting a big thing, such as a bicycle, in focus at the same time as a small thing, such as a medal.

No problem. I’ll reshoot and use the photo as a second post. Found a lovely spot.

I want you to imagine a bicycle resting against a scenic, rustic, wooden fence. In the distance, a shaded pathway leads through a patch of woods. Close at hand, the medal is draped artfully over the handlebars.

Yeah, because it makes sense to add a third element to the focus equation when I couldn’t handle the first two.

Don’t invite unnecessary complications. Do what is needful and move on. That seems to be my life lesson lately. The upcoming Saturday & Sunday posts have a similar message.

Does my standard hay bale background work? Yes. Do I need a more elaborate photo? No. Do I want that beautiful, technically perfect image that could double as a bike advertisement? Of course. Could I achieve a decent approximation if I devoted the time & effort? Yes … well, maybe. Is chasing that image the best use of my life energy at this moment? No. Good to go. Onwards.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. How am I doing? Well, earlier this week, there was a nocturnal feline/canine territory dispute, which incited the dog to speak sharply, which startled me, which caused me to wake up screaming. Twice. Yeah, I’m coping real well.
~~~
 

The ride is virtual. The extension is real.

“Due to the ongoing impacts of regional fires, poor air quality, and unsafe conditions, the Tevis Virtual Ride has been extended until December 31, 2020.

This event has always been intended to be a FUNdraiser for the Western States Trail Foundation – with emphasis on FUN, and we want to ensure all participants have an adequate chance to complete their goals in a fair manner.

Entries are still open for those who would like to participate.”

The Tevis Cup: Virtual Western States Trail

My first impression was that the extension is overly long. End of November would have made more sense? Nope. A) The fires, smoke, and dislocations are not over & B) from what I’ve read, it can take a horse weeks to come back into work after exposure to bad air. December it is. Thank you, Tevis folks.

The purist part of me wants to finish by the original deadline of early November. We are fortunate not to have these horrible conditions as extenuating circumstances. The practical part of me says, if we need the extra time, take the extra time. Be pleased that the time is available.

On the other end of the scale, an option is to complete the ride in 24 hours. Not in one day as in the IRL race, but riding over many days with cumulative time of 24 hours. Maybe for us in some future year if they continue with a virtual option (crosses fingers). Note, with checks and vet holds the actual saddle time of the IRL 100 miles is less than 22 hours. Eeek.

Speaking of options, many folks are doing a fantastic job of creating mock trails. The Virtual Tevis Facebook group has photos of “Cougar” Rocks, painted butt numbers, and creative finish lines. One virtual competitor had their vet hold up a Fit to Continue sign. Clever. We haven’t done any of this. Just getting around is job one this year. Maybe next year.

Virtual Tevis [Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott