Pi Horse

Celebrating Art

 

 
Yesterday was Pi Day.
 
 
Process notes: Pasting one image on top of the other & making it match turned out to be more of a learning curve than I expected. How to import a GIMP file into Inkscape? Save as JPEG. How to insert pi. Unicode? Wrong answer. Character maps? Wrong answer. Glyph? Ding ding ding. We have a winner. When using nodes to make curves, what is the difference between lengthening the handle & moving the handle around? Is it better to use handles on both ends to shape the curve? Still no idea. Fiddled until it looked right.

[Inktober Horse]
[To Celebrate Pi Day]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

To Celebrate Pi Day, 10 Examples of Numbers and 10 Examples of Math Involved with Horses

Thoughts

 

 
Numbers
Dressage ring measurements

Speed in timed events: jumpers, barrel racing etc.

Jump numbers for jumpers, 2/3 of eventing, obstacles, and cones

Course length & optimum time on cross-country and marathon

Fence heights and widths in jumping disciplines; distance between fences, ditto

Horse height measured in hands

Sizes in blankets and bits and shoes for horses; sizes in boots and saddles and shirts for people

Temperature, pulse, and respiration measurements, for health or conditioning

Pounds of feed, quarts of grain, percentage of protein

Weight of horse, dosage markers on paste tubes

Math
Setting up a dressage ring corners. a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

Dressage ring geometry. Distance from the corner letter to where my 20 meter circle needs to touch the side. Half of circle, 10 meters. Corner to F, 6 meters. Therefore, aim at a point 4m past F. 10m – 6m = 4m.

Dressage scores. One ) Individual movements and collective marks. 6.5+7+5.5+7+5.5+5+6+5.5+7+6.5+6+12+6+6+6=97.5 Two) Convert to percent of total possible. 97.5/160 = 60.938 [Words]

Converting dressage score to eventing penalty points. There use to be a multiplier (I thought?), but that appears to have gone by the boards, USEA, Rule Refresher: Dressage Scoring Aug 2019. 100% – 60.938% = 39.062%

Calculating split times on course for cross-country and marathon. Where do I need to be when in order to come home without time penalties? See photo [Gator Data]

Converting faults to time. Show Jumping Table C appears to be straight up 1 time fault = 1 second. The show jumping phase of Eventing is 0.4 of a penalty per second (or part of a second). One knockdown & three seconds over = 4 + .4 x 3 = 4 + 1.2 = 5.2

Striding in combinations and lines. 12 feet per stride minus landing and take-off. (On average, in reality, adjusted for horse, terrain, fence construction, etc, etc, etc.) 36 feet – 6 feet x 2 = 24 feet = 2 strides.

Optimistic calculations. If the next level is X and I am jumping Y how much higher do I have to be able to jump? I prefer not to put numbers on this one. Current jump height for either horse is not conductive to a positive mindset. Desired height – current height = schooling gap.

Converting horse height to human height. 16 hands x 4 + 2 inches = 66 inches => 66 inches / 12 inches per foot = 5 feet, 6 inches.

Hay usage. 20 bales at 1/2 bale per day = run out in 40 days.

Around the Internet
A group is using horses to explain math, Horse Lover’s Math: Understanding Math Through Horses

Pi Day

The Tau Manifesto, No, really, pi is wrong…

Happy Pi Day!
What have I missed?

Update

[Pi Horse]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Milton’s Moments, Driving Practice, Liberty Work, and Bite of Hay, March 2020

Training Journal

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

 
Between rain, mud at home, and shipping Rodney, Milton has had a steady but low-key winter. Lots of long line work; pats on the nose on days when that wasn’t possible. Lately, he’s had a series of almost, not quite, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Driving
Cart moved to Stepping Stone Farm. Standing practice accomplished [Holiday Rides]. Potential hitch day scheduled … and he comes up lame. Dramatic on the step-off. Walks out of it quickly. We suspect he tweaked a butt muscle from slipping in the mud and/or while frolicking.

Liberty Work
One session. Worked about the same as he does on the long lines. Unlikely Rodney, who moves much more freely at liberty. Milton was chipper and sassy after. May be good for his brain, even if the work is the same. Will pursue.

Hay
Gets a small serving of alfalfa when Rodney gets his [Recap]. He also is managing to keep the lid on.

Rubber Band Horse
Tried a resistance band around his buttocks. Once in the barn for fit, once in work. Did not go hopping back to the barn, much to my surprise. In fact, when we tried it for proof on concept, he wouldn’t move. ‘Hey boss, my butt is tied in place.’ I didn’t see a difference in his work, but I’m not the local groundwork expert.

Band Posts
Cob Jockey: More Thoughts on the Equicore Concepts Equiband System
The $900 Facebok Pony: Gold Star for the Baby Horse

Riding
While he the team is making the transition back to driving, we decided not to cloud the issue with riding.

Milton & Me
I have been trying to spend more time with Milton, either doing bodywork, patting him, or simply sitting with him.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

An Attempt To Freeze Time

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Enjoy the ride.

 

 
I wasn’t going to show you this because framing a ribbon is over the top, even for me.

I shared the picture because Craig Zernik of Four Corners Gallery did such a nice job. He put the ribbon on a backing so that it floats in space. He was able to include the trophy while keeping the frame from being ridiculously huge, instead of simply huge. You can see part of the Top Ten sash lining the side.

I had the ribbon framed to keep it as pretty and fresh as the day they put it on Tigger’s bridle. Much harm can come to a defenseless ribbon. One needs to …

Protect from fading. It is a cosmic injustice of horse showing that the ribbon color most prone to fading is blue. One is left with a dull purple. Ask me how I know. The glass is UV-museum quality.

Protect from dust.

Protect from damage. I was prescient here. The cats have decided to attack anything with a tassel. I am finding 2017 ribbons all over the house [ASHAA Awards]. Plus, that delicate fretwork trophy was never going to survive.

Ain’t it lovely?

Show Report with list of links [That Elusive Sunday Blue]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Rodney’s Recap, Heat, Liberty, and Hay, March 2020

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 

[Old Arena]
 
Heating Up
A while back, Rodney reverted. He’d been trotted well. Suddenly, I had Mr. Hyde again [Rodney’s Evil Twin]. I asked for a simple, quiet trot; he threatened a hissy fit. I thought we had fixed this.

Turns out his back had gradually restiffened with work and/or from balancing on the trailer. We had fixed it. Temporarily. It’s an old injury [Daddy Dearest]. It will never be permanently fixed. Fortunately he responds quickly to improvement measures. Provided I stay on top of them.

Right now, I am baking him like a potato. Sessions with wool blankets and microwave pads at home [Piling on the Therapy plus another heating pad and full wool blanket on the top of the pile]. For travel, we have a heating pad that uses a USB port to plug into a cellphone battery. Pretty cool.

At Liberty
Rodney is LOVING liberty work. It seems to be doing good things for his brain. He has worked up to walk, trot, canter in both directions and small single jumps [Rollerskates].

You have to be careful. Proper liberty work is not standing in the middle of the circle, waving a stick, while the horse gallops around in a panic. The goal is to give the Rodney time and space to make his own choices.

My groom is brilliant at this. Rodney will often change direction spontaneously. My groundperson employs a nice balance of ‘No, go back the way we were going’ and ‘Okay, let’s go the other way for a while.’ At the canter, he (groom/groundperson) is able to encourage Rodney sufficiently to keep him (Rodney) cantering without chasing him off his feet. It’s a fine line. I would be both too militant and too impatient.

Of course, the horse doesn’t really have an ultimate say in what is happening. He remains under human direction. Fortunately, Rodney is not a deep thinker. He enjoys the illusion of control, the lack of constraint, and the ability to make decisions about how to use his body.

Hay Snacks
Let me tell you a story. Years ago, we took Previous Horse up to a show in Tennessee. Mathilda came along for the ride. Since we had two, we rented a local pasture instead of staying in stalls at the show. The person who owned the farm fed alfalfa hay. Mind you, there was no hay in the pasture. There may have been a few leftover stalks. Shared between two horses. PH was nuts the next day. Jumped great but was impossible to handle. Groom took the bridle off between classes to give horse a break. Took him 10 minutes to get bridle back on. This was from alfalfa fumes. Ever since then, I have been jittery about feeding alfalfa hay.

We decided to try Rodney on it. Mostly for the calories. There is some thought that alfalfa is good for sensitive stomachs. Rodney’s stomach is okay at the moment, but more maintenance never hurt. They get regular grass hay at mealtimes. The alf is fed as a supplemental meal at teatime. Rodney gets a hefty dose. Milton gets a thin flake to keep him company.

So far, not nuts. We started the week before the barrel race. You better believe that Tennessee show was on my mind as we pulled up. Went okay [Not From Around These Parts]. Today, it’s been 3 1/2 weeks. Almost four bales of 80/20. Last trip to the feed store resulted in straight alfala by mistake. Since Rodney has been eating the 80 and leaving the 20, I’ve gonna see how he does on uncut high-test.

Crosses fingers.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Horse Show Cookies

Training Journal

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

 

 
I have a show cookie tradition.

I’m not a baked goods person. I prefer my sugar closer to the source, Welch’s® Fruit Snacks being my current besetting sin. Basically sugar in gel form. And Coke, but that is a constant. So, while I like cakes and cookies well enough, I can generally take them or leave them. The exception is the entire Pepperidge Farm cookie line, particularly mint brussels, when I can find them.

The Sausalito version has chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. This is my go-to horse show food. It’s one of the few things I will eat when I am nervous. Not the most nutritious choice, but it gets calories into me. The self-imposed rule says Sausalitos are reserved for horse show days.

Lately, I have added an amendment to the tradition. If I am not going to a horse show, I treat myself to a bag. It has to be a show that I had a legitimate chance of attending. There is a horse show somewhere every weekend. I’d be up to my armpits in cookies and have no chance of fitting into my jods [Motivation, Diet Progress].

Three weeks ago, I earned two bags. We elected not to go to the first Full Circle Horse Park dressage show. Bag one. We would do the Southern Sunday barrel race instead. Then they moved the show [Soggy Week]. Bag two.

Last weekend, there were two more shows I did not attend. A saddle seat show in Louisiana [Predicting the Future] and the second dressage show, which was the reason I did not put my name down on the ASB list. I limited myself to one bag. My restraint is commendable.

I’m more okay with missing all of these shows than you might expect, given my attitude toward accumulating acetate. One) I did get a chance to attend the second barrel race [Not From Around These Parts]. Two) Although I still want to do the tiny event, and still need to give Rodney a chance to get used to the event grounds, we’ve put dressage on hold for a while. Neither horse nor rider enjoy it. We’ll work on maybe, possibly jumping, then circle back to the sandbox when an eventlet becomes more likely.

Of course, on my down days, that truthful but unhelpful inner voice reminds me that the product of all this work will be the chance to jump 2′. Whee. I try not to think about that.

Onwards!

Do you have any horse show food traditions?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott