Unintended Consequences

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 

Husband is WFH. He is WFH up at the barn. The horses are loving having a person with them for hours on end. Cookie fests. Timely hay snacks. Company to hang with. They are quite happy with the new arrangement.

Me, not so much.

I had not realized how often I wander up to the barn in a day.

This is not a Woe Is I post. I know how good I have it. This is more about how things organize themselves in ways one does not foresee.

Upside: Husband home all day. After 32 years of marriage (?!?) we still enjoy each other’s company.

Downside: I’m still alone all day and now I can’t go to the barn.

A lot of people can’t go to the barn to see their horses. However, my barn is in my backyard. Going to the barn involves walking 70 paces.

On a normal day, I go to the barn 3? 4? more? times a day. Feed breakfast. Let out after breakfast. Feed lunch. Let out after lunch. Pick up buckets if I haven’t before. Random checks throughout the day. Walk in the pasture. Fill water. Whatever.

If I leave the property, I check them before I leave. I check them when I get back. Not doing that, at the moment, of course.

One of the joys of having horses at home is sitting at the barn in the sunshine [Split Personality]. We are just coming into ideal weather for that.

These days, husband “goes to work” at the barn. From my point of view, he’s gone at least as long as before. Okay, with a break for a bike ride and lunch. I’m whining here. Work with me.

Since, he’s already at the barn, so he might as well let them out after breakfast. No need for me to go up to do so. Ditto lunch. Monitors how much hay of which kind is eaten throughout the day. Feeds hay snacks to adjust in light of this data. Lets in and out of stall as needed. And so on. Makes sense, he is already there.

I limit my extraneous visits. Leave him alone to work. One reason he set up a workspace in the barn was to be able to concentrate. When I say I can’t go to the barn, I really mean I don’t. The fellow works to keep us all in kibble. I can at least respect his privacy.

So I’m stuck in the house. All the responsibilities of horses at home. Feeding. Poop picking. Vet care. None of the gratuitous horse petting.

I know. Poor me. Being down in the house all day is harder than I expected.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Shoeing at a Social Distance

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 

 
Verdict
So much for our theory on Milton getting kicked [An Alternate Explanation]. Turns out it was a classic abscess. He picked up something that gradually worked its way up and out. Farrier says better to have them in the heel than the toe. Not as far to go. Also says that lameness from an abscess depends on several factors, including how close it is to any nerves.

Props to Milton. In retrospect, he was fairly stoic. Even when he was outright lame, he would walk out of it in a few steps. Given the visuals from bottom to top, he could have reacted a whole lot worse.
 


 

Appointment
Farrier team still willing to come out. Yay. Really glad I don’t have to explain to two, thin-footed Thoroughbreds that they are now barefoot horses, deal with it.

Turns out, it’s pretty easy to stay 6 feet from your farrier. Left payment on a stool in aisle. Put first horse in impromptu cross ties. Retreated to other end of barn. Assistant held horse. Switch. Repeat. Waited for them to gather equipment. Collected second horse.

Wasn’t terribly disruptive. There was one moment when I would normally have stepped up to hold Milton while the assistant was busy. Otherwise, the new protocol didn’t seem to slow the process down at all. Note, farrier prefers horses held rather than crosstied. I usually hold Rodney. Assistant holds Milton. He behaves better for them.

Except for handing over payment to assistant and while farrier is working on front feet, addressed above, we probably haven’t been within ten feet of each other in years.

Life is weird … and then normal … and then weird again.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Throw Ink At It, The Calligraphic Coronavirus Chronicles

Lettering & Graphic Design, Celebrating Art

 

 
“I realized from the beginning that I would continue to throw ink at the Coronoavirus and try to ‘wrestle this pandemic to the ground’ with my pens.” The Calligraphic Coronavirus Chronicles, page 1

Oregon Food Bank: Feed the need, plus a feast for your eyes. Cover image from website.

Carol DuBosch Calligraphy
Website
Instagram

Background
“I have been creating art every day in response to the Coronavirus. My passionate efforts have resulted in a 39-page eBook, The Calligraphic Coronavirus Chronicles. I donated the eBook to the Oregon Food Bank to generate donations during this crisis. This 39-page eBook captures the essence of how we have all been feeling. It is humorous, informational, dramatic and all of it done with words, lettering, shapes and color. The art is original, fresh and documents this historic event in a unique way. Learn more about the eBook and the Oregon Food Bank here: https://give.oregonfoodbank.org/CCC. Please spread kindness. Share this link with a friend. #calligraphiccoronaviruschronicles” caroldubosch

Response
Been following the Instagram posts. Ebook? Want! Donation? I can do that. Wait, I don’t live anywhere near Oregon. How about I match it with a donation to my local food bank? Shouldn’t need a gimme to act. OTOH, gotta start somewhere.

Effect One: Inspiration
Throw yarn at it. Throw words at it. Throw homemade muffins at it. Be yourself, wildly and with a vengeance. You do you.

Effect Two: Overwhelm
Remember “This is a pandemic, not a productivity contest.” (Source forgotten) You create? Great! Unable to focus and bingewatching reruns? Great! Sit that sofa! Mash those buttons! Be yourself, however you need to be. You do you.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Wishful Thinking, The New Normal, Non-Fiction Version

Words

 
Last week was a fictional look at the near future [The New Normal, Fiction Fragment]. Today, is non-fiction. What will the world look like in 1, 2 , 5 years? Interesting opportunity. How often do we get a chance to do world-building IRL?

I’m going with the happy forecast. Five minutes of reading/watching the news gives us the unhappy forecast all too easily. I’m also skipping over political change. I’ll leave politics to folks who enjoy yelling at each other, uh, the cut and thrust of heated debate.

Will people en masse take this as a chance to change for the better, or will we all revert to our worst selves? Sometimes I think there will be an entirely new era as a result. Other times, I think people never change. Depends on the day … and the volume of the existential scream.

On to the predictions. An even dozen for your entertainment.

1) We will remember when grocery store clerks were essential. We will realize that they continue to be.

2) We will remember how much we relied on art to get us through the day: books, music, videos. We will fund the arts accordingly.

3) Take-out will continue. Even the fanciest restaurants will need have to have 2 or 3 dishes that can go in a box. Food in your pajamas will be a thing.

4) Masks. It’s going to be a lot more socially acceptable to wear masks, especially in big cities. Not universal, but way more common in grocery stores, and so on. Ubiquitous on public transport such as subways & airplanes. Companies will create masks in trendy colors and patterns. At least one couture house will have snazzy masques in their Spring fashion line.

5) We will see a lot more cleaning. A lot more awareness of germ transmission.

6) People and companies will be judged on how they responded [Bel Joeor: Future boarding questions]. Companies who stood with their workers will be rewarded with progress, innovation, and flexibilty. Facebook streams from February will come back to haunt people.

Virtual World
We will still gather. We are human. We still need to sit around the fire together. However, there will be a lot more virtual life.

7) A high-quality virtual tour will be an expected component of every new museum exhibit, art show, and so on.

8) Worldcon 2020, CoNZealand, is virtual. Science fiction conventions will continue to expand online. Who better than science fiction/fantasy folks to lead the way on this? Many will attend in person to enjoy vendors, cosplay, friends, and so on. A whole new market will open up for virtual attendees who do not want to fly around the world to attend a convention.

9) People will have discovered the joys of less commuting [Raincoast Rider: Changes I Might Keep]. Business owners will have discovered the cost savings and employee satisfaction.

10) Online classes will go mainstream as a supplement to traditional education.

Horse World
11) Virtual lessons will open opportunities to train more consistently if your instructor lives far away, or if your regular trainer is out of town, e.g. in Florida for the winter. While remote rides won’t replace face-to-face, they will supplement them. A company will create a unified video/audio, teacher/rider system. Live-videoing of riders will become a hire-able skill.

12) Virtual clinics with Big Name Riders. A weekend with with Ms./Mr. X will be a whole lot cheaper if the talent doesn’t have to be flown and fed and put up in a hotel. Not the same, but at a fraction of the price, close enough.

What good things do you see coming out of this?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

The Tree Didn’t Get The Memo

Random Images

The world is vast & weird.

 

Remember the tree that fell down in the pasture back in January [Storm Damage, Tree Down In Pasture]? I kept meaning to get the tree dudes out. Didn’t happen. Now it won’t for a while.
 

 
Turns out one side of the tree is still alive. I have no idea how.
 

 
I see it often because the tree has fallen across the path around the perimeter of the pasture.

Downside. Inconvenient. Any horse or human walking around the pasture has to cut off the corner, unless one forgets and then one has to go down, around, and back up to the path. I’m not dumb enough to try walking under, tempting as it might be. Using the path around the stump means going past, through, and under many branches and small trees. Lots of opportunity for ticks to fall on a hapless walker.

Upside. The horses have to go past, through, and under many branches and small trees. Lots of opportunity to become more comfortable with bushwhacking. From a botanical point of view, I’m tempted to leave it, and watch how nature sorts itself out.

For now, the choice is made.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Virtual Bling

Fit To Ride

 
The bling is real. The competition is virtual.

Walking

Gaelic Gallop, BreyerFest 5K Run/Walk, July 12, 2020

I signed up for this in the before times. Breyerfest holds a 5k run on that Sunday. They offer a virtual option. I would do laps of my pasture, practice my 5k walk [Proof of Concept], and get what I suspect will be a cute, horsey medal. I doubt they will have the virtual run without having Breyerfest. I don’t see how they will be able to stuff 30,000 people into KHP by July. But what do I know. Website says the run will be switched over to virtual, if needed. Restrained yay.

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon, May 17, 2020

After falling down one Internet rabbit hole or another, I found this. Oooh, changed to virtual instead of canceled. Clever. I know nothing about Green Bay. Except, now I know that “For Green Bay, fall means football season and Lambeau Field is dedicated to football, whether there is a home game or not.” [ibid, Why can’t you just postpone it?]

Motivation to exercise combined with an excuse for a virtual trip to Wisconsin. I signed up as something to do and as a gesture of support for folks scrambling to find viable options in a world gone mad. No reason to do it on the date of the original run, but I probably will. The 5K walk option, naturally. Update. Changed date. I had it wrong.

La Jolla Half Marathon & Shores 5K, April 26, 2020

The Green Bay adventure led me to look for others. I chose this one because a) I lived in La Jolla, at UCSD, for three months during college, and b) pretty medal. Despite being the third one signed up for, it will be the first one I do. Will walk on the original date as well.

I liked that fact that WI & CA were both “real” races, or at least had been real at one point. Straight up virtual races didn’t interest me.

Except.

Biking

I have decided to go on virtual bike rides. The above walks are activities I will do specifically for those events. I walk a lot. I don’t walk 3.1 miles in one go. Unlike the walks, I’m planning to use the VR bike rides to count miles I would accumulate anyway. I like that the rides are grounded in IRL places. I’ll read about the places that I virtually ride by.

The Conqueror Virtual Challenges: The Inca Trail Virtual Marathon, Peru, 26.2 miles

I would love to say this was a test of concept. Mainly, I thought the medal was cool. Plus immediate gratification.


The Conqueror Virtual Challenges: The Alps to Ocean, New Zealand, 180 miles

This will be a lead up to 2020 Worldcon, CoNZealand, which has also gone virtual. At 5-10 miles per ride, I should be able to get thru 180 miles by July, provided outdoor exercise is still allowed. People, behave yourselves! Stop congregating. Don’t ruin this – any more horribly than it already is – for the rest of us.

The Conqueror Virtual Challenges: Route 66, USA, 2280

If the New Zealand virtual ride works out, I’ll signup for this as a virtual tour of the US, from Chicago to LA. That oughta keep me busy for a while. National Park Service: Route 66, Historic Route 66

Any books, blogs, websites, or articles to recommend on Green Bay, La Jolla, Machu Picchu, New Zealand, or Route 66?

Update
[Strolling Along, Walk Report, La Jolla Shores Virtual 5K 2020]
[Come Away With Me, Virtually]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Finding A Horse To Match The Hat

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Enjoy the ride.

 

Note. I have not forgotten the world as it is. Taking a detour into dreamland for a moment.
~~~
 


 
Animated Trot is now selling hats in addition to magnets [The Magnetic Attraction of Saddlebreds]. Bought one as a gesture of support. Now I have to find a reason to wear a jumping ASB hat.
 

 
Better view of the artwork courtesy of the website, American Saddlebred SportHorse Baseball Cap – Jumping.

Designing The Fantasy Horse – Take 1
An affordable, easy-to-ride, five-star, event horse. I don’t think even a holodeck could handle that level of unreality.

Designing The Fantasy Horse – Take 2
A Saddlebred who can jump three feet.

With a horse who is comfortable at 3′, I could event at BN & Novice. I could show .65, .75, & .85. meter Jumpers [Measurements]. That would keep me busy for a while.

I could do dressage, because one has to practice. Hunters, ditto. I could finally get to the AEC, probably at BN. My understanding is that a championship event has several questions from the next higher level. Doing a Novice championship would require a horse who could school Training level. I should have such problems.

This is true of any breed. Let’s imagine fantasy horse was an ASB.

I could put on a show bridle and finally go suit. I’m not asking for Louisville-quality performance, or even fancy, out-of-state-show styling. I’d just like to go to the in-state shows, e.g. MSSP and Alabama Charity, and not embarrass myself.

While we were there, we could do the hunter flat classes. Why not, I’d have the tack and clothes. I probably wouldn’t do mainstream hunters with a Saddebred. Hunters are even more breed-bound than dressage [Get Off My Lawn, And Take Your Warmblood With You].

That would be fun. You know what would be even more fun? The ASB jumper class at the St. Louis horse show [Saddlebred Versatility]. Hence the three-foot requirement. Definitely a bucket list item for me.

This description is heavy on showing language. It is also shorthand for a horse willing to turn his hoof to whatever comes along: trail rides, obstacle clinics, tackless riding.

Unlike the push-button 5-star horse, this horse exists. I can totally picture a Saddlebred who would be game for a challenge. It would require lottery-level luck because such horses are rarely put up for sale. Would you let go of the leadrope if you had one? I wouldn’t.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott