State of the Blog, Blogging My Life Versus Living It

Blogging About Blogging

 

A while back, I called myself a bad blogger, mostly in jest [Changing of the Guard]. I had gotten so caught up in what I had been doing that I forgot to take a picture. Two commenters were kind enough to say that I should have a cookie anyway. In truth, I was a bad blogger. I did not fulfill the requirements of the job. I did not provide visuals to go with the text. That got me thinking about living a life versus blogging about it.

I was having a lesson on Optimus at Stepping Stone Farm. I knew I would be writing a post about it. Before I got on, I gave Coach Courtney my phone so that I could take a between-the-ears shot to go with the post. We both forgot.

OTOH, it wasn’t a bad thing to be a bad blogger right then. I was caught up in the lesson. I was concentrating on what I was doing. I was in the moment rather than removing myself from the moment to comment on it.

I am not alone.

“She started to plan family time around paid posts. “Someone wants to send us a board game while eating a certain cereal? That’s what we’re doing on Friday,” she says. “I was playing the game with them, but I wasn’t really there. I was watching and thinking about how I was going to caption the photo I’d take. It all took away from real time with my kids.” New York Post, “My mommy blog ruined my life”,
Mackenzie Dawson, 2016

On Instagram, Millennial Life Crisis is running a series where there is the Instagram-worthy caption and then the rest of the story.

“INSTAGRAM: Toronto, you sure are beautiful. This was one of my favorite trips of 2019 and I definitely intend on going back because I didn’t get enough time in the city. Maybe one day if I get lucky I’ll get to live there.
–
REALITY: I had to pay $26 to park my rental downtown so that I could run around for hours trying to find this sign because I wanted to be able to say that I’d been there. I got yelled at by four people, pooped on by a bird and, when I got back to my rental car saw that I’d gotten a parking ticket because I didn’t get back to it quick enough…” millennialme88/#MillennialLifeCrisis 2019

They are both making the point that online presentation does not always reflect reality. I am making a slightly different point. I think my blog does reflect reality. But then, I would say that, wouldn’t I?

My point is both accounts demonstrate the lengths one goes to in order to cover a story. That’s fine. If that’s what you are doing. I certain spent enough time covering horse shows. I was not riding in those shows at the time.

Text can be done in hindsight. You do the thing. You go home at write about it. It requires a small amount of mental discipline. I have found my brain wandering off into composing blog posts while at a show. I jerk my mind back to the present and carry on.

It also depends on the level of the event. A little detachment won’t torpedo the entire occasion [State of the Blog: Pondering Twitter]. I suspect at my next lesson, I won’t be quite as stressed. I will do a better job of taking a minute or two out of the day to snap a pic.

Obviously, this is not true if one is covering an event that requires notes in real time. For a blog post, reflection afterward is possible.

With photos, this is not possible at all. Photos happen when the event does. I’ve recreated one or two but they lack immediacy.

Rodney is unimpressed with my efforts at documentation.

[Jump]

So, blogging versus life. Sometimes, they coexist. Sometimes, one shuts the other out.

Update [Blog V. Life, HSL Color Reference]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Coloring Contest

Celebrating Art

 

 
Coloring contest by Horse Hollow Press. For details, FREE pdf Horse Coloring Artwork. Deadline March 31, 2020.

Above is my entry. It’s all ages, so I wasn’t going to enter. Then, I decided why not. It’ll go up with the other entries and give people something pretty to look at.

Artist statement. As a rising senior, I wanted to see what could be done with gray. Quite a bit actually. As for the mane. Well, we all need color in our lives. Since I have the color sense of a mollusk, I used numerical steps within the GIMP program. The grays are 0 to 100, in increments of 10. The mane is the color wheel, 0 to 360, also in increments of 10. More on this in Sunday’s post.

As a side note, what is your position on artist statements? Should the work stand alone? Does context improve the experience? I’m all for the Death of the Artist as a critical theory. OTOH, I do like to yap on about myself. But I digress.

Color for the contest or just for giggles. We can all use giggles right about now.
 

 

Update [Blog V. Life, HSL Color Reference] Notes from Fri

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

From the Department of Silver Linings, Milton’s fly mask

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 
Greg is working from home. To give himself a place to concentrate, he has set up a desk in the barn. The horses have been hanging out in the barn with him in hopes of cookies. They have not been disappointed.

In between the cookiefests, there has been fly stomping. Spring is here. So are the flies. C’est normal. I might have fly sprayed their legs for some relief. However, he had just read $900 Facebook Pony‘s adventures with fly boots: Worst. Gift giver. EVER., When in doubt – duct tape.

Why not give it a try? He used our shipping boots. Milton went to sleep. We added a fly bonnet with ears. Milton was zonked.

Well, duh.

If you don’t like to be touched, flies would drive you mad. We will be using the fly mask on the regular, looking into fly boots, and possibly springing for a fly sheet.

If Greg hadn’t been sitting in the barn for hours on end, listening to them stomp, I don’t know that we would have been driven to try this.

Sorry, Dude.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Stay Home, Show Your Horse

Training Journal

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

 
Virtual Shows
Ceremonial cabooose covering. This list is strictly the result of an Internet hunter-gatherer adventure. I know nothing of these groups other than what is stated on their sites. As with any Internet transaction, do your research, decide for yourself, be wary of scams and of folks who overextend with the best of intentions, etc, etc. Listed in the order I came upon them.

Virtual Obstacle Shows. “Anyone can compete. Almost any facility is suitable and obstacles can be made with items around your barn or picked up from local lumber stores.” About. Video.

Virtual Horse Show on Facebook. By Misfit Toys Rescue Division, Inc.. For ASB and related disciplines. Video. My nomination for Best Logo.

The Carolinas Equestrian Virtual Horse Show. Hunters. Video.

Online dressage. Video your test. Submit. Collect comments & ribbons.
Dressage Show Online
Better Dressage Scores
E-Riders Online Dressage
Dressage Anywhere
North American Western Dressage

Have you ever competed in a virtual horse show? Tell us about it. Better yet, would you consider writing a write a guest post? (Smiles winningly.)

Half and Half
Horseless if you have suitable photo(s) on hand; otherwise, back to needing access to your horse.

Online Horse Showing Breeding & riding classes. Pet classes. UK. Pretty ribbons.

British Driving Society. “Starting tomorrow and every Friday thereafter, we will be running photo competitions with some beautiful rosettes on offer.” Facebook post. UK.

Farnam and State Line Tack have both mentioned virtual shows on their Facebook feeds.

Horseless Horse Shows
I tried to find horseless options, with less success. People must be doing things. More a failure of my GoogleFu. Do you know of any I have missed?

My local hunter/jumper association is running trivia contests for swag: ID that horse/rider, do you know your rules, and spot the difference in two photos. Looks like the latter contest was done by editing elements out of a photo. Reasonably simple for someone who understands Photoshop, I would assume.

There is the model customizing contest I mentioned on Saturday, Circle C Artist Challenge Contest! [Let It Go], I suspect they will have more contest as/if time warrants. They seem to be a creative crowd.

Then there is the photo-showing subcategory of the model horse hobby. The Model Equine Photo Showers Association. Interested but never had time for it? Guess what. Lots of different avenues. Lots of advice online.

I’ll make you a deal. If you want to get into photo showing, but don’t have a subject, I’ll send you one of my extra Breyer models. Offer good while supplies last & as long as going to the Post Office is feasible. Oh, and US addresses, unless you want to pay shipping, at which point you might as well buy your own. If you want a model, you have to promise to read this first, Desktop Stables: How I Photograph My Models – Revisited. So you know what you are getting into, if you want to be competitive.

Don’t see one you like online? Start your own.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horse Tooth At The Mississippi Museum Of Natural Science, Jackson MS

Random Images

 
I had a more relevant post planned, but my brain is mush. Here’s one from the reserve pile. Catch you tomorrow. Vicarious travel for the win.

For my mother and other concerned individuals. I’m fine. Brain fade due to a rainy day today and an 8.4 mile bike ride yesterday, on top of, well, everything.

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Update. We live way out in the country. Biking is one guy on a tractor away from social isolation.
~~~
 

Camera shadow for scale.

Mississippi Museum Of Natural Science, Jackson MS

The museum has a nature trail that winds past swamps in LeFleur’s Bluff State Park …

…. and heads out to the Pearl River.

“The City of Jackson was originally known as “LeFleur’s Bluff.” MDWFP. All photos taken March 2019.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Finding the Lemonade

Training Journal

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

Ooof. What can I say that you can’t read elsewhere? The only thing that bears repeating is Thank you.

Thank you to nurses and doctors caring for the sick.

Thank you to first responders going where you are needed.

Thank you to grocery store clerks who are restocking shelves and running checkout counters in situations when we-the-customers might not be at our best as human beings.

Thank you to people who are links in the supply chain: those who work in factories & canneries, those who sort and ship; those who transport, e.g. drivers, deliveryfolk, mail carriers. We can order online all we want. Someone somewhere has to make it happen.

Thank you to the people who are keeping the lights on, the water running, the cell phones working, and the Internet alternately amusing and annoying us.

Thank you to anyone I have overlooked who is, as Mike Rowe says in Dirty Jobs, making civilized life possible for the rest of us.

A post by Journey with a Dancing Horse: Gratitude in Uncertain Times (Bloghop) reminded me of others who should not be forgotten: veterinarians and feed stores, lab techs and non-medical hospital workers. The list really goes on doesn’t it? BTW, my gratitude list looks a lot like hers: family safe from virus (crosses fingers), horses in the backyard, places to walk, spring weather, entertaining husband, and so on.

Finally, thank you to all folks staying home and staying out of the way.
~~~
In the normal course of things (Ha!) we would continue to ship hither and yon to take advantage of better footing and enclosed spaces. That’s not happening. Instead, we are making a virtue out of necessity.

We could still go places. Barns in my area are open, subject to restrictions. The arenas are either open air or covered. No indoors. We tend to arrive when no one else is around. If other folks are present, we mostly wave at them from across an open parking lot. Social distance before it was cool.

The only common spaces we use are the restrooms. That could be handled, if needed. Or not handled, as it were. See above re no one else around.

Is it possible? Yes. Is it allowed under current state and local guidelines? Yes. Is it essential? No. So we have chosen to stay home. At some point, we needed to work on getting everyone comfortable working in the backyard. That time is now.

For Rodney, we will treat the pasture as a new place, gradually allowing him to adjust to the workspace [Peeling The Emotional Onion]. He’ll just have to get over his cow obsession [Cow TV].

Milton is cool at home. His issue is one of facilities. We don’t have a good place to drive. Plus, for now, I flat out refuse to be party to hitching him without supervision. We are working on developing more practice cart/sleds for him to pull. Our first one got old and has disintegrated [Practice Cart, Milton Gets Shafted]. Will keep you posted.

As for riding, I will put on my super-strength big girl britches and get on my own d*mn horse in my own d*mn backyard, without the comforting support of the SSF round pen [Old Arena].

Both will go on lots and lots of pasture walks [Team Ride]. Perhaps by the end of all this, we will be able to ride at home and save traveling for lessons and occasional outings.

We good. How you?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Surrounded By Stories, GWSE Logo

Lettering & Graphic Design

 

 
For your amusement. Storytime. Christopher Skaife is reading from his book *The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London* while sitting at various locations around the Tower. Love the book. Look forward to hearing it read in situ. I saw/heard this on Instragram: ravenology1. I imagine the video will appear in various places.
~~~
 

 
#GWstorieseverywhere
#GWSE
Gotham Writers

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott