Horses & Other Interests
Gallopalooza II: The Horses of Possibility City
by Lynn Huffman
Gallopalooza/Power Creative 2009
Not a TBR candidate. A book to pick up and admire the pretty pictures.
Gallopalooza on the blog [Champion City, Guest Photo], page 85 in the book. The photo from Coach Courtney led me to finding the book.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Saturday posts are supposed to be about writing. I’m supposed to be a writer. Fiction? If I could think of a story, and hadn’t be traumatized by English professors in college and grad school. Non-fiction? Perhaps one of those brilliantly creative essays that observes a small aspect of life, spins it up to a overall theme, and returns to an elegant denouement.
Thhbbbbffftt.
I wanted to write that sort of essay about street art, neatly pulling together …
… the hay bale art from yesterday …
.. with the fiberglass horses for tomorrow.
However, the only commentary I can up with is …
Who can argue with enliving the urban landscape?
Maaaaaaybe cost, but that could be said of anything that is not food, shelter, or hospitals. Art is what makes us human. It use to be tool-making that made us human, but that ability is turning up all over the place. I don’t recall an instance of animals in the wild spontaneous producing art. Please correct me if I’m wrong, that would be fascinating.
Sure, it’s not high art, but so what. Neither is Peanuts, yet Snoopy has brought joy to millions.
So, street art, yeah or nay?
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Same Place, Previous Years
[Hay Roll Art: Snowman] 2015
[Hay Bale Art: Thanksgiving 2014] 2014
Different Place
[A Couple of Hay Rolls] 2015
For more, Google hay roll art or round bale art.
Process Notes
The street shot, taken moments after the other two, shows that I need to start looking at the actual lighting rather than simply reading the meter.
Procedure for Low Key Photo Challenge
1) I post photo(s) on a given theme.
2) You comment below with a link to your photo(s) on that theme.
3) We all click over to see what you have.
That’s it. No prizes. No rules. No submissions. For more explanation, see [Inaugural Edition].
Show us the hay art in your area! Or other street art! It’s up to you!
Previous Challenges
[Hello!]
[Labor]
[Toys]
[Travel]
[Books]
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Photo by Doug Shiflet
Class 108
Southeastern Charity Horse Show
Saturday, September 22, 2018
[Show Report, Whisked About]
I wish I had something profound to say about today’s photo (see yesterday [Show Photo, Riding]).
A) It’s hard to pontificate about the results from a single-horse demo class.
B) I have not the slightest idea how a judge sorts out a class full of student drivers. It’s Academy, so the horse isn’t judged (ideally). Then, you can’t see half of the driver, and the part you can see doesn’t move much. I can’t say whether this is good Academy Driving form or not.
As for the photo, I like how Whiskey’s mane is back-lit as it wafts in the breeze.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Photo by Doug Shiflet
Southeastern Charity Horse Show
Classes 110 & 111
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Bell Cheval’s I’m Joanie
[Show Report, First Dance]
If you look at technical merit, I’m not riding all that much better than I am in the photo from the horrid ProAm show last year [Show Photo: ProAm 2017]. My toe is out. My knee is off the saddle. While my hands may be up, my elbows are flapping in the breeze. I’m probably leaning forward, I always am. My upper chest is caved in. A poster child for equitation I am not.
In terms of artistic impression, this show was the total opposite of ProAm. I’m doing two things right. I’m looking up. And I’m grinning like a fool. I was having a blast. Joanie and I tore up the ring in high style.
The lesson here is that attitude can cover a multitude of sins.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
How do the horses like the new riding area [The Forging of the Ring]? On the plus side, it’s easier to work. On the minus side, it’s easier to work.
Sides
The contrast between the remaining high grass/small trees and the mowed area gives the sensation of being in an enclosed ring. Milton clearly feels more protected than he had felt about riding in the pasture.
Being “in a ring” has lured the horses, particularly Rodney, farther from the barn than they were working before. I’m too far away. That’s bad. But I’m in a safe space. That’s good. But I’m too far away …. The conflict resolved itself after a few sessions.
It’s not an impenetrable barrier. I can’t drop the reins and kick the way I can do in either ring at Stepping Stone Farm. I need to maintain some contact with the steering mechanism, otherwise, back to the barn we go.
At one point, Milton shot off on a diagonal out of the ring. Now, he eyes to the spaces between the treelets as his own personal runaway truck ramps.
Space
The length of the long sides gives us the chance to develop some trot before we have to turn. Previously, we were turning almost constantly. That’s a real momentum suck.
Grass
Count Fussy Feet can no longer complain about grass engulfing his ankles [I Will Take My Victories Where I Can Get Them]. Rodney didn’t seem to mind the high grass as much, but he certainly doesn’t object to it being shorter.
Slope
One side of the ring runs up into the slope of the pasture. It’s maybe a 10 degree slant along the two short sides. Perfectly ridable, but I need to sit up and ride the downturns, particularly the far, upper corner on the left rein. That seems to be everyone’s bug-a-boo. Sit up. Inside shoulder back. Weight not dumping onto inside seatbone. Otherwise, it’s a drop-shouldered, counterbent nightmare of a turn. On one hand, I’m learning to ride correct corners. OTOH, I’m coming to hate that corner.
Bottom Line
The new space has allowed me get a lot more done when I ride. Everyone has been working – comparatively – hard lately. Rodney is a bit overwhelmed by it all. Then again, Rodney can get overwhelmed by a leather halter [Here We Stand], so it’s not a high bar. OTOH, while he may be a special snowflake, he’s not wrong. I’ve been registering some creaks and groans of my own.
Onwards!
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Do not let your eyes deceive you. This unexciting photo of a patch of grass is actually a very exciting photo of our newly-mowed riding “ring.”
Our field has gone feral. Our tractor has been lame for a while. (Yes, in addition to the cart & the car [Where Did The Year Go?]. I tell you, Mercury is in permanent retrograde around here. But I digress.) A week ago, we rented a walk-behind bushhog. I had no idea such a thing existed.
We trimmed the riding area, a path around the perimeter, a route for hill work, and a second riding area that is shorter but wider. All within the 24-hour rental period. Zoom. Chomp. Buzz. We chopped grass, pulled up young trees, and ripped out vines. I love the destruction phase of a project.
As one does when one is playing with motorized tools, the size got away from us. We mowed what we could until stopped by the terrain or trees that require bigger tools to uproot. The resulting area is slightly wider and about a third longer than when Previous Horse graced the space.
The main mowed area is 75 x 25 Katherine strides. Back when I was jumping things, I was reasonably accurate at pacing off distances. So 1 K-stride should be about 3 feet. That translates to 66 x 23 meters, give or take. By blind luck, we ended up with darn close to a large dressage arena.
Tomorrow, the horses respond.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 