Do not kick the alpha mare.
Either by accident or on purpose.
She will be displeased.
She will be generous in sharing her displeasure.
An unhappy alpha mare does not result in a happy Milton.
Camera, The Rest of the Story
I fully acknowledge that I bought WAY too much camera. One does not need an FEI-trained horse when one is learning to sit the trot.
My crack IT staff had researched the question thoroughly and settled on the Nikon D5300 or D5500. While I have sold the occasion photo with an article, my skill level remains that of an interested amateur. I know colleagues who liked their D5100s, so the 5000 series made sense.
However.
If I have any hope of ever shooting off auto, I find buttons more amenable that menu-driven selections. Buttons = 7000s. I saved (Ha!) a good bit (Double ha!) with the earlier model. The D7200 has a bigger buffer and wifi. The buffer of 12 will suit me fine and I can’t figure out why I would need wifi.
As soon as I picked the camera up, it said, “Hello. Take me home.” I love the heft. The D5500 has a plastic shell rather than a steel one. Light is lovely, until one adds a long lens. I felt as if the whole works was about to drop forward out of my hand. The D5300 has a shallower handgrip that people apparently find annoying.
Plus, I loathed the D5500/D5300 swivel screen on sight. It may be the most practical of features. It may expand my picture-taking range. It may be the toughest feature of the camera. I don’t care. To me it was one more thing to break off or go wrong. To be clear, I have no supporting data. This is simply my gut response to the mechanism.
I never entertained the idea of mirrorless. I’m too old school, or curmudgeon, if you prefer. Let the early-adopters sort out the features of the new technologies.
Props to Eva Claborn of Showcase Camera. She calmly answered my questions and didn’t laugh when I walked away to hyperventilate. She did not upsell me. The D7100 is entirely on me, given my anti-menu fetish.
Unlike an FEI horse, the camera will not devolve over time. It will wait patiently until I learn what white balance is and why I might need to adjust it.
The view through the viewfinder is beautiful. It’s been years since I looked through a real camera.
New Equipment: Camera
Tomorrow: the rationale – such as it was – for choosing this camera.
Update: The Rest of the Story.
Text Art: Q is for Quilt
Quilts by Deborah Rubin
“This is called ‘It’s not sheep I count to sleep.’ The horses are beaded. The fence is painted. The blue quilting is dotted with blue stars and gold stars. The green beading is made with seed beads and another type of bead.”
“This is called ‘Freedom Rising’. The horse head is two-sided, and only connects to the body just before the withers. The tail is loose. There isn’t a whole lot of quilting but that’s because the horse is fighting from his blue patch to the red freedom.”
The Year of the Horse.
Thank you, Deborah! KTW
Deborah’s Blog
Life, the Universe, and Everything: Adventures of a Curious Mind
DR on RS
Guest Post: Deborah Rubin – Life is a Puzzle
Alphabet 2015
P is for Peppermint
O is for Outstanding
N is for Nail
M is for Mathilda
L is for Longe Line
K is for Kopertox(R)
J is for Jump
I is for Irons
H is for Hay
G is for Green Grass
F is for Feed
E is for Eventing
D is for Dressage
C is for Caesar
B is for Boot
A Is For Appaloosa
BTR 5 of 7, November 2011: Weekend with Wofford
Continuing to repost the entries from my previous monthly blogs Back To Eventing and Back To Riding.
“It’s simple. It’s just not easy.”
James C. Wofford, Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider [Doubleday 1995]
You gotta respect an instructor who can start a sentence with, “When I was teaching [Olympic Silver Medalist] Kim Severson……” At the end of October, I spent two days at Foxwood Farm auditing a clinic by Jimmy Wofford.
Wofford’s Words of Wisdom
(As interpreted by me. Mr. Wofford should be held harmless from however I chose to butcher his ideas.)
Horse and rider need to jump the same jump at the same time.
It’s not against the law to be green.
When reapproaching a jump after a problem, don’t ride faster, ride stronger.
To steer around a stadium course, point your chin at the jump.
Flat jumping comes from increasing speed.
Perfect doesn’t happen. Aim for really good.
The difference between bad riding and good riding? I can‘t see good riding.
The horse hears the aids he wants to hear. Quick horses ignore your hand and overreact to a touch of leg. Sedate souls, vice versa. Therefore, you may have to unbalance your aids to balance your horse.
Punish immediately and reward immediately. Make a fuss over him. Pat him a lot. Tell him he’s wonderful. He’ll start to believe you.
The brief guide to jumping: Canter in a rhythm. If they jump, you kiss ‘em. If they don’t, you kick ‘em.
Clinic Theory
I believe in undershooting when entering a clinic. If I rode at X level, I’d sign up for the X-minus-one group. I’d want to be at a level where I was rock-bottom certain. That way, when the clinician told me to jump a funky gymnastic line at least I wouldn’t be worried about the height of the fences. This weekend, for example, one young lady kept sticking her tongue out when jumping. Wofford warned her and then made her jump with her glove stuffed in her mouth.
Moi
How was life over in my little angst-ridden corner of the universe? I first proposed this clinic back in March (blog posted in June). So I’ve had half a year to adjust to the idea that I wasn’t riding in it. Come the day, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy watching without riding but if I stayed home, I’d sulk. Mostly, at least publicly, I did okay. However, each of the clinic days I did disappear for a quick snivel. Both occasions were after lunch, so blood sugar may have been involved. I subdued my disgruntlement by taking notes as if the clinic were an event to be covered. Occasionally I was pulled out of writer mode by an attendee’s horse misbehaving. At that point, I’d have an anxiety attack in sympathy by imagining the Technicolor fits Rodney would have thrown. That’s the point. I did NOT ride because I was NOT ready. If I ever DO ride in this or any other clinic, it will be when I AM ready. But try telling that to my stomach.
In keeping with my promise of looking on the bright side:
1) I was way more relaxed than had I been riding. Annoyed, frustrated, and depressed, yes. But more relaxed.
2) I was spared the sight of my oversized giraffe in the Beginner Novice group with the pony brigade.
—–
(Admin notes removed. KTW)
~~~
Rodney’s Saga repost locations
Back To Riding
Repost BTR, July 2011: SITREP
BTR 2 of 7, August 2011: SIT[uation]REP[ort] II – The Horse
BTR 3 of 7, September 2011: My Two Horses
BTR 4 of 7, October 2011: Aftermath of an Explosion
Or
The original Back To Riding blog
Back To Eventing
BTE 1 of 9: How I Won the Training Level AEC
BTE 2 of 9: The Cast Assembles
BTE 3 of 9: The AEC, a Realization in Five Phases
BTE 4 of 9: New Horse Blues
BTE 5 of 9: Buying the Horse is Only the Beginning
BTE 6 of 9: Back To Square One
BTE 7 of 9: Getting to Know You
BTE 8 of 9: Spring Fitness
BTE 9 of 9: Forward Planning
Or
List of all nine direct USEA links
Rodney’s Thoughts on My Posing Naked
For those of you who wonder how to take revealing pictures of oneself on a horse. [Challenge]
Have your horses at home. Have a pasture surrounded by dense foliage and fields. Hope none of your neighbors are hunting that day. Wear easily removable clothing – less time to undress equals less time to stress. Have a steady, reliable horse who won’t get upset at new circumstances.
Oh wait, we don’t have one of those.
Day 1: Cognitive Dissonance
Activity! Nerves! Stress! None of it directed at me!
Rodney did not know what to make of the photo shoot. We asked him to stand. He knows couch. He stood like a champ. All four legs solidly locked in park. From the shoulders back, he was a statue.
Rodney is a sensitive horse, particularly to any signs of anxiety in his vicinity. There was a certain level of anxiety in his vicinity. More so on the first day. From the shoulders forward, he was a mess: ducking his neck, pinning his ears, grinding his teeth. After a while, we called it a day. He was on overload. Composing himself afterward required generous pats and a liberal application of green grass.
Day 2: Happy Horse
I stand. They do weird sh*t. Got it.
Rodney was much more relaxed the next day. Too relaxed. He has a tendency to let it all hang out [Doctor Whooves]. His happy meter does not droop. It is set to ‘Wah-hoo, bring on the mares’. This turned the photos from tasteful to trashy.
[Photo withheld due to shortage of brain bleach.]
The Naked Challenge & My Thoughts On Posing Naked on Rodney’s Saga
Will You Take #TheNakedChallenge? on Horse Collaborative
The Naked Challenge on Facebook
My Thoughts On Posing Naked
Will You Take #TheNakedChallenge? on Horse Collaborative
The Naked Challenge on Facebook
I took the challenge [The Naked Challenge]. How did it go?
+ Husband/photographer immediately doubled down. If we were doing this, then we were doing it right: a) I had to be riding & b) it had to be clear I was buck-naked. No possibility of hiding a tank top and bikini bottoms. Eeep.
+ I’m wearing a helmet, I must be dressed. I’m wearing a helmet, I must be dressed. I’m wearing a helmet …
+ Breezes in unexpected places.
+ It’s good to get outside of my comfort zone.
+ It’s exhausting to get outside of my comfort zone.
+ Composing myself afterward required a liberal application of cupcake.
+ I know my friends will be amused &/or supportive. What about acquaintances? Will they be appalled? Amused? Will there be repercussions?
+ I can’t BELIEVE I’m doing this.
Virtual Brush Box 