Virtual Brush Box

View from the Top

shadows Jan 2016

Rodney loves his new tack. He is wearing a side-pull hackamore noseband, a headpiece, & reins. That’s it. No saddle. No bit.

I have been reluctantly edging toward this all month [Headgear]. I knew Rodney would prefer the bit to stay in the barn. I knew a happier horse would be less inclined to do something appalling. I knew I could slide off at the first hint of adversity.

He was a star. Stood like a rock. Played couch like a narcoleptic school pony. We’ve done it three times now. We usually give him at least a week to grasp new ideas. He’s been thrilled during each ride, and pleased with himself afterwards. Me, I’m taking longer to swim alongside.

Lotta horse, not lotta tack.

bridles 1

Riding Loose

Saddle Seat Wednesday

I am taking some time off from lessons. Nothing serious. Post-season recuperation I should have taken after Nationals [Report]. I didn’t at the time because a) I wanted to go to Perry to finish out the season [Report]; b) I wanted Greg to drive at Winter Tournament, and I knew he wouldn’t if I didn’t [Report]; & c) I’m too stupid/stubborn to stop even for my own good.

To keep my hand in, I have been binge-watching USEF Network on demand videos of three-gaited classes from the World’s Championship Horse Show.

In NASCAR, a “loose” racecar drifts out with the backend around turns. Many drivers are not comfortable with a car that does not go where it is told. OTOH, loose cars are fast cars. Winning drivers learn to deal with what the engineers hand out, rather than dictating how the car should handle.

See where I’m going with this?

I’ve talked about obedience – or the lack thereof – in saddle seat before [Obedience Epiphany, Back to the Bigtime]. A concommitant to obedience is precision. Yes, an ASB must canter when asked. OTOH, if the horse canters here or six feet farther on, mox nix. In dressage, six feet further on means you have blown the movement. In jumping, six feet to the left means you are jumping the standard. Even in saddle seat equitation, the patterns allow a degree of rider discretion. The ring doesn’t have a host of letters triangulating each footfall.

While Saddlebreds may be loose, they are not cars. Saddlebreds have expectations of their riders. They have been trained to go. You better go with. If that means the rider has to leap on while the horse trots away from the mounting block, meh, halting is only useful in the line-up.

Therefore, I have a mantra for my saddle seat lessons: Be Ready for the Ride.

Where The Time Went

This is a post for the future. When I look back over Milton’s long, successful competition career, I will wonder what took us so long to get started.

Short answer
I was in a mood. Milton was in a mood.

Longer, more specific answer
August 2014. Milton arrives [Meet Milton, Mail-Order Horse, Logistics: Shipping, Logistics: Costs, Welcome to Alabama]. We are thrilled [Festina Lente, Whither?]. Some of us are less thrilled than others [Introduction Day]. It all goes to shit. [Did I Piss Off the Universe and Not Notice?, So Be It, Wrestling With Head Demons, Milton Miscellany].

Fall – Winter 2014/2015. I wallow [New Equipment: Mounting Block]. I fuss [So What Am I Waiting For?]. Milton has trouble adjusting to Alabama [Yoke: Horse Update]. Milton does well in his groundwork [Plans & New Equipment: Schooling Bridles]. We start to wonder [So What Am I Going To Do?: Happy Horse]. I pursue false starts [New Equipment: Clickers, Grooming Bats]. I marinate [Milton Deconstructed].

April 2015. The food thing was real [Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Feed]. He improves; not enough, but some [Clean Cups!]. Took too long to notice [Hindsight]. Too busy blaming myself [Perseverance].

Spring 2015. Faltering steps of progress [Milton’s Miseries, Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Current Work, Gold Stars All Around, Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Summer Suffering].

July – August 2015. Whenever I go out of town [Hudson Valley Horses], I get sick. Spent most of summer in a malaise. Nothing serious, just enough to keep me from feeling perky. Never sure if it is physical or emotional. Pottled about with both horses [The Respect Dance, Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. Or Not, Conversation]. Finally treated in September.

Sept – Oct 2015. Boot camp [Progress Report]. Everything got put on hold [Maintenance]. Fiddled with Milton’s food again.

Nov – Dec 2015. Recovering from boot camp & Nationals [Report]. Looking around at lack of progress [Whither Now?]. Kicking self [Home Team Update].

Dec 16. First nap [Naptime].

Dec – Jan 2016. Holidays. Cold. Rain. Everyone adjusting to new paradigm [SitRep]. Improvement! Why? I have theories; no explanation.

February 2016. Starting over. That’s a good thing.

Framed!

It’s Not Sheep I Count To Sleep

quilt

I have a framing addiction. It’s not my fault. Four Corners Gallery does such a nice job. Plus, this is a wonderful way to both enjoy and protect this lovely quilt panel. The background material has bits of bling mixed in. This gives the effect of “Hanging in the vastness of sparkly space.” to quote Craig Z., the guy who does my framing. Yeah, I have a guy. Like I said, addiction.

The backside of the frame is glass …

quilt back

… to display the information on the back of the panel.

quilt back inset

It’s Not Sheep on Rodney’s Saga
Gift Celebration
Text Art: Q is for Quilt

Guest Post by Quilt’s Creator
Deborah Rubin – Life is a Puzzle

Deborah’s Blog
Life, the Universe, and Everything: Adventures of a Curious Mind

Letter Art: B is for Brush

2016 letter B

2016 Alphabet
Apple

2015 Alphabet
~~~
Design notes
First use of a Bezier curve. Go me. Used to draw the acute angle between the two bowls. Everything else was the ellipse tool. On one hand, the curves could be better balanced (looks like a bad job with scissors) & I didn’t venture into handles. OTOH, I learned about the letter B, more than I would have thought possible.

State of the Blog: Comment Policy

Resuming my end-of-the-month pontifications on writing & blogging. I appear to have left off back in June of last year [Y’All Connect]. I stopped due to some compelling theory that escapes me at this time. I am starting back up as part of my effort to improve the blog, i.e. “the same, but better” [Hello 2016!]. List of previous SotB.

I use a comment policy that I have suffered under in writing classes. The current ~~victim~~ student brings in copies of a work in progress. Work is read aloud. Student sits down & shuts up. Class dissects, praises, attacks the work for a set number of minutes. Student is not allowed to speak while this is happening. At the end, the student is given a handful of minutes to defend, explain, rebut.

So that is what I do. I post. Having said my piece, I sit back. I allow you, the reader, time to comment, condemn, extol. Even if there is a question, I do not leap in with an answer. Perhaps another reader has a better, different, alternate answer to the one I would give. This happened as recently as last Thursday [SitRep]. I was tempted to respond after Amy posted. Instead, I waited. Anonymous rallied with a valiant defense of me & Milton. 🙂

Of course, should the comment thread be subject to displays of poor sportsmanship, I would wade in with my troll basher. Fortunately, that has yet to be an issue. Y’all have been universally entertaining, informative, & delightful.

Once the dust has settled, usually the next day, I return to sum up. This hasn’t always been my policy. I’ve wrestled with different methods. However, for the last few months, I have been making an effort be sure that I comment at the end of each post.

On an administrative note, the comments close automatically after 30 days. I would prefer to leave them open in perpetuity. However, closing the comments has dramatically cut down on spam. OTOH, the improvement might be due to an unrelated anti-spam measure by WordPress. The world may never know.

If you blog, what works for you? As a blog reader, what do you like?
~~~
Gratuitous Cat: Reason

Reason base of tree Jan 9 2016