Fencing, A Photo Essay

Why are the dogs barking?

Hmm, no UPS truck in the driveway.

Why is the cat dashing about? No invaders. Still no delivery.

…

Time for the barn.

Wait.

What is that brown shape? Why is Rodney in the side field? We don’t have a side field anymore.

[Since the only things between Rodney and the road were air and the good intentions of a Thoroughbred, I did not stop to take a photo.]

Grab grain. Quick march to barn to get halter. Okay, there’s the grey. Only one escapee. Here, horsie, horsie. Here, nice quiet horse, who is not about to run around like an idiot. Have some yummy grain. Halter on. Whew. Now let’s see how you got out.

Aha. Tree on the fence line.

fencing 3

Cheers for mesh fencing. Failure of one area does not mean failure of the entire line. One section down, one bent. the rest standing. Yay, fence! (In an ideal world, we would have a board across. Still pondering that side field.)

fencing 1

When my farmhand got home from his day job, we set to repairs by the light of the tractor.

fencing night

The most important point. The deep hoofmarks. Rodney jumped! His first cross-country fence!

fencing 2

All fine. No lasting harm from the adventure, save for my shivers.

a

Show Report & Tweets: Winter Tournament 2015-16 #1, B&W Stables

Saddle Seat Wednesday Thursday

Riding
Deja vu all over again. My fourth Winter Tournament began as did my first. Second place with Sam at B&W Stables [My First Show, Sorta]. Different level. Getting better at speaking saddle seat and at the sitting-still thing. Otherwise, a standard schooling show day: riding, ribbons, & recreation. Most, if not all, of the people who placed in front of me were suit riders. They were on schoolies or greenies, but they usually play in a bigger sandbox than I.

Nerves were better; mainly because I had been out of town the week before. I was too tired to stress.

Driving
530feicone-531ba_000For amusement, we bought a set of driving cones from Silk Tree. They have an oddly slanted shape to allow room for the wheel hubs. They were a hoot to drive through in Greg’s last lesson. (We all had a go.) So, we brought them to the show. Coach Courtney set them up along one side and had us pass thru each time, including at the extended trot. Penalty points were assessed for knocking balls off the cones.

Alvin had never seen cones. No successive approximation. Just, ‘Alvin, meet cones. Go trot’. He took a look at them the first time. Almost as if he wasn’t sure what he should do.’Do these mean stop? Ah no, I see. We go between.’ By the third pass, I swear, he was looking around the turn like a jumper.

If you get a chance to drive, do it. If you drive, set up cones to aim at.

Tweets
Results & play-by-play commentary.

Alvin Photo by a friend of Stepping Stone
Alvin
Photo by a friend of Stepping Stone

Gender Equality in Toys

Props to Breyer. In their Winter 2015 catalog,

Breyer 2015 cov

they have male figures in their product line

Breyer 2015 p35

& boys playing with the horses.

Breyer 2015 p24

This is a subject close to my heart. LEGO bricks are for anyone who wants to play with them: girls, boys, adults, kids. Why is this hard?

“Two years ago, in 2011, 90 percent of Lego’s consumers were boys. A tough statistic to swallow for those of us who grew up playing with Lego’s gender-neutral buckets of bricks. But the statistic came straight from Lego, which was then focused on boys with franchised sets based on properties like Star Wars and The Avengers after weathering a disastrous period in the 1990s that left the company on the brink of collapse.”
NPR Girls’ Legos Are A Hit, But Why Do Girls Need Special Legos? 2013

“I first saw shame take over my son’s face in a somewhat unexpected place: the toy aisle at Target, a place that should normally be full of joy for a kid.”
Ravishingly The Gendered Toy Debate: Why LEGO Friends Is Bad For Boys And Girls 2015

“I might, in fact, be the single most-qualified person on the planet to talk about these issues. Seriously. I’m a 20 year AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) and an active member of the adult LEGO hobby community, and I just happen to have a PhD in Feminist Criticism and Theory. I’m also a working scholar in the field of popular culture studies; I’ve even presented papers about LEGO at academic conferences. Oh, and I’m a woman AND a mother to a little girl. When it comes to talking about gender, girls, toy culture, and LEGO, I’ve got the bases pretty much covered.”
Virtual Virago Gendered Consumption, Girls, and LEGO Friends 2012

Text Art: Z is for Zebra

letter 2015 Z
Zebras have black skin underneath their hair.
Zebra stripes are unique to each individual.
San Diego Zoo: Zebra

Alphabet 2015
Y is for Yeast
W is for Weave Poles
V is for Vest
U is for Unguent
T is for Tweet
S is for Stepping Stone
R is for Rodney
Q is for Quilt
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
~~~
#bloglikecrazy

Show Today: Winter Tournament 2015 #1, B&W

Sam ears 3 trimmed

I was asked who I wanted to ride at this show. Who do I always want to ride? [Whither Now] Sam, of course. [Sultan’s Miracle Man, HOY Nomination]

Con
Be brave! Be fierce! There is no growth without challenge.

Pull my socks up. Ride all the horses the nice lady is kind enough to offer. No progress comes from puttering along in a rut. Every horse has something to teach.

Pro
I have enough trauma – real or imagined – at home.

Stepping Stone is my haven to remember why I like to ride. Simple rides increase confidence as well as competence. Riding horses that overwhelm will freak me out, not build me up.

Compromise
I asked for Sam at this first show. Then, I will gird my loins and attempt to crawl out of my cave in order to ride another horse at the second and third shows.

Future
Still utterly no clue what I will do when next season starts. [WNSSV] Show? Not show? Riding? Driving? Academy? Suit? ASB? TB? Winter Tournament does not require that any decisions be made.