Virtual Brush Box

Today’s subject is not about horses. For more non-equine subjects, see my other blog, Off Topic. Rodney’s Saga returns to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

I suspect I upset my Amtrak seatmate once upon a time.

First, a little backstory: When I was a teenager, I looked younger than my age by many years. In one instance, I was visiting a breeding farm. The barn manager explained to me about the “mommy horses” and the “daddy horses” and the “baby horses.” I thought he was simple-minded. He thought I was too young to understand reproduction.

In another instance, a stewardess stared at me with great consternation when she saw that I was flying alone. She thought I was an unaccompanied munchkin. She instructed me to wait for her when the plane landed. Sure. Fine. She came back later with a confused look and asked how old I was. I told her. She said I was free to debark on my own recognizance.

Apparently, I did not exude an air of gravitas and maturity. End backstory.

So there I was, 14 years old but looking 9 at the oldest. This train was nothing new to me. One parent in New York City and one parent in Washington DC equaled much time shuttling back and forth. Shortly before the moment in question, I had moved from living with my mother (NYC) to living with my father (DC). I was slowly adapting to the new routines. This was the first weekend I had gone back to visit my mother.

A gentleman sat down next to me on the crowded train. He asked, conversationally, about my trip.

Well, it was Sunday night. I was going home. Which meant NYC. But I just came from there. Why was I leaving? I was going to DC. Why was I doing that? I was usually coming from DC on Sunday night. Hmmm. I’m either going to DC or NYC. One of the two. Was the train traveling north or south? I gave up and asked,

“Which way is the train heading?”

He probably thought I was a run-away. He did not speak to me again.

OT 7.14.14

A straight-up indulgence. The goal is to wear them only in the show ring, take them off immediately after each class, and resell them through Commotion when I am done equitating.

Goal!

After putzing about for the summer, I had dropped my weight from 160 to 158. Bleh. We – the culinary we – got serious at the beginning of August. The objective was 5 pounds a month. The method was straight-up calorie count. My in-house nutrition advisor doesn’t hold with variety diets. It all turns into the same sludge in the end. The question is how one wishes to ingest those calories.

He feels the problem with sugary foods is not any inherent evil, but that it is so easy to snarf down way too many calories in one go. A few weeks ago, someone brought glazed donuts to fire meeting. I had two. I was appalled when I got home to find out that I had inhaled a dinner’s worth of calories (380) in under a minute.

Daily allotment was 1500 calories a day. Three meals totaled 900 to 1000 calories. Daily doses of o.j., V8, & cranberry juice came to 200. That left me ~300 calories to play with. Some days it was Gatorade & raisins. Most days it was Coke. Despite my brave words back in April [Motivation], I still can’t shake the red can habit.

I had a few days under 1500, a few days over 1500, and one or two days way over. The overall trend was downward and under 2000 calories. Of course, this works best if one has a personal chef who is willing to make tasty 300-calorie meals.

Oddly, before swimming I weighed 150.1. The photo was taken after swimming, dry, with slightly damp hair. The body absorbs half a pound of chlorinated pool water? Creepy.

What does this have to do with horses? The entire drive behind the body modification was so that I could button my show vest and not look like a sausage in my jods.

Charles Owen microsuede. Much sleeker than the less expensive schooling helmets I usually have. One has to pay more to get the same safety rating with less material.

Yes, it is a Charles Owen, but from the “lower” end of their price range. The number induces slight staggering rather than a full-on faint.

Since I am often the only one in my saddle seat academy classes with a helmet, I went for as traditional and as elegant a look as possible. Also usable for dressage and hunters.

My legs are well placed, as usual. Nice angle with the feet. Stirrups need to be on ball of foot. Upper body still pitched a little bit too far forward into hunt seat mode. I should sit back to give the horse’s front end room to come up. Arms and hands too floppy. I should be gathering the horse rather than giving to. Looking up! Hat needs to be settled further down in front.

Bingo looks happy. He wasn’t.

Samples scanned. Cut-outs drawn with GIMP. Hand-drawn cutouts would have had more sympathetic shapes but less precise edges. A trade-off.