Virtual Brush Box

Update

How have our two been faring while I’ve been lost in Alphabetland? Quite well, thank you.

Mathilda
Since the last mare report [Morning Graze], Mathilda has had a low-grade spring fever – not the good kind – and a mild relapse of her secondary injury [Getting Ready, Fine. So Far]. Dread was had by all. Fortunately, she chugged through.

Unfortunately, meds put her off her feed. We try to handle minor problems with supportive care where possible. She’s still lost more weight than she can spare from when medication was required. To get the weight back, we’ve fiddled with her diet, yet again. We’ve switched from brand X to brand Y. Similar feed, different company. Both reputable national feeds, but the new one appears to strike her fancy. Not Senior. Never Senior. Bleh. We’ve also put her on chopped hay. Short pieces. Easier to eat. Duh.

Her attitude is terrific and she is awash in Spring Fever! The frisky kind. I won’t say she is getting better. That would be tempting fate. Let’s just say that I have stopped having a panic attack immediately upon waking. There is still anxiety. Just not immediately.

Rodney
Rodney has been working industriously on his ground work: weaving around cones, walking over poles, trotting in hand, and jumping on the line.

Given the massive come-apart he had last summer when asked to trot in hand [Weekend, Progress], his recent efforts have been stellar. Given the grand plans I had when I bought him, such small victories are frustrating.

While I was away in Georgia [Show Report], the mice played. The in-hand, trot fence topped out at 3′, the height of the schooling standards. (To be clear, no one was riding. Rodney jumps solo at the end of a long leadline. Kinda like lunging without having the horse as far away from the operator.) He walked to the vicinity of the jump, trot/cantered two strides, hopped over, and landed without a fuss or a head shake.

If that wasn’t enough to celebrate, when I got home that evening he had the oddest attitude: calm, sensible, and relaxed. Usually when Rodney has a good day, he’s tickled. You can tell he’s proud of not being the dumbest kid in class. We in turn are tickled when he is calm-for-Rodney. That night he was flat-out calm. He had the air of a seasoned campaigner content after a good day’s work. Mature.

It only lasted one night. He spooked at me the next morning when I went into his stall. I don’t know where the attitude came from. I don’t know what we do to get it back. For now, it’s nice to know that such an attitude is in there.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2014
List of my A to Z posts

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Gratuitous Pasture Sunset

T-Shirts for the Barn

When I went off to DragonCon, I considered wearing a costume but didn’t want to expend the time & money on something I would wear once. I compromised on genre-appropriate shirts with the understanding that they would become my new barn shirts. Here they are:

ThinkGeek

This has been misinterpreted [Dog Show]. Also from ThinkGeek. Design no longer listed on website.

Shirt used as impromptu cat bed. Not an unusual fate in my house.

Also from ThinkGeek. Also ditto.

BrickShirts. Design also no longer listed. I guess they have to keep changing to keep selling.

Plus a shirt with an map of the subway from Alice in Wonderland that has gone walkabout – the shirt, not the Wonderland subway. That never existed.

Image from here. Also from ThinkGeek, but also no longer available.

Googling for the above image led me to this:

An Alice mosaic on the wall of a NYC subway station. Public art done right. IRT 1, 50th st.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2014
List of my A to Z posts

Update
T-shirt in its future as barn shirt [Proper Walk Protocol]
Saw the Alice mural IRL [Spotted in NYC 2017]

Saddle Seat Sidesaddle

Reading this page,

Saddle Seat Equitation by Helen Crabtree [Western 1970, rev 1982, reprint 1999] p254.

I realized that sidesaddle IS saddle seat. Hunt seat sidesaddle is a retrofit.

Historically
Back in the 19th century, Frederico Caprilli had not been born and there was no forward seat. What we now call saddle seat was just plain riding.

Positionally
Many years ago, I had the good fortune to show sidesaddle.

This is hunt seat sidesaddle. Saddle seat tack/attire would have a different bridle, a derby instead of a bowler, shorter boots, and longer jacket & skirt. The horse is George. Bless his stodgy self.

To maintain a hunt seat position, I had to fight to keep my weight centered in the saddle. The whole construction invited me to put my butt on the cantle. Exactly were my saddle seat instructors keep telling me to sit. Note, this does not mean “in the back seat” nor behind the motion but physically toward the rear of the saddle. The rider is still in balance, just farther back.

When riding in a side-saddle, my hands had to be up because my knee was in the way. I had to work to keep my hands down to follow the mouth of a Thoroughbred going in a long, low, hunter frame.

Metaphorically
I mentally unwrap my leg from around the pommel, drop it down alongside the horse, and voila – saddle seat.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2014
List of my A to Z posts

Rodney Rolling

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2014
List of my A to Z posts

Interlude – Text Art: Radiotelephony

To continue the A to Z theme, I will render the blog title in various alphabets over the four Sundays in April

International Radiotelephone Spelling Alphabet

Romeo
Oscar
Delta
November
Echo
Yankee
Sierra

Sierra
Alfa
Golf
Alfa

Courtesy of the International Civil Aviation Organization website. I had always thought of this as the NATO phonetic alphabet. According to Wiki, it is neither:

“Spelling alphabets are unassociated with such phonetic transcription systems as the International Phonetic Alphabet; instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet so assigned code words acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood despite language barriers or transmission static.

“A common name for this spelling alphabet, “NATO phonetic alphabet,” exists because it appears in Allied Tactical Publication ATP-1, Volume II: Allied Maritime Signal and Maneuvering Book used by all allied navies of NATO, which adopted a modified form of the International Code of Signals. Because the latter allows messages to be spelled via flags or Morse code, it naturally named the code words used to spell out messages by voice its “phonetic alphabet”.

Wiki: NATO phonetic alphabet

Other Spelling Alphabets
scphillips.com: Phonetic Alphabets
NATO, British (historic & current), NY Police, French, German, Italian, & Spanish

osric.com:Phonetic Alphabet Tables
NATO, Western Union

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2014
List of my A to Z posts

Quietude

Or Qompeting against the Qids

The barn is at a show this weekend. I am much less stressed than the last time. [Show Pix]

Due to the byzantine nature of the points system [The Point Is], this show would garner the lowest, non-zero number of points, regardless of how well I did. If I can’t go to them all, this is a good one to skip. (Of course, I WANT to go to them all. Time, money, and common sense have prevailed.)

Plus, I have taken an unreasonable dislike to this show. In a flat class, an arena is an arena. Given a minimum standard of facilities, there is no logical reason to prefer one show over another. Yet I do. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere. Perhaps it’s the route to the show. It requires travel on an Interstate to which I have also taken an unreasonable dislike: long, boring, isolated, yawn.

Plus, plus, there is only one set of Walk/Trot/Canter classes for all ages. I’ve said previously that I don’t mind competing against kids [Show Report Chattanooga]. Turns out, that holds true for Championship classes when all the divisions are lumped together. I get squicky when I think about taking regular-class ribbons from munchkins. I’ll do it [Show Report: ProAm], and fight like demon to win, but part of me doesn’t like it [Programming]. Also, the feeling has increased now that I am cantering. More on this once I figure out why.

Of course, I am making the condescending assumption that the ribbons mean more to the munchkin than to me. For all I know she – usually it’s she – is a jaded show veteran who has been showing in Academy since she was 5, is moving to suit at the next show, and is just as happy to let the old lady have a few moments of glory before they prying the reins from her arthritic paws.

Still, given the choice, I’ll pick shows that have Adult-only WTC.