Virtual Brush Box

Post Called On Account Of Snow

I had planned to write something useful for today but my area got hit with an unexpected 2+ inches of snow & was totally unable to cope. Roads were parking lots. Anyone who lives north of me can’t believe 2 inches qualifies as a snowpocalypse.

It’s not the snow as much as the lack of plows, lack of sand/salt, lack of snow tires, lack of sense. We were supposed to get a dusting so everyone went to work & the kids went to school. When the snow turned serious, everyone tried to get home at once. Schools released the kids at noon, right as the snow picked up. Buses stuck on roads. Kids stuck on buses. My county – for some unknowable reason – does not use school buses, so all those parents went out at the same time & all got stuck in the snow.

As of this writing (Tuesday evening), I’m fine. The horses are fine. My husband is camping out and will be fine. I was home all day with nothing to do. Did I get lots of writing done? Of course not. Watched weather porn & Doctor Who DVDs. The biggest problem at the farm was Mathilda objecting to my taking snow pictures.

Bless cell phones. BTW, husband reports that my little car did great. Yay!

Update, 2/3/14. Local story with pictures.
Grass Stains: #Snowpocalypse2014, Day 1
BTW, snow gone by Friday & 60o on Saturday.

Winter Rations

In the winter, Mathilda prefers her feed from store X rather than store Y. It’s a national feed. The bags are identical. No one from either store can tell us what the difference is. But rest assured, there is a difference.

In the summer, she will eat feed from either location.

This is not out of character. [Carrot Snob Redux]
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Gratuitous Clothing Picture

My new barn jacket. Specs here (but not price). Mmmmm, winter warmth. Happiness.

A Spotted Background

Full name: Spotted. Therefore the captions can be read two ways:

(Celebrity X was) spotted at location Y.
Spotted (is) at location Y.

She is also known as Spot to her adopted sister Eowyn over on Life, the Universe, and Everything: Adventures of a Curious Mind – What was that?

Sex: mare. I was using the male pronoun by default (and isn’t that a whole passel of issues). One day she rolled over and I realized my mistake.

Age: Unknown. I’ve had her just over a year, since December 2012. “Created in the spirit of Wee Traveling Horse (also here on Facebook) and Flat Stanley, as seen on Third Watch.” [Boston] (update: The WTH link has gone private. Check out WTH on FB instead.)

Height: Three-quarters of a hand.

Breed: Spotted is a Knabstrupper of Scleich breeding. Think of her as a German Appaloosa. The breeder’s site has this description, “All Knabstruppers are prized for their health and kind temperament.” Spotted certainly has been low maintenance & tolerates the weird places I make her pose.

BTW, here’s how the American Knabstrupper Association handled the transition to the Danish Association. Don’t you wish all horse associations could be this reasonable and polite?

List of Spotted posts.

Text Art: Ribbon Letters

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Horse Years

Mathilda will turn 30 this year. Since we don’t know her exact birth date, we have given her the Thoroughbred birthday of January 1 and declared her to have achieved that age.

I mentioned this to my Mom (waves hi). She asked how old that was in people years. This site says 85, which seems low. I’ve heard 4 horse-to-people-years as youngsters, tapering to 3 as the horse matures. This would put her in the late-90s to 120, which seems high.

To me, the emotional impact of “This horse is 30.” is equivalent to “This person is 92.” Give or take a year. A horse 40 would be a people 100.

Questions? Comments? Conversion rates of your own making?

BTW, the conversion site says I would be 18 in horse years. I don’t feel ready to be sold off as a schoolmaster.
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Source of yesterday’s picture.

My two ASHAA highpoint trophies from last weekend’s banquet [Awards].

Foto Friday: Infinite Trophies

Why Wup?

The delayed explanation of Sunday’s post.

To provide a Christmas gift to each student without breaking the bank, Stepping Stone Farm made ornaments with a variety of fillings. Some riders chose the name of their favorite horse. Others chose an upbeat motto.

In saddleseat, riders are allowed, nay encouraged, to use their voice.
Wup Trot – an abrupt expulsion of breath, similar to “hup”. Said to initiate the trot, or to further animate an existing trot.
Whoa Walk – to get the gait and to settle a horse who would prefer move on to the next gait.
Canter
Line Up – There is no command for this. The horses know what happens when they get pointed to the center of the ring, to the extent that circles can be difficult because horses stop to line up as soon as they cross the center line.
Plus a wide variety of clucking, chirping, and kissing noises. I’ve had lessons that have worn out my clucker.

In dressage, riders are penalized 2 points for every error. Errors of course are mistakes in the pattern. If the mistake does not put the rider off track, i.e. cantering a letter early, the judge merely makes a note. If the rider diverges from the proper track, the judge blows a whistle and makes a correction. Four errors of course equal elimination. Errors of voice involve talking to the horse, or producing any noise that could be considered communicating with the horse.

Can you see where this is going?

There is no limit to the number of voice errors one can accumulate in a given test. Four errors does not equal elimination, just a drastically plummeting score.

After all the saddleseat I have been doing lately, I’m convinced that I will wup-trot my way through my next dressage test. Rodney, or whomever, will execute a flawless test. We will achieve an arena record for high score. When the errors are subtracted, we will achieve a second arena record for the first negative dressage score.

This is my ornament: