Virtual Brush Box

Windbreak

Mathilda has worn her last blanket. Before I tell the story, let me assure you that she is fine. The rest of us are a little jumpy, but she is fine.

When Chief Minion went to the barn for morning chores, he found her lying on her side unable to stand. Since her accident, we have lived in fear that this would be her exit strategy. Therefore, finding her this way, too tired to rise, lead to a certain level of doom and hysteria.

We managed to roll her over onto her chest and prop her up with a bale of hay. This gave her a chance to regroup and get her breath back. Lacking any idea what was wrong, we shucked the blanket just to get it out of the way. Up she popped.

As best we can tell, she compensates for a weak hind end by using her shoulders on the upsurge. Either she uses momentum to roll herself foreward, or she stretches out and pulls up with her forelegs. Either way, the blanket – the fancy, expensive, brand-name, winter stable blanket – had gotten wedged underneath and was constricting her shoulders. Her strength/balance is sufficiently compromised that she was not able to overcome the slight restraint this imposed. As best we can tell.

We very much want this to be the reason. That makes it a fixable problem. To keep her out of the wind, we have put up easily-removable tarps over the entry and quasi-permanent canvas over the other open spaces. The tarps will come down after each brief cold spell. The canvas will stay up until spring. My fantastic in-house carpenter is certainly capable of building permanent walls. However, the rest of the year, the barn needs as much air as possible. So, for now the horses are living in tent city.

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Fifth Leg Training

Last Monday [Slow Starter], I admitted that I have a hard time getting my brain in gear when I first get on a horse. It’s not all bad. There is even a training rationale behind it.

When jumping, the situation can go wahoonie-shaped in a hurry. Either the rider errs or the horse expresses an abundance of enthusiasm. If one is truly, deeply up the creek, the best thing one can do is to sit chilly and hope that the horse will extricate one’s sorry ass through a combination of balance & athleticism. This is called finding a fifth leg. I am a firm believer in this. Okay, if I were Phillip Dutton and never made a mistake, I wouldn’t need it.

I want a horse who is used to thinking on his/her own. When I become completely befuddled, I want the horse to say, ‘It’s okay, Boss. I got this one.’ Granted, I can’t go to that well too often. Otherwise, the horse would turn me in for a newer model. But, I want to know that if I have to throw away the reins, grab mane, and pray, the horse will not suffer a crisis of abandonment. This is particularly true with an event horse on cross-country. If that means my score for ‘submission’ in the dressage phase is low, so be it.

In saddleseat, dressage, or ballroom dancing, one doesn’t generally expect to go ass over teakettle. Of course, things can happen. When one is dealing with moving bodies, entropy can always increase. But generally, one expects teakettles to stay where put.

So I will adapt – or try to – while riding the Saddlebreds. I will get on, go to right work, keep a contact, and generally act as if I am in charge of the situation. When I am back on my own horse, he (most likely) had better be ready to take the controls.
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More Gratuitous Trees

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One more week of campaigning. From the Haynet Admin, “Please get voting members as it’s a very, very close contest at the moment!! Voting closing midday Monday 9th December.” (Note, UK time.) At least, it was close 5 days ago. Perhaps there is a clear front-runner now. They aren’t telling. (Note the second, as stated above, you don’t need to be a member to vote.)

Text Art: LEGO I

(You knew this was coming.)

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It has been pointed out that my vote banner has outlived its usefulness. Think of it as one of those annoying campaign signs on every yard and every highway verge that the entire world is sick of but politicians leave up to catch one last vote.

Chasing Perfection

(End of the month blogging commentary. List of previous posts here.)

I am a writer not a photographer.

I knew that I would never be a capital-p Photographer, even if I ever figured out what all the buttons on my camera were for. I lack a true graphic eye. Oh, my graphic sense isn’t horrid. At least, it’s not as bad as my musical ability, which is non-existent. I enjoy graphic design and appreciate the good stuff. But, since the late 80s I have known I was a mere dabbler.

Life lesson moment. While at a newspaper job, I had to design an in-house ad. This was early in desk-top publishing (we still called it that) and most of us had just moved off of typewriters. Suddenly we had lots of fonts to play with. Too many. I mocked up a whiz-bang ad, with all manner of bells and whistles. Then, I took it to the basement where we kept the graphic folks. My artistically endowed co-worker [example of his artwork here] took out most of the fonts, added white space, and rearranged the text. Without changing a single word, he completely revamped the ad. Staring his screen, I knew then I would never reach that level.

Still. I was taking photos for the newspaper, mostly grip-and-grins but achieving the occasional jackpot. When I started covering horse shows, I was able to manage a publishable winner-over-fences shot. I would never love the darkroom (this was pre-Photoshop), but I was hoping for photo-journalist.

Meh.

Blogging has convinced me otherwise. Part of my goal to keep the blog from making me crazy is to internalize that ‘Perfection is the Enemy of Good.’ I try to accept good enough and move on. However, I am more likely to do this with a photo that with text. I will accept a photo that is cute if a smidge blurry before I will stop fussing for exactly the mot juste.

Granted, one can always rewrite but not always reshoot, e.g. a sunset or a location. However, even when I’m photographing at home, say a LEGO construction, I will balance how far off the mark I am versus the effort of setting up, snapping another 10 frames, downloading, trimming, and so on. OTOH, I will get up in the middle of the night to change to a more felicitous phrase.

Verdict: I am a writer not a photographer.
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Gratuitous Fall Picture

Not our trees but too pretty to pass up.
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Foto Friday: Duckies in DC

Original ducky post & source, Happy Rubber Ducky Day!
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Life’s Mysteries

Holidays are the time to contemplate the great imponderables.

Barn Mystery
After a blacksmith visit, I use a magnet on a stick to pick up nail bits from our dirt aisle. I do this every time. Why do I always, always find old nails?

Cat Mystery
While Ghost was recuperating, Blue broke into the ICU to use the litter box & eat the food, the same food available in the rest of the house. WTF?

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans.
Happy Thursday to the rest of the world.
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Gearing Up For the Dark Days

Cold. Unseasonably cold. This is the upside to having pasture ornaments. Go to barn. Pat noses. Tell ’em you will see ’em tomorrow. Or when it thaws. Retreat to house. No competition plans to be delayed.

I know, I know, it’s colder where you are. It’s all in what one is used to. Where I went to college, we would have been sunbathing in this weather. Plus, colder places have suitable facilities: lighted rings, competent road clearing, footing that doesn’t change to greasy soup at the first drop of rain, and so on.

So what to do instead?

Ride. Continue with lessons. The saddleseat barn has a small covered arena that is good for moderately bad weather. On really bad days, everything around here shuts down.

Get fit. Core strength for sitting well. Flexibility to go with the movement Aerobic conditioning to survive an entire cross-county course, jumping round, or flat class.

Read. Winter goals for riding books are to finish Riding for Success: Both In & Out of the Showring by Gayle Lampe [Saddle & Bridle, 1996] & to read Saddle Seat Equitation: The Definitive Guide by Helen K. Crabtree [Doubleday, rev. 1999]. For extra credit, read the revised edition of Lampe’s book, now with added chapters. Be interesting to see what else, if anything, has changed from the first book.

Got any other winter suggestions? (Please note, we are only discussing ideas. The motivation to implement them is a whole separate post.)
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Gratuitous Cat Picture

Percy. Photo by G. — Percy inspects the new load. Photo by G.

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