Virtual Brush Box

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.
___________________________________________________________
More Gratuitous Trees

___________________________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:

Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
___________________________________________________________
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.)

____________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
____________________________________
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.
________________________________________
Gratuitous Fall Picture

Not our trees but too pretty to pass up.
________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
________________________________________

Foto Friday: Duckies in DC

Original ducky post & source, Happy Rubber Ducky Day!
__________________________________________________________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

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.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

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.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Gratuitous Cat Picture

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

__________________________________________________________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:

RallyWe

I have Boosted a RallyMe athlete.

What? RallyMe is crowdsource funding for sports.

Who? Not gonna tell. I don’t want this post to be seen as a campaign for funds. I’m not above that, I’m just not doing it now. AFAICT, most of RallyMe is winter sports, so my choice is not hard to determine, if you must know.

Why? I tossed in a few bob (Doctor Who marathon last week) as small investment in following a RallyMe project.

Allow me to emphasize, I know nothing about this horse & rider beyond what is on the page. It’s a digital adventure, that’s all.

What have I learned so far?

Nothing is free. RallyMe takes 5%; PayPal, 3%. Doesn’t sound that bad until I calculate that 8% of $2500 is $200. For every dollar the athlete raises, almost a dime never shows up. That doesn’t count taxes (unless 501c3), buying & shipping swag, opportunity cost of organizing the whole shebang, and so on. Costs

It’s about the numbers. Start strong. Spread the net wide. Be open to everyone:

Aim to have 20 percent of your goal raised in the first 48-72 hours of your Rally. How To

Industry research also suggests that of the people you tell about your campaign, 10 percent will contribute that amount. Thus, if you need to raise $9,332, you’d need to get 125 people to contribute $75. If the 10-percent rule holds true, you’ll need to find a way to tell your story to 1,250 people. How To

“As much as 60 percent of your funding can come from people you don’t know. These are people who have an interest in, and share a passion for the activity you’re engaged in. Or maybe they’re people who you don’t know who have a special connection to the school you’re attending, or the town you come from. You never know.” What is

I shall report back.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.
__________________________________________________________________________________________