Voting closes midday Monday 9th December in the UK. That means 11pm Monday in Sydney and 4am Monday in California. So, you still have parts of Monday, but today is the last full day.
One more time:
________________________________________________________________________ VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
This is more in the way of a non-progress report. Since you have been slogging through this adventure with me, I figured I should let you know why nothing is happening.
After Nationals [list of posts here for those just tuning in], I had a bit more free time and a lot more free mental space. Time to GET ON this project. Troops mobilized (thank you). Candidates located. A trip to Lexington KY floated on the horizon. You can imagine my despair at the prospect of a KY road trip [Lexington, Sorta].
While December was looking crowded with family & holiday commitments, January loomed. Not an ideal time to horse hunt, but barns big enough to be worth the drive would have indoor rings &/or decent footing. Bubblings of enthusiasm shifted under the bedrock.
Then my barn help pointed out how hard it would be to introduce a third horse until winter is over. Our barn and pasture are perfect for two. Three horses would be doable if they could all hang out in the pasture 24/7. However, since Mathilda has no sense of self-preservation when near her boy toy, the two we have now are kept separate. When one goes in, the other goes out. Vice versa. A three-horse shell game would get seriously annoying while dodging bad weather. If we start in the Spring, we will have months of warmth and daylight to learn a new juggling routine. As for the obvious question, smart money says that Mathilda ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. LW&TCDR.
Do I like this? No.
Is he right? Yes.
Sigh.
So, unless someone drops Gem Twist at the bottom of my driveway with a bow on his nose, no new horse until spring at the very earliest. Oh well, gives me time to get fit.
Double sigh.
________________________________________________________________________
Gratuitous Cat Picture Blue
________________________________________________________________________ VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
Almost there …
The lower leg of the new schooling jods I bought at Nationals. From this we learn two things:
1) Saddleseat has much to teach the rest of the horse world about having fun.
2) Never go through the vendor area when one is tired, hungry, & has just won a major award. Everything sounds like a good idea.
________________________________________________________________________ VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
Digital advantage: Unlike the physical world, no one has to go back to pick up all the campaign signs with which I have littered the information superhighway.
A few days after Mathilda opted out of winter wear [Windbreak], we took Rodney out of the wardrobe rotation as well. Long story short, the poor horse was getting zapped by his blanket.
In previous winters, we’d had problems with static electricity while grooming [Safety]. As best we can tell, the problem had been mild. He was always happy to see his blanket & seemed to enjoy being warm. We wrote off the occasional zaps as isolated phenomenon.
This year, Rodney is furrier that usual. Last weekend was colder, and therefore drier, than usual. Cue science experiment. He comes flying over. I reach to adjust his blanket. Sudden snap, crackle of a shock that startles both of us. To add insult, I then zap him with a carrot.
In retrospect, this would explain why the shavings in his stall had been mix-mastered more than usual for the previous two mornings. We thought he was reacting to the cold. Turns out he was running up and down, agitating his blanket, and then shocking himself. Which caused more agitated running about. Which caused more shocks. Poor horse. He has been naked and calm(er) ever since.
I’ve never had this problem. We kept Previous Horse and Mathilda in the same climate, in the same blankets for eons. I’ve never even heard of the issue. It wasn’t until I Googled horses & static electricity that I discovered blankets could be a contributing agent.
We will adjust the routine and they should be fine. I have friends living in much colder climates who don’t blanket at all. (T.E. I’m looking at you.)
You’ve heard of the Ghost in the Machine?
This is Ghost on the Machine.
___________________________________________________________ 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.
___________________________________________________________
I thought about shortening the banner after the first few days, but what if a new reader came across the short banner & didn’t know all the particulars?
A short interview with a clothing designer.
___________________________________________________________ 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.
___________________________________________________________
I thought about changing the banner each day, but that would have required too much cleverness.
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.
The new barn door.
___________________________________________________________ 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.
___________________________________________________________
I figure by now most of you have voted. Know anyone who owes you a favor?
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 Our front pasture/yard
___________________________________________________________ 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.)
Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
Virtual Brush Box 