Siesta

Fletcher rests from his labors. Photo by Courtney Huguley
Fletcher rests from his labors.
Photos by Courtney Huguley

Different riding disciplines could learn from each other. For instance, saddleseat shows have institutionalized a break between the afternoon and evening sessions.

My reference point is interminable local hunter shows that run from first warm-up straight through to the last jump of the last class. You are trapped in the middle of a vast, dusty open plain. Your brain slowly leaks out your ears as you watch endless repetitions of outside, diagonal, outside, diagonal. It would have been nirvana to retreat back to a hotel to rest for a few hours in a cool, dark space.

When Instructor first told me that the show would stop in the middle of the day. I didn’t believe her. Not that I doubted her, I just couldn’t process the horse show juggernaut griding to a halt and then starting up again.

It does.

Even the horses have bought into the program. At one of the early shows, I went back to the showgrounds to look for candid photo ops. Nothing was happening. Nobody was around. The horses up and down the aisles unanimously greeted me with ‘Who are you? Why are you here? Leave us alone. It’s our naptime.’

Hamlet hides amid the covers.
Hamlet hides amid the covers.

From the Shelves IV

cov Nines

To The Nines: A Practical Guide To Horse And Rider Turn Out For Dressage, Eventing, And Hunter Jumper Shows by Jennifer Chong [Alpine 2006]. A grooming book for those of us who already know that hoof oil dresses up the feet.

Your favorite book for those who already can, horse or otherwise?
—
Show details coming Wednesday. Short version: Alvin sweeps my classes. And driving. And performance. I go along for the ride.

From the Shelves II

cov Mycio

Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl by Mary Mycio [Joseph Henry 2005].

Not as depressing a book as one might expect from the subject matter. Mycio looks into what comes next. How will we warn future generations? What do we do with the land? Who can live there? Included as a horse book because of the 21 Takhi released into the buffer zone, recounted in “Chapter 5: Back to the Wild”

Mycio’s Slate bibliograohy includes the 2012 article, “The First 1 Percent: Horses may be the source of humans’ oldest social stratifications”. Mycio is a horse owner, photos here.

Your favorite non-fiction book, horse or otherwise?

From the Shelves I

I’m off to a horse show, so I’m leaving you with friends both old and new. I tried to pick ones that I like but of which you might not have heard.

cov Stoneridge
A Horse of Your Own by M.A. Stoneridge [Doubleday 1963, 1968]

As you can tell by the cover, I have had this book for a long, long time. When I was a city brat, it was my talisman that one day I would have A Horse Of My Own.

cov Stoneridge interior 1
I used to look at this picture of a feed room and wonder what mine would look like. The answer is non-existent. Due to fire ants, we keep the feed in the house.

cov Stoneridge interior 4
OTOH, I looked at this picture and never predicted that I would one day ride at the National Horse Show in the side-saddle version of a Corinthian class.

Your favorite childhood book, horse or otherwise?

Turnout

For the last week, Mathilda has been given the option to go out at night. Callooh! Callay!

Mathilda loves it. I suspected free-choice turn-out would do her good but I didn’t expect to see her this perky this quickly. Her spirit is positively bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Her body is not as exhausted as I thought it would be, even the first night. She’s happy to spend the day resting in front of her fan, but she’s not wiped out. Sadly for the stall cleaner, she still comes into her pen to poop. With acres of pasture at her disposal, she prefers indoor plumbing.

I am thrilled. She had been getting turned out for short periods twice a day, which meant four trips to the barn to catch everyone, move the barrier, & swap them around. My life is not so onerous that this was a difficult task, but I’m just as happy to skip the trips. We haven’t decided what to do come the cold and dark. One season at a time.

Rodney, on the other hand, is not pleased. Horses don’t like change. Rodney adapts to change even more slowly than most horses. Last night (as in Tuesday night, I wrote this on Wednesday), I went to the barn after they had been put up to lay some goop on his back, ‘What are you doing here? No one comes to see us at this time of day. You can’t be here. No one comes in my room.’ So any change to routine is going to twist his shorts. Plus, Mathilda going out to graze means leaving him behind in the barn. He does not appreciate the abandonment.

Update [posted at midnight, updated 8am]: I had put off saying anything about this until I was sure that it was more than a freak event. Then, two hours after it posted, we had an unannounced gullywasher. Last night (Wednesday night), Mathilda was soaked from trotting back and forth on a hill in the storm. Barn was flooded from the door being open. Rodney was hyperventilating from being left behind. This morning, the horses are fine. We, however, may never find the courage to let her out again. On the up side, she trots mighty sweet for a gimpy, old girl.

Update on the update: Mathilda did go out last (Thursday) night. She made it clear we had no choice. Monster. We have created.

Camera Question

[Meta-post on blogging. Others.]

I need a camera. This blog needs a camera. I am getting tired of the unbroken expanses of text. You must be getting tired of the u. e. of t.

My camera armory used to be a Nikon D50 slr and a Canon PowerShot point & shoot. The Nikon obviously took better pictures but the Canon was small enough to fulfill the adage ‘The best camera is the one you have with you’.

The Nikon is a doorstop. The electrical bits have died. They tell me the rest is not worth fixing. The camera’s advanced age of over 5 years makes it obsolete for a digital camera. Mind you, Hubby’s film Nikon that was ancient when I used it in the 90s probably still works. >Insert old fart rant about the ephemeral nature of modern life<.

The Canon is nearing retirement. It has developed dust spots on the processor. Hubby cleaned it once using widgets at his work. It needs to be cleaned again. The last time I used the camera, the viewing screen had a little degraded spot that looked like a UFO in the sky of the picture. The blemish did not show up on the images, but such a spot can't be a good sign. Plus, the camera box has developed a parallelogram shape from being carried in my back pocket so often. The majority of photos in this blog have been taken with the Canon. It doesn't owe me much at this point.

What to get?

Point & Shoot
Last time, I called the nice folks at B&H and asked the fellow for the smallest camera with the biggest viewing area. He recommended several. I sat on the line and hummed until he said, This one. Buy this one. I could do that again. Find the most portable camera that takes blog-quality snapshots. It wouldn’t be much use for weird lighting or tricky focus distances, but it would cover more than 90% of what I photograph.

Big Camera
If I were to replace the D50, I have decided on the D7100. It sits on the border between a high-end amateur camera and low-end professional equipment. It is reputed to be good for sports photography. I do not consider myself a true professional photographer. I lack the eye for light and the mindset for the technical details. If I sell photos, they go with an article, perhaps covering shots while the assigned photographer was busy elsewhere. Nor am I a hobbyist. I take photos for the same reason I write – when someone is offering me money. (Except for the blog, which I still can’t explain. Aside from a few spasms of text here and there, this is the most unpaid writing I have ever done.)

What if the little p&s is enough? I don’t want to buy a big, expensive camera just to have it sit on a shelf. No one is waving money in my face for photos. So, right now, I’m good with the little Canon. I don’t need an slr. OTOH, if I never have a fancy camera, I will never be able to sell photos taken with it. Should I buy a camera and be open to opportunities? Or should I accept that that part of my life is over and move one to whatever window is supposed to be open in its place?

Furthermore, when I looked at the specs for the D7100, I didn’t understand half of them. Do I need a camera that will let me frambulate the wharnickel ratio when I don’t know what a wharnickel is nor why I would want to frambulate one? Or should I see it as an opportunity to explore the exciting world of wharnickels? Foto-Friday on the blog would be an excellent practive venue. Or am I kidding myself? The D50 stayed on automatic more than I care to admit.

Mixed
I could find a camera that was portable enough to carry with me yet big enough to take at least the easy paying shots, for example a grip-and-grin in bright daylight. This strikes me as the worst answer. It wouldn’t be quite right for either task. Too big to slide into a pocket yet not hefty enough for real work. I don’t carry a purse, so I’d be tempted to leave it behind. I’d try to use it where a zoom lens and adjustability were required only to end up with lame or useless shots.

Which way to go? A question of purchase and of philosophy.