Cart Adjustments

Awareness of the outside world. A friend posted an amusing political meme. Too amusing to be true? Alas, yes. A brief Internet search showed that person X probably never said that, much as I might wish they did. It has never been easier to spread nonsense. HOWEVER, it has also never been easier to check.

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New cart. Yay! [Milton Gets Wheels]

New cart has different attachment points than our harness. Boo!

The barn’s ace mechanic took out two resident flattop bolts. Replaced them with eyelet bolts. While the steel clashes with the wood & brass aesthetic of the cart, it gives us a way to attach the traces with quick releases. Yay!

Above, new bolt. Original attachment on side of shaft. Below, cart with bolt location indicated. Did same on other side.

Onwards!
Katherine

Putting It On Pause

Awareness of the outside world. “Heat related illnesses and death are largely preventable with proper planning, education, and action. Heat.gov serves as the premier source of heat and health information for the nation to reduce the health, economic, and infrastructural impacts of extreme heat.” HEAT.gov, National Integrated Heat Health Information System

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We are putting what passes for work with the horses on pause until we stop having heat alerts.

True. A short, quiet stroll in the shade is not going stress anyone.

Meh. We’re not in any hurry. We’re not going anywhere. We’re not getting ready for anything.

Morning walks will continue.

Onwards!
Katherine

The Beauty of a Load Of Hay

Awareness of the outside world. Power outage over the weekend. Amazing how ingrained it is to reach for a light switch even when you know there is no power.

We’re fine. 16 hours overnight. In present configuration, no one’s health or welfare is dependent on electricity. Other than the self-generated kind.

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You know you are a barn owner when this sight brings you joy.

In days of yore, we would fill the barn for the year, but we ran into consistency and quality issues. We kept having to find new hay growers. Now, we leave it to the folks at the feed store to source nice hay.

A luxury for two horses that would be a lot harder with 20.

Bien manger.

Onwards!
Katherine

Faces In The Crowd At The Horse Show, Fiction Fragments

🐴🐴🐴

Well, this is an interesting first date. You drag me all the way out here to watch your kid go around in circles. Do you ride? Or do we just watch? I mean, it this even a sport? The kid just sits there.

Okay, I get it. I’m either down for kid-centered activities or don’t waste your time. It does have an element of efficiency. Weed ’em out early.

🐴🐴🐴

Horse show from the POV of a barn cat. Oooh, new people. You may pet me. You may pet me. And you. Not you. You may pet me.

Horse show from the POV of a carrot. CHOMP.

🐴🐴🐴

Alien Commander: Where are you off to now?

Alien Scout: A horse show.

Alien Commander: What are your mission parameters?

Alien Scout: Understand the human desire to compete.

Alien Commander: You’ve done your research on the dominant species this time?

Alien Scout: Yes. Pat the horses. Talk to the humans

Alien Commander: We don’t want a repeat of what happened at the dog show.

(Pause to shake vestigial wings/shudder)

🐴🐴🐴

Afterword

Shorter than I had hoped. The day set aside to expand these turned out to be a bit of a day. Going forward with these pieces on the theory that something is better than nothing.

Archives [Faces In The Crowd]

Onwards!
Katherine

Star Trails, Guest Photos

Star photos by Susan Eagan. Welcome Susan.

Susan introduces herself, “I am a photography enthusiast living in Hoover Alabama. I received my Samford Academy Of The Arts photography certificate in 2017 and have attended numerous night photography workshops with National Parks at Night. Many of my night photos can be viewed at SmugMug: Susan Eagan. I can be contacted at eagansusan5618@gmail.com.”

“The photos were taken at Stepping Stone Farm in Chelsea, Alabama, during a night field trip with Samford University, Academy of the Arts, Night time/Low light Photography class, taught by Meg McKinney.”

“The star trails images were produced by shooting a number of star photos and combining into one image in Photoshop.  A few of the Star photos taken were not used due to excessive cloud cover so the trails are not as long as they could have been. My light writing image (first ever) was done with Meg’s assistance.” 

Class photo by Meg. She explains, “Photography students set up their tripods and cameras inside the arena, for several hours after sunset. This location has a big sky opening in all directions, with space for the class to set up on level ground. We appreciate Stepping Stone Farm Riding Academy allowing us to set up.”

“The photo was taken w/ iPhone because my DSLR camera was busy taking star trails photos, red light near the red wagon.”

“This class is held each summer.”

Links

SmugMug: Susan Eagan

eagansusan5618@gmail.com

Meg McKinney

Samford University, Academy of the Arts

Stepping Stone Farm

📷


Summer Showing, Show Report

Awareness of the outside world. Dreamscape Rescue, dedicated rescuing, rehabbing, and repurposing American Saddlebreds. SSF works with them. Dreamscape on Facebook.

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ASHAA Summer Fun Show
Stepping Stone Farm
Chelsea AL, USA
Sunday 11 August 2024

Flirting With Royalty (Andre)
10 Academy Driving – 1st of 2

Thank you to Courtney Huguley for Andre. 🎉

I now have my three required driving classes for the banquet in January. 🎉

Bling is nice. No question. Will always accept. However, I do it as much to have somewhere to go in darkest January. [Achievement Unlocked] 🎉

Chose not to ride in show. Between heat alerts & rain & camp schedule, I have not ridden at SSF since June. Work deadlines kept me from my usual trick of sliding in a pre-show lesson the week before. Not a policy statement. A fluke of timing. [Summer Driving] 🎉

Speaking of weather, after astounding summer heat, the show day was glorious. Props to whoever ordered the weather. 🎉

ASHAA Shows this year 🎉
Does not include Winter Tournament [Series]
[Hey Kids, Let’s Put On A Show, ASHAA Fun Show]
[A & B & Me, Show Report, Alabama State Games]

Onwards!
Katherine