A picture of Flip and Blaze, back when they both could (sort of) fit into one dog bed. Flip isn't thrilled. She still hates having her picture taken indoors. The aggrieved look is always there.
And a picture from last winter, both girls wishing I'd quit with the clicking thing already..
That picture of me and GoLightly was a tough one to post. It was still early in our time together, and I was awed with each ride. I was gasping for breath in that pic. GoLightly's straightness was freakin' me out. My back, twisted and crimped through years of abuse, was thrilled at the lack of twist in GoLightly's back. I don't like that my heels are out ahead of me, but I think I was just trying to cool my inner legs off.
I never could do the shorts with chaps thing. Pinching of that kind of tissue isn't pleasant, especially in 90+ heat.
GoLightly was very long, and tall and straight as a darn steel die. See how GoLightly's head hangs? He's stretching himself out, after our school. That was his idea of long and low. Anybody starting to see what I'm saying? If I had had my leg further back, and on him, and I'd straightened from the half-seat I'm killing myself with here, GoLightly's neck would come "up" and his head would approach the vertical. Naturally.
I wasn't kidding when I said I used every second on GoLightly. He could relax. I kept working.
Equipoise. I love that name.
I found Leo Bear!
Totally fascinating. It must be him. 1970 Gelding. Only one. It must be him, oh, dear. If you look backwards in time, what do you see? Horse conformation has changed a bit, hasn't it?
It's not just me, is it?
I found another great link for conformation talking, but the woman wants money for in-depth. Piffle. Plus PDF alert. Crashed my damn computer.
Can anyone guess why GoLightly wasn't a grand prix jumper? It shows, in this shot.
Form and function. It counts, but not nearly as much as the temperament inside the horse's head.
I gotta go. For some weird reason, I feel like waving to Sarcasta.
25 comments:
Are you waving with all five fingers or just one?
BHM:
My thoughts exactly.
I'll bite, GL... I can't see anything in form/function that would have stopped him, so was it motivation/intensity?
Absolutely for sure, a little of that, BH, and his "tail-set". I never really looked at it before. It's a smitch high. He'd have trouble over truly wide oxers, humungusoid fences.
He was a stellar 4'6" foot horse. But that was his physical limit.
jmo, of course:)
GoLightly was not a "hot" horse. That's why we meshed so well. I was/am tense, he was so not.
BHM, oh, you is baddddddd.
Who's Bad?
Hey, I forgot, RIP Michael Jackson!!
And Farrah, too. And Ed McMahon.
Bad week to be a celebrity.
Great week to be a dog, though, in this weather!
We had SUMMER this week.
(happy dance)
Isn't strange that David Carridine died a few weeks ago. We've had a group of '70's stars die.
I have to tell you, I just teceieved an email back from a member of an Indo-European forum. It said ROTFL, good one bhm!
My joke consisted of stating that Indo-European is a dead theory and that Hittite should be regrouped with Siberian. I a sure that this is a very funny joke amongst linguists so please try to laugh and tell me how funny I am.
That is hilarious, BHM. I'm not a linguist, but I laughed because I've studies origins of languages with my middle school students. Siberian and Hittite? Good one.
bhm, Huh? sorry you went right over this bumpkins head. I will laugh with you thogh ,at at my own foolishness. I don't really know enough to assess why GoLightly woud not be a great jumper, all I can see is he looks like a nice ride for flat work ,and at a guess I would expect a bit more ..something with his hip/haunch . Nothing wrong with him I just think he has a nice deep heart girth but maybe not as much oomph behind ( I give up makes no sense )
GL was a star. 4'6" is freakin' huuuuge.
You was a star for riding it and for recognizing what he could do, and more importantly, NOT do.
I think a horse that can teach is just as important, or maybe more important, than the horse that can rock the world with an educated rider aboard. The horse that can teach a rider is a jewel beyond price.
I'm a jeweler, so Etruscan rules...
I see what you mean about the tail set being a bit high, even if you had to point it out to me. But explain to me why that would restrict his jumping abilities?
Oooooh..
My head is better today.
Sorry for the brevity of the post, my head hurt, and the sun was shining, and my girls needed along play yesterday.
NCC, it just meant he couldn't jump the truly, ridiculously large jumps easily.
I have to find some examples...
I'm just "picking him apart", is all:)
Not getting the linguists' joke was a serious blow to my pretentious journalist ego. :(
Think I'll put on my Fort Dodge cap and go mow the field or trim some feet or sumthin.
Anyway, if you're looking at conformation of the hind end and you want an idea of how the angle of the croup and the tail-set come into play in a horse's athletic ability, watch a little racing. Watch the horses in the paddock, study one horse's conformation, and then observe how he runs. You will find that a horse with a steeply angled croup and a low-set tail (if his hind legs are conformed correctly) will be able to reach more deeply under himself.
BHM:)
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
(have NO idea why that's funny)
That JWequine site has some interesting articles.
She does a conformation clinic in our "Horse Sport" magazine, a la what Practical Horseman does.
I think GoLightly just didn't have enough "scope", because of his build.
He was still the perfect horse, of course:)
eeeeeK
14th,for superstition.
I just got another email that "high fived" my joke. Fern is the last person I would consider a bumpkin head and US, being a journalist, I would place high on my list as well. I directed the joke at me and the way I think and my interests as in "bhm is off on one of her crazy tangents again".
GL,
Thanks for pointing out the croup area. Keep it up with you insights.
In order to divert interest from my sad lack of knowledge in the linguistics department. . . .
When I was a kid in Florida I thought the whole point of chaps was to wear shorts under them.
I'm pretty sure that's what the lady at the tack shop told me.
Shorts and paddock boots make the CUTEST tan line. Almost as cute as the tan line from wearing half-chaps and thin cotton breeches.
Hey bhm , I think this is the right place for tangents! we all get on them here ! Cool place huh?
Some of us callous more easily, Union Square.
I is red-head. I haz thin, delicate, porcelain-lily-fish-belly-white skin.
I never tanned. I burned, then I blistered, then I fell over from sun-stroke.(Barbados..)
My darlin' Mom used to make me wear a raincoat on the beach, with rain-hat. I have pictures.
Never understood why, until I just about burned my skin right off.
I feel like a mushroom, or as my husband would say, a vampire.
One summer, I had a job mucking 40 horses in the morning. I worked on my "tan" every afternoon, from noon until 4 or so. I turned a lovely shade of pale beige.
Now, maybe if I'd lived in Florida...
Instead of (shivers)
Toronto..
where the Cephalopods roam...
and the Scarberians are always right:)
I'd have turned out a darker shade of pale.
Hah, the tangent starter herself!
Or is that the tangent pointer-outer??
Hey, Fern!
Who Me? looks around inocently
Took 3 hrs but I beat blogger and got a new post up!
where the Cephalopods roam the lone pairie... ok, every sing with me now!
I always tanned and rarely worried about burning. When I was a kid, my back would be almost the same colour as my brown hair.
bhm there is a joke like that somewhere in the Bible.
I can't quite remember how it goes.
B.C. period joke similar to a Hittite walks into a bar. I mean Babylon.
GL I get it. Heavy on the front.
Just weight wise not saying how he travelled.
Pull him down quicker. Basic physics.
Heart can make up for a lot but not necessarily the form as determined by the physics.
Yes?????????????????????????????
US- A Fl kid here too. My girlfriend would buy Jean shorts and wore those under her chaps at the WP shows- Hysterical to see her all decked out in the makeup, jewelry, rhinestone jacket and shorts. She was no slough either, consumate professional and did VERY well for herself in the show ring.
Dena
yez, youze gotz it.
If his back end has been exactly equal in it's incredible conformation to his front end??
Olympic Jumper.
Well, as long as he was awake;)
I have used tanning lotions. Orange is a good colour for me, especially attractive when striped.
Think orange tabby cat.
KESTREL!!!!! (happy dance)
GoLightly was a freakin' horsey genius. He taught me more in those what nine months, than I'd learned in the previous 16 years.
How a horse can go. How a horse should go.
Lightly.
:)
Post a Comment