Rather this than that

 There is no Fugly Horse of the Day anymore, which is a good thing. But good things came of FHOTD, namely my gathering of the very best of internet friends, like-minded (well, mostly) individuals who can hear what I'm saying, even when I say it very, very badly.

I do miss certain of them, wish I'd managed to keep in touch with my first "follower". Following predates FaceBook, people!! Humph. Although my attrition rate is pretty good, mathically speaking. I know it's spelled wrong, I like that word better. More better, even. 

There is something to be said, though, sorry, blogger, about being able to block people that you just know won't ever be on or even near your headset. But, sometimes, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say something with only good intentions? People don't read that way anymore, perhaps. Any words typed must be dissected meticulously with every singled-out grammar, misspell, or, oh, the horror, slight critical element. You know what I mean. Of course.

The above cartoon would offend some people. I'd take bets on it, but it's just too much of a sure thing.

.If you pointedly blank decline criticism, it will always be proffered. I have a lovely very confused pseudo-tautology going, don't I?? I'm criticizing people being critical... Cartoons may be the way to go. Look, it's a joke! Not sure everyone gets my mostly disturbed sense of humour. Actually, I'm pretty sure they don't. Ah, well, as long as I can make myself laugh, I'll be doing okay. Like if I post old pictures of me riding without a helmet, I tell ya, the noise generated... So, I have helpfully fixed those pictures. You're welcome, helmet police. The technology hadn't been invented yet, folks. A helmet was a fairly dangerous decoration. I bought a new helmet in 2021! I am current in my safety protocols, so, HAH!

Lately, the horse (YAY horses!) I'm riding has been my laugh-inducer. He is so funny, this boy. Just loves him, muchly. He's pretty darn safe, but I'd never specify any thousand pound animal as "safe". Trustworthy? Sure-ish. Safe? Not entirely. Case in points. My latest equine is 27, gelded when he was 8, 1.3m jumper, has evented, hacked, etc. etc. Lordosis is a new thing for me, never ridden that before, but he doesn't seem to care. So far, anyway. ANYway.

He LIKES to jump, he likes to have something to Do. He lives outside, often for 24+ hours at a time, with two other geldings. He's had a pretty set routine, methinks for at least a year or two. His best bud Rob, the instructor/trainer that knows him very well, compares him to a border collie. Always thinking, always considering. At his grand age, he's allowed his opinions.

He is very expressive, with his opinions. Usually, I can see his opinions. But not always...
To be continued. ISN'T HE ADORABLE???

Flexing Fingers

Edit. I wrote this in April of 2017. Never hit publish. Blaze, my dear Blaze. How I miss you.

October 2005 to February 2018. My kindred Scorpio. ANYway, back to yoga!

It really helps. Just like my old school-horses, movement keeps you moving. Chinook, bless his sweet heart, was so stiff first thing in the morning, he basically hobbled out of his stall. But he was always happy to get out, and always 1000% better when he came back. 

(wrote below just now, this minute, Sept. 2021)
OH, I was sent an ancient picture of him, (thank you, Shar!) after he'd been sold on to another school. That's his big white blaze closest to you, I think you can almost make out his spectacularly bad conformation. His kind soul more than made up for it. Such a funny character he was...

Leo's head is down, furthest away, I don't know the gray or the chestnut, then RAINY!!! Then unknown, then Chinook. Yep, a tad upright, he were.

(Back to April 2017. Are you dizzy yet?)

Movement is life. My doctor recommended I start using weights, oh, ten years ago or so. I so wish I'd heeded her very good advice then. Better late than never, though. In my defence, I was still on the farm, moving rocks, going for daily walks, gardening etc. etc. etc. The commuting and working kept me pretty busy too. But you get tight, if you don't stretch it all out, regular like.
Please ask me how I know :)

Can't remember if I mentioned I've started yoga, or not. Hey, I started yoga! Namaste, whatever that means.  Hexcellent way to keep the limberness idea alive. I came close to acquiring "adhesive capsulitis" in my left shoulder, much to my chagrin. Wake-up call, is what it was. Thank heavens for me taking a holiday, and having a dear friend/RMT I was visiting notice my pain. She got me pointed in the right direction, pretty much in the nick of time. (Flexes).

Now I have to ration stretches/flexions too, because of course I initially over-do. Worst thing you can do, is over-do. Such a fine line, isn't it? My yoga instructors have been mostly great, but I found out the painful way that it isn't their body they're stretching. I seem to take a day or two to show damages. So, I don't do the classes anymore, I just do my stretches as regularly as I can. My body always lets me know if I've forgotten to do them.

(It's still 2017, remember?)
Blaze, little wonder dog in her own witchy right, has become an older dog, almost over-night. She's over a decade old now, her nose a little gray, her agouti coat a little more gouti. I think she's going a little deaf, but it's tough to tell. Her mind wanders sometimes, but whose doesn't??

Now, it's 2021 again. I kinda like that about bloggerink. Timed travel. Blaze preferred my husband to me, if I'm honest, and I really don't blame her. She finally refused to go to work with me, she did hate the car, and daily, to the city?? No, thanks very much. She kept husband company, and she enjoyed his much less intense energy. With a back yard and a Frisbee, Blaze could be perfectly happy for hours.

Now my right shoulder is threatening me, with the same type of pain. 

You know what that means.

Namaste. Or in my case, Namastopstartstopstart. Must learn to stay.

Flexibly out!

The Great Women's Modern Pentathlon Debacle

Final Division "Riding" (my quotes), Tokyo 2021 

by GoLightly's evil twin, GoDarkly.

Having watched the entire "show" beginning to end,with a few replays to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me, I have decided to pontificate about it, for my own amusement. Read at your own peril.

The first competitor in the ring had two crashes, the rider clearly over-faced both by her horse and the size of the fences. The warm-up preliminary crashes, if you will. 3'9" is a BIG fence! These riders had twenty minutes to get to know their horses and they were allowed 5 fences to warm up. Yes, I know heckquitation riders can be asked to do it. Not quite... the same thing. 
First Rider... This pretty much set the tone for the whole show. Variations on this theme were presented, i,e, Helicoptering etc. (Helicoptering = "Riding" horse jumps straight up in the air, hangs there for an unpleasant second or two, and crashes down, either into the jump, or just past it, if the "Riding" horse had any forward momentum at all.)

I've never watched this particular Olympic event before, it's evidently been been building to this extreme low in horsemanship for a few years. Huh, a "Riding" horse isn't like a "Fencing" sword? Who knew?

Here we are, biggest jump on course, take off (last stride) was WAY too close, "Riding" horse had to crash/stop. "Riding" horse was asked to crash/stop. Very confusing for the "Riding" horse.

It's So Deep It's Meaningless

Rider came off, poles flying every which way, her "Riding" horse pretty appalled by the whole thing. Then Rider, whooops, did it again. Kudos to Rider for getting back on the first time. But she hit the exact same wrong spot, again, "Riding horse" took off from the longer distance, (remembering of course, what JUST happened) and ejected her... Then she got in between "Riding horse"'s legs. Clever, clever "Riding Horse". Caliesiena, I think, was the "Riding horse"'s name. Mare appeared again with the men, so did survive well enough make it through. Her second rider could only have done better.

Different view - First attempt

Different view - First attempt - Hugs

Second attempt

Second attempt, Uh-oh...

Second attempt, Uh-oh & Ouch

Riding horse was saintly

Can't get much worse...

I managed to be allowed to view this link, not sure if you'll be able to, sorry :(
ModernPentathlon

I've railked (new word) about riding more than one horse (if you can) for yearz, anyway. These riders should be used to riding many sorts of beasts. Are there Equitation classes at the Olympics? I didn't think so. The striding was bizarre, or maybe it was just bizarre how everyone rode differently, and mostly catastrophically. It was a very trappy, very tricky course. Half-strides everywhere, so chocolate-chips were everywhere. Helicopters. Death leaps. Not pretty.

I've noticed: Horses are dull and boring to people that can't sit and watch horses for hours and hours.

I don't know what's wrong with them...

TANGENT!

I do draw the line at hours and hours of watching D/Stressage. I can watch a few. And come back, and watch a few more. I've grown tired of the circus trots. The piaffe pirouette is just...Boring. Difficult, for sure. Hard on the horse, and still boring. I remember when it was first performed... Meh. The first GrandPrixces entrant, an Analusian (BAHAH, I love that typo, sOrry!), did a lovely test, but man oh man. Paint, dry? Where's the expression? (I'll shut up about it, I've already riled at least 300 DQ's in the past month, and I haven't gone back to watch more p-d-ing...)

END TANGENT!!

Back in my ancient day, Max height for Ammies jumping 3' was an accomplishment, and 3'3"+ was really for the professionals and their up-and-coming beasties. That's another rant. "Jumpers" doing cross-rail classes. 0.6m "Jumpers"?? Bah! Go Fox-hunting first, in the home country!! Puh-leeeeze...

The MP sure was entertainment, and is comparable to what you may yet still find at any horse show, on a cool windy day, with nary a steady-Eddie plain bay in sight. Horse shows used to be exciting for this reason.  I'm glad no-one was seriously hurt. It sure was a perfect sh*t-storm.

Hope those horses will find it in their bottomless hearts to forgive us.

DANG, they were nice horses... SO.

Point 1) Those horses were freaking amazing. Gorgeous. Fabulous movers, I'd have gladly tried any one of them, back when I had riding muscles. I still HAVE them, they're just more mature. Okay, more wizened. ;) One lovely gray in particular, "Cristbal" (spellling not confirmed) packed his first rider around safely, as she was sensible enough to stay out of his way. The second rider wasn't soft enough on him, and and started acting as if she knew what she was doing. Since she wasn't a very good rider, she succeeded in getting in his way, every fence, and he finally crashed through an oxer, throwing her off. Tears ensued. By the rider, not the horse. Cristbal headed back to the gate, begging to be taken away from the madness. 

Which brings us to:

Point 2) is, these horses were WAAAAAAAY above these rider's pay-grades. Think of putting any 3' max. amateur up on Big Ben over a 1.2m course, while thinking that riding dear old schoolie Spartacus is a suitable skill equivalent. No offense, Sparky! These horses were SchoolMasters, but upper level schoolies do (and should!) have their limits, or they wouldn't be upper-level. These horses were dynamite, and the riders were used to cap-guns. Many of the riders came in with giant spurs and whips/bats, and the more sensible would drop their bats at least. But the spur size was an obvious issue for many of those very nice horses. What the heck were these coaches thinking?

Point 3) The exception was passable riding, not the rule. Most struggled, some dangerously so.

Leading to, Point 4th.

3'9" is a long way to fall from. Halfway through the "show", the ill-fated "Saint Boy" (aka Saint A Boy) was ridden for the first time, and showed a very serious out-gate magnetic tractor-beam. Saint Boy wasn't used to riders that were so far behind what he was capable of doing... Helicopter enough fences, and I can understand the horse losing enthusiasm. Saint Boy was afraid of those riders, and what they could do to his confidence, not to mention his legs. The first rider was able to break Saint Boy free from his magnetic home beam, but later ended up crashing into a jump, and Saint Boy refused to continue. 

A few other horses also threw in the towel, having had enough of ineptitude. There was lots of that. Again, being fair, what they were attempting wasn't easy, at all. The riders must have ridden to this height!?  The horses were extremely capable. Riders notsomuch.

3'9" mistakes can kill you, and the horses like to live too. Now, I don't know if this is true, I read the last, most ill-fated rider, had the choice to use another horse rather than Saint Boy. She chose to ride not-so-Saint Boy, crashed in the warm-up (I heard), and then tried to get the horse to move away from the in-gate. Tractor-beam was on full-power. The application of an instrument to break the field failed miserably. At no point did the rider turn the whip "business end up", which is how welts are made. She was waving the crop pretty ineffectually anyway. Wasn't working on the Saint, though. Such ironies in horses eh?? She wasn't looking to hurt the horse. What would you do, with that situation? I STILL don't get why... Anyway. She was crying like a child. It was pretty sad to watch.

She did manage to get him going, but then dashed his confidence again with impossible distances to very large fences.

Saint Boy stopped several more times, finally being eliminated. 

Final Fence, Did not jump.

The coach was ejected for punching the horse. In his hip-butt. The one place where any horse, already freaking out to the max, would feel nothing at all. Coach didn't "throw a punch". Coach was already inept, with the horse choice. It was obvious the horse was completely shut-down. Why did they use him??  Bizarre. 

Yes, it was a terrible display of horsemanship, but the display went on for (pretty much) the entire division. Had to be at least 80 if not 85% pure grade A shite. Which was highly entertaining to watch, admittedly, as I've been in most of the positions these riders faced. Chocolate chipping underneath fences, I remember GoLightly just demolishing a big oxer, because, well, I did tell him to. 

BUT, Pointedly fifth.

Complete stupidity to have used Saint Boy again. He'd already told them he wasn't up for the task. No-one listened :( 

I just started watching the Men's. OMG. They went, the day AFTER the women, on the same (mostly?) horses. A few new ones, like "Aerosmith", gorgeous gray, Fluoriet, lovely mare, did a great chocolate chip with the "looking good" comment. Farome, I ThinK was used both days,.very hot little chestmut mare "CrackyfyZ" was also used both days. She'd only crashed once ;)

No Saint Boy (surprise surprise) and no Cristbal :( Things improved, but that's I suppose because the women softened the horses up for the men ;) There were still some pretty hairy moments, but not like the women's. Much higher ratio of competent to DNFs. One giant plain bay GoLightly type "Far West" was just pooped for his third round. Reminded me of the big old bay, just carried his riders safely 'round, maybe knocking rails, but nothing surprising. Far West very gallantly did well in his fourth round, too.

The female announcer was a genius jinxer, especially with the men. Posh British accent, of course.

"Oh, that's looking better!" (rider flies off, crash)

"Looking good now" (horse crashes through fence),

"A little bit of confidence is being shown here". (horse stopped 4x and was out).

That last was Quidoso, a Mr. T. type, earnest and honest but so so confused. Felt so sad for the horse, he was really trying to be good, but then he realized he also wanted to live.

Cairo, a big solid red chestnut, high-headed, a little BigBen-ish, was surviving quite nicely, although the rider was heavy-handed, because his right rein broke, two fences from home. He needed to turn right to get to them... Rider was P*SSED!!

Ah well, like I said, highly entertaining for me to watch, being 1) an excellent armchair rider, and 2) pretty crappy in the seeing good distances department. So, I was mostly saying "Yes, done that too, ouch, Oooooh, yes, that too. OH, that quite a few times"...

However, the show was not particularly conducive to showcasing good "riding" skills. Riding isn't measured this way. afaik!

I'll keep ya posted if I can go back and watch more..

Having the women go first made me smile :)

HOLLY cow. Just found 2012. Jumped to 42minutes in, tah-dah, crashes galore.

So, this DEFINITELY isn't news...

2012 Debacled

 

All's finally quiet on the blogging front

 (looks around nervously)

My ping count went crazy there for a while, and I found it rather spooky. I wait until pings drop down to nada before I blog again.

Why? Not sure. I am the antithesis of a "toot your own horn" person, maybe because attention of any sort always makes me nervous. I found this absolutely hysterical site on (where else) FaceBook, a non-judgmental horsey site for people that don't mind laughing at how silly they (and their horses) are capable of looking. NO critiques are allowed, no negative comments. If you are an idiot, and break those very simple rules, out you are booted. It is SO relaxing!! It's a British site, so of course, the humour is perfect for me. Lots of profanity too! Awesome! I posted a link to Stormy's Cautionary Tale in the site, and the pings EXPLODED!! Yikes. Not doing THAT again.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing. Got my first shot, haven't died. Phew. My province of Ontario, Canada is struggling with stupidity at the moment, seems there are people in my little town that honestly forgot about basic common hygiene sense. I am so grateful my scientific brain was developed at an early age, and that I studied enough to understand WTFF is going on right now. I mean, since December 2019.

When you have adults carrying signs that say "UNMASK OUR CHILDREN!!", you know the stupid is getting pretty strong.

Anybody else have issues with remembering what day it is? Month? Year? I've been remembering by the dates of when I started riding again. December 12, 2019. I rode that fabulous chestnut mare, Penny. My horse brain kicked in again.

March 17, 2020, the province went into it's first lockdown, I rode T., and Penny was euthed after battling colic for a week. July 7, 2020, the barn opened up again, and we weren't allowed to groom or tack up anymore. That's when I figured out the barn had workers with ZERO clue on how to groom/tack up properly... AND that, except for my coach, and the heart-broken owner of Penny, not a heck of a lot of horsemanship was happening there.

November 27, 2020, last lesson with my wonderful coach, as the STOOPID barn fired him on November 30, 2020. I stopped going to that barn...

Kinda avoided horses/barns for the months of December and January, although I did keep my eyes peeled for any good-sounding part-board opportunities. Thought I found one, late January. Went to visit, it was a place right beside where I'd kept Tad Plaid, waaay back in the day. And back in the day, it was THE premier hunter/jumper facility on Ontario. I was all agog at the place, although it sure hadn't maintained it's pristine "look".

It looked very untidy. Barn smelled weird. But my old habit of being impressed by what was, rather than what IS, allowed me to ride the horse for a couple of months. The hacking was still terrific, but the arena was horrifically dusty. The horse I was riding had had a severe eye injury. The eye needed to be removed. Everyone agreed, except of course, the owner of the horse and the vet for the horse. The owner and vet are almost 200 years old, combined. Not being ageist, just pointing out a fact. The owner (it turns out) is very capable of owning too many horses.

The horse was in pain, and although the horse tried for me, I just didn't feel right about it. Soooo. Two months later, I was outta there. Sad for the horse, the horse was steadily getting more and more annoyed by any exercise questions, and I couldn't blame her. As my dear old blogger buddies said, the horse would eventually have to lawn dart me, and I try not do that anymore.

So, I found a new place, April 30, 2021, new horse to part-board, and so far, so excellent! I love this guy. He's 26 !!!!) years old, thinks he's a young fella. Gaits to swoon for. He has lordosis, which is new for me, and a bit of an adjustment, dismount wise. Gently kicked his croup as I was dismounting, the first time. Whooops. Apologized, and my lesson was learned.

Riding a couple of times a week, hoping for more, but trying not to over-do it, too. I lost so much weight last summer, riding during the hottest part of the day, and I'm not doing THAT to myself again.

His name is "Unforgettable II", Orry is his barn name. A chestnut Hanoverian gelding, 16.2 or so at the wither, drops down because of the sway, rides big. Quiet, but not so quiet that I have to work myself to death. Has his own motor! Heavenly gaits, but I said that already. Orry's owner has taken impeccable care of him, and it sure shows! Really like the resident professional, he's got all sorts of experience, and a real horseman. YES!!

ANYway... That's my latest news of the day. Pings have dropped down to almost zero, so, for the moment, I'm safe again :)
Picture of his wonderfulness, on his birthday, getting his birthday oats and apples.

AND video, even though I'm a little slouchy, which professional pointed out. Work is always in progress, a'horseback!!

Edited to add, because I realize how ungrateful I sound...
THANK YOU, to all who do read here. I do appreciate it. I love to write. ESPECIALLY about horses, as you might have noticed...