tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29021875753612692222024-02-19T14:36:18.568-08:00Donkey SenseRandom thoughts and stories about life with my donkeys, cats, goats, chickens, husband, etc...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-18689963581765785322017-10-06T13:56:00.000-07:002017-10-06T13:56:07.157-07:00Depression is not an emotion; it's a malfunction.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I
read an article recently that talked about how loneliness creates
stress, and stress can make you behave irrationally, and it reminded
me of something that happened to me during a depressive episode. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I
love my cats. Cats have been a part of my life since I was a very
small child. I tend to take care of them better than I take care of
myself. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Chronic
depression has also been a part of my life since I was a child</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">.
Not too long ago, during a fairly bad depressive episode, one of my
cats stopped eating and just lay by the wall all day barely moving.
I </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">didn’t even think
about </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">taking her to the
vet, I just </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">thought</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
that she was old and dying and there was nothing we could do other
than say our good-byes. Fortunately, my husband does not suffer from
depression. He took her to the vet where they gave her a shot of
antibiotics, and in a couple of days, she was fine. <br />
<br />
Depression
is not just “feeling sad”. Depression is something in your brain
that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">is constantly
telling you that things are worse than they actually are. When your
depression is not that bad, you can sometimes </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">remember
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">that depression </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">is
a liar and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">tell
yourself </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">not to listen
to it</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">. But when your
depression draws you down deep, your brain is just too overwhelmed
with negative thoughts for anything else to find its way in. <br />
<br />
People
who are happier than normal are said to see the world through
rose-colored glasses. People with depression see the world through
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">inescapable </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">welding
masks. Everything is experienced through a dark </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">narrow</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
filter that can make even the brightest day seem dismal.
<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Depression,
in the clinical sense, is not an emotion; it’s a malfunction. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-28881876658627199382014-07-03T01:36:00.000-07:002014-07-03T01:41:25.984-07:00Ricky Ubeda and Jessica Richens Dance Sonya Tayeh's Choreography on SYTYCDOne of the most amazing dance performances I have ever seen.<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><iframe width='892.45' height='502' src='http://player.foxfdm.com/fox/embed-iframe.html?videourl=http://link.theplatform.com/s/fox.com/ziKP5nbyCQsK?mbr=true' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Ricky Ubeda and Jessica Richens dance Sonya Tayeh's choreography to the song "Vow" by Meredith Monk<br />
(video from Fox.com/Dance)<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-49716974684035205572014-04-24T13:45:00.000-07:002014-04-24T13:45:10.408-07:00Unpleasant Dream<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I had a disturbing dream last night. I was away from home on this weird combination of cruise ship/renaissance faire/supermarket. I'd been on it for a while, and I hadn't been able to sleep or have any privacy because I had to bunk in a room with several others. So I was wandering around the ship/faire/store in search of ... something ... and I would occasionally run into people who would ask/say "You're having a wonderful time, aren't you?" And I would respond, "No, I want to kill myself." And they would laugh and go on about their business. <br />
<br />
It was not a nice dream. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo3tISv2AeTS8bmUARSpyG1X7YaX8B-ZOD-3WwpzBNEmAqXAE0nN8XKzSCrJvMvnArhoFDhtzPspisMCQ9wxXKJvb-tHlZhSAW-iKFn4OXVnQUyZPSrs3QkFVdyzIP046_xeEx2Kc9owd/s1600/suicidal-9763.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo3tISv2AeTS8bmUARSpyG1X7YaX8B-ZOD-3WwpzBNEmAqXAE0nN8XKzSCrJvMvnArhoFDhtzPspisMCQ9wxXKJvb-tHlZhSAW-iKFn4OXVnQUyZPSrs3QkFVdyzIP046_xeEx2Kc9owd/s320/suicidal-9763.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-36098637225773141652014-02-09T17:14:00.000-08:002014-02-09T17:14:34.129-08:00Some Thoughts on Money HoardingThere is nothing wrong with making a good living. And hard work should certainly be rewarded. But when is enough ENOUGH for these people who earn more money each year than most of us would know how to spend in a lifetime? People who keep more *stuff* in their house than they really need or could ever have use for are called "hoarders" and are frequently said to suffer from some sort of psychological problem. So what about these individuals and corporations who hoard massive amounts of money. More money than they could possibly need or use in several lifetimes. <br />
<br />
Yes, having a savings account is good. It's a good idea to have enough money tucked away to keep you, your family and/or your business going through tough times. But when you start hoarding money simply because you feel you must have more and more and more money, that IS a problem. <br />
<br />
What if these men were hoarding food instead of money? Keeping massive amounts of food locked away in their houses and shipped to secret vaults overseas -- more food than every member of their family could eat in several lifetimes -- food that slowly rots because no one is eating it. And this man won't sell it to people who are starving because he feels he needs to keep absolute control of all the food he can get his hands on. No one would accept that as normal behavior. However, it is acceptable to hoard money.<br />
<br />
But in reality, money IS food. And medicine, clean water, clothing, shelter. Money is simply an easier way to carry and exchange all those things. So when you hoard money, you are stifling the exchange of necessary goods. You are letting food rot instead of making use of it. <br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-73505033449719967462013-04-08T08:45:00.001-07:002013-04-08T08:45:54.295-07:00Back in the SaddleFor the first time since I was thrown and badly injured over three years ago, I got back on one of our horses and rode around the arena. When I was thrown, I had broken my tailbone, dislocated over half my ribs and severely damaged my hip and thigh muscles. I'd managed to ride my friend's horse, Red, who is extremely well trained and very reliable a couple of times over the past three years, and both times, my tailbone still hurt fairly badly. So getting back on the horse this time was partially just to see how my tailbone would deal with sitting in the saddle. The other part was to see how much I remembered about riding and to hopefully help build my confidence up again. <br />
<br />
I wasn't confident enough to ride Shadowfax, our Andalusian gelding that threw me, so I was riding Ziggy, our "more sedate" older TB gelding. I was planning on just riding around the arena at a walk, but things got a little more interesting than that. <br />
<br />
There is one corner of the DASH arena that is called "The Scary Corner". All the horses seem to have problems to some extent with that corner. I was trying to get Ziggy to go into that corner, and Foxfire came over on Shadowfax to try and show Ziggy that there was nothing scary in the corner. Of course, Shadow got into the corner and completely freaked out, proving that there was indeed something scary in the corner, a bucking, kicking Andalusian. Naturally, Ziggy spooked. He ducked and backed so fast that I came out of the saddle and halfway onto his neck, then he spun a complete 180 and started to bolt. Fortunately, I managed to tighten the reins enough that he didn't bolt, and we just walked away from the corner before turning to watch Shadowfax continue to freak out. It's a good thing that Foxfire is as good a rider as he is. <br />
<br />
I directed Ziggy further away from Shadowfax and continued to sedately walk around the arena, and things went fine for a while. Foxfire eventually got Shadowfax's brain back in his head and decided to end the ride on that good note. DA decided that she was done riding at the same time, so both of them left the arena. I decided to ride Ziggy around one more time, then get off. Before leaving the arena, DA actually asked, if I would be okay by myself, and I said that I would be. I couldn't really blame Ziggy for spooking when Shadow went ballistic right next to him, and other than that, he'd behaved very well. <br />
<br />
I'd forgotten that Ziggy can be a little buddy sour. As soon as both DA and Foxfire were out of sight of the arena, Ziggy began to call to Shadowfax, then he began to buck. Yes, reliable old Ziggy actually began to buck. They weren't very big bucks, but they were enough to bounce my butt out of the saddle and scare me pretty badly. The first buck caught me completely by surprise, during the second buck, I managed to tighten the reins enough to pull his head up and back so that couldn't buck anymore and he stopped dead, still quivering a little. <br />
<br />
I immediately called to Foxfire to come back. I did not want to get thrown again, and Ziggy's bucking had pretty well freaked me out temporarily. By the time, Foxfire made it back to the arena, Ziggy had calmed down and I was feeling less freaked. I told Foxfire what had happened and said that now that Ziggy has mis-behaved, I needed to ride him longer to teach him that he couldn't act out simply because his buddy had left him behind. DA had finished untacking and grooming her horse and was able to stay and watch me while Foxfire went back to finish with Shadow. I told him NOT to bring Shadow back to the paddock by the arena for a while to make sure that Ziggy learned to behave when his buddy was out of sight. <br />
<br />
The rest of the ride went pretty well. Ziggy did try to call to Shadow several more times, but each time, I would tighten the reins and make him pay attention to me before he could do anything other than whinny. I rode him for a lot longer than I really wanted to, my tailbone was fine, but my knees were really beginning to hurt. Eventually, I decided that he'd learned his lesson and dismounted. <br />
<br />
All in all, it was a bit more of a ride than I planned on. However, I managed to stay in the saddle and wasn't hurt, so it was a good experience. I also learned an important lesson. I should never ride when no one is watching. No one was watching me when Shadowfax threw me, and no one was watching when Ziggy decided to act out. From now on, I will make sure that someone is always watching me when I'm in on a horse. Maybe then, my rides will be a little less exciting.<br />
<br />
Despite the unexpected excitement, it was good to be back in the saddle.<br />
<br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-77068338385995778302013-02-07T01:11:00.000-08:002013-02-07T01:11:19.548-08:00A Poem I Was Inspired to Share...I follow the blogs of a number of authors that I admire. It's a great way to find out about their work in progress, and many of them simply share fascinating information and stories on their blogs. Earlier today, I was reading Terri Windings blog, <a href="http://windling.typepad.com/blog/">"Myth & Moor"</a>, where she was sharing pictures she took along with quotes from some of her favorite authors. Another reader of her blog was inspired to write a poem and share it in the comments section. I felt a very visceral response to it(that's a good thing). So I am posting a picture that I took and, with the author's permission, sharing his poem. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/032.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/032.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
Windswept (photo by Zhi Zhu)</div><br />
<blockquote><b>Dreaming Awake</b><br />
by<br />
Austin Hackney<br />
<br />
I am dreaming awake.<br />
Both awake<br />
and dreaming.<br />
<br />
Between fantasy and reality there is<br />
a boundary.<br />
In the boundary there is<br />
a gate.<br />
<br />
I can open the gate<br />
with my thoughts<br />
<br />
or with my heart<br />
with my pen<br />
my brush<br />
my voice<br />
or my mandolin;<br />
<br />
or by meeting your eye<br />
or by touching you<br />
or by walking away<br />
or by lying alone in the dark<br />
on the moss<br />
under the moon;<br />
<br />
by speaking sometimes,<br />
sometimes by listening;<br />
<br />
or by as many other<br />
simple magics as<br />
there are moments<br />
and stars.<br />
<br />
Either way,<br />
a boundary once traversed<br />
is no longer a boundary.<br />
<br />
The gate swings both ways<br />
in the endless wind.<br />
<br />
There is no lock.<br />
<br />
So awake.<br />
And dream.</blockquote><br />
Austin Hackney has his own blog, <a href="http://www.omniscrit.com/">"Omniscript: A Writer's Workshop"</a>, which you might want to check out.<br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-5421301424326896292012-07-18T10:13:00.000-07:002012-07-18T10:13:41.015-07:00And This is Why I Hate Going to DoctorsA few weeks ago I had some scary days when my brain seemed to stop working as well as it usually does. I couldn't remember simple things like my phone number, and I just couldn't seem to think clearly or quickly. During the worst of it, I was too confused to even think about going to a doctor. Once I started feeling better, I went to my GP to get a referral to a neurologist. I didn't actually get to see my doctor, but the nurse practitioner I saw seemed competent and compassionate. She gave me a "prescription" to get an MRI done as well as a referral to a neurologist. <br />
<br />
Due to weirdness with my insurance company, I ended up going to the ER to get the MRI done instead of a medical imaging center. The MRI was normal, thank goodness, but it left me wondering what the hell was wrong with me. <br />
<br />
It took a while to get an appointment with the neurologist, and when I finally did, he didn't seem to take me seriously. I very much got the feeling that he thought that I was some sort of pretentious hypochondriac. He made fun of me for using a "big" word like "diurnal" when describing my sleep disorder. I asked my friends and none of them thought that "diurnal" was an unusual word to use. And considering that Foxfire generally has to force me to make a doctor appointment, and I get stressed even thinking about going to hospitals, I really don't think I'm a hypochondriac. Anyway, he at least gave me a prescription to get an EEG. He said that if the EEG was normal that he would just tell me over the phone so that I didn't have to come back to the office (and waste his time).<br />
<br />
Knowing how much hospitals stress me out, Foxfire kindly took off work to drive me to get the EEG on Friday. And it was a good thing he did. As one part of the EEG test, they flash this EXTREMELY bright light at your face in varying frequencies, and even though my eyes were closed, it still felt like someone was stabbing my brain through my eyes every time the light flashed. They would run the strobe light for about 30 seconds then wait 15 seconds and run it for another 30. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Blog%20Images/i_diagnosis_eeg-normal-l.gif"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Blog%20Images/i_diagnosis_eeg-normal-l.gif" width="500"></a><br />
A typical EEG pattern<br />
</div><br />
After the fifth or sixth time they did this, everything just went sort of blue and purple swirly and the light didn't hurt my head as much. Instead of feeling like someone was stabbing my brain through my eyes, it felt like someone was reaching inside my brain and sort of squishing their fingers into it. At the end of the session, which lasted about an hour total, I was exhausted, in severe pain and not thinking clearly. Thank goodness, Foxfire was there to drive me home.<br />
<br />
The strobe light seemed to have also triggered the most persistent and severe migraines that I have had in a very, very long time. In the week following the EEG, I took more migraine medicine that I had taken in the previous year. On the Thursday after the EEG, I had the worst headache of all. It literally knocked me off my feet. Foxfire had to help me from the couch to the bed because the pain was so bad it was hard for me to walk.<br />
<br />
On the Tuesday following the EEG, when I called the neurologist's office to get the results, they wouldn't tell me the results over the phone, saying that the doctor wanted me to come in and get the results, leading me to believe that something odd <i>had</i> shown up on the EEG. Of course, they couldn't get me in to see the doctor that week. I had to wait till the next week for an appointment. Needless to say I was extremely stressed that week. <br />
<br />
Well, I finally went to the office and got the results yesterday, and guess what? The doctor said that the EEG was perfectly normal. When I asked why he simply hadn't had the nurse tell me that over the phone so that I didn't end up worrying for a week, he said that he'd simply forgotten that he'd said he would do that. He didn't even apologize for the stress he caused me. <br />
<br />
When I asked about everything changing color during the strobe light portion of the EEG, he said some people experienced that. When I said that the strobe light hurt like hell and left me basically incapacitated, he insisted that no one had ever complained about the strobe light being any more than mildly annoying. When I told him about the severe migraines during the week following the EEG, he just repeated that no one else had ever complained about the strobe light causing pain or headaches and politely, but relentlessly, ushered me out of his office. <br />
<br />
And this is why I hate going to doctors. They either don't listen to you, don't believe you or don't care about you.<br />
<br />
I know that there are decent doctors out there. I actually like my GP. I'm willing to drive 45 minutes to go see him rather than someone closer. And my therapist, who isn't a medical doctor, but who serves a similar purpose, is absolutely wonderful. But the majority of doctors, at least the doctors that I go to, end up being a complete waste of my time and money. <br />
<br />
What's the point of going to a doctor if they are absolutely no help whatsoever.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-85924699964394483062012-04-07T05:53:00.001-07:002012-04-07T05:54:35.807-07:00Introducing Shadowfax to Chainmaille and ArmourA couple of days ago, as part of training our Andalusian gelding, Shadowfax, for jousting, my husband and I introduced Shadowfax to chainmaille and leg armour. I say introduced rather than desensitized, because, for the most part, Shadowfax barely even noticed the loud clanging stuff. <br />
<br />
We started by haltering Shadowfax and bringing him out to the horse trailer where we usually groom and tack him up before riding. A very familiar, relatively relaxed place for him to be, where he was used to us messing with him. I gave him a treat to show him that treats were in the offing, then Foxfire pulled out his chainmaille skirt (brayette) and one of his pieces of leg armour (cuisses). Standing about five feet away from Shadowfax, he started rattling them lightly together.<br />
<br />
Shadowfax... looked at me, waiting for another treat. Foxfire gradually worked up to really banging away with the maille and armour. Shadowfax may have twitched an ear in his direction. So Foxfire stopped banging his armour together, laid part of his brayette over his cuisse, put a treat on top of the two pieces of armour and brought them up to where Shadowfax could sniff at them. <br />
<br />
Shadowfax obligingly sniffed at the armour until he found the treat, then he snarfled the treat and looked around for more. Foxfire rattled the maille and armor a little, then put another treat on them. This time Shadowfax knew to look for the treat and went straight for it, ignoring the armour. <br />
<br />
So Foxfire started shaking the maille and armour a little right next to Shadowfax. Shadowfax ignored it and looked around for more treats. Foxfire started banging the armour together. Shadowfax didn't care. Foxfire, still banging away at the armour, went right up to Shadowfax's right shoulder. Shadowfax didn't care. Foxfire moved towards Shadowfax's right hip, still making as much noise as he could. Shadowfax didn't care. Foxfire went behind Shadowfax. Shadowfax didn't care. Foxfire moved around to Shadowfax's left side. Shadowfax... cared. <br />
<br />
He didn't do anything awful, he just turned his head to see what was making all the noise, and took a couple of steps sideways away from the noise. I called Shadowfax's name and told him to "stand", which is a command he is very familiar with. Shadowfax looked at me and "stood". When he was looking at me and standing still, even though Foxfire was still banging away with the armour, I gave him a treat.<br />
<br />
After that, it just didn't matter what Foxfire did, Shadowfax was going to ignore whatever noise was going on and was going to keep his eyes open for incoming treats. Foxfire put his cuisses and his brayette on and went bouncing around Shadowfax like a mad man, making as much noise as it was humanly possible to make in a brayette and cuisses. Shadowfax didn't care. <br />
<br />
Leaving his brayette and cuisses on, Foxfire proceeded to groom Shadowfax, pick out his feet, saddle and bridle him. Shadowfax didn't seem to notice that anything was different. Foxfire brought out the lunge line and lunged Shadowfax briefly. If anything, Shadowfax behaved slightly better than usual while being lunged. So Foxfire, still in his brayette and cuisses, mounted up. <br />
<br />
When he first started riding, Shadowfax did turn his ears back to listen to the new noises coming from his rider. He didn't pin them or appear upset in any way, just curious. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/007.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/007.jpg" width="600"></a><br />
Foxfire on Shadowfax who has his ears turned back to listen to the noise of the brayette and cuisses(photo by Zhi Zhu)</div><br />
After a few minutes, his ears came forward, and it was business as usual. Shadowfax truly didn't seem to be bothered by the noise at all. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/087.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/087.jpg" width="400"></a><br />
Foxfire on Shadowfax (photo by Zhi Zhu)</div><br />
Since we had already introduced Shadowfax to the lance, the tiltyard, and the quintain (Shadowfax tried to eat the sandbag)...<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/405e.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Shadowfax/405e.jpg" width="600"></a><br />
Foxfire on Shadowfax in one of his first runs against the quintain(photo by Zhi Zhu)</div><br />
About the only two things left to expose Shadowfax to, in terms of jousting, are for Foxfire to ride in full armour and to give and take hits from an opponent in the tiltyard. Hopefully, we will be going over to DASH's arena soon, and Foxfire and SH can cross lances with each other and see how Shadowfax reacts to full on jousting.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-3957465122995241802012-03-26T19:25:00.005-07:002012-03-27T12:39:29.059-07:00Ziggy Makes a Mud PuddleMy husband's horse, Ziggy, loves playing with the water. On the rare occasion when the hole in the ground we laughingly call a tank has water in it, he will trot into the water and gleefully splash around. With the Texas drought and all, we haven't had even nice sized puddle for him to play in for quite some time. So, apparently, he decided to make his own. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/064.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/064.jpg" width="600"></a><br />
Shadowfax: Dude, I'm trying to drink here. Ziggy: Splashing is fun!<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href=http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/067.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/067.jpg" width="600"></a><br />
Shadowfax: You know I don't like getting my pretty prancing Portuguese pony feet muddy. I'm outta here. Ziggy: Splashing is so much fun!!!<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/070.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/070.jpg" width="600"></a><br />
Ziggy: Look! I'm making mud!!!<br />
</div><br />
And Ziggy just kept splashing and splashing and splashing...<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/075.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/075.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/076.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/076.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/080.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/080.jpg" width="225"></a><br />
</div><br />
Throwing more and more water out of the trough...<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/081.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/081.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/082.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/082.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/083.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/083.jpg" width="225"></a><br />
</div><br />
And making a bigger and bigger mud puddle...<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/084.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/084.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/085.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/085.jpg" width="225"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/086.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/086.jpg" width="225"></a><br />
</div><br />
He got really good at making a BIG splash...<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/087.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/087.jpg" width="600"></a> <br />
</div><br />
He figured out to dunk his nose deep...<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/088.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/088.jpg" width="600"></a> <br />
</div><br />
And really pull the water out with his mouth...<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/089.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/089.jpg" width="600"></a> <br />
</div><br />
He kept playing with the water...<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/090.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/090.jpg" width="170"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/091.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/091.jpg" width="170"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/092.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/092.jpg" width="170"></a> <a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/093.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/093.jpg" width="170"></a><br />
</div><br />
Until he made a mud puddle big enough for all four of his feet.<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/094.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Ziggy/094.jpg" width="600"></a> <br />
</div><br />
Now we know why we keep having to refill that trough so often.<br />
<br />
Do your horses like to play with water?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-66761758622196336522012-03-16T03:45:00.000-07:002012-03-16T03:45:47.416-07:00I'm a little hoarseIsn't that the punchline to some joke? I'm not a ..., I'm a little hoarse. Well, it doesn't feel very funny right now. I've been sick with some sort of really nasty cold for over a week now. For four days, I couldn't talk at all, and even now... I'm a little hoarse. Actually, I'm a lot hoarse. Although I am feeling better and can talk somewhat, my throat still hurts a lot, and if I talk normally, it sets off a painful coughing fit. <br />
<br />
It's driving me a little crazy. I'm really tired of being sick. Does anyone have any good home remedies for a painful sore throat, coughing and hoarseness? I could use some help.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-48469881838829099382012-02-29T13:37:00.000-08:002012-02-29T13:37:26.498-08:00I HATE STANDARD DRIVE CARS!!!This is going to be a rant. Fair warning.<br />
<br />
Tina Walsh, a highly respected dressage instructor is in town teaching lessons this week in DASH's arena. She lives in Mexico and only comes to teach in Texas occasionally. My husband and a number of my friends are taking lessons this afternoon. I was supposed to go and watch and take pictures. However...<br />
<br />
When I went to get in my van to drive over there (Hubby had ridden over with SH when he came to pick up our horses using his truck and trailer), Hubby's car was parked directly behind mine in the driveway blocking me in. I can't move his car because, for one thing, I don't have a set of keys to it, and for another thing, he insisted on buying a car with a standard transmission despite the fact that I can't drive a standard transmission, so even if I had the keys, I still wouldn't be able to move his car. ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!<br />
<br />
I was looking forward to seeing Tina again even I couldn't take a lesson because of a recent knee injury. I was looking forward to watching Hubby take a lesson using my horse, Shadowfax, and a couple of our friends taking lessons on hubby's horse, Ziggy. I was looking forward to getting out of the house and socializing with my friends, which I really don't get to do very often. And I CAN'T get out of the damn house because hubby just had to have a standard transmission car and didn't realize that he had parked it in way that blocks me in.<br />
<br />
This is not a good day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-53146282933849115052012-01-24T13:19:00.000-08:002012-01-24T16:11:56.016-08:00Preparing for Lysts 2012 -- Jousting Practice January 22On Sunday, January 22, SH hosted the third jousting practice aimed at preparing for <a href="http://texasjoust.com/">"Lysts on the Lake 2012"</a>. My husband Foxfire attended and brought both of our horses. My husband's horse Ziggy is getting old, so Foxfire has started training my horse Shadowfax to joust. Shadowfax did well at the first jousting practice two weeks ago, but then he came up dead lame with abscesses in both front hooves. A small easy to treat abscess in his front right, but a nasty deep abscess in his front left. <br />
<br />
We had the farrier out to check on the abscesses and we'd been soaking his hooves with epsom salts, treating the abscesses with ichthammol and keeping his feet clean and wrapped as best we could. He rapidly improved, but was no where near ready to be ridden by the time of the second practice for Lysts down in Katy, Texas, so Foxfire helped SH train DA's horse Moose instead. By the day of the third practice, Shadowfax looked sound walking around in the pasture, so we decided to take him to DASH's and see if he was sound in the arena. We brought Ziggy along in case Shadow wasn't quite ready to be ridden yet.<br />
<br />
Sure enough when we trotted Shadowfax around in hand, you could tell he was still a little off, not much, but enough that you wouldn't want him to do any work. So poor Shadowfax got to stay in the arena's paddock throughout the practice. He was not happy about this. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice020e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice020e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
He certainly didn't seem lame the way he was acting up!<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice024e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice024e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
He really wanted to be out "playing" with all the other horses.<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice121e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice121e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
Hey Buddy! Think you can break a fellow out of here?<br />
</div><br />
Since Foxfire ended up working with Ziggy, he mainly worked on rating Ziggy during the canter and getting him to stop cleanly at the end of the list. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice061e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice061e.jpg" width=400></a><br />
Foxfire on Ziggy, SH on Lucky, and Gideon on Saga practicing riding their horses up and down the list in various pieces of armor and chain, with and without lances.<br />
</div><br />
Gideon's horse Saga, although an experienced jumping horse, is still very inexperienced when it comes to jousting. Gideon seemed to mainly work on desensitizing Saga to the sounds that the armor and chain maille make when worn by the person in the saddle. He also managed to get a little practice in against the quintain. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice086e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice086e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
Gideon on Saga makes a pass against the quintain.<br />
</div><br />
After working with his horse, Lucky, for a while, SH switched to his other horse Tinkerbell. SH rode Tinkerbell for the Joust a'Plaisance portion of Lysts 2011, but according to SH, she can still be a little spooky about the noises armor and maille make. However, she seemed pretty blase' about all the noises associated with jousting on that particular day. During practice, SH, among other things, rode her against the quintain a few times. The following two pictures demonstrate why it is very important to keep going once you hit the shield portion of the quintain. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice197e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice197e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
SH on Tinkerbell strikes the quintain...<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice199e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice199e.jpg" width=600></a><br />
...and the quintain tries to strike SH back.<br />
</div><br />
NJ, who is still a very new jouster, seemed to spend most of the practice learning how to carry and control a lance on horseback. It's harder than it looks. Lances may vary a bit, but the ones we use are 11' long and weigh about 6 pounds, so carrying one really changes your center of balance. NJ doesn't have a horse of his own, so Gideon was nice enough to loan him Red, a very experienced jousting horse, to practice with. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice005e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice005e.jpg" width=400></a><br />
Practicing carrying a lance while on horseback.<br />
</div><br />
There were a number of people out to watch the others practice and to act as ground crew. Having ground crew is vitally important to jousting. It simply couldn't be done without the support of those on the ground. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice050e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice050e.jpg" width=700></a><br />
The people on the horses depend on the people on the ground for all sorts of help.<br />
</div><br />
<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice183e.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/LystsPractice183e.jpg" width=500></a><br />
And of course, SH's dog Archie supervised everyone to make sure they were doing it right.<br />
</div><br />
From my gimpy perspective (I am currently trying to heal from a broken kneecap and some soft tissue damage in my leg), it seemed like a successful practice. Everything didn't go perfectly, but progress was made and everyone seemed satisfied. <br />
<br />
You can see more pictures from the practice on my <a href="http://s1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/">"A Jouster's Wife"</a> Photobucket account in the album <a href="http://s1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/Lysts%20on%20the%20Lake%202012/Lysts%20Practice%20Jan%2023%202012/">"Lysts Practice Jan 23 2012"</a> (I know I got the date wrong, but I'm not going to change it now.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-37079519086546767442012-01-24T09:35:00.000-08:002012-01-24T09:44:01.767-08:00Could a Jousting Accident Have Been the Reason That Henry VIII Became Such A Tyrant?In a joust that may have changed history, on January 24, 1536, 44 year old King Henry VIII was unhorsed by his opponent during a jousting tournament at Greenwich Palace. It is believed that his armored horse actually fell on the downed monarch as well. But whatever the details of the accident may be, all accounts of the event agree that the king was knocked unconscious for two hours. <br />
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This was actually his second notable jousting accident. In 1524, he failed to lower his visor before entering the list and was struck by his opponent's lance just above his right eye. After this incident, he began to suffer from constant migraines. <br />
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This second jousting accident in 1536 may have had even more serious repercussions. Not only did it exacerbate existing leg injuries, it may have also caused permanent brain damage. Even by today's medical standards, being knocked unconscious for more than five minutes is serious cause for concern. According to records, Henry VIII was unconscious for two hours and was unable to speak for a while even after he regained consciousness. Historian Dr. Lucy Worsley, chief curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces, believes that damage to the frontal lobe of his brain as a result of this trauma "provides the explanation for his personality change from sporty, promising, generous young prince, to cruel, paranoid and vicious tyrant."<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Blog%20Images/henry8.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Blog%20Images/henry8.jpg"></a><br />
</div><br />
Jousting is a dangerous sport. Even modern jousters, whether performers, re-enactors or competitive jousters, know that they are risking injury and possible death every time they participate in this historic activity. So, why do they do it? You'd have to ask a jouster.<br />
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As the wife of a jouster, I do worry about him every time he takes the field. I know that he has practiced to the best of his ability; that his armor is as safe as it can be made; that his horse is well trained and will not create any more danger than is usual in any equestrian activity. I know that everyone involved is aware of the danger and will do their best to compete cleanly and honourably. No one wants to get hurt, and I like to believe that -- no matter the trash talk -- no one really wants to hurt anyone else. <br />
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But I still know that jousting is a dangerous sport. That's part of the excitement -- the risk of injury. However, injuries themselves are not exciting, at least not for those involved. So although I enjoy watching jousting tournaments and watching my husband compete, there is always a part of me that is a little scared, not just for my husband, but for all of my friends and even those I don't know very well who risk themselves in order to demonstrate their skills in this extremely difficult sport. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/FedericoJoustHitPhotoAzulOx.jpg"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r579/AJoustersWife/FedericoJoustHitPhotoAzulOx.jpg" width=500></a><br />
Federico Serna gets hit by the lance during <a href="http://texasjoust.com/">Lysts on the Lake</a> 2011(Photo AzulOx)</div><br />
So to all the jousters out there, have fun, compete to the best of your abilities, and "don't be a dick". But also remember... you are carrying the hearts of your loved ones with you onto the list field, try not to damage them.<br />
<br />
<b>Informative Links</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-jousting-accident-that-turned-henry-viii-into-a-tyrant-1670421.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-jousting-accident-that-turned-henry-viii-into-a-tyrant-1670421.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/8139/henry-viiis-jousting-accident-24th-january-1536/">http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/8139/henry-viiis-jousting-accident-24th-january-1536/</a><br />
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<b>Books that mention the jousting accident</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/1536-Year-That-Changed-Henry/dp/0745953328/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1">1536: The Year That Changed Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Anne-Boleyn-Politics/dp/0521406773/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1">The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII by Retha M. Warnicke</a> <br />
<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-1242779086786838642012-01-23T16:02:00.000-08:002012-01-24T16:00:52.600-08:00Preparing for Lysts on the Lake 2012Well, it's getting to be that time again. Time to start preparing for <a href="http://texasjoust.com/">"Lysts on the Lake 2012"</a>. This year Lysts will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 4,5 & 6, 2012. There are rumors that there will be a Chivalric Martial Arts International (CMAI) Syposium the week before "Lysts on the Lake" where experienced competitors can hone their skills, and those with little to no experience can learn the basics and compete against each other in a mini-tournament. <br />
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Since I am wife to one of the jousters who will be competing and am good friends with many of the other jousters, ground crew and participants, I can't help but become involved with it all. Not that I mind. I love the all the excitement and spectacle of contemporary competitive jousting. I feel honored to play my own small part in the largest competitive jousting tournament in the modern world.<br />
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Preparation has actually been going on for some time now. Planning for and participating in an annual event of this sort usually begins as soon as one finishes recovering from last year's event. Jousting, like many sports is not an on again, off again sport. You pretty much have to practice it year round. However, our group of friends began jousting practices specifically aimed at preparing for competing in Lysts 2012 a little over two weeks ago.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, two days before that first jousting practice, I tripped and fell while trying to move around some welded wire fence panels and broke my knee. Just a hairline fracture, but it's still causing me problems. I also did an unknown amount of damage to the soft tissues (muscles and ligaments) in my leg. So, although I attended that first practice at DASH's arena on January 8, I really wasn't paying much attention to what anyone was doing, and I did not get any pictures. <br />
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I did notice that my horse, Shadowfax, despite having not been seriously ridden in over a year, did pretty well. Hubby's horse, Ziggy, is 25 years old and although he is still very healthy in most ways, he's just getting a little too old for all the rigors of a competitive jousting tournament, so hubby has decided to see if he can train Shadowfax to joust. After this first practice, things seem promising.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, JJ and her husband were at this joust practice. They took pictures and JJ wrote up a nice account of the practice on her blog, <a href="http://pieceofheaven1951.blogspot.com/2012/01/fabulous-weekend-of-riding.html">Wyvern Oaks: "A Fabulous Weekend of Riding"</a> The first part of the post talks about a jumping lesson, but the latter part of the post discusses the jousting practice. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOGBgDh4zdxv1ppJ9o2VjvBagC3d7FbFQ0iPfmCNcczHP_4l3e6CVOvSPsXwFyeyQ576YKJfCyavOj9RQH3Jfc_pobnUkr0aTFIMyne0lakDkmLhdhvYYPxbYQYdy0-Z0VWyjpuqT1R8/s1600/IMG_1870.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOGBgDh4zdxv1ppJ9o2VjvBagC3d7FbFQ0iPfmCNcczHP_4l3e6CVOvSPsXwFyeyQ576YKJfCyavOj9RQH3Jfc_pobnUkr0aTFIMyne0lakDkmLhdhvYYPxbYQYdy0-Z0VWyjpuqT1R8/s1600/IMG_1870.JPG" width=600></a><br />
SG on Saga makes a pass at the quintain.(Thanks to JJ for the picture)</div><br />
The next weekend, Jan 15, some other friends held a jousting practice to prepare for Lysts in Katy, Texas. I didn't make it to that one in any way shape or form. However, my hubby Foxfire drove down with SH in order to participate. Because Shadowfax had developed abscesses in both front feet, hubby decided not to take him, and instead helped SH train DA's horse Moose. You can see pictures of that practice in Fred Facker's Zenfolio album <a href="http://fredfacker.zenfolio.com/p334532729">"Jousting Practice"</a>.<br />
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My next post will deal with the jousting practice on January 22 at DASH's arena.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-40943026000390050692011-09-15T09:51:00.000-07:002011-09-15T09:51:49.383-07:00Don't forget to put your wallet in the fridgeIf you read this blog, you probably know that I raise chickens and sell the eggs. Well, lately most of the people buying the eggs have been my husband's co-workers. They'll ask him to bring a dozen or two dozen eggs to work with him so they don't have to go to a farmer's market or whatever to get healthy, tasty, cage-free eggs. Unfortunately, hubby has a hard time remembering to get the eggs out of the fridge in the morning to bring them to work, so we came up with a system to help him remember. <br />
<br />
The night before he is supposed to take eggs in to work, we put his wallet in the fridge in front of the eggs. He always grabs his wallet before he leaves, so it forces him to go to the fridge to get it. Once he's at the fridge, he, of course, remembers to grab the eggs as well. So in the evening, it's become a common thing for me to say, "Don't forget to put your wallet in the fridge."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-39772188051186177322011-08-14T14:29:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:09:03.349-07:00Musical Buckets<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">For the past year or so, our donkeys have consistently followed a very strange pattern when being fed. I don't know why they do this, but here is what happens. </span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">When we are feeding the critters, we always follow the same routine. We feed the goats first to get them into the goat pen and out of the way. We feed Shadowfax next because when we first got him, Ziggy would NOT go into his stall to eat if Shadowfax wasn't locked in his stall first. Then we feed Ziggy. Then once the goats are in the goat pen and the horses are in their stalls, we feed the donkeys in the paddock. </span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">We use three different colored over-the-fence buckets that all contain exactly the same feed in almost exactly the same amounts. (We don't measure that carefully so there might be some slight variation between buckets.) We feed the donkeys along the fence between the water trough and the gate. I place the purple bucket closest to the water trough, then the blue bucket half way between the trough and the gate, then the green bucket closest to the gate. </span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Tessla follows me to where I place the purple bucket, takes a mouthful from the purple bucket, then gets chased off by Marie and moves to the green bucket. Marie starts eating out of the purple bucket and Kanemura starts eating out of the blue bucket. Then, at some random point in time, Marie decides that she wants to eat out of the blue bucket. She walks over and chases Kanny off of the blue bucket, and he goes and eats out of the purple bucket which still has food in it. So Marie did not simply move because she ran out food. Eventually, Marie decides that the blue bucket isn't good enough and chases Tessla off of the green bucket, and Tessla goes and finishes off the blue bucket if there is any food left. Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">They do this every night. </span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">I have strange donkeys. </span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-10895582237558998352011-07-02T22:52:00.000-07:002011-07-02T22:54:16.553-07:00C'est La Amour Le PewI have outdoor cats, and when you have cats that you feed outdoors, you frequently end up with possums that come and eat your cat food (as well as the occasional <a href="http://donkeysense.blogspot.com/2010/06/who-knew-deer-ate-cat-food.html">deer</a>). Tonight I was watching tv when I heard a clattering on the front porch. The cats are quiet when they are eating their cat food, so a clattering means possums. I don't like possums hanging around my house, so when I hear clattering on the porch, I grab my quarterstaff, open the door and chase the possums off.<br />
<br />
Well tonight when I opened the door, instead of seeing a possum, I saw a skunk. With his tail raised and pointed right at me. I slammed the door.<br />
<br />
I waited a moment then cracked the door and peeked out. No skunk. I carefully opened the door further and took a good look around. My black cat, Bastet, came walking toward me with an innocent look on her face. But now I know better. She's apparently been having assignations with Pepe Le Pew on my front porch.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-85920962659227053462011-06-18T02:31:00.000-07:002011-07-02T22:54:55.101-07:00A Peek at Lysts on the Lake 2011Here is a short video showing what I was so involved with that I didn't have time to post. I think you will agree that helping out with a modern competitive jousting tournament is more exciting than sitting in front of your computer and writing blog posts. Not that I don't enjoy writing blog posts, but come on --- It's real live jousting! With real live knights in shining armor! Riding real live horses! <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><object height="390" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UYhdz1bPTAE?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UYhdz1bPTAE?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Doesn't that look like fun?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-24916585761978283822011-06-13T11:16:00.000-07:002011-06-13T11:16:38.658-07:00Electric NeedlesSorry for the long hiatus. I got all caught up in preparations for Lysts on the Lake, then working as staff for Lysts, then recovering from Lysts, and then just sort of being out of the habit of writing. I'll try to do better in the future.<br />
<br />
Anyway... A while back my butt was healed enough that I was able to start doing sit ups again. I had to do them on the thickest softest carpet in the house, and I couldn't do many of them because it still hurt. And, of course, I was horribly out of shape. Over the past year, I'd gained almost 20 pounds and lost most of my muscle tone and flexibility. It seems like just laying on the couch reading and watching tv all day leads to flabbiness and obesity. I had begun to really hate my body. I've been physically active all of my life and I had been one of those few women who were actually quite happy with their bodies, until this accident happened. So, as soon as it wasn't actually painful to exercise, I started doing sit ups again. I'd tried walking on the treadmill, but that was actually quite uncomfortable. (I now know why it hurt, but didn't understand at the time.) So I just stuck to doing sit ups.<br />
<br />
When I first started doing the sit ups, my tailbone was still so sensitive that I sort of did them off center. I was basically putting almost all my weight on my left hip so that there wasn't as much pressure on my tailbone. Naturally, this led to my sit ups being somewhat lopsided. I didn't care. I was exercising again. And it was helping me to feel better about myself even if I really wasn't doing that much. However, as my tailbone became less sensitive, I tried to start doing more balanced sit ups and I noticed that something was seriously wrong.<br />
<br />
When I actually distributed my weight evenly between both hips, and did a sit up, as I was in the sitting up position, my right knee was NOTICEABLY higher than my left knee. At first I thought that because I was in the habit of sitting on my left hip, that I was simply not actually distributing my weight evenly. But after several attempts to redistribute my weight evenly so as to even my knees out, I realized that I was actually sitting evenly on both hips, and there was simply something wrong with my right hip that was forcing my right knee up higher. I sort of freaked a little. I wondered if I had actually broken my hip in some way, and that it had healed all wrong and now I was going to have the live the rest of my life with a mangled hip. I kept trying to re-assure myself that there was no way, no matter how good I am at ignoring pain, that I could have been walking around all this time with a broken hip. But I also kept remembering how much trouble I did have walking at first, and how my right leg at times simply refused to do what I told it to.<br />
<br />
My husband and DA did their best to re-assure me and I set up a doctor's appointment as soon as possible. My doctor examined me and agreed that there was definitely something wrong with my hip, but that he wasn't sure exactly what it was. He wanted to do an MRI, but we only have catastrophic insurance with a $3000 deductible, so we really couldn't afford that. So we did a series of simple x-rays which reassured me that nothing other than my tailbone was broken. The problem was obviously in the muscles. My doctor then sent me to a specialist/physical therapist to try and figure out exactly what was wrong with my muscles. Turns out that my muscles had been so traumatized by the fall that they basically knotted up and then became so inflamed (swollen) that they couldn't unknot. The muscles in my right buttock and thigh had been continuously flexed for over a year. And what happens when you repeatedly (continuously) flex a muscle? It gets bigger. I now have one ginormous butt muscle. <br />
<br />
Even the physical therapist wasn't quite sure what to do to try and fix things. He asked me to do some stretches and things, but I still had enough left over flexibility that the stretches didn't have the least effect on loosening up my poor butt. He decided to try poking it with electric needles. He wasn't sure that would work because the electric needles are actually used to cause the muscles to contract, but he thought that if we made the muscles contract even more, then, when we turned the electric needles off, the muscles might actually relax.<br />
<br />
He didn't use the electric needles during my first visit, he just did some heat treatments and sent me home. He wanted to do some research and think about things before actually trying the electric needles. On my second visit, he first had me do some exercises that dealt with balance and theoretically worked the affected muscles in some beneficial way. Then he took me behind a privacy curtain and had me lay face down on a table. He then proceeded to stick a bunch of acupuncture type needles into various places on both buttocks. Though he did place more in my right buttock than my left. The needles were hooked to an electric current somehow. I really couldn't see much from my position. And he turned the electricity on. He adjusted the current by asking me when it was just on the edge of painful. Then he left the electric needles to do their thing for about 10 minutes.<br />
<br />
After it was over, my butt was pretty sore for the rest of that day and somewhat sore the next, but on the third day, it actually seemed like it had helped. Of course, ever since I found out that the problem was overly tense butt muscles, I'd been trying to consciously relax my butt and that may have been helping as well. Because of my dance, meditation and martial arts background, I am actually pretty good at making my muscles relax on demand. However, I'd never really focused on my butt muscles before.<br />
<br />
Anyway, over the next few weeks, my butt did seem to feel better. I could sit for longer periods of time before it became too painful. And in general, my body was beginning to feel better. I added push ups and squats to my exercise routine and I can now walk on the treadmill even though I still have to be careful with that, and if I feel my butt muscles tensing up, I stop. My body is finally beginning to trim down a little, although I am still pretty unhappy whenever I look in a mirror. But I will keep exercising and sooner or later, I'll get a healthy body back. However, my right buttock will probably always be bigger than my left. (And yes, having uneven buttocks definitely affects my riding. More about that in the next post.)<br />
<br />
I really should go back and get another treatment with the electric needles. I'm sure it would help. I just have to make the time. <br />
<br />
And next time I get injured, I'm going to a doctor right away. I promise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-37943745142065978022011-04-16T09:17:00.000-07:002011-04-16T09:17:34.972-07:00How Do You Rate Your Pain?Yeah, I've been getting that question a lot as I've been seeing doctors and physical therapists who are still trying to fix me from my fall. It's not an easy question to answer. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="hhttp://xkcd.com/883/"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pain_rating.png" width="700" /></a><br />
</div>Make sure you go to the <a href="http://xkcd.com/883/">XKCD site</a> so you can read the mouse-over text. (Drag your mouse over the comic and a little rectangle with text should show up. If it doesn't show up at first, drag your mouse way off to the side then bring it back over the comic and stop.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-56286746526078777462011-04-12T08:06:00.000-07:002011-04-12T13:44:56.928-07:00Three Horses Die During England's Grand National 2011All sports are dangerous to some extent. Equestrian sports are more dangerous than most, both to the rider and to the horse. Occasionally, riders and horses die. This is sad, but true. But consider, the rider chooses to compete. The horse has no choice in the matter. It is up to the riders and others involved in the sport to make it as safe as possible for the horses while still maintaining the spirit of the event. Of course, the only way to completely prevent the death of horses in equestrian events is to completely stop equestrian events. That seems a bit extreme. However, when an event has proven to be excessively dangerous to horses, it needs to be changed or stopped. <br />
<br />
Over the past 11 years, 33 horses have died competing in England's Grand National which is held at <a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/">Aintree Race Course</a>, one of the most famously brutal racing tracks in the world. Surprisingly, there has been only one recorded human fatality in the event's history (Joe Wynne in 1862), though that may change if jockey Peter Toole, who was critically injured this year, fails to recover. The final race, John Smith's Grand National Chase, is four and a half miles long and the horses are supposed to jump all but two of Aintree's 16 steeplechase jumps twice, making for 30 jumps total. (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/spl/hi/horse_racing/05/grandnational/html/default.stm%20">Aintree Course guide</a>) During this year's Grand National, which ran from April 7 – 9, 2011, three horses died. Two of the three died in the final race.<br />
<br />
Below is a list of the horses that have died during or because of injuries sustained during the three days of the Grand National each of the past 11 years:<br />
<br />
2000 – Strong Promise, Rossell Island, Architect, Lake Kariba and Toni's Tip<br />
2001 – Outback Way<br />
2002 – Last Fling, Manx Magic, Desert Mountain and Anubis Quercus<br />
2003 – Goguenard and Coolnagorna<br />
2004 – no deaths<br />
2005 – Lilium de Cotte<br />
2006 – Terivic and Tyneandthyneagain<br />
2007 – Lord Rodney, Into the Shadows and Graphic Approach<br />
2008 – Time to Sell, The High Grass and McKelvey<br />
2009 – Hear the Echo, Exotic Dancer, Mel In Blue, Moscow Catch and Lilla Sophia<br />
2010 – Pagan Starprincess, Prudent Honour, Plaisir D'Estraval and Schindlers Hunt<br />
2011 – Ornais, Dooneys Gate and Inventor<br />
<br />
That's an average of 3 fatalities a year. With only one year with no fatalities. That certainly seems like the event is excessively dangerous to horses. <br />
<br />
Generally, fewer than half of those who compete in the John Smith's Grand National even make it to the finish line. The record for the most horses to finish the race was 23 in 1984. In 1929, only 2 horses were able to complete the course. In this year's race, out of 40 horses who started the event, 19 completed it. Ten horses fell, of which two died, two more were tripped by fallen horses, four unseated their riders and five were pulled up for various reasons. The fact that consistently less than half the horses who start the race even finish it, is yet another reason to re-examine the way this particular race is run. <br />
<br />
Admittedly, some changes have been made to try and make the Grand National safer. The drops on the landing side of some jumps have been reduced. However, even though the brook at the infamous <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/image_galleries/grand_national_09_historic_gallery.shtml?2">Becher's Brook fence</a> was filled in, it is still a 4' 10” jump from the front with a 6' 9” drop on the back. In 2009, a bypass area was created around certain jumps, including the infamous Becher's Brook. Two of these bypass areas had to be used this year in order to avoid running over the dead horses still lying beside the jumps after the first circuit of the track. <br />
<br />
Strangely, veteran trainer, Ginger McCain, who won the Grand National race three times with horse Red Rum, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375569/Grand-National-2011-Do-gooders-safety-row-jockey-lies-coma-horses-die.html">blames the safety improvements</a> for causing the deaths of the horses. "It’s getting quicker and it’s speed that does it… They’ve taken the drops out for the do-gooders and it has encouraged the horses to go quicker. It is speed that kills." Considering the winner of the race, Jason Maguire riding Ballabriggs, was given a five day ban for excessive use of his whip, I don't think it's the do-gooders who are making the horses go quicker. (Maguire has been banned for excessive whip use before, and at least <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/9406041.stm">one ban was recently overturned</a> in order to allow him to race.) <br />
<br />
Also, if you actually look at the <a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/grandnationalwinners">race times over the past 11 years and more</a>, the race times have NOT consistently gone down. Although this years winning time of 9min 1.2sec is the second fastest recorded time following the record set in 1990 of 8min 47.8sec(According to most articles, that is. It looks to me like it's the third fastest time, since Rough Quest finished in 9min 0.8sec in 1996. Anyway...), <a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/grandnationalwinners">winning times over the past years</a> have varied upwards and downwards with no consistent pattern. And if you look at winning time vs number of fatalities, there is no correlation between speed of the race and number of deaths. In the past 11 years, the only year (2004) with no deaths had a winning time of 9min 20.3sec and the year(2009) with the most horse deaths (5) had a winning time of 9min 32.9sec. The changes made to the course have not made it noticeably faster. Unfortunately, they do not seem to have made it any safer either.<br />
<br />
The race is simply too grueling. Even horses that don't die from falls, sometimes collapse from being pushed too hard. After winning this years race, Ballabriggs was considered too exhausted to enter the winner's circle and had to be given oxygen to help him recover. In fact, three out of the first four horses to finish had to be immediately treated for exhaustion and were unable to appear in the winner's enclosure. Fortunately, they all seem to have recovered. Unlike other horses which have died of heart attacks during or immediately after the races. Somehow, I don't think those horses have willingly run themselves to death. <br />
<br />
However, some participants claim to believe that the horses enjoy the race. Donald McCain, son of Ginger McCain, and trainer of Ballabriggs, is <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375569/Grand-National-2011-Do-gooders-safety-row-jockey-lies-coma-horses-die.html">quoted as saying</a>,”If it [the horse] does not want to jump at Aintree, he won't jump.” According to that logic, ill-trained, ill-tempered, nonathletic horses who refuse jumps or dump their rider, are simply expressing their belief that equestrian sports are inherently too dangerous for them to participate in. And well-trained, willing, athletic horses who behave properly, apparently understand the danger and have consented to risk their lives in the name of spectacle. I find that type of “logic” hard to believe. <br />
<br />
Horses, although extraordinary animals, are not capable of understanding the danger of certain equestrian sports and cannot choose for themselves whether that danger is acceptable. It is up to those of us who truly care for the well-being of horses to mitigate the risks of racing and other horse sports. Admittedly, there is no way to remove all risk from equestrian sports, but when an event such as the Grand National has proven to be excessively dangerous for horses, something needs to be done. <br />
<br />
The question is... what is excessively dangerous? Well, for comparison, the <a href="http://www.omakstampede.org/">Omak Stampede and World Famous Suicide Race</a>, which openly claims to be the most dangerous horse race in the world, had 15 officially recorded horse fatalities during the actual race between 1984 and 2006. Unfortunately, there is no official record of how many horses died or had to be put down after the race because of injuries sustained during the race. Unofficially, it is reported that apx 21 horses have died because of the race during the past 26 years. Even using the higher unofficial count, that's less than one horse fatality per year, compared to the Grand National's 33 horse fatalities in the past 11 years which averages out to 3 horse fatalities per year. I am not saying that I approve of the Omak Suicide Race, I very definitely do not. But compared to England's Grand National, it appears to be less dangerous for the horses forced to compete.<br />
<br />
For those of you unfamiliar with the Omak Suicide Race. It is a race consisting of a galloping start leading quickly to a plunge down a 62 degree dirt slope that's 225 feet long and narrows as it goes down. The slope drops into a 100 yard wide river that the horse must swim across and then climb up a more gradual incline to a 500 yard sprint to the finish line. This race is run by the same horse three days in a row. The first two runs are done in the dark of night. It is considered by many to be an appalling abuse of horses simply for commercial gain. It is NOT as some people have claimed, a traditional rite of passage for Native American tribesmen. It was created by a local businessman purely as a financial endeavor. Local tribes agreed to participate in order to receive part of the profits. The United States Humane Society published a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4pig67unHo">video</a> denouncing the race in 2006. <br />
<br />
The Omak Suicide Race is a fairly small and relatively unknown event compared to England's Grand National, but it has been widely denounced in the US and in other countries. The final race of the Grand National is one of the biggest and most popular races in the world. It is major national event in England. This year's live televised broadcast of the final race was seen by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/11/grand-national-tv-ratings">8.8 million viewers</a> on BBC 1 during the 15 minutes between 4:15 and 4:30pm alone. The estimated worldwide audience for footage of the John Smith's Grand National Chase is apx 600 million people in 140 countries. How can something that is so well-known and widely watched be allowed to continue to be so excessively dangerous to horses? Yes, there has been and continues to be some public outcry against the deaths of horses for public entertainment. But very little has actually been done. And what little has been done, has not improved the survival rate of the horses made to compete. <br />
<br />
I would not have been surprised to have discovered such a brutal race being celebrated in a third world country where animal welfare is not much of a concern. But frankly I was shocked to discover that such a deadly race is not only allowed to continue, but is celebrated as part of the national culture of England. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Links for information about England's Grand National:</div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_676044625"><br />
</a><br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375210/Grand-National-2011-Ballabriggs-wins-day-drama-Aintree.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375210/Grand-National-2011-Ballabriggs-wins-day-drama-Aintree.html </a> (Warning: Graphic pictures)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375569/Grand-National-2011-Do-gooders-safety-row-jockey-lies-coma-horses-die.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375569/Grand-National-2011-Do-gooders-safety-row-jockey-lies-coma-horses-die.html</a> (Warning: Graphic pictures)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-1375310/Grand-National-2011-Aintree-day-horror-millions-2-horses-die.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-1375310/Grand-National-2011-Aintree-day-horror-millions-2-horses-die.html?ito=feeds-newsxml</a> (Warning: Graphic pictures)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/09/grand-national-2011-two-deaths">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/09/grand-national-2011-two-deaths</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mauritiushot.com/video-two-horses-die-at-grand-national-2011/%20">http://www.mauritiushot.com/video-two-horses-die-at-grand-national-2011/ </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/apr/09/grand-national-2011-live">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/apr/09/grand-national-2011-live</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2011/04/12/grand-national-steeplechase-fatalities.aspx">http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2011/04/12/grand-national-steeplechase-fatalities.aspx</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/image_galleries/grand_national_09_historic_gallery.shtml?2">http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/image_galleries/grand_national_09_historic_gallery.shtml?2</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/">http://www.aintree.co.uk/</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/grandnationalwinners">http://www.aintree.co.uk/grandnationalwinners</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.aintree.co.uk/pages/broadcasting-of-the-grand-national/">http://www.aintree.co.uk/pages/broadcasting-of-the-grand-national/</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42064.asp">http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42064.asp</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/10/grand-national-bullfighting-deaths">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/10/grand-national-bullfighting-deaths</a> (Warning: Graphic picture)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/9406041.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/9406041.stm</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/11/grand-national-tv-ratings">http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/11/grand-national-tv-ratings</a> <br />
<br />
Aintree course guide: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/spl/hi/horse_racing/05/grandnational/html/default.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/spl/hi/horse_racing/05/grandnational/html/default.stm</a> <br />
<br />
1967 video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0n--QhZQgI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0n--QhZQgI</a><br />
<br />
2011 video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GllKThibSLo%20">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GllKThibSLo </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Links for information about the Omak Suicide Race: </div><br />
<a href="http://www.paws.org/omak-suicide-race-faq.html">http://www.paws.org/omak-suicide-race-faq.html</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://ida.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=5701.0">http://ida.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=5701.0</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.omakstampede.org/">http://www.omakstampede.org/</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Race">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Race</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.paws.org/archives/PeopleHelpingAnimals/mainnews2005_06_05.htm">http://www.paws.org/archives/PeopleHelpingAnimals/mainnews2005_06_05.htm</a> <br />
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<a href="http://osesr.org/Omak-Suicide-Race.html">http://usesr.org/Omak-Suicide-Race.html </a><br />
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Humane Society video about the Omak Suicide Race: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4pig67unHo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4pig67unHo</a> <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Another blogger comparing England's Grand National to the Omak Suicide Race</div><br />
<a href="http://fuglyblog.com/?p=2776">http://fuglyblog.com/?p=2776</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-13683449392147334692011-04-01T09:04:00.000-07:002011-04-01T09:12:57.214-07:00I've Decided to JoustJousting just looks like so much fun that I've decided instead of just helping out with the <a href="http://www.texasjoust.com/">Lysts on the Lake: Lone Star Open Joust</a>, that I want to actually compete as a jouster. <br />
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ummm...<br />
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Yeah, right, this is an April Fool's joke. There is no way that I will be jousting at the tournament. There is no way that I will ever joust, period. There is however an actual competitive jousting tournament being held in Austin, TX from April 29 - May 1, 2011. My good friend SH is producing it, and my husband will be competing in it. It promises to be one of the largest, if not the largest competitive joust in the US. At least as far as number of jousters goes. To find out more about the <a href="http://www.texasjoust.com/">Lysts on the Lake</a>, just click on the <a href="http://www.texasjoust.com/">link</a>. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.texasjoust.com/"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Lysts%202009/IMG_6096.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
My friend SH on his trusty steed Lucky(on left) tilting against another friend at a previous tournament<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-45095392328248688612011-03-30T14:36:00.000-07:002011-03-30T14:36:00.939-07:00Roadside assistance for those hauling horsesAnother blogger I read mentioned how useful she has found <a href="http://www.usrider.org/index2.html">US RIDER</a>. A roadside assistance service for people who haul horses. I've never tried it myself since we don't have a truck capable of hauling a horse trailer, but it seems like a useful service. So I thought that I would mention it in my blog in case someone else might find it useful. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.usrider.org/index2.html"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Blog%20Images/USRiderlogo.jpg" width="300"/></a><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-46721787528344119202011-03-17T00:23:00.000-07:002011-03-17T00:23:47.699-07:00Some Fireworks During a Lunge Session with ShadowfaxI've been lunging Shadowfax semi-regularly in preparation to starting to ride him again. I haven't been writing about our lunge sessions, because a lunge session that goes well is pretty boring. And he's been doing pretty well. Not perfect, but he generally listens and does what I say even though I may have to repeat myself several times. However...he was rather different today. I don't know what the problem was, or if he was just in a hyper mood or what. But today's lunge session had some fireworks.<br />
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I suppose I had a little warning of what was to come when Shadowfax didn't stand perfectly still while I was picking out his feet. He normally doesn't move a muscle, but today, he was wriggling around a little, not bad, but compared to how still he is normally, it was noticeable. But I didn't really think much of it at the time. Once I started lunging, things seemed to go normally at first. But then he kept speeding up. He broke into trot before I asked him too, and even though he slowed back down when I kept saying "Sloooowwweeerrr, sllooowwweerrr", he was just wanting to go faster. We went counter-clockwise first, as usual, and even though there were a couple of exciting moments when he kicked up his heels and tried to go faster, he mostly behaved.<br />
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But when we switched sides and went clockwise, things got rough. He just kept speeding up and starting to run. I could slow him down, but it took some work and he would shake his head and object. So finally after the third time he bucked and went into a gallop, I decided that if he wanted to run, then by damn, he was going to run. So I yelled, "RUN!" and just held him in the circle as he ran full out. And he ran. Boy, did he run. For a big boy, he can be fast when he feels like it. And he kept running. And running. My arms were shaking from holding him in the circle. However, when he finally started to slow down, I waved the whip at his rear and yelled, "RUN" and kept him running. He slowed to trot and I waved that whip and yelled, "RUN" and made him keep running. He tried to slow several times and I just kept yelling and waving the whip and made him keep going. If he was going to challenge me by bucking and running, then I was going to make him regret it by making him run until he never wanted to run while lunging again. Eventually, when he was looking truly tired and he slowed to a trot again, instead of forcing him to run flat out, I asked for a canter and got a decent canter. I cantered him around the circle a few times and then asked for a trot. He IMMEDIATELY dropped into a trot. I made him trot several more circles, then asked for a walk. He immediately slowed to a walk. I walked him around a couple of times, then said "Ho" and he stopped. <br />
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I walked up to him and patted him and talked to him as I switched the lunge line to the other side of his bridle. He was sweaty and tired, but wasn't even close to being in any distress. I started him going counter-clockwise again and this time... he listened to me. He really, really listened. He had one ear facing forward and the other facing me the entire time. I walked, trotted, walked, trotted, cantered, trotted, walked. And he did everything exactly when I asked. I ended the session by just walking him for what seemed a really long time. It probably felt even longer to him. He was so tired that he wasn't picking his feet up as high as he ought and tripped over uneven ground a couple of times. As soon as I felt that he had walked enough to cool down slowly from this rather intense session, I asked for a stop and got it. <br />
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I led him over to the trailer to untack. Most of his sweat had dried and he felt cool. So I gave him a nice grooming/rubdown and gave him a few carrot sticks. I tried to do some carrot stretches with him, but he really doesn't know how to do them properly (that's something I need to teach him). He kept trying to bow instead of doing the stretches, so I asked him to bow a few times and rewarded him for doing so. I unhaltered him and let him go, but he started following me back to gate, so I worked a little on having him stop when I stopped as we walked towards the gate. That trick he knows pretty well, but it's something we've always worked on with him haltered. However, he did great even though he was at liberty. Paying as much attention to my body's movement as he did to my verbal command. At the gate, I gave him another carrot stick and told him he was good boy. Which he is, even if there were some fireworks during the lunge session.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902187575361269222.post-68705534619731688932011-03-15T13:52:00.000-07:002011-03-15T14:12:04.579-07:00Singing ChickensRight after one of my hens lays an egg, she stands around and sings about it. Frequently, other hens will join in and there will be a whole chorus of singing chickens. It's very loud. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0412.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0412.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
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Why do they do that? It seems like it would be the reverse of a survival tactic. Sort of like announcing to all the predators nearby that here is a nice fresh egg, come and get it. Oh, and by the way, there's a loud and none too bright hen available for eating as well. <br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0422.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0422.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
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So... can anyone come up with any ideas why it would be a good idea for hens to loudly announce their success every time they lay an egg?<br />
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<div align="center"><a href="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0432.jpg"><img src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/ChimaeraProductions/Chickens/0432.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
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Anyone?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0