My sis and I were thinking it would be fun to say hi to any horse loving bloggers that are going to be at the Expo this year. If you are going to the Western States Horse Expo this week please leave a comment, we'd love to chat a bit! We will be at the Magnificent 7 on Friday night and all day Saturday. Sacramento here we come!
L
Showing posts with label Links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Links. Show all posts
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I am Horsaii!
Mugwump coined this word here and I think it is great. Read all the comments, they are very cool. I was going to comment but then I decided to put it into a post. Like the other horsaiis that posted, I cannot remember when I fell for horses. I probably saw horses first in story books. Anyway, I do think I was born with horsaii, because I don't remember ever discovering that horses were cool - they were always amazing and wonderful to me. The first time I ever got to ride one was when I was seven or eight at a circus. We were in the US on furlough and my grandparents took us to a circus and I got to ride the pony ride. (The adults knew they couldn't escape their fate as soon as I saw the ponies!) I believe my pony was a black pinto. I remember wishing desperately that they could untie the pony and let me ride him around. I was sure how I would do great and the pony wouldn't be bored then. I sat very solemnly the whole ride and petted the pony and tried to soak everything in as much as I possibly could. My little brother was really nervous on his pony, I remember that, and my older brother didn't want to ride, as I recall. Weird kids... I talked to the pony some and petted it as much as I could before I absolutely had to leave, looking back the whole time.
My second time riding a horse was later that same summer. My cousin, who was a teenager, had her own horse. I thought she was the luckiest person ever! He is still alive as far as I know - a bay pinto quarab named Classy (just about Mira's age, as a matter of fact). I got to ride Classy two or three times on our visit there, and got to experience my first fall there, too. It wasn't his fault, he just tripped when trotting fast and I flew off in a graceful arc and landed in a clumsy heap, losing my glasses. Maybe that was when me being horsaii was confirmed. I remember feeling really stiff and sore as I got up, but no WAY was I going to WALK back to the house. I couldn't lose my precious and limited riding time just because I fell off. So, I got back on right away. Classy was cute - he obviously was surprised and sorry that I fell off and happy that I was OK.
When I couldn't ride him, I spent every minute available out next to his paddock feeding him pieces of grass and talking to him and, yes, drawing him. I learned a lot about horse conformation during that visit and finally started drawing identifiable horses! :-)
My mother fortunately saw to it that us kids had plenty of books, including lots of horse ones, when we were in the jungle and I spent lots of time playing I was a horse, drawing horses, wondering how much it cost to feed them and how much land an acre was and trying to figure out how tack was arranged from pictures, and hoping as hard as I could that I would see a real live one again soon. Meanwhile, I read all the Black Stallion books and others and absorbed every possible bit of horse handling knowledge. At one point I remember that for a month or two I even collected all the weeds and tall grass I could find and put it in a pile behind our house and hoped and prayed that a "stray" horse would come wandering along (in the slum?!) that needed a home. If I was prepared already then of course my parents would have to let me keep it! Eventually my parents wouldn't let me keep stacking it up anymore...
What is your story? Do you remember the first time you saw a horse, petted a horse, rode a horse? Tell us about it!
L
My second time riding a horse was later that same summer. My cousin, who was a teenager, had her own horse. I thought she was the luckiest person ever! He is still alive as far as I know - a bay pinto quarab named Classy (just about Mira's age, as a matter of fact). I got to ride Classy two or three times on our visit there, and got to experience my first fall there, too. It wasn't his fault, he just tripped when trotting fast and I flew off in a graceful arc and landed in a clumsy heap, losing my glasses. Maybe that was when me being horsaii was confirmed. I remember feeling really stiff and sore as I got up, but no WAY was I going to WALK back to the house. I couldn't lose my precious and limited riding time just because I fell off. So, I got back on right away. Classy was cute - he obviously was surprised and sorry that I fell off and happy that I was OK.
When I couldn't ride him, I spent every minute available out next to his paddock feeding him pieces of grass and talking to him and, yes, drawing him. I learned a lot about horse conformation during that visit and finally started drawing identifiable horses! :-)
My mother fortunately saw to it that us kids had plenty of books, including lots of horse ones, when we were in the jungle and I spent lots of time playing I was a horse, drawing horses, wondering how much it cost to feed them and how much land an acre was and trying to figure out how tack was arranged from pictures, and hoping as hard as I could that I would see a real live one again soon. Meanwhile, I read all the Black Stallion books and others and absorbed every possible bit of horse handling knowledge. At one point I remember that for a month or two I even collected all the weeds and tall grass I could find and put it in a pile behind our house and hoped and prayed that a "stray" horse would come wandering along (in the slum?!) that needed a home. If I was prepared already then of course my parents would have to let me keep it! Eventually my parents wouldn't let me keep stacking it up anymore...
What is your story? Do you remember the first time you saw a horse, petted a horse, rode a horse? Tell us about it!
L
Friday, January 2, 2009
Two Years Horse-Blogging
So, as of yesterday I am starting on my third year of blogging. I was thinking about my horsey goals for this year just now, and decided I might as well put them down. Here goes...
That is a good starting place, I think. I guess the most important thing of all though is that he stays sound and I keep having time to ride!
Below is my original post and last year's New Year's post.
http://me-mira.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-year-new-blog.html
http://me-mira.blogspot.com/2008/01/one-year-anniversary-and-happy-new-year.html
Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully 2009 will be a good one for us all.
L
- Get into a routine of riding Andolu at least a little for four days a week. I hate to say that is a goal as if it was work, but I do need to schedule it or else I tend to try to get all my chores done first, which means it doesn't happen.
- Build Andolu's endurance up slowly and keep him sound if at all possible.
- Learn to post well and post without stirrups regularly.
- Take lessons at M's, especially longe lessons to develop my seat.
- Pony Mira at least twice a week with both horses staying calm and obedient.
- Finish the fencing project.
- Teach Andolu to bow.
- Get Andolu strong enough to be well balanced and comfortable changing leads at the canter.
- Go on a trail ride in the mountains with both of them!
That is a good starting place, I think. I guess the most important thing of all though is that he stays sound and I keep having time to ride!
Below is my original post and last year's New Year's post.
http://me-mira.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-year-new-blog.html
http://me-mira.blogspot.com/2008/01/one-year-anniversary-and-happy-new-year.html
Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully 2009 will be a good one for us all.
L
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Happenings
The below article is my last post on politics for a while. I try to keep my blog just a fun place to talk about horses, but I wanted to get this out. Please feel free to not read it if you will get offended. I am not trying to bash anyone, just stating my viewpoint about what our country needs versus what it has chosen.
Well, we have a new president now. I am glad the suspense is over. I am just going to hope that either Obama is very ineffective or that he manages to get a whole bunch of his agenda done at once. If he gets a lot of his agenda accomplished quickly it will make Americans very, very mad and maybe wake people up. This country is like the frog in a boiling pot that has not noticed how bad things have gotten. I still can't believe we actually voted for a socialist/communist to run what is supposed to be a free country, but we did and now we get to experience the joys of socialism. It's worked SOO well in places like Russia, Cuba, most of Europe (with its extremely high levels of depression, an almost majority of people who never even try to get jobs, and hardly any children being born - getting taken over by immigrants), and all those other places it's been tried. (Yes, the sarcasm is a little heavy!) And don't quote China as a socialist place that is doing well. Their increasing prosperity is DIRECTLY correlated with every move they make towards a free market society.
Oh well. At least some good bills got passed, for a change.
I had a hard time before the election just leaving things to God. I know He is ultimately in charge and whatever happens is in His plan, but I felt like I was watching somebody stab themself over and over and I couldn't make them stop. Watching my country deliberately do such self-destructive things is really hard, but now it's done and it is the time for me to pray harder and keep living my life and doing the things I know I am supposed to do. One of which includes respecting the office of the president and showing some class towards the new president with whom I have almost nothing in common, unlike the majority of liberals the last eight years. I don't want to call names or things like that.
I also hope that this might actually clean up the Republican party. They have gotten so liberal leaning and so wishy-washy lately that it is disgusting. We need people with spines, who will articulate what and why they believe and who don't go around trying to make people like them but who actually do the things they are able to do and don't back down just because someone accuses them of being mean. If you believe something is best for the country, then TRY TO DO IT and don't let whiners stop you! At least now the GOP can see that pandering didn't help them win.
At least one good thing is that we have finally elected a member of a minority as president, so hopefully that will settle a great deal of the angst about racism and associated issues.
I am going to miss President Bush. I really am.
In the toughest of tough political climates with a media that functioned as an opposing lobby and with very little support from his own party, he still managed to do some amazing and audacious things. He stuck by his principles and his decisions consistently during the whole eight years and was consistently gracious to hateful people who stopped at nothing to smear him. Having been very involved with the Iraq War news and Iraqi blogs for about two years (not so much anymore) I am still dumbfounded at the completely biased way the media has misrepresented the efforts over there and what really has and hasn't "been found" and all the straw-men that were used to discredit our strategic purposes over there. I am amazed at how everything, even the weather, has been spun so as to try to find a way put blame on Bush, and cannot believe the way people would actually openly wish for bad things to happen to America just so that they could use it against Bush. I also am quite disgusted with the Republicans for not having the courage of their convictions and for not really trying hard to get the conservative message out.
I still am amazed we were lucky (blessed) enough to have President Bush for eight whole years and I hope the rest of his life is good. I disliked his big-government policies, but I respect him a great deal and am not looking forward to having a new president who is wobbly and inexperienced on some things and on others firmly set on courses that will be very, very bad for our country long-term.
Finally, the current financial crisis is something we all share responsibility for. It has been building for decades and warned about thousands of times. The problems come from a combination of programs trying to fix things by throwing money at problems, laws trying to regulate things to make them safer and less risky and/or more fair, and a general (natural) human desire to get fun stuff before the right time. The government can fix its share of the problem by allowing citizens more freedom (and thus opportunity), by not trying to "make" fairness happen, and by not trying to solve every problem for everyone. Then it is up to us, The People of the United States, to work on our own problems with the tools we have, which are many.
Most of my readers are horse people. Hay prices have gone dramatically up in recent years. The price spikes are actually quite predictable (and have been predicted many times) due to policies that started during the Great Depression and that have gotten more involved over time. Farmers in our country produce a great deal of the world's food - in fact, America produces 25% of the world's GDP every year! However, being either a small family farmer or a big farmer in this country presents many, many challeges. Meat and dairy inspection laws in most states favor only the large producer, such that a $500,000 state-of-the art slaughter plant would be required if a family wanted to sell 20 chickens a year to their neighbors, already processed. The laws could be modified so that farms could produce and process meat (and dairy) just as hygienically in a clean room with stainless steel and concretee and good refrigeration. However, the tangled bunch of laws keep getting more tangled. When the powers that be decide that too many farmers are planting corn in a year, thus bringing the price down, the government will PAY some farmers NOT to plant corn. Huh? What is with that? As a result of all the tinkering by the USDA and other buraucracies, milk prices paid to dairy farmers have stayed almost the same as in the 50s. Everything else went way up, though, so farmers now have a very, very small margin of profit on each cow, and must have thousands rather than dozens of cows, and feed antibiotics and growth hormones to try to get slightly more profit out of the cow before she dies at 4 or 5. If the government had not been messing with the market economy in farming, we would be paying a lot less taxes, but quite a bit more at the grocery store. However, the food we bought would be from farmers who were actually earning a living most years and who were able to raise the food in a healthy manner with far less pollution, chemicals, and environmental impact. We all want that, but we keep electing people who make laws that take us farther and farther away from any chance of that. Hmm.
Below are various random links:
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/11/may-have-been-t.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110403872.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2008/11/05/congress-obama-senate-biz-beltway-cx_bw_1105legislate.html
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/06/coburn-obama-conservatives-oped-cx_tc_1106coburn.html
http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/11/04/dateline-2012-the-waning-days-of-the-failed-obama-presidency/
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=4853
http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.net/
Anyway, enough with the ranting now and thanks if you managed to read it all! I'll get back to planting wheat and playing with the horses. Hopefully I can do a more fun post about The Spoiled Ones tomorrow.
L
Well, we have a new president now. I am glad the suspense is over. I am just going to hope that either Obama is very ineffective or that he manages to get a whole bunch of his agenda done at once. If he gets a lot of his agenda accomplished quickly it will make Americans very, very mad and maybe wake people up. This country is like the frog in a boiling pot that has not noticed how bad things have gotten. I still can't believe we actually voted for a socialist/communist to run what is supposed to be a free country, but we did and now we get to experience the joys of socialism. It's worked SOO well in places like Russia, Cuba, most of Europe (with its extremely high levels of depression, an almost majority of people who never even try to get jobs, and hardly any children being born - getting taken over by immigrants), and all those other places it's been tried. (Yes, the sarcasm is a little heavy!) And don't quote China as a socialist place that is doing well. Their increasing prosperity is DIRECTLY correlated with every move they make towards a free market society.
Oh well. At least some good bills got passed, for a change.
I had a hard time before the election just leaving things to God. I know He is ultimately in charge and whatever happens is in His plan, but I felt like I was watching somebody stab themself over and over and I couldn't make them stop. Watching my country deliberately do such self-destructive things is really hard, but now it's done and it is the time for me to pray harder and keep living my life and doing the things I know I am supposed to do. One of which includes respecting the office of the president and showing some class towards the new president with whom I have almost nothing in common, unlike the majority of liberals the last eight years. I don't want to call names or things like that.
I also hope that this might actually clean up the Republican party. They have gotten so liberal leaning and so wishy-washy lately that it is disgusting. We need people with spines, who will articulate what and why they believe and who don't go around trying to make people like them but who actually do the things they are able to do and don't back down just because someone accuses them of being mean. If you believe something is best for the country, then TRY TO DO IT and don't let whiners stop you! At least now the GOP can see that pandering didn't help them win.
At least one good thing is that we have finally elected a member of a minority as president, so hopefully that will settle a great deal of the angst about racism and associated issues.
I am going to miss President Bush. I really am.
In the toughest of tough political climates with a media that functioned as an opposing lobby and with very little support from his own party, he still managed to do some amazing and audacious things. He stuck by his principles and his decisions consistently during the whole eight years and was consistently gracious to hateful people who stopped at nothing to smear him. Having been very involved with the Iraq War news and Iraqi blogs for about two years (not so much anymore) I am still dumbfounded at the completely biased way the media has misrepresented the efforts over there and what really has and hasn't "been found" and all the straw-men that were used to discredit our strategic purposes over there. I am amazed at how everything, even the weather, has been spun so as to try to find a way put blame on Bush, and cannot believe the way people would actually openly wish for bad things to happen to America just so that they could use it against Bush. I also am quite disgusted with the Republicans for not having the courage of their convictions and for not really trying hard to get the conservative message out.
I still am amazed we were lucky (blessed) enough to have President Bush for eight whole years and I hope the rest of his life is good. I disliked his big-government policies, but I respect him a great deal and am not looking forward to having a new president who is wobbly and inexperienced on some things and on others firmly set on courses that will be very, very bad for our country long-term.
Finally, the current financial crisis is something we all share responsibility for. It has been building for decades and warned about thousands of times. The problems come from a combination of programs trying to fix things by throwing money at problems, laws trying to regulate things to make them safer and less risky and/or more fair, and a general (natural) human desire to get fun stuff before the right time. The government can fix its share of the problem by allowing citizens more freedom (and thus opportunity), by not trying to "make" fairness happen, and by not trying to solve every problem for everyone. Then it is up to us, The People of the United States, to work on our own problems with the tools we have, which are many.
Most of my readers are horse people. Hay prices have gone dramatically up in recent years. The price spikes are actually quite predictable (and have been predicted many times) due to policies that started during the Great Depression and that have gotten more involved over time. Farmers in our country produce a great deal of the world's food - in fact, America produces 25% of the world's GDP every year! However, being either a small family farmer or a big farmer in this country presents many, many challeges. Meat and dairy inspection laws in most states favor only the large producer, such that a $500,000 state-of-the art slaughter plant would be required if a family wanted to sell 20 chickens a year to their neighbors, already processed. The laws could be modified so that farms could produce and process meat (and dairy) just as hygienically in a clean room with stainless steel and concretee and good refrigeration. However, the tangled bunch of laws keep getting more tangled. When the powers that be decide that too many farmers are planting corn in a year, thus bringing the price down, the government will PAY some farmers NOT to plant corn. Huh? What is with that? As a result of all the tinkering by the USDA and other buraucracies, milk prices paid to dairy farmers have stayed almost the same as in the 50s. Everything else went way up, though, so farmers now have a very, very small margin of profit on each cow, and must have thousands rather than dozens of cows, and feed antibiotics and growth hormones to try to get slightly more profit out of the cow before she dies at 4 or 5. If the government had not been messing with the market economy in farming, we would be paying a lot less taxes, but quite a bit more at the grocery store. However, the food we bought would be from farmers who were actually earning a living most years and who were able to raise the food in a healthy manner with far less pollution, chemicals, and environmental impact. We all want that, but we keep electing people who make laws that take us farther and farther away from any chance of that. Hmm.
Below are various random links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122611181065310615.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.htmlhttp://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/11/may-have-been-t.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110403872.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2008/11/05/congress-obama-senate-biz-beltway-cx_bw_1105legislate.html
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/06/coburn-obama-conservatives-oped-cx_tc_1106coburn.html
http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/11/04/dateline-2012-the-waning-days-of-the-failed-obama-presidency/
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=4853
http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.net/
Anyway, enough with the ranting now and thanks if you managed to read it all! I'll get back to planting wheat and playing with the horses. Hopefully I can do a more fun post about The Spoiled Ones tomorrow.
L
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Update on the skinny bay oldster
Initial post here:
When my vet was here doing the boosters and checkup on The Spoiled Ones, I asked him if he had ever been able to catch a glimpse of that horse when driving by. It turns out the owner of the vet just called him and had him come over last Friday! Apparently several other people besides me have called Animal Control and so they called him. The owner told my vet that the horse is about 29 or 30 and he has had him since he was 2. The horse is apparently still bright eyed and moving around, just has been hard to keep weight on, and he wanted advice now that people were calling Animal Control about it. So the vet has given him some advice and I am VERY relieved to know that at least the horse is getting something to eat, got medical care, and should hopefully look a lot better soon! Now I don't have to lie awake on cold nights worrying about if that horse has anything in its stomach and if it has anybody that cares about it - I'll keep an eye on it, but I think it should start to look better soon with some supplements and help. Phew!
L
When my vet was here doing the boosters and checkup on The Spoiled Ones, I asked him if he had ever been able to catch a glimpse of that horse when driving by. It turns out the owner of the vet just called him and had him come over last Friday! Apparently several other people besides me have called Animal Control and so they called him. The owner told my vet that the horse is about 29 or 30 and he has had him since he was 2. The horse is apparently still bright eyed and moving around, just has been hard to keep weight on, and he wanted advice now that people were calling Animal Control about it. So the vet has given him some advice and I am VERY relieved to know that at least the horse is getting something to eat, got medical care, and should hopefully look a lot better soon! Now I don't have to lie awake on cold nights worrying about if that horse has anything in its stomach and if it has anybody that cares about it - I'll keep an eye on it, but I think it should start to look better soon with some supplements and help. Phew!
L
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Update on the bee project
Initial post here.
Shortly after that first post, my mother actually posted our info on a local beekeeper association bulletin board saying that we would like to offer our property as a place to store hives during the downtime from pollinating crops. We had two beekeepers call up right away and they acted very interested, but neither was able to come up and check our property out at the time. I suppose the one guy must have found a place for his extra 20 or so hives or didn't think it was worth coming all the way up here to drop off a few hives, but we haven't talked to either one in a while. One of the beekeepers did give us some very useful information though, about a new/ancient kind of hive that is MUCH easier and less stressful on the bees and produces LOTS more honey.
There is even a variation of the hive built with the Fibonacci sequence that has been found to have dramatically more honey production than would be expected of a hive with that total number of inches inside. Isn't that funny? Fibonacci sequence is so fascinating to me!
Anyway, the current status of the bee project is on hold, due to the fact that we were not able to get alfalfa started. Now that I know it needs hard ground, we'll see what we can do next spring... Until then, I don't think there is quite enough food for a hive in this area. I still really want bees, though.
The only bad thing about bees is their unaccountable prejudice against barnyard animals and the smell of manure. Sheesh, what's wrong with manure? :-D We'll just have to put their hive(s) near the pond and away from the horses when I do get them.
L
Shortly after that first post, my mother actually posted our info on a local beekeeper association bulletin board saying that we would like to offer our property as a place to store hives during the downtime from pollinating crops. We had two beekeepers call up right away and they acted very interested, but neither was able to come up and check our property out at the time. I suppose the one guy must have found a place for his extra 20 or so hives or didn't think it was worth coming all the way up here to drop off a few hives, but we haven't talked to either one in a while. One of the beekeepers did give us some very useful information though, about a new/ancient kind of hive that is MUCH easier and less stressful on the bees and produces LOTS more honey.
There is even a variation of the hive built with the Fibonacci sequence that has been found to have dramatically more honey production than would be expected of a hive with that total number of inches inside. Isn't that funny? Fibonacci sequence is so fascinating to me!
Anyway, the current status of the bee project is on hold, due to the fact that we were not able to get alfalfa started. Now that I know it needs hard ground, we'll see what we can do next spring... Until then, I don't think there is quite enough food for a hive in this area. I still really want bees, though.
The only bad thing about bees is their unaccountable prejudice against barnyard animals and the smell of manure. Sheesh, what's wrong with manure? :-D We'll just have to put their hive(s) near the pond and away from the horses when I do get them.
L
Another NHR post
Hopefully this will be a somewhat shorter post... Yeah right :-)
Following up my last post on socialism, I will say that neither candidate has a record of exactly supporting true democracy and capitalism. McCain's so-called campaign finance reform laws (limiting free speech and not reforming anything. Too many hundreds of blog posts out there to pick from to link to) and his records of wanting more regulation on this or that issue do not make me happy, any more than the fact that rather than being a "maverick" he strikes me as more of a "try to please everyone" type of person. From watching him over the last few years he seems to equate making people agree with him to getting things done. I think getting things done means a little more than that and often, unfortunately, getting things done means you will be less popular.
However, Obama really scares me. See this great article for a few of the reasons why. Another consideration - even if you really liked all his social policies, what about the way he would be viewed by other countries and by terrorists? Even if it were possible to prove that he never had any knowledge about the Communist/terrorist work of the various people he worked so closely with, do you think that would get through to Al-Qaida and other organizations? Al-Qaida is a lot weaker now than it used to be, but there are still plenty of people out there who are constantly working on ways to attack us. It is amazing to me that we have not had any more attacks in seven years. It's incredible. If we get a president who is percieved as wanting to be friendly to those people, it is not going to make them decide to like us. They will just decide the time is perfect for a new attack now that our guard is down. What would Obama do? Would he get panicky and use nuclear... would he not react enough and let more attacks happen?
It might be possible to stand a president who does his best to ruin the economy and personal freedom but protects the country's borders, and it might be possible to stand a president who is careless about our safety but protects personal freedom and the economy, but one who actively attacks personal freedom/the economy AND actively weakens our safety is a nightmare. I don't want that nightmare to come true.
Slightly different: What is with this sort of treatment of reporters? For Pete's sake, I can possibly understand charging reporters to travel around with the campaign, but not that much! Limit it to $300 or $400 a day, treat them like human beings, and try to remember what they are there for. Either give them help to do their jobs (i.e. news, information, sound bites) or don't have them there. I do understand that running a campaign is a very difficult job and that leaks can be extremely damaging to any campaign. Newsflash: Leaks inevitably happen. If you build a decent rapport with a press corps, they will be nicer to you in the event of embarrassing leaks. I just cannot understand this seemingly universal abuse of reporters covering campaigns. Oh well. Enough ranting for the day!
L
Following up my last post on socialism, I will say that neither candidate has a record of exactly supporting true democracy and capitalism. McCain's so-called campaign finance reform laws (limiting free speech and not reforming anything. Too many hundreds of blog posts out there to pick from to link to) and his records of wanting more regulation on this or that issue do not make me happy, any more than the fact that rather than being a "maverick" he strikes me as more of a "try to please everyone" type of person. From watching him over the last few years he seems to equate making people agree with him to getting things done. I think getting things done means a little more than that and often, unfortunately, getting things done means you will be less popular.
However, Obama really scares me. See this great article for a few of the reasons why. Another consideration - even if you really liked all his social policies, what about the way he would be viewed by other countries and by terrorists? Even if it were possible to prove that he never had any knowledge about the Communist/terrorist work of the various people he worked so closely with, do you think that would get through to Al-Qaida and other organizations? Al-Qaida is a lot weaker now than it used to be, but there are still plenty of people out there who are constantly working on ways to attack us. It is amazing to me that we have not had any more attacks in seven years. It's incredible. If we get a president who is percieved as wanting to be friendly to those people, it is not going to make them decide to like us. They will just decide the time is perfect for a new attack now that our guard is down. What would Obama do? Would he get panicky and use nuclear... would he not react enough and let more attacks happen?
It might be possible to stand a president who does his best to ruin the economy and personal freedom but protects the country's borders, and it might be possible to stand a president who is careless about our safety but protects personal freedom and the economy, but one who actively attacks personal freedom/the economy AND actively weakens our safety is a nightmare. I don't want that nightmare to come true.
Slightly different: What is with this sort of treatment of reporters? For Pete's sake, I can possibly understand charging reporters to travel around with the campaign, but not that much! Limit it to $300 or $400 a day, treat them like human beings, and try to remember what they are there for. Either give them help to do their jobs (i.e. news, information, sound bites) or don't have them there. I do understand that running a campaign is a very difficult job and that leaks can be extremely damaging to any campaign. Newsflash: Leaks inevitably happen. If you build a decent rapport with a press corps, they will be nicer to you in the event of embarrassing leaks. I just cannot understand this seemingly universal abuse of reporters covering campaigns. Oh well. Enough ranting for the day!
L
Sunday, October 12, 2008
A rather different type of post
I try not to get too political on my blog, because I started it as a fun stress reliever. However, I couldn't resist putting this post up. I keep seeing all the panicky news articles on the economy. It's been quite obvious for years that we are due for a very bad depression. The roots of the problem go back decades. For example, when the US and other countries went off the gold/silver standards, that was a bad choice for stability. It does seem to have allowed more rapid growth of the economy, but that came with a price - less security.
The incredible amount of debt that most of the world's countries are in is also very bad for economic health. There are so many things that have contributed to this problem and I am surprised the system has done as well as it has for as long as it has. I have a few basic beliefs about politics that rule my opinions/who I vote for/what I want to see happen. What are your basic, rock bottom beliefs about government and economies?
I believe:
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Translation: Any power the government has will inevitably be abused at some point. Thus, the more limited the power of the government, the more limited its power to do harm. There must be a balance between its power to protect the citizens and its power to control the citizens. Part of the way to achieve that balance is by having as few things as possible controlled by the central government, and as many things as possible controlled by each local community. The local government is closely watched and controlled by the people it is overseeing. It is much harder for the local government to abuse its power than it is for the federal government. And, when it does abuse its power, it will affect far fewer people and is much easier to stop.
The opposite, socialism/statism, where everything is controlled by the central government, has always resulted in multiple disasters affecting millions of people and a general ongoing degredation of the population's standard of living. Even the most cursory knowledge of history proves that point. The current world economic crisis is mostly the result of too much centralized power (which means less accountability and far more abuse). Our sub-prime mortgage mess here in the US is largely due to too much regulation and yet because people are scared and reality hurts there are actually calls for MORE regulation! Sorry, but I grew up in a third-world country and I hate watching my beloved America turn into a third-world country. I remember when my childhood country elected a man they knew perfectly well wanted to be dictator. Our friends said quite honestly that they knew it was stupid to elect someone who would take away most of their rights, but they told us that they needed a dictator to make sure things got done. This is a country that has a hard time developing businesses for reasons like the following example:
Say you start an auto mechanics store. You hire a couple of mechanics and buy some of the necessary parts and put out your shingle. One day when you come back from your lunch break, none of your employees are there, and most of your parts and supplies are gone - headed for the black market. You still have a little bit of money left, so now you hire your nephew and buy some new parts. You hang around the shop as much as possible to make sure he doesn't steal from you, but at least he's not as likely to try because he's related to you. You make a decent living now, but you can never feel at ease going on vacation because who knows what might happen if you are not there personally? And of course it would be quite difficult to start another branch of your store because it is so hard to find employees who won't steal and who will actually show up every day.
This is no joke. I lived there and that is what it is like. In order to pay phone and electric bills every month everybody goes to the offices and pays them in person - you can't send checks through the mail because they usually won't get there. That takes a lot of your time every month, especially if you don't have a car. I loved that country, but even as a child with no responsibilities I could see the effects of all the issues due to people not being trustworthy. If the post office had too many letters they would take some out back and burn them. Hmm...
If you talk to policemen or whatever they will loudly complain about all the corruption in the government and how it really needs to be cleaned up and people need to stop accepting bribes. But it was always "other people" who needed to change first. If you asked them, they would tell you that a man has to make a living so they would accept a bribe even if it was wrong, because, after all everyone else was doing it.
A third-world country is that way primarily because the "lowest common denominator," if you want to call it that, of morality, is too low. The less you can trust people, the poorer the country will get, inevitably. We did know some amazing and incredibly honest people in my childhood country, but they were not the norm. America used to have a lot of people with strong characters. Whatever your theory of why, everybody seems to agree nowadays that there are increasing problems with cheating and crime and and more and more hurting people. I see more and more resemblances to the country I grew up in and it scares me. The bad thing is a lot of the socialist, big brother government-type policies have encouraged less and less personal responsibility and more and more laziness. It seems like we're such a busy country, and we're so used to our comforts, that I wonder how much of the famous American backbone is left. Are we like the Romans now, "give us bread and circuses and we'll be happy" or are there enough of us like our forebears who hated the tax on imported fabrics and so began wearing buckskin to make a point to England? I think Americans want to be a strong, kind, and trustworthy people, but we are so busy and distracted that we don't have time to think about things like that much any more.
We've already lost a lot of our freedoms. Both of the presidential candidates and most of the congressional candidates would like to make a bunch more restrictions on those freedoms. Will we wake up? I don't know, but I really hope and pray that this financial crisis will wake people to the dangers of giving too many powers to the government and inspire more of us to take initiative ourselves. Thus, my continued efforts to learn to grow different kinds of food and my resolve to vote (even if I can't stand what's on the ballot) and do my best to push for fewer laws and more freedoms in this country. I also keep noticing how hard it is to find time for people and even just thinking. Have you noticed the same problem? It's really hard! But, it is essential if I want to experience my life rather than zoom through my life doing five things at once. I keep trying to decide what is vital and what isn't. This type of recreation, or that type? Do I need to do this first, or that first?
A final thought:
Issues such as healthcare and education are prime examples of capitalist versus socialist methods and what works to create the kind of healthy, efficient, working system we all want.
Sorry for the LONG post. I suggest reading Instapundit's blog every day for a month if you want a quick and extremely comprehensive education as to the state of the nation and all sorts of opposing views on issues. It's a great place to clarify one's thoughts and beliefs. Anyway, tomorrow I plan a much more cheerful and easy to digest post. Thanks for reading this far!
L
The incredible amount of debt that most of the world's countries are in is also very bad for economic health. There are so many things that have contributed to this problem and I am surprised the system has done as well as it has for as long as it has. I have a few basic beliefs about politics that rule my opinions/who I vote for/what I want to see happen. What are your basic, rock bottom beliefs about government and economies?
I believe:
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Translation: Any power the government has will inevitably be abused at some point. Thus, the more limited the power of the government, the more limited its power to do harm. There must be a balance between its power to protect the citizens and its power to control the citizens. Part of the way to achieve that balance is by having as few things as possible controlled by the central government, and as many things as possible controlled by each local community. The local government is closely watched and controlled by the people it is overseeing. It is much harder for the local government to abuse its power than it is for the federal government. And, when it does abuse its power, it will affect far fewer people and is much easier to stop.
The opposite, socialism/statism, where everything is controlled by the central government, has always resulted in multiple disasters affecting millions of people and a general ongoing degredation of the population's standard of living. Even the most cursory knowledge of history proves that point. The current world economic crisis is mostly the result of too much centralized power (which means less accountability and far more abuse). Our sub-prime mortgage mess here in the US is largely due to too much regulation and yet because people are scared and reality hurts there are actually calls for MORE regulation! Sorry, but I grew up in a third-world country and I hate watching my beloved America turn into a third-world country. I remember when my childhood country elected a man they knew perfectly well wanted to be dictator. Our friends said quite honestly that they knew it was stupid to elect someone who would take away most of their rights, but they told us that they needed a dictator to make sure things got done. This is a country that has a hard time developing businesses for reasons like the following example:
Say you start an auto mechanics store. You hire a couple of mechanics and buy some of the necessary parts and put out your shingle. One day when you come back from your lunch break, none of your employees are there, and most of your parts and supplies are gone - headed for the black market. You still have a little bit of money left, so now you hire your nephew and buy some new parts. You hang around the shop as much as possible to make sure he doesn't steal from you, but at least he's not as likely to try because he's related to you. You make a decent living now, but you can never feel at ease going on vacation because who knows what might happen if you are not there personally? And of course it would be quite difficult to start another branch of your store because it is so hard to find employees who won't steal and who will actually show up every day.
This is no joke. I lived there and that is what it is like. In order to pay phone and electric bills every month everybody goes to the offices and pays them in person - you can't send checks through the mail because they usually won't get there. That takes a lot of your time every month, especially if you don't have a car. I loved that country, but even as a child with no responsibilities I could see the effects of all the issues due to people not being trustworthy. If the post office had too many letters they would take some out back and burn them. Hmm...
If you talk to policemen or whatever they will loudly complain about all the corruption in the government and how it really needs to be cleaned up and people need to stop accepting bribes. But it was always "other people" who needed to change first. If you asked them, they would tell you that a man has to make a living so they would accept a bribe even if it was wrong, because, after all everyone else was doing it.
A third-world country is that way primarily because the "lowest common denominator," if you want to call it that, of morality, is too low. The less you can trust people, the poorer the country will get, inevitably. We did know some amazing and incredibly honest people in my childhood country, but they were not the norm. America used to have a lot of people with strong characters. Whatever your theory of why, everybody seems to agree nowadays that there are increasing problems with cheating and crime and and more and more hurting people. I see more and more resemblances to the country I grew up in and it scares me. The bad thing is a lot of the socialist, big brother government-type policies have encouraged less and less personal responsibility and more and more laziness. It seems like we're such a busy country, and we're so used to our comforts, that I wonder how much of the famous American backbone is left. Are we like the Romans now, "give us bread and circuses and we'll be happy" or are there enough of us like our forebears who hated the tax on imported fabrics and so began wearing buckskin to make a point to England? I think Americans want to be a strong, kind, and trustworthy people, but we are so busy and distracted that we don't have time to think about things like that much any more.
We've already lost a lot of our freedoms. Both of the presidential candidates and most of the congressional candidates would like to make a bunch more restrictions on those freedoms. Will we wake up? I don't know, but I really hope and pray that this financial crisis will wake people to the dangers of giving too many powers to the government and inspire more of us to take initiative ourselves. Thus, my continued efforts to learn to grow different kinds of food and my resolve to vote (even if I can't stand what's on the ballot) and do my best to push for fewer laws and more freedoms in this country. I also keep noticing how hard it is to find time for people and even just thinking. Have you noticed the same problem? It's really hard! But, it is essential if I want to experience my life rather than zoom through my life doing five things at once. I keep trying to decide what is vital and what isn't. This type of recreation, or that type? Do I need to do this first, or that first?
A final thought:
Issues such as healthcare and education are prime examples of capitalist versus socialist methods and what works to create the kind of healthy, efficient, working system we all want.
Sorry for the LONG post. I suggest reading Instapundit's blog every day for a month if you want a quick and extremely comprehensive education as to the state of the nation and all sorts of opposing views on issues. It's a great place to clarify one's thoughts and beliefs. Anyway, tomorrow I plan a much more cheerful and easy to digest post. Thanks for reading this far!
L
Friday, September 26, 2008
Is your horse a rock star?
This is so cool! I just read this article last night and took the test for both Mira and Andolu. I loved their results:
Mira -
The Goddess is loved by most of the other horses and most people. They are expressive and sensitive and emotional. You will know how they feel. They try very hard to please and will worry and be anxious if you are not happy with them. In the negative they can have scattered energy that is hard to get focused. This personality can be loved on as much as you want.
"This totally describes her. The longer I have her the more I love her because she is fearless about experiences but at the same time super sensitive to me. This is only bad when I'm sick and she gets sick too."
Anatolian -
The Rock Stars are confident and charismatic. They are expressive and strong-minded. They love to show you what they know but are hard to get to focus on the small details of the task. They are found in many competitive arenas, usually at the top of their field.
"I love that it says they are usually at the top of their field (tee hee). I hope he will live up to that that if and when I can ever start riding again! I do know that every time I do anything like work with him he eats it up. He really, really loves work - especially if he can get people laughing.
If you take this test for your horse, please let me know the results! I thought it was very cool.
L
Mira -
The Goddess is loved by most of the other horses and most people. They are expressive and sensitive and emotional. You will know how they feel. They try very hard to please and will worry and be anxious if you are not happy with them. In the negative they can have scattered energy that is hard to get focused. This personality can be loved on as much as you want.
"This totally describes her. The longer I have her the more I love her because she is fearless about experiences but at the same time super sensitive to me. This is only bad when I'm sick and she gets sick too."
Anatolian -
The Rock Stars are confident and charismatic. They are expressive and strong-minded. They love to show you what they know but are hard to get to focus on the small details of the task. They are found in many competitive arenas, usually at the top of their field.
"I love that it says they are usually at the top of their field (tee hee). I hope he will live up to that that if and when I can ever start riding again! I do know that every time I do anything like work with him he eats it up. He really, really loves work - especially if he can get people laughing.
If you take this test for your horse, please let me know the results! I thought it was very cool.
L
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Arte y Pico Award!
Thanks to OnTheBit for giving me this award! The original blog, linked here per the rules, explains that the title means something similar to "summit of art" or "high art," (my interpretation of what they said). My pictures are all snapshot quality, so I will consider myself flattered. :-)
I had fun deciding who to pass this award on to, and I revisited some blogs I have not been keeping up with lately. So, the winners are:
- Prophotobylori - She is actually a professional photographer, and her pictures are always excellent.
- Equus Ink - Lots of videos of her horses, one a TB and one an old Arab mare (like mine).
- Freelance Instructor - Another blog I need to catch up on and stay caught up on. She is a riding instructor over in the UK, and has all sorts of cool info and pics and videos on her site. Pretty cool.
- Mikey - Lots of cool pictures of her houses and her ranch. I also couldn't resist giving an award just because of the recent story...
- Saving Argus - Photos that capture Argus's amazing, really amazing, journey to health and happiness.
Don’t Forget to Pass on the Rules with the Award:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the ward itself.
4) Award-winning and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.
Have fun visiting those blogs and enjoy!
L
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Never Forget
Again on this day our country remembers the heroes who showed such courage on that day in the towers, the planes, and the streets.We remember all the people who never got to say goodbye.
We will always remember.
L
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Six horsey things I am proud of
A couple weeks ago I was tagged by Onthebit for this meme. It struck me as ironic, since this whole year has been very difficult for me and I have had such a hard time juggling all the different aspects of my life. I am an ISTJ through and through and to go for months feeling like I really cannot quite keep up with everything has been very hard for me. I have been at a really low ebb in my confidence. I know everyone has times where they feel like they just can’t get it together and, well, this has been one of those times for me. It goes against the grain and was a bit difficult for me to think of six horsey things I was proud of, but here goes.
Six horsey things I am proud of:
- My horses both like and obey me. I am always so glad to see their happy faces when I’m around, and the way Mira follows me when I’m doing chores or whatever. I am also proud that I do always follow through to make sure they do what I ask.
- I am proud that Mira has such great manners now. When I got her two years ago, she was antsy and tended to run into people leading her. She was well trained as a youngster, but had forgotten a lot of it. Now, she never lets the rope go taut, and you can even lead her without a halter, just holding her lower lip gently. She is a complete lady.
- I am proud that Mira is healthy and a perfect weight and energetic at the age of 28, even despite most of her teeth being gone.
- I am proud that Andolu is so much happier now than when I met him. He was a little depressed and a little uptight. Now he is just fractious and high-spirited!
- I am proud that I have continued to remember my vow as a child to do my best to share the joy of horses with kids when I had my own horses. I do try to invite people over to play with them whenever possible.
- I am proud that I learned how to install an electric fence system! Don’t laugh, I am not an engineer type person and though electric fences are simple, I was still surprised I could figure it all out without help!
This was a fun meme and lifted my mood. Hmm, now I think I'll tag risingrainbow! With all she's come through and accomplished, she might have trouble sticking to six! And anyone else can feel free to consider themselves tagged. :-)
L
Friday, June 27, 2008
And the Award goes to...
Suvalley! She did an excellent job rehabbing a starved mare recently, a mare she does not own, and at her own expense. I appreciate Suvalley's outlook on animal welfare issues and how much knowledge she has to share. Not only does she work hard to make sure her own horses have great care, but she also tries to educate Alaskan horsepeople on proper care and help make good hay supplies available up there.
Here is one of the posts about the mare: http://suvalley.blogspot.com/2008/06/wingnutbelardi.html
L
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Catching up
First, an oops moment. I have excuses, such as working 60 to 70 hours a week most weeks for several months, but still... My blog reading and other fun online stuff has been quite patchy due to being overwhelmed. (Hopefully that gets better soon!) Anyway, I somehow managed to miss this award. Sorry OTB, I wasn't ignoring you, I was just out of it!
Even two months later your post made my day, so thanks! When I have a bit more time I will pass the award on. :-D
If I missed any other links from people, sorry!
Regarding the horses, they are both pretty frisky lately. A couple weeks ago I was able to measure Andolu's feet after his trim, and I went and got him some Simple Boots to use for riding! Then I started leading him and Mira up the road a little after dawn every morning. The dawn part is to avoid flies and heat. I just led them for a while, but now we are starting to have Sis get on Andolu for a short time. She is pretty light, so I figured that would be a good way to get him back in shape for riding again without all of a sudden putting 5' 7" me on him.
When leading them, it is pretty funny to observe the differences in their reactions. I had forgotten how Mira never looks tired going somewhere, unless it is somewhere she is totally used to. After a long jaunt she will look tired and walk slow as soon as you head for home, but anyplace new is just too exciting to think about being tired. She walks fast and her ears bob in rhythm :-D She is also the one who would love to escape and explore the neighborhood and look in everyone's windows and investigate their dogs and flowers, whereas Andolu would head straight for the hay and eat as long as he could, and then go to sleep.
Andolu is more energetic with his boots on, but walks with long slow strides. However, he does pretty regularly spook at noises in the bushes, (one spot is really wooded and there probably is a skunk or fox there); his spooks are just a jump and an attempt to trot away with his head high. And if I ask him to trot I have to be careful or he will try to gallop away with me. I cannot wait 'till I can find a good spot for galloping someday - it will be so fun! I might be crazy, but it's nice to see him acting more like a young OTTB. I like a horse with energy!
Sometime soon I'll try to get updated pictures of them both. They are kind of dusty right now and need baths, though, despite getting hosed off every day.
Oh, and we planted alfalfa. That'll have to wait for the next post, though!
L
Even two months later your post made my day, so thanks! When I have a bit more time I will pass the award on. :-D
If I missed any other links from people, sorry!
Regarding the horses, they are both pretty frisky lately. A couple weeks ago I was able to measure Andolu's feet after his trim, and I went and got him some Simple Boots to use for riding! Then I started leading him and Mira up the road a little after dawn every morning. The dawn part is to avoid flies and heat. I just led them for a while, but now we are starting to have Sis get on Andolu for a short time. She is pretty light, so I figured that would be a good way to get him back in shape for riding again without all of a sudden putting 5' 7" me on him.
When leading them, it is pretty funny to observe the differences in their reactions. I had forgotten how Mira never looks tired going somewhere, unless it is somewhere she is totally used to. After a long jaunt she will look tired and walk slow as soon as you head for home, but anyplace new is just too exciting to think about being tired. She walks fast and her ears bob in rhythm :-D She is also the one who would love to escape and explore the neighborhood and look in everyone's windows and investigate their dogs and flowers, whereas Andolu would head straight for the hay and eat as long as he could, and then go to sleep.
Andolu is more energetic with his boots on, but walks with long slow strides. However, he does pretty regularly spook at noises in the bushes, (one spot is really wooded and there probably is a skunk or fox there); his spooks are just a jump and an attempt to trot away with his head high. And if I ask him to trot I have to be careful or he will try to gallop away with me. I cannot wait 'till I can find a good spot for galloping someday - it will be so fun! I might be crazy, but it's nice to see him acting more like a young OTTB. I like a horse with energy!
Sometime soon I'll try to get updated pictures of them both. They are kind of dusty right now and need baths, though, despite getting hosed off every day.
Oh, and we planted alfalfa. That'll have to wait for the next post, though!
L
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Blogger at the Western States Horse Expo 2008: 3
I always love watching the Magnificent 7 competition. It's so much fun to watch these horses, the best of the best, doing 4 events in one night.
I have learned quite a bit by watching all these years and I know a lot more about how to tell different levels of quality in a sliding stop or a spin or flying lead change, etc.
One thing I have noticed lately is the different amounts of applause for different riders when they are introduced. The "new" riders always get less applause, which is logical. Bob Avila, who won twice in a row AND one year got 1st and 2nd place, is understandably very popular.
He, more than any of the other yearly contestants, is well known for consistently exhibiting high quality horses with high quality maneuvers. You can pretty much count on a certain high level of performance and professionalism. As usual, he did a great job that evening. However, Russell Dilday got a score of 147 in the last event of the night, the herd work. This event is where the horse chases the cow up and down a fenceline, demonstrating he can keep the cow there. Then, he takes the cow off the fence and runs it in circles and figure eights. It is a very exciting event! Russell was brilliant in it that night. One of the best performances I've ever seen - he was totally in charge of that cow, which was a fast one! Everyone in the stands was really excited and clapping more than at almost any other time that night. He was now within a point or two of the frontrunner, Bob Avila.
When Bob Avila came out a couple horses later, he did OK. There were a couple of bobbles and he was not totally in control of the cow, but it was decent. Then the score was announced - 147! That score meant that he won. I am not the only one who felt that it was unfair. For the first time at the Expo, there was booing from a large part of the crowd. So yes, Bob Avila made history by getting three Mag 7 wins in a row, but I'm sure he has mixed feelings about it, as it should not really have been his trophy this time. I am glad for him, as he is a good trainer, but I really hope Russell Dilday does great next year and wins!
The whole issue was a good example of some of the failings of human nature. Judges are human, and when they see someone time and again, especially someone who always does a good job, and usually a great job, they can start to expect great things from that person and, rather than examine them as closely as they would a stranger, just give them credit they might not deserve. It was disappointing. Hopefully that will not happen again.
On the good side, there were several improvements in the organization, such as the speed at which the arena was dragged between events. Rather than taking 10+ minutes, it only took a couple of minutes this year - phew!
And just look at these gorgeous horses! Drool...
Those horses are so amazing to watch. :-D
L
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A Blogger at the Western States Horse Expo 2008: 2
More Breed Demo photos:
Two of the horses are from the Arab Demo, and the buckskin one is a PMU horse.
I unfortunately do not seem to have any good pictures of the mounted shooting demo, but oh well. It was interesting to watch, and the shooters were very fast and accurate. It's not that hard to hit a balloon from 15 feet away with spreading powder, but it is hard from a galloping horse, doing it in a certain order.
One thing we did this year was collect more free samples than I usually do in the shopping areas. I got quite a lot of feed samples, and the horses have really been enjoying having something a little different.
I don't have time right now, but next time I'll do a post entirely about the Magnificent 7 competition. I have some thoughts to share about it... and some good pictures, too!
L
Two of the horses are from the Arab Demo, and the buckskin one is a PMU horse.
I unfortunately do not seem to have any good pictures of the mounted shooting demo, but oh well. It was interesting to watch, and the shooters were very fast and accurate. It's not that hard to hit a balloon from 15 feet away with spreading powder, but it is hard from a galloping horse, doing it in a certain order.
One thing we did this year was collect more free samples than I usually do in the shopping areas. I got quite a lot of feed samples, and the horses have really been enjoying having something a little different.
I don't have time right now, but next time I'll do a post entirely about the Magnificent 7 competition. I have some thoughts to share about it... and some good pictures, too!
L
Monday, June 2, 2008
News & Updates
Phew, what a busy week!
First, an update on the toddler. I have been anxious to try out all the good ideas you gave me, but due to the death of one of their family friends and various other things, they have been too busy to come over the last couple of weeks. I will let you guys know what happens next time they are able to make it!
I did write to the local newspaper regarding racing and my idea, and hopefully they will publish my letter this weekend. I am almost done with my letter to the Jacksons and Eight Belles's owners, too. Just trying to get it "just so" before I send it off. There were some good comments in the previous post on that issue. I encourage you to read them!
Something else that happened in the last few days was I decided that this fall I intend to get bees! I have thought about it off and on for a few years. My grandfather used to keep bees years ago, and so he has a lot of knowledge about it and would be a big help. Bees do take a lot of checking (not a lot of time, but a lot of daily attention) and that intimidated me in previous years, when my job situation was always fluctuating and I couldn't predict things more than a few months ahead.
But now I finally got tired of reading about the bee die-off crisis. I have been trying to ignore it, because I am trying not to get too worried about all the bad things happening that I can't help. The bee problem is serious - over 1/3 of our food is only there because of bees - and in some places 80% of the bees have died. Nobody is sure exactly what is causing it, but it is a very new and unique problem. Not only are bees dying, but sometimes they will up and abandon the hive and the queen and fly around aimlessly and then die. Nobody has ever, ever in centuries heard of bees doing that! I have read that when they dissect dead bees in the hard hit areas, they have found that the bees have every single disease known to bees - like bee HIV or something. Since bees have been around pesticides for decades and not had this dramatic of a thing happen, my personal and firm conviction is that the Genetically Modified plants are to blame. Genes are too complicated for humans to mess with like that! Anyway, I like my food, and prefer to be able to keep eating a lot of different things.
So, I decided to do something about the problem. Over the summer, I am going to find out how to establish a patch of alfalfa. That is not only good for horses, but it is one of the BEST bee fodders out there. I will also be planting other nectifarious plants... We were planning to get more chickens soon anyway, so probably what we will do is mark out a patch for the alfalfa, put a fence around it, and put all the horse manure there every day. The chickens will eat all the fly larvae and get plenty of protein and keep the fly population under control, and they will aid in decomposing the manure and loosening the soil. In the fall it should be a nice, rich patch of earth ready to plant. Then we can move the chickens to another spot. We might put one of the dogs up there next to the patch to keep deer away... I'm not sure what is the best season to get bees, but I'll find out. I'm really looking forward to this project! I've discovered the only way to get rid of the rather frantic feelings I tend to get after hearing/seeing any world news is to do something, and it's amazing how well it works! We don't use any pesticides/herbicides at all on our property (even the fly spray, when I use it, is organic) and I have a great idea about the neighbors. I think after I've had the bees a little while, I will invite the neighborhood to a party and serve honey-themed dishes and have little tidbits about bees and what they do for us and what chemicals do to them, and alternatives to chemical use. Not in a preachy way, just little pictures and clippings on the table.
Well, so long for tonight!
L
First, an update on the toddler. I have been anxious to try out all the good ideas you gave me, but due to the death of one of their family friends and various other things, they have been too busy to come over the last couple of weeks. I will let you guys know what happens next time they are able to make it!
I did write to the local newspaper regarding racing and my idea, and hopefully they will publish my letter this weekend. I am almost done with my letter to the Jacksons and Eight Belles's owners, too. Just trying to get it "just so" before I send it off. There were some good comments in the previous post on that issue. I encourage you to read them!
Something else that happened in the last few days was I decided that this fall I intend to get bees! I have thought about it off and on for a few years. My grandfather used to keep bees years ago, and so he has a lot of knowledge about it and would be a big help. Bees do take a lot of checking (not a lot of time, but a lot of daily attention) and that intimidated me in previous years, when my job situation was always fluctuating and I couldn't predict things more than a few months ahead.
But now I finally got tired of reading about the bee die-off crisis. I have been trying to ignore it, because I am trying not to get too worried about all the bad things happening that I can't help. The bee problem is serious - over 1/3 of our food is only there because of bees - and in some places 80% of the bees have died. Nobody is sure exactly what is causing it, but it is a very new and unique problem. Not only are bees dying, but sometimes they will up and abandon the hive and the queen and fly around aimlessly and then die. Nobody has ever, ever in centuries heard of bees doing that! I have read that when they dissect dead bees in the hard hit areas, they have found that the bees have every single disease known to bees - like bee HIV or something. Since bees have been around pesticides for decades and not had this dramatic of a thing happen, my personal and firm conviction is that the Genetically Modified plants are to blame. Genes are too complicated for humans to mess with like that! Anyway, I like my food, and prefer to be able to keep eating a lot of different things.
So, I decided to do something about the problem. Over the summer, I am going to find out how to establish a patch of alfalfa. That is not only good for horses, but it is one of the BEST bee fodders out there. I will also be planting other nectifarious plants... We were planning to get more chickens soon anyway, so probably what we will do is mark out a patch for the alfalfa, put a fence around it, and put all the horse manure there every day. The chickens will eat all the fly larvae and get plenty of protein and keep the fly population under control, and they will aid in decomposing the manure and loosening the soil. In the fall it should be a nice, rich patch of earth ready to plant. Then we can move the chickens to another spot. We might put one of the dogs up there next to the patch to keep deer away... I'm not sure what is the best season to get bees, but I'll find out. I'm really looking forward to this project! I've discovered the only way to get rid of the rather frantic feelings I tend to get after hearing/seeing any world news is to do something, and it's amazing how well it works! We don't use any pesticides/herbicides at all on our property (even the fly spray, when I use it, is organic) and I have a great idea about the neighbors. I think after I've had the bees a little while, I will invite the neighborhood to a party and serve honey-themed dishes and have little tidbits about bees and what they do for us and what chemicals do to them, and alternatives to chemical use. Not in a preachy way, just little pictures and clippings on the table.
Well, so long for tonight!
L
Friday, May 23, 2008
I got tagged!
By DJ at BlogNPonyShow...
Anyone who wants to can consider themself tagged :-D
1. What was I doing ten years ago? Still in school, and thinking/dreaming a LOT about what I wanted to do when I grew up.
2. Five things on my to-do list: Vacuum, get hay, write some people, clean a saddle, organize magazines...
3. What is a snack you enjoy? Anything chocolate, shrimp (not really a snack, but I was just craving some), banana with peanut butter.
4. What would you do if you were a billionaire? Personal: Buy a bigger piece of land than I would otherwise afford in my goal state, build the same things on it that I want to, but a lot quicker, start getting some really, really, really good Paints, and have fun! Hey, I would also be able to afford personal lessons with any trainer I wanted to.... I would not want to ever get more horses/belongings than I could take care of myself. Charity: I would love to get one of each selection in the Heifer and World Vision catalogues, and give a lot to Gospel for Asia, Lifewind, and sponsorship organizations like Compassion. Horse charity: I would definitely establish a few of the type of races in my post listed below, and found competitions in the reining, cutting, western pleasure, dressage, and other disciplines which would be for mature (not shown before that year) horses, which would have BIG prizes. I would also set up a section on my farm to give old 25+ horses a wonderful last few years of life together in a herd environment, and get a new oldie for my birthday every year. Doing random acts of kindness to strangers would also be very cool. It would be fun being rich!
5. Do you have any bad habits? Who doesn't? I try to conquer procrastinating...
Consider yourself tagged if you want to!
L
Anyone who wants to can consider themself tagged :-D
1. What was I doing ten years ago? Still in school, and thinking/dreaming a LOT about what I wanted to do when I grew up.
2. Five things on my to-do list: Vacuum, get hay, write some people, clean a saddle, organize magazines...
3. What is a snack you enjoy? Anything chocolate, shrimp (not really a snack, but I was just craving some), banana with peanut butter.
4. What would you do if you were a billionaire? Personal: Buy a bigger piece of land than I would otherwise afford in my goal state, build the same things on it that I want to, but a lot quicker, start getting some really, really, really good Paints, and have fun! Hey, I would also be able to afford personal lessons with any trainer I wanted to.... I would not want to ever get more horses/belongings than I could take care of myself. Charity: I would love to get one of each selection in the Heifer and World Vision catalogues, and give a lot to Gospel for Asia, Lifewind, and sponsorship organizations like Compassion. Horse charity: I would definitely establish a few of the type of races in my post listed below, and found competitions in the reining, cutting, western pleasure, dressage, and other disciplines which would be for mature (not shown before that year) horses, which would have BIG prizes. I would also set up a section on my farm to give old 25+ horses a wonderful last few years of life together in a herd environment, and get a new oldie for my birthday every year. Doing random acts of kindness to strangers would also be very cool. It would be fun being rich!
5. Do you have any bad habits? Who doesn't? I try to conquer procrastinating...
Consider yourself tagged if you want to!
L
Friday, April 11, 2008
A couple good websites
Here is a new website I found this week. I really like it and recommend it to anyone interested in sustainability/simple living.
Deliberate Agrarian
The tempi Jambette at the canter? I had never heard of that before. I wonder how they train that...
Anyway, I don't have to work tomorrow until afternoon, so here's hoping I can get some new pictures of the horses, and finish the update series on the grazing. And yes, to answer a question, I definitely plan on repeating/expanding the MiG experiments next year. I am spreading manure now on various areas that need help with humus, and I cannot wait until fall when the rains come again. At least our pond is full! I hate starting the summer without it filled up.
The horses are doing quite well. The other day I was washing and rebraiding Andolu's tail while he ate hay in the round pen, and Mira was watching from outside in a semi-bored manner. At first I didn't notice, but then I realized that every time I moved around him, she would walk around to where she could see what I was doing. They crack me up how interested they both are in everything!
L
Deliberate Agrarian
The tempi Jambette at the canter? I had never heard of that before. I wonder how they train that...
Anyway, I don't have to work tomorrow until afternoon, so here's hoping I can get some new pictures of the horses, and finish the update series on the grazing. And yes, to answer a question, I definitely plan on repeating/expanding the MiG experiments next year. I am spreading manure now on various areas that need help with humus, and I cannot wait until fall when the rains come again. At least our pond is full! I hate starting the summer without it filled up.
The horses are doing quite well. The other day I was washing and rebraiding Andolu's tail while he ate hay in the round pen, and Mira was watching from outside in a semi-bored manner. At first I didn't notice, but then I realized that every time I moved around him, she would walk around to where she could see what I was doing. They crack me up how interested they both are in everything!
L
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
In general...
It's funny, the work today was rather grueling, to say the least, with a doctor who had a cold and couldn't seem to think straight because of it, and another who kept saying really weird things that I thought MIGHT be headings, and then throwing in random "sub-bullets," so that editing the reports took me forever. But, as soon as I finished up, I started feeling totally bouncy. I guess the relief of having finished gave me a rush. :-D
Anyway, the horses are both well. I just had a good conversation with the vet, updating him on Mira's progress. He was very, very glad to hear how well she is doing. After I finish these tubes of antibiotic ointment, then we won't treat her any more, and just keep watching it. I'm hoping, hoping....
Andolu is doing well. Now that I have more time, I am working on an issue he has. When I got him, I was pretty sure he had either fungus or thrush (or both) in all 4 feet, and RIGHT BEFORE Mira had her oh so fun incident, I had gotten the necessary medication. That unfortunately fell by the wayside until a couple days ago, when I dug it up and refreshed my memory on the treatment protocol. I can't wait until this problem is taken care of, because he has some heel pain that is quite obviously due to the infection(s), and his heels are not growing very much at all, either. The toes grow and the trimmer takes care of those, but the trimmer basically doesn't even have enough to work with on the back. In case you are interested, here are a couple links on this type of issue:
Look in More Topics
Case study
Also, on a different subject, I don't think I have yet posted about this blog: Saving Argus is an absolutely heartwarming story of a rescued horse. Very, very highly recommended. Just get some kleenex first.
I took a little time the other to change the horse paddock a bit, in the process giving the horses a few hundred feet of new green grass - it was of course all gone by the next morning! My next project with them is to start rotation grazing the rest of the property. Those of you who remember a certain episode from last year might share my relief that Mira has a companion this year, and will thus hopefully not have nearly as much angst about different pastures...
I am focussing a little more lately on training the horses to come when I whistle, and it is working amazingly well. Andolu really does pay much better attention to voice cues than Mira, and once he starts over she does too. I can now stand across the road, where they know there is no food, and whistle and they'll come over to the fence. Very cool! For now though, I make sure food always follows, because I want to really imprint it in their brains that coming=food.
OK, I know I'm too talkative. Thanks for reading this, and TTFN.
L
Anyway, the horses are both well. I just had a good conversation with the vet, updating him on Mira's progress. He was very, very glad to hear how well she is doing. After I finish these tubes of antibiotic ointment, then we won't treat her any more, and just keep watching it. I'm hoping, hoping....
Andolu is doing well. Now that I have more time, I am working on an issue he has. When I got him, I was pretty sure he had either fungus or thrush (or both) in all 4 feet, and RIGHT BEFORE Mira had her oh so fun incident, I had gotten the necessary medication. That unfortunately fell by the wayside until a couple days ago, when I dug it up and refreshed my memory on the treatment protocol. I can't wait until this problem is taken care of, because he has some heel pain that is quite obviously due to the infection(s), and his heels are not growing very much at all, either. The toes grow and the trimmer takes care of those, but the trimmer basically doesn't even have enough to work with on the back. In case you are interested, here are a couple links on this type of issue:
Look in More Topics
Case study
Also, on a different subject, I don't think I have yet posted about this blog: Saving Argus is an absolutely heartwarming story of a rescued horse. Very, very highly recommended. Just get some kleenex first.
I took a little time the other to change the horse paddock a bit, in the process giving the horses a few hundred feet of new green grass - it was of course all gone by the next morning! My next project with them is to start rotation grazing the rest of the property. Those of you who remember a certain episode from last year might share my relief that Mira has a companion this year, and will thus hopefully not have nearly as much angst about different pastures...
I am focussing a little more lately on training the horses to come when I whistle, and it is working amazingly well. Andolu really does pay much better attention to voice cues than Mira, and once he starts over she does too. I can now stand across the road, where they know there is no food, and whistle and they'll come over to the fence. Very cool! For now though, I make sure food always follows, because I want to really imprint it in their brains that coming=food.
OK, I know I'm too talkative. Thanks for reading this, and TTFN.
L
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