The Ramblings of an Artistic Equestrian

I should have posted this on the 20th, apologies. Update coming soon. In short surgery went well.



This is what happens when you don't listen to your own advice.

I had stopped wearing my leg case working with more questionable horses a couple months ago because I had felt the lines think about getting hung up on it.

Well, wouldn't you know working one of mine I got tripped up by the lines, jerked off my feet, and landed badly.

As I tell my students, it's not what would happen, it’s what could happen, and if you treat the situation as if something could go wrong you're much better off.

I hit the urgent care yesterday, they place they referred me to was out of network. Found one in network and got an appointment this morning. Bad news is surgery with a plate and screws, good news is the plates with screws gets me stabilized fater and I"m not locked in a cast for six weeks.

Had a minor heart attack when the out of network place called to set up the appointment as I was waiting for the set-up call for the surgery. I was confused for a moment and set up an appointment with them Monday. The surgery scheduler called me a few minutes later and I realized what was happening and canceled the Monday appointment.

The bad news is I have to be in Phoenix by 8am, but the good news is I should be heading home by 12.30pm.

My clinic in Utah is still on, they want my brain, not my body, ha!

In other news the Patreon for my Easy in the Harness podcast paid out for the first time and it got me an annual Kinemaster subscription so I can edit video on my phone at a higher level than I can on the computer. The best feature is the autocaptions so I can include subtitles on all the videos going forward. I still have to double-check it, but it is way faster than me scrolling through and replaying over and over again to recapture the text by hand (this is where AI programs are gold!).

I guess part of my downtime will be spent working my videos for the driving training course.

Current thing I'm working on. I got the sketch finished before I busted myself and am working on the coloring with my off hand.

Snagged the idea from clevortrevor. I think this covers everything? More than I thought.

Pre-college:
1 - Babysitter
2 - Lawn care with my brother(s) and dad
3 - Summer office work at a mechanic shop
4 - Data entry for my mom's bookkeeping business that included severak mechanic shops and a used VW/Audi dealer
5 - Jamba Juice (my first had-to-apply for job at 16)
6 - Kwik Ship, was going to be seasonal, but ended up sticking around another three months, sales and packing.
7 - Another shipping place that I did seasonally for two Christmases
8 - Grooming, exercising, and stall work for Judy who owned six horses. Still don't know why she chose me, but I (lovingly) blame her for where I am now.

During college:
8 - Worked for Judy through my AAS degree
9 - Freelance art, technically did a little in High School, but more in college for sure.
10 - Riding Instructor, started after I got my AAS

Right after college:
10 - Continued riding instructor, but got certified through ARIA
11 - Summer art lessons
12 - Managing website for a Fjord breeder/trainer

Later to now
13 - Teacher for a private school, art and horsemanship
14 - Logo design and more commissioned artwork for various clients
15 - learned to drive horses and also train people and horses to drive
16 - Barefoot horse trimmer, can't really say farrier because I don't work in iron, just trim and balance feet.

I finished "Pride and Prejudice" the last couple days. I liked it much better than "Sense and Sensibility." Things feel like they actually happened and there was much more character development going on. I looked up the dates and "Pride and Prejudice" was published two years later. Even as I listened to it, it did feel like a more mature book in the writing style.

There were better descriptions for the settings, still not fully realized and you can tell the people and their actions were more important than the places, but there was a slightly better sense of place.

There were several parts that were quite amusing listening (audio book) to the characters interacting and reading between the lines of their actions and words as the scene unfolded. That's good writing and characterization.

Next up is "Mansfield Park." I have 53 hours left of the 86 hour audiobook collection. I'm actually pretty surprised I managed to finish this last book during my week off.

Sunday it rained pretty much all day and totaled just shy of a full inch. The horses are, once again, filthy bog ponies. I ended up cancelling the two lessons I had scheduled for this afternoon. A combination of everything still being muddy and me not really wanting to ...

We took down some of the Christmas stuff. The tree and outside lights are still up, but we'll be waiting for it to be less muddy to pull down the outside lights.

This last week I updated all of the documents and printed fresh copy for Forged by Fire. I gave Fire Forged Key its own notebook. I don't have enough room in the Lemy'es one anymore for it since it is over 225 pages and DotF is over 100 itself.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind. I love my job, but I could use more time to decompress and chill and enjoy my family and herd.

I did my first "free-standing" art class today.

We're starting with value scales and will do the color wheel next week. They all got a sketchbook to work in and set up three rows so they could use three different techniques to produce value.

I made my own example as they worked to demonstrate how to set it up as well as the technique for the different ways to depict value.



All three kids said they had a great time and the parents were also excited with what they saw.

I've done set art courses in the past with a definite start and end time so this is a new venture having an open ended one. I may promote for some more students in another month or so, we'll see!

I have an art class starting next week. I had two people ask and managed to get them on the same day. It's going to be open ended so we'll see how long it lasts and if I garner some more interest.

New ventures!

That said I am seriously running out of places to put people. I'm pretty much out of options for new private lessons and I'm looking at the list of people I need to contact for the fall and I'm not sure where I can offer them to go.

Now to go into meiser mode and pay down debt like mad.

Note to self: stop buying books.

Other note to self: Don't buy art supplies unless you're actually running out.

Final note to self: You probably shouldn't buy any new tack either ... except maybe Draego his own riding bridle.

Monday I put Paris in the false shafts and we cruised the neighborhood. She had one vauge bucky thought when I corrected her for arguing about going into someone's driveway, but otherwise did really well. We trotted a distance and came back nicely, had dogs bark at us and a couple cars pass. When we got back to the property I was getting ready to pull out my keys to unlock it (we had hitched at the house) I noticed a car coming and sure enough it ran the stop sign. This is a pet peeve of mine and I lashed the whip at the car, well, Paris thought it was for her and her reaction caught me off guard. I was able to hold her against the fence for a few yards, but that corner is full of bufflegrass and a couple of sapling mesquite trees, which makes navigating difficult when you're not trying to contain a horse who thinks you're about to beat her to death with the whip. I lost my feet and lost her. Jumped up and start running after her and, thankfully, a man in a pick-up paused and let me hop into his truck to go after her. She went down to Happy and turned right, the opposite way we had headed this morning. We got about where I thought we needed to be once, jumped off, got my hands on the lines, but since I was bending forward and over it wasn't a good position to pull her back and I was barely at the tail end of the 35' lines (they go by quick when a horse is cantering!). Jumped on the truck again and away we go! She alternated trotting and cantering, I almost had her at one point hanging off the side of the truck next to her, but my arms were too short to be able to grab the lines.

Second time I jumped off I was able to get my hands on the lines and was able to negotiate her to a stop with the help of a fence. She had a look of "O good, someone else is in charge!" when I got her stopped. I thanked my random sumaritan. He said he wished he could give me a ride back and I thanked him again. I can't say enough how much I appreciate what he did.

I do want to say that jumping on/off a moving vehicle is harder than it looks. I am also feeling all the muscles I used the last two days. I apparently hit the ground pretty hard because I ended up with a abrasion and bruising through my shirt (shirt was fine) on my right arm/elbow and a hand-sized bruise on my right hip. My delts and traps are pretty sore as well, but I'll survive. It was my own fault, but I'd like to also blame the idiot who ran the stop sign. I just need to remember that unless I'm in danger of being run over making angry gestures at people running stop signs is not as important as the horse I'm working. I just didn't think she would have that strong of a reaction to the whip, honestly.

The last two days we worked on desensitizing Paris to the whip noise. First I started at the stand still tied with her halter, that was ok. She was a lot more concerned with the closed bridle on and it took a while for her to settle. She really didn't like it while she was long lining, but she'll get over herself eventually. We repeated the same today just tied to the fence and she settled a lot quicker.

Her right fore seemed off Monday night and I dug a rock out of her lateral sulcus and that seemed to help. She was moving well yesterday except for on the rocks walking to and from, which is understandable. Today she looked off on her left fore, but after I cleaned her feet and threw the boots on she was moving fine. I wouldn't be surprised if she had bruising after her half mile jaunt Mondnay on a combination of asphalt and (aggressive, angular) gravel road. I'll ride her tonight during one of the lessons and see how it goes.

I got a check from the insurance for $750 less than the body shop quote. I need to call the body shop and ask how they'd like to proceede and maybe ask the Z's what they want to do. They can't get the truck in until early November anyway.

There's other stuff going on, but that was the Big Thing on my brain.

Tomorrrow I'm taking off to enjoy celebrating another successful year of life (i.e. I'm still alive!).

I'm working on sorting my schedule, which is stressful trying to get everyone in and trying not to overschedule myself. I think I have most everyone sorted. Mostly!

Bullet points becasue if I don't write anything I'll get overwhelmed with being behind.

*We hooked Draego for the first time Monday. We warmed him up long lining before hooking to the sled and doing a couple laps. Then we hooked him up to the forecart. He was wiggly as all get out when we were hooking up, which was quite obnoxious and a little nerve-wracking, but he was fine and he drove better than he stood!

*Yesterday Chris pulled Zeke out and long lined him by himself while I went off to work with another client. Made me happy, super proud that he got motivation to work one of his own horses.

*Friday I had lunch with Muss. We went to Thai Chili To-Go, which is a "quick food" Thai food place. Not bad. My favorite is Thai Food Corner, which used to be D's Thai Food. The best. We hung out for almost two hours and had a grand time, talking about everything from writing and projects to family and current happenings. It's been two years since we hung out like that and it felt awesome. We're going to try and do it somewhat monthly.

*I'm working on setting my winter schedule. It's obnoxious and I'm trying to figure out where to put everyone, especially since I still have interest from new clients. I have some new ones starting up next week.

*Paris the Fjord is back in for some training. Hana wants to see if she will drive again so here we go! We're doing some bartering, trading her Ahonen cart for almost half the value of the training. It'll give me something that is actually Kitt-sized and a littler lower to the ground and easier to get in and out of.

*FFK is 191 pages, once I hit 200 I'll throw it at Muss and Hana again. DotF is 85 pages now, which is surprising and exciting. HotF is only like 20, but it could stand a decent outlining to really get it filled out. Sparks might even have more pages than HotF. I'm still feeling super productive writing-wise.

*Got my template finished for maping markings on Klamon half forms and Klamon hybrids. I've started on Sray's.

*There's tons of other things going on, Carlyn made me a condolense cheese cake. It was delicous and I think I have gained five pounds eating it. Lisa gave me a book about mourning the loss of a horse and a horseshoe with Kash's name on it. Brittany dropped off a sweet card and a big bag of horse treats. Thursday was the last really bad day, but I'm sure there will be others.

I totally overdid it today. Ended up with heatcramps, which eas fun while working on the carts the last hour and riding my last horse.



A wheel on! I had to look up how to put the bearings on properly. They hadn't called me back so I left another message.



Two wheels!



Seat! I got the other seats on, but had trouble with some of the screws not wanting to go all the way through so I might have to back them out and do a guide hole with a drill bit. It was obnoxious and I started cramping up and called it a day after I got the other two seats on.



Vertig!

I also noticed some muscle tremors and I know I really pushed it. There was some cloud cover at the end, which was much nicer. Mindi and Jacob helped me load the cart and I wasn't as useful as I know I could have been, but we got it in and Chris helped me unload it.

Chris suggested just bringing the other carts to the house with the horse trailer tomorrow so I can work under shade and with a fan more at my leisure.

The grand plan was throw the carts together and just walk them down to their destination, but this is taking too long and I don't want to overstay my welcome at the C's house with cart parts everywhere.

Next time I'm going to just load the pallet on the truck and take it home to break down and build.

Today I worked:
Ardberg the Shire colt
Zeke with student on Tru-D
I rode Zeke again during the secobd lesson Tru-D and Chewy for the students
Napoleon was next, false shafts
Kiirin for halter training
Johnny in-hand walked about two miles or so at a pretty good clip
Then I spent like three or four hours putting carts together.

I wasn't hungry, but ate some sausage and butternut squash for lunch at like 4pm, laid down for a bit, played taps flat on my back because it amused me and I was helping Tristan with the trumpet while taking a breather.

I finished out riding April with Heidi, Jason, and Sarah. I seriously considered canceling, and I probably should have because my left hand cramped up pretty good and my legs also got a bit crampy, especially if I had to actually squeeze. I'm glad I had the whip. I had a cramp on the front of my shin, which was a new experience.

So hopefully I have rehydrated and enjoyed my sweet potato curry and half a banana and a bunch of cashews.

Tomorrow should be less taxing, I hope.

I can't belive I didn't have a tag for Johnny

My client carts came in Friday. Jason unloaded them and I intended to put them together today. I figured I would need to put the shafts and wheels on.

. . .

Nope!



The pallet.



Outer packing removed.



Chaos!



Nothing is labeled either. Nothing. I have three different sized carts here.

I dreamed about trying to put them together last night.

That said I have two sticking points, the torsion axel assembly and the order the ball bearings and bushing go in the wheel. Given that I don't think I'm too up the creek without a paddle. I left a message with the shop asking for just a touch of guidance. I'll go back today after working horses to see what I can accomplish.

Chris, ever the optimist, says I'll be at it for weeks. Psh! Naw. I would have gotten the seats together yesterday had a realized I needed a drill. I have the axel on one cart, some of the shafts together. The hole pattern for the riser on Sue's cart doesn't quite match up so I'm waiting to hear if they tell me to just use the wratchet and cinch the sucker down. The u-bolts on the one axle also didn't quite match and I ended up hammering them on and it worked fine so I suspect a little more man-handling will be expected.

I also had a weird dream last night, watching some movie that seemed to be from the late 80's early 90's. It had a bunch of supposedly famous people in it, name titles and an enthusiastic announcer included. The movie was split between live action and drawn animation. It was completely disjointed and made no sense. Chris commented in the dream it was "too British."

Had a dream last night. Pretty sure it was a stress dream. I wss driving a car through the desert. It was dark and the headlights barely worked. There were hills and brush and mesquite trees. The steering was incredibly sloppy and the brake pedal went to the floor, barely doing anything. I caught glimpsed of black-footed ferrets, which was cool, but I obviously couldn't enjoy iteith the state of the vehicle I was trying to maneuver.

I've been working on my summer schedule and trying to get everyone locked in, working in the order of who was where first and trying to make it as efficient as possible. I had a couple students take off for the summer already and a few others note this would be their last book of four lessons, but I had five new ones start this weeks so....!

Pretty sure the dream is manifesting my feeling of lack of control of my own schedule, even though I'm technically the one making it!

We'll see if the art classes run. I haven't had anyone officially sign up yet. If they don't I won't mind too much. I've started putting part of my afternoons towards editing videos for the Equine Academy driving course. Maybe I could get all the videos done this summer...