(no subject)

long underwear weather

Usually I can wait til it is well below freezing before I need long underwear but I was So Cold this morning I brought it to the gym justincase, and I was grateful. It is new, veryvery PINK wicking long underwear from Target. The woman at the locker next to me was amused with the color I was before layering on another shirt (also PINK) and gray britches and the fuzzy jacket that is working until llbean finally sends me my New Warm Coat. ANYDAY GUYS.... anyhow.

I spent 45 minutes on Image working on canter departs, from the walk and trot, and down transitions so we could do it again. I know he knows them, and I know what I am feeling for, and we are closing in on agreement about them, but I still get random down transitions that I'm pretty sure are entirely my fault, some others that are him anticipating based on the center line and changes of direction and his own cleverness, and then sometimes we have these deeply sticky moments where forward motion stops, and from there any up transition is difficult. I used 2 (two!?!) dressage whips so I didn't have to switch one from side to side. That made holding the reins steadily much easier. Better contact meant better forward motion, most of the time.

I'll do the same again on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I'll go see the Canadians. Kaboose is loaned to someone for a couple months, and she was leaving over the weekend, I think. Leaving me Penny and Ruby to work on through the cold weather.

(2 minute moan: Penny isn't as much fun as Kaboose, in part because she has less education, although I can't really complain too hard because I have been a substantial part of her education for the last two years, and I can see her betting better, and Ruby makes my back hurt even though she is fun and funny to ride.)

OK - It'll be fine. And Penny always gets better when I ride her steadily. (duh!)

beaver pond with wall

beaver pond with wall, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

In one fell swoop we seem to be down two computers. Aerin's went in the burglery, and the oldold PC that Alice was using heavily has progressed from grinding noises in the cooling fan to terrifying noises from close to the disk. So it is mothballed until we have another disk to install or a new machine to suck the old data off onto.

Anyhow, it meant there was serious contention for machines last night, and I was shut out.

I finished this one last night. I am deeply unsatisfied with it. I like the wall. I hate the bushes on the edges. I didn't fill in enough background, so it looks kind of thin. The bushes are too lumpy. The rushes are lumpy and ugly. That is what happens with making a lot of stuff - some of it is ... not what you had in mind.

I have the next one started.

Onward, as Hannah says.