I'm generally a fall and winter person - I love autumn best, but the landscape of winter, with the bare trees and branches against a winter gray sky and the muted colors is also very appealing to me.
Most of the time spring is a bit too "busy" - everything coming to life again, color bursting into full hue, and the noises of insects and frogs - it all combines into one big buzz for me. Overstimulating.
This year though I am craving springtime. When I look out at the yard, the barnyard, the paddocks, the fields, all I want to do is head out there with the mower and the harrow, mulching the leaves into tiny pieces, dragging the manure out, and cleaning everything up. Problem is, between the cold and the rain/snow, it's either frozen or mush, and so everything sits out there looking forlorn and ugly.
I want to cut everything back: the trumpet vine on the front porch (have done that), the butterfly bushes, the small trees that have grown into beds. I want to go along the edge of the woods and push it back to where it's supposed to be before trees and shrubs leaf out and make the job more difficult.
I want to widen the labyrinth path and clear the underbrush and fix fencing.
I look at the barn and see the need for repair and sprucing up. I look at the deck and all I can think of is power washing. I'm thinking of things like white wash and resurfacing stall floors and ordering loads of crushed stone.
The urge to put things into order is huge.
At the feed store I found myself gazing lovingly at composters that turn and roll. Elsewhere I was looking at seed starting kits and thinking of raised beds in the back yard.
I don't know when spring will arrive, but there's a very good and reliable sign. Salina is shedding. She always sheds first each year, and once I see the sprinkling of loose hairs on her back, I know we're at least on the other side of the hump of winter.
The bulbs in the beds are also out, so I'm taking that as the first uprising of green that will hopefully lead the way for everything else.
When the redbuds bloom and the carpenter bees start buzzing, I think it will be safe to say it: spring is here.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
writing group update
This weekend is the February writing group meeting, which reminds me, we probably need to give it a name, just for fun.
We are small but fiercely determined to make 2010 one of the best writing years in our lives.
The snowfall on Friday night melted away quickly on Saturday morning and it became obvious travel would be fine, so D. headed out from her place and we decided when she arrived to pack up our notebooks and laptops and head to the local coffee house to do the business part of our meeting.
We agreed when we formed that we'd use the group to set goals for ourselves, and to discuss all the issues that are coming up for writers in this age of digital media. The Kindle, the Nook, and the iPad all make it possible to publish independently and quickly, and while many people are viewing that as a decline to come in the overall quality of novels, we're choosing to view it as an opportunity for new and unique voices.
There's been so much to talk about these last few months, but it is satisfying to have a place to sit and not just gab, but write things down with intention to get them done before we sit together again.
It's even better when you're doing it in the embrace of a mini-retreat. D. comes bearing Mediterranean food and wine in fun print cloth bags that make you smile just seeing them. She arrived this weekend sporting a new haircut, and jewel-colored clothing, and when we agreed to drive to the coffee house, I threw on my brown boots and my black poncho/cape and it felt like we were heading to a party.
A productive party. I had an entire page of notes by the end of it, as did she. We had scheduled our next meeting, discussed a longer writing retreat later in the year, and inked in full slates for ourselves for the next month.
Back at November Hill, we laid out all the food for dinner and took a break from book business. Around 8:30, we met in the garret to read pages out loud. D. read from a new project she's writing, and I continued where I left off last month in my pony book.
The garret is now my sandplay office, and because I've done a lot of writing and a lot of reading out loud in the company of my sand trays and collection, it feels perfectly right to be doing it again. One of my favorite things in the world is reading my pages out loud to other writers who take it seriously and offer constructive feedback.
Which is yet another reason for this group: to celebrate the joy of writing, reading, and just being in the company of other writers. It rejuvenates the writing soul.
Today we made breakfast, took it back to our respective rooms, and are working for another chunk of time before reading out loud again, once more before D. heads back to her house and a jazz concert.
D. has started a wonderful new blog that chronicles her take on writing this year. I'm stepping into her fold, and I invite you to join us!
We are small but fiercely determined to make 2010 one of the best writing years in our lives.
The snowfall on Friday night melted away quickly on Saturday morning and it became obvious travel would be fine, so D. headed out from her place and we decided when she arrived to pack up our notebooks and laptops and head to the local coffee house to do the business part of our meeting.
We agreed when we formed that we'd use the group to set goals for ourselves, and to discuss all the issues that are coming up for writers in this age of digital media. The Kindle, the Nook, and the iPad all make it possible to publish independently and quickly, and while many people are viewing that as a decline to come in the overall quality of novels, we're choosing to view it as an opportunity for new and unique voices.
There's been so much to talk about these last few months, but it is satisfying to have a place to sit and not just gab, but write things down with intention to get them done before we sit together again.
It's even better when you're doing it in the embrace of a mini-retreat. D. comes bearing Mediterranean food and wine in fun print cloth bags that make you smile just seeing them. She arrived this weekend sporting a new haircut, and jewel-colored clothing, and when we agreed to drive to the coffee house, I threw on my brown boots and my black poncho/cape and it felt like we were heading to a party.
A productive party. I had an entire page of notes by the end of it, as did she. We had scheduled our next meeting, discussed a longer writing retreat later in the year, and inked in full slates for ourselves for the next month.
Back at November Hill, we laid out all the food for dinner and took a break from book business. Around 8:30, we met in the garret to read pages out loud. D. read from a new project she's writing, and I continued where I left off last month in my pony book.
The garret is now my sandplay office, and because I've done a lot of writing and a lot of reading out loud in the company of my sand trays and collection, it feels perfectly right to be doing it again. One of my favorite things in the world is reading my pages out loud to other writers who take it seriously and offer constructive feedback.
Which is yet another reason for this group: to celebrate the joy of writing, reading, and just being in the company of other writers. It rejuvenates the writing soul.
Today we made breakfast, took it back to our respective rooms, and are working for another chunk of time before reading out loud again, once more before D. heads back to her house and a jazz concert.
D. has started a wonderful new blog that chronicles her take on writing this year. I'm stepping into her fold, and I invite you to join us!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
lest we think the FEI is not listening or reading...
I just received this comment:
I'm Malina Gueorguiev, FEI Press Manager, and as you know I follow your blog with great interest.
On this particular topic, I wanted to let you know The low, deep and round (LDR) training technique, providing it achieves flexion without undue force, was approved as acceptable by the participants at the round-table conference. The term “low” was used in the press statement sent out after the meeting and in FEI Dressage Director Trond Asmyr’s video message posted on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZxIYMeojE, but a typo resulted in “low” being changed to “long” on the FEI website. This has now been corrected to reflect the decision taken by the participants in the round-table conference.
Check it out here http://www.fei.org/Media/News_Centre/News/Pages/summ.aspx?newsName=news-RoundTable-9Feb10.aspx
All the best,
Malina
I wanted to put this comment out front, because I think it's important to give credit to the FEI for listening and reading, and now responding - as we "regular horse people" discuss and write about the issues we see in the sport as a whole.
Thank you, Malina. I hope the dialogue can continue, because this kind of communication can only help in making the sport one we can enjoy and support.
I'm Malina Gueorguiev, FEI Press Manager, and as you know I follow your blog with great interest.
On this particular topic, I wanted to let you know The low, deep and round (LDR) training technique, providing it achieves flexion without undue force, was approved as acceptable by the participants at the round-table conference. The term “low” was used in the press statement sent out after the meeting and in FEI Dressage Director Trond Asmyr’s video message posted on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZxIYMeojE, but a typo resulted in “low” being changed to “long” on the FEI website. This has now been corrected to reflect the decision taken by the participants in the round-table conference.
Check it out here http://www.fei.org/Media/News_Centre/News/Pages/summ.aspx?newsName=news-RoundTable-9Feb10.aspx
All the best,
Malina
I wanted to put this comment out front, because I think it's important to give credit to the FEI for listening and reading, and now responding - as we "regular horse people" discuss and write about the issues we see in the sport as a whole.
Thank you, Malina. I hope the dialogue can continue, because this kind of communication can only help in making the sport one we can enjoy and support.
where are we with the rollkur/hyperflexion/LDR issue?
After reading (and sharing here) a lot of information over the past week, and giving myself time to sit with all of it for a day, I decided to stop researching and reading for a bit and try to make sense of where I think we are with reference to this issue.
The FEI had the round-table discussion. They received 41,000 signatures from people saying NO TO ROLLKUR.
One thing I want to clarify. My signature said no to rollkur, hyperflexion, AND the method Sjef and company are now calling LDR (Low/Long, Deep, and Round). People are saying we anti-rollkur folks are buying the trick. They've just (yet again) changed the name and everything is the same as it always was.
We haven't bought that. We know what's going on.
Whatever name you give it, this is a training method that not only doesn't work in terms of creating a happy, harmonious, beautiful ride, it does harm in the process. That is actually the easy part of this whole thing. It's simple to look at a photo or video and see what is WRONG with those pictures.
The difficult issue here is that the gestalt of the method, the people who use it, the people who are being rewarded for using it with sponsors, medals, and ribbons, and money for doing clinics, the fact that much money is made and followers gained, THAT is not as easily undone.
I am choosing to think of this as an onion. To undo the onion, you peel away the layers. You could smash the onion to smithereens with a mallet, but if we practice the same humane-ness we preach, what we do is peel the layers away one at a time.
This FEI meeting was one more layer. An important layer, because lots of people were watching, and reporting, and talking about the outcome. A huge number of people coordinated to get names on petitions and then get them to Gerd Heuschmann.
Those same people have a huge amount of power when it comes to coordinating for the next layer. Can you imagine 41,000 still and video cameras watching and recording from the sides of warm-up arenas?
41,000 people each educating 5 more friends about the damage this method does to horses? That many people writing to sponsors and refusing to pay for shows, clinics, and horses trained using these methods?
This issue is not resolved. The FEI can't resolve it. They do have a tremendous role to play, and that is to create objective, easy to apply definitions in place for judges and stewards. Interestingly, this requires ZERO change in the rules. Because the rules already support the horse: the correct movement, and the horse's welfare.
All the FEI has to do is step up and empower the people who enforce the rules. And take a stand against the money-hungry riders and trainers who don't comply.
But it's the 41,000 plus who have the power to resolve the issue.
Don't give up. Keep watching and talking and reporting. Take your video camera with you to shows. Use it. If you see someone using this (or any) inhumane method, turn them in.
Speak out, loudly. If you see a rider ribboned for behind the vertical riding, say something about it. Ask why. Quote the rules.
Don't support companies who support this kind of training and riding. Horse people tend to buy tons of gear and equipment. Make a list of sponsors who support riders and trainers using these methods. Check the list when you go shopping. Don't use these companies. Take it a step further. Send them a copy of your receipt and tell them WHY you didn't buy their product.
Don't ride at venues, or for judges, that support this type of riding. Again, let them know WHY. If you see inhumane methods being used and allowed, and nothing is done by show management to stop it, call Animal Control.
If there are no rollkur-free shows to go to, MAKE NEW ONES. Seek out judges who will judge by the current rules. Put stewards in place who will not back down when they see infractions.
Actively support riders, trainers, and clinicians who utilize effective, humane methods. Buy their books, go to their clinics, let them know you like the way they're doing things. Look up their sponsors, and let the sponsors know you support these riders.
The fact is, if everyone who signed the petitions acts in even one of the above ways, we'll peel more layers off that onion.
It doesn't happen in one meeting. It isn't instant gratification.
Change takes persistence. Change takes time.
The horses are worth it.
The FEI had the round-table discussion. They received 41,000 signatures from people saying NO TO ROLLKUR.
One thing I want to clarify. My signature said no to rollkur, hyperflexion, AND the method Sjef and company are now calling LDR (Low/Long, Deep, and Round). People are saying we anti-rollkur folks are buying the trick. They've just (yet again) changed the name and everything is the same as it always was.
We haven't bought that. We know what's going on.
Whatever name you give it, this is a training method that not only doesn't work in terms of creating a happy, harmonious, beautiful ride, it does harm in the process. That is actually the easy part of this whole thing. It's simple to look at a photo or video and see what is WRONG with those pictures.
The difficult issue here is that the gestalt of the method, the people who use it, the people who are being rewarded for using it with sponsors, medals, and ribbons, and money for doing clinics, the fact that much money is made and followers gained, THAT is not as easily undone.
I am choosing to think of this as an onion. To undo the onion, you peel away the layers. You could smash the onion to smithereens with a mallet, but if we practice the same humane-ness we preach, what we do is peel the layers away one at a time.
This FEI meeting was one more layer. An important layer, because lots of people were watching, and reporting, and talking about the outcome. A huge number of people coordinated to get names on petitions and then get them to Gerd Heuschmann.
Those same people have a huge amount of power when it comes to coordinating for the next layer. Can you imagine 41,000 still and video cameras watching and recording from the sides of warm-up arenas?
41,000 people each educating 5 more friends about the damage this method does to horses? That many people writing to sponsors and refusing to pay for shows, clinics, and horses trained using these methods?
This issue is not resolved. The FEI can't resolve it. They do have a tremendous role to play, and that is to create objective, easy to apply definitions in place for judges and stewards. Interestingly, this requires ZERO change in the rules. Because the rules already support the horse: the correct movement, and the horse's welfare.
All the FEI has to do is step up and empower the people who enforce the rules. And take a stand against the money-hungry riders and trainers who don't comply.
But it's the 41,000 plus who have the power to resolve the issue.
Don't give up. Keep watching and talking and reporting. Take your video camera with you to shows. Use it. If you see someone using this (or any) inhumane method, turn them in.
Speak out, loudly. If you see a rider ribboned for behind the vertical riding, say something about it. Ask why. Quote the rules.
Don't support companies who support this kind of training and riding. Horse people tend to buy tons of gear and equipment. Make a list of sponsors who support riders and trainers using these methods. Check the list when you go shopping. Don't use these companies. Take it a step further. Send them a copy of your receipt and tell them WHY you didn't buy their product.
Don't ride at venues, or for judges, that support this type of riding. Again, let them know WHY. If you see inhumane methods being used and allowed, and nothing is done by show management to stop it, call Animal Control.
If there are no rollkur-free shows to go to, MAKE NEW ONES. Seek out judges who will judge by the current rules. Put stewards in place who will not back down when they see infractions.
Actively support riders, trainers, and clinicians who utilize effective, humane methods. Buy their books, go to their clinics, let them know you like the way they're doing things. Look up their sponsors, and let the sponsors know you support these riders.
The fact is, if everyone who signed the petitions acts in even one of the above ways, we'll peel more layers off that onion.
It doesn't happen in one meeting. It isn't instant gratification.
Change takes persistence. Change takes time.
The horses are worth it.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Phillipe Karl's response, and a change of wording in FEI statement?
I just copied Phillipe Karl's response to yesterday's FEI announcement on rollkur and have pasted it below.
Very interesting - he points out something I didn't notice - the current announcement reads LONG, Deep and Round and the version I first read yesterday read LOW, Deep and Round.
What in the world? Why did they change that one word?
It is utterly confusing.
For some clarity on all these different terms and how they relate to position of the head and neck in relation to the rest of the horse's body, GO HERE.
10 February 2010
FEI: Rollkur/hyperflexion forbidden, LDR acceptable
On 9 February 2010, 20 FEI experts declared the Rollkur controversy resolved. Their conclusion: Rollkur/hyperflexion ist unacceptable, "Low, Deep and Round" (as stated in the first version of the FEI press release) or "Long, Deep and Round" (second version of the FEI press release) however is acceptable. The only question is: how do you know the difference?
Philippe Karl's comment on the FEI statement: "The FEI has bravely decided to make no decision at all. Rollkur isn't officially permitted, but the same posture persists under another name (LDR). The rules haven't changed and everything will go on as before, in the most perfect hypocrisy. But we're not giving up yet; rather, we will continue to fight against this catastrophe."
Very interesting - he points out something I didn't notice - the current announcement reads LONG, Deep and Round and the version I first read yesterday read LOW, Deep and Round.
What in the world? Why did they change that one word?
It is utterly confusing.
For some clarity on all these different terms and how they relate to position of the head and neck in relation to the rest of the horse's body, GO HERE.
10 February 2010
FEI: Rollkur/hyperflexion forbidden, LDR acceptable
On 9 February 2010, 20 FEI experts declared the Rollkur controversy resolved. Their conclusion: Rollkur/hyperflexion ist unacceptable, "Low, Deep and Round" (as stated in the first version of the FEI press release) or "Long, Deep and Round" (second version of the FEI press release) however is acceptable. The only question is: how do you know the difference?
Philippe Karl's comment on the FEI statement: "The FEI has bravely decided to make no decision at all. Rollkur isn't officially permitted, but the same posture persists under another name (LDR). The rules haven't changed and everything will go on as before, in the most perfect hypocrisy. But we're not giving up yet; rather, we will continue to fight against this catastrophe."
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