Saturday, March 30
Mar. 30th, 2024 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
A reasonably peaceful day today.
I decided to go check on River's eye, since R didn't reply to a query about it.
He was napping happily in the spring sunshine when I went to get him, so I let him relax awhile until he felt ready to get up.
His eye looked okay, not swollen or irritated, though he got some dirt on it.
I brought him up to the barn to wash it off and apply some more cream to it, and R walked through to look as well. She said it was fine if I wanted to work with him a bit, since the people in the arena weren't there for lessons, just working independently (today is not one of my appointed ride times).
So I did do some groundwork with him, and he did well.
I carefully, judiciously gave some assistance to the young rider that was in the arena, as she was having a melt down and was being unfair to her horse. The horse was desperately trying to do the right thing, but the rider was just yanking and pulling on her face and the neck rope, and getting very frustrated. The Mom obviously didn't know anything was amiss.
I worked out that the girl was trying to get her mare to respond to the neck rope (transitioning to bridle less) while still having the bridle for safety, but the mare "wasn't turning" and was only moving ahead.
This means that the mare was likely never being cued with leg pressure to turn, this is the first thing you notice when you try to ride without the bridle, is that most horses only get the cues from the reins. People only THINK they are using their legs to turn. Often the legs on only means "go forward" to a horse that is ridden this way.
So, I talked gently with her about her mare, who is 19, and reminded her that her very nice mare was doing her best to interpret her requests, but had been ridden one way (with the bridle) for a very long time, and it would take time to get her to learn the neck rope.
I also ran her through the process that I am SURE she was shown by R, which was to first use the rein as lightly as possible to get flexion to the right and then the left, and remember to use the legs with it, then very precisely do the same with the neck rope, in a very clear manner, and release AS SOON as the mare turned her head from the pressure from the neck rope and reward her.
I think she might have gone right back to kind of sawing at her as soon as I walked away, but I tried to ignore it.
I know that I have to be careful in these situations, as it's not really my place, but I felt such pity for the poor mare that I couldn't do nothing. There is no way R would have allowed her behavior if she were having a lesson. I do feel that I was pleasant and positive in our interaction.
I went home and let the ponies and goats out into their larger pasture and just sat outside with them in the lovely sunlight. It's very pleasant to watch them eat and mosey around, and the goats like to rub their heads on small trees and such. There were a lot of birds out today, and one of the best things about spring is the return of birds with all their songs.
Then I came inside and had a bath, and a nap, and then my Sweetie called.
Their family gathering went on most of the day, and he got to see people he hasn't seen since the last family wedding two years ago. There are new babies and such, and the older folks came too.
They had it at his parent's condo complex; there is a big room meant for use as family gatherings/events that is very cheap to rent right in their building.
It sounds like it was a very good time for everyone, and they might try to make it an annual thing for a while, as long as his parents are in that building, anyway.
The Netherlands (informally known as Holland, which always bothers me that it has two names. Holland was a region within the Netherlands, but people call the whole area Holland often) is in Europe, and still has three small territories (islands) in the Caribbean.
It is quite densely populated with over 17 million people, and it is very low lying, with large areas being BELOW sea level due to efforts to reclaim land by building enormous dikes and pumping out the seawater.
It's odd for me to think of the ancient history of this region, because it is such a completely "civilized" country with so much cultivated land and not much left for wild places, but of course there were ancient people there. There are many ancient Dolmens dotting the countryside, remnants of these cultures, used as burial sites.
This is a good video about them, and talks a fair bit about the ancient people: https://youtu.be/v-fFnbYx-w8?si=pNbhL9-JtmcCcQRT
At one point, the Netherlands was an enormously powerful country due to it's aggressive trading and colonizing efforts. "In the Republican period, which began in 1588, the Netherlands entered a unique era of political, economic, and cultural greatness, ranked among the most powerful and influential in Europe and the world; this period is known as the Dutch Golden Age.[17] During this time, its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, established colonies and trading posts all over the world.[18][19]"
In spite of being highly populated and a fairly small country, they export a lot of agricultural products as the land is pretty much all cultivated, flat, and fertile. No mountains or forests or broad, grassy plains here.
This area has been occupied by Celts, Romans, and Germanic people over the centuries. Then the Franks, then the Holy Roman Empire,
The Holy Roman Empire didn't really unify the area, as none of these regions felt any loyalty or obligation to the Empire and it kind of crumbled into smaller kingdoms again. There was a lot of war between Holland, Brabant, Utrecht, Flanders, and Hainaut.
The drainage of land began as long ago as 1100. I'm going to skip over a whole lot of who occupied this region. It was Burgundians, then Habsburgs, then the Spanish Habsburgs, then it became the Dutch Republic (The Golden Age we mentioned, with all the trade and colonies), then the Batavian Republic.
In brief, the Netherlands tried to be neutral through WWI, and allowed Germany to bring goods through their territory until blocked by the British Royal Navy.
In WWII, Germany must have learned from this and right away occupied the Netherlands (man, if you read back through my posts, the Germans were actually scary efficient about right away capturing several countries that were strategic locations that controlled the sea access). Of course this meant the murdering of it's Jewish population.
Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies (the islands in the Caribbean, of which three territories are currently still part of the Netherlands).
Canada liberated the Netherlands. After the war they went through a process of Decolonization of most of their territories.
"The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 200."
As mentioned, it is mainly farmland now, and is actually the second largest exporter of food in the world behind the U.S.. That's quite a feat for a place about the size of Maryland.
This is in large part from the pumping out of most of the South Sea and turning it into farmland. It's considered one of the modern "Seven Wonders of the World", it is a tremendous feat of engineering.
https://youtu.be/KYctymHzZgQ?si=ZVEONoqZVrOsU_Ii
The overview: https://youtu.be/f4TmQEZzsec?si=jBIX377ESLe6LXPs
A reasonably peaceful day today.
I decided to go check on River's eye, since R didn't reply to a query about it.
He was napping happily in the spring sunshine when I went to get him, so I let him relax awhile until he felt ready to get up.
His eye looked okay, not swollen or irritated, though he got some dirt on it.
I brought him up to the barn to wash it off and apply some more cream to it, and R walked through to look as well. She said it was fine if I wanted to work with him a bit, since the people in the arena weren't there for lessons, just working independently (today is not one of my appointed ride times).
So I did do some groundwork with him, and he did well.
I carefully, judiciously gave some assistance to the young rider that was in the arena, as she was having a melt down and was being unfair to her horse. The horse was desperately trying to do the right thing, but the rider was just yanking and pulling on her face and the neck rope, and getting very frustrated. The Mom obviously didn't know anything was amiss.
I worked out that the girl was trying to get her mare to respond to the neck rope (transitioning to bridle less) while still having the bridle for safety, but the mare "wasn't turning" and was only moving ahead.
This means that the mare was likely never being cued with leg pressure to turn, this is the first thing you notice when you try to ride without the bridle, is that most horses only get the cues from the reins. People only THINK they are using their legs to turn. Often the legs on only means "go forward" to a horse that is ridden this way.
So, I talked gently with her about her mare, who is 19, and reminded her that her very nice mare was doing her best to interpret her requests, but had been ridden one way (with the bridle) for a very long time, and it would take time to get her to learn the neck rope.
I also ran her through the process that I am SURE she was shown by R, which was to first use the rein as lightly as possible to get flexion to the right and then the left, and remember to use the legs with it, then very precisely do the same with the neck rope, in a very clear manner, and release AS SOON as the mare turned her head from the pressure from the neck rope and reward her.
I think she might have gone right back to kind of sawing at her as soon as I walked away, but I tried to ignore it.
I know that I have to be careful in these situations, as it's not really my place, but I felt such pity for the poor mare that I couldn't do nothing. There is no way R would have allowed her behavior if she were having a lesson. I do feel that I was pleasant and positive in our interaction.
I went home and let the ponies and goats out into their larger pasture and just sat outside with them in the lovely sunlight. It's very pleasant to watch them eat and mosey around, and the goats like to rub their heads on small trees and such. There were a lot of birds out today, and one of the best things about spring is the return of birds with all their songs.
Then I came inside and had a bath, and a nap, and then my Sweetie called.
Their family gathering went on most of the day, and he got to see people he hasn't seen since the last family wedding two years ago. There are new babies and such, and the older folks came too.
They had it at his parent's condo complex; there is a big room meant for use as family gatherings/events that is very cheap to rent right in their building.
It sounds like it was a very good time for everyone, and they might try to make it an annual thing for a while, as long as his parents are in that building, anyway.
The Netherlands (informally known as Holland, which always bothers me that it has two names. Holland was a region within the Netherlands, but people call the whole area Holland often) is in Europe, and still has three small territories (islands) in the Caribbean.
It is quite densely populated with over 17 million people, and it is very low lying, with large areas being BELOW sea level due to efforts to reclaim land by building enormous dikes and pumping out the seawater.
It's odd for me to think of the ancient history of this region, because it is such a completely "civilized" country with so much cultivated land and not much left for wild places, but of course there were ancient people there. There are many ancient Dolmens dotting the countryside, remnants of these cultures, used as burial sites.
This is a good video about them, and talks a fair bit about the ancient people: https://youtu.be/v-fFnbYx-w8?si=pNbhL9-JtmcCcQRT
At one point, the Netherlands was an enormously powerful country due to it's aggressive trading and colonizing efforts. "In the Republican period, which began in 1588, the Netherlands entered a unique era of political, economic, and cultural greatness, ranked among the most powerful and influential in Europe and the world; this period is known as the Dutch Golden Age.[17] During this time, its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, established colonies and trading posts all over the world.[18][19]"
In spite of being highly populated and a fairly small country, they export a lot of agricultural products as the land is pretty much all cultivated, flat, and fertile. No mountains or forests or broad, grassy plains here.
This area has been occupied by Celts, Romans, and Germanic people over the centuries. Then the Franks, then the Holy Roman Empire,
The Holy Roman Empire didn't really unify the area, as none of these regions felt any loyalty or obligation to the Empire and it kind of crumbled into smaller kingdoms again. There was a lot of war between Holland, Brabant, Utrecht, Flanders, and Hainaut.
The drainage of land began as long ago as 1100. I'm going to skip over a whole lot of who occupied this region. It was Burgundians, then Habsburgs, then the Spanish Habsburgs, then it became the Dutch Republic (The Golden Age we mentioned, with all the trade and colonies), then the Batavian Republic.
In brief, the Netherlands tried to be neutral through WWI, and allowed Germany to bring goods through their territory until blocked by the British Royal Navy.
In WWII, Germany must have learned from this and right away occupied the Netherlands (man, if you read back through my posts, the Germans were actually scary efficient about right away capturing several countries that were strategic locations that controlled the sea access). Of course this meant the murdering of it's Jewish population.
Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies (the islands in the Caribbean, of which three territories are currently still part of the Netherlands).
Canada liberated the Netherlands. After the war they went through a process of Decolonization of most of their territories.
"The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 200."
As mentioned, it is mainly farmland now, and is actually the second largest exporter of food in the world behind the U.S.. That's quite a feat for a place about the size of Maryland.
This is in large part from the pumping out of most of the South Sea and turning it into farmland. It's considered one of the modern "Seven Wonders of the World", it is a tremendous feat of engineering.
https://youtu.be/KYctymHzZgQ?si=ZVEONoqZVrOsU_Ii
The overview: https://youtu.be/f4TmQEZzsec?si=jBIX377ESLe6LXPs
no subject
Date: 2024-04-01 03:21 am (UTC)