The setup was pretty simple, just a fairly easy three combination down one side of the arena. Since we were doing this in relation to the canter work done during the dressage lessons, the focus was on getting just the right canter for the distacne between the obstacles. She had it setup so that it didn’t quite fit most of the horses unless we either shortened or lengthened their strides.

With Gamir, that generally means lengthening, because he’s not a long-striding horse naturally. But since I knew from the get-go that this was the focus, we didn’t really have any problems with the distance. Well, not once we actually jumped at a canter. To start with, we came in at a trot and were supposed to get a canter only between obstacle two and three. I suck at that.

For the most part, though, I managed to avoid some of my common problems. I didn’t work too hard, and I managed a pretty good pace and a decent length of stride. However, we kept getting the wrong canter after the last jump. But, my instructor felt I was approaching it just right, and that Gamir just wasn’t responding correctly. He did feel a bit stiff at the start of this lesson (and he had looked hopelessly uninspired during the class before ours), so I think he may have been a little off physically even though he felt perfectly limber once we had warmed up.

My two most recent jewellery acquisitions both feature a stunning headpiece, as well as several other gorgeous pieces. The first set is a new release from master maskmaker Siyu Suen of Illusions, currently only available at the Jewelry Exposition (arranged—and that very well—by Miriel Enfield) which anyone with any interest in jewellery absolutely has to visit. The second is the latest release from Tekeli-li. This is not an Expo piece, so when you feel like shopping for jewellery in less lag (but really, the Expo is low lag for an event of its size), you can head over to Tekeli-li’s store to check out this and the many other fantastical sets available there.

With such a sumptuous fabric, I would generally be tempted to go for larger, more eye-catching pieces of jewellery. But given the oriental flavour, I just had to make use of the new Jade Longevity pieces from Eolande.

Ringo started the morning by being very lively. He clearly knows that early mornings with the whole family getting ready means a dog show. Didn’t help my nerves, of course, that he decided to be pretty feisty. The judge for the show would be one that previously had given him a 2 for quality, in large parts because he really misbehaved. So, I was not expecting more than a 1 today and that only if he managed to behave.

It was very interesting to watch the change in the horse’s movements and carriage as the lesson progressed, and also to see just how many things he would ttry to see if he could get away once she put more demands on him. Remaining consistent in what you ask of the horse, even when it tries all sorts of tricks to avoid work, is one of the hardest things. Especially for those of us who just ride lessons once a week. Getting the right feeling for how much pressure to apply, and whether you are doing it right and the horse is being contrary or if you’re actually doing it wrong, is darn hard.

And that sort of played into today’s lesson, at least for me.

I mean, I knew that before, but I thought I had mine at an okay height. Today, my instructor had me raise my hands quite a bit above my default position, and I found it made a big difference when it came to doing what she wants me to do with my shoulders (that is, getting them back and getting them relaxed).

I am not sure if she noticed it because I was decided to try Murphy without the help reins (actually, I forgot them, but I had been thinking about skipping them since during my last private lesson I rode without them and she suggested they may have been hampering me), and that changes his head position and my hand position a bit.

We continued to work on circles, and while it was a bit of a struggle at first, I did find I got better results without the help reins. Especially once I got my hands raised up a bit. I feels to me as if Murphy is easier to get into a proper form without the reins, and he also feels more supple. However, the form is less steady, perhaps because he’s so supple.

Once we were done with the warmup, we did the same exercise for most of the lesson, just varying the direction. We’d start by trotting on the long sides and then walking on the short sides, which included a 10 meter circle. Then we’d switch to walking on the long sides and trotting on the short sides and through the circle. Plenty of transitions between straight and curved paths to pay attention to, and transitions between walk and trot (sometimes at the same time as the straight to curved or vice versa transitions). Just the thing to make Murphy nice and supple, and towards the end he was getting kind of liquid.

So, now I have another body part that I need to get used to having in a different position. I’ll have to be careful not to overdo it, though.

So, now we’re in for a nervous couple of weeks as we wait for the results (the x-rays are sent off to be analysed by the Swedish Kennel Club), though the vet who did the x-rays seemed to think it looked pretty good. That is, she first did a set she wasn’t happy with (the positioning of the dog is very important, and small deviations can change the final result), but when they redid them she seemed to think they came out fine. However, that’s far from a guarantee of anything, so I am telling myself not to take anything for granted. 

Ayesha Bisiani calls Anaise a creole skin, and has given her features and a skintone that suggests a mixed heritage. When I first tried her on, she fit one of my current shapes quite well. However, since that shape is firmly married to Blowpop’s Mellie3 skin, I felt I needed a new shape for Anaise. This actually marks the first time that I have created a shape to fit a skin, though I don’t doubt that Anaise will work well on many existing shapes too. This time around, I am also using the skin with the skintone unmodified, but as all Skin Within skins Anaise can be modified.

Anyway, with that out of my system, what about the lesson? Well, no Olympic-level jumping for us, that’s for sure. Or dressage, for that matter.

I think I am going to start a business making boxer-proof toys. From kevlar. That might do it.

But he sure had fun, at least.

It began with a very early start (we left at about 3.30 ... am), and while we didn’t stay for the whole thing we were still away until about 5 pm. By which time I was quite knackered. The weather was rather cold and windy for most of the day, and Ringo was not as well-behaved as he has been for most shows this year. Outside of the ring, he was pretty stress-free (but he was very excited to meet his brother again, and his brother’s ‘girlfriend’, aka the breeder’s gorgeous new puppy girl from Italy), but inside he was a bit of a handful. Not as bad as he has been in the past, but enough to up my heart rate quite a bit.

Either way, what matters right now is that my lessons for this autumn got off to a great start on Murphy. Whom, btw, seemed very happy to see me and seemed to be in quite a good mood in general. So glad to see he was fine. This was in fact the first time they had had a summer when all horses stayed injury free. Hopefully that won’t lead to a mass of injuries now. :P They did have to put one horse down, Amadeus, but he had been lame for a long while now. Quite young, but also quite large, and he was clearly developing a chronic injury. They also sold one pony who didn’t like it much at the stables, and got another one to replace it.

In any case, if anyone’s curious, point a telnet client to bod.westeros.org:3000. Alternatively, read more about the game on the webpage or the forum.

We definitely expect demos for skins and hair, and many creators of prim-based accessories such as shoes and jewellery have also started offering them for their products. It does add extra work, and extra upload costs, but there are many things I would not ever consider buying without first trying on a demo and there are many things I have ended up buying because I could try on a demo. However, when it comes to clothing, the option to try on a demo is very rarely offered. This may be more or less fine in the case of lower-cost items and items without any prim parts, but what about expensive items, which often have prim parts? Why do we have to buy these unseen?

I only know of one place for certain that have demos for very item of clothing that they have available, and that’s Adam n Eve. The demos are a big reason for why my first big clothing purchase as a new player ended up being at Adam n Eve, and why I ended up working for sachi and Damen. Bare Rose also offers the occasional demo, for very prim heavy outfits. Considering that their items are no copy, I wish they’d do it for everything. However, with their very low prices (and very high output volume), I understand why it would be difficult to do. Ran also mentioned that he thinks Blaze does them, at least for some things, but I have not confirmed this.

To sum up, I really wish that more creators, whether their items are copy/mod or trans/mod, would consider doing demos. To me, it shows that a creator has real faith in their products. If a few start doing it, one can always hope it might establish itself as the thing to do. So far, though, it doesn’t seem to have taken off, but if anyone knows of more places that do clothing demos, I’d love to hear about them.