Hippoi Athanatoi

Today was the second lesson of Ringo’s obedience course. This is stage two of basic obedience and after my dad had him for all of stage one (which he did this spring), I had said I’d do at least some of stage two. Last week, I had too much work to go along, but today I decided I could take the time out. It proved to be an ... interesting experience.

I was much too tired to post last night about the first of the regular lessons for the semester, and since I am still kind of sluggish (plus I’ve got three Meerkat Manor episodes to subtitle for Animal Planet), this will probably turn out a bit briefer than usual.

That’s not to say, however, that it wasn’t an interesting lesson. First, there was the dreaded weigh-in, which went well. However, since there was quite few of us (some people had probably missed the change in starting time), a lot of horses got to sit (err, stand) this one out. So, I ended up with Fleur. This time of the year I am okay with riding her in the outdoor arena, because warm weather makes her rather laid-back and not very skittish, though this time there was another, unexpected problem. Fleur, you see, would not have passed a weigh-in herself. In fact, she looks like she’ll drop a pair of foals any moment, and sitting on her felt a little like sitting on a barrel. Add to that an overly-polished saddle (darn kids ;P) and a pair of old breeches without the fully lined legs and seat I have become accustomed to and you have a recipe for an unsteady seat.

Today it was time for the second of my private lessons this week, and once again I was put on Murphy. Before we got started, however, we had some little issues to deal with. As I went to fetch his tack, I saw that one of the ponies, Ida, was loose in her stall. Since her halter hung neatly in its place, I thought that maybe she was left loose for some reason. But while I was wondering about this another horse, Spitfire, ended up walking out of his stall and out of the stable. Clearly, someone had forgotten to get them tied up properly after taking them in from the field. So, as I was alone in the stable, I had to go after Spitfire and get him back in. He wasn’t entirely keen on this idea, but fortunately he didn’t object too much once I had gotten a hold of him.

After seven long weeks of no riding and no close encounters with any equines at all, it was finally time today for the first of the two private lessons I had booked as a warm-up to the proper lessons starting next week. As usual, I’ve spent the last week or so worrying that Murphy wouldn’t be alright (that’s the worst part about the summer break at the riding school), though yesterday when I called up to confirm the time I made sure to ask who I’d be getting for my lessons. I was more than a little thrilled to find out that I had been put on Murphy for both lessons.

Today it was time for another much too early morning. And this time we only had to drive about 30 minutes away, so imagine how early we’ll need to get up for the next one (that’s the Swedish Boxer Championships, so its worth the extra effort) that is closer to 4 hours away. Anyway, today was a smaller affair. An official show for working dogs, with 10 boxers signed up. One of them being our little ... handful (that sounds nicer than hellion, I think).

Daniel Abraham’s debut novel, A Shadow in Summer, has seen its paperback version finally released. First in the Long Price Quartet, the paperback release precedes the publication of the next installment of the series, A Betrayal in Winter

Summer vacation usually means a chance to catch up on some reading, and this year was no different, though it took some effort rounding up enough books to keep us happy for two weeks. Clearly, we’ve been slacking when it comes to finding new things to try out. In the end, however, we ended up finding some new favourites, both among recent and older books.

One thing that I’ve always wanted done are portraits of mine (and Elio’s) various MUSH characters. I’ve toyed with the idea of commissioning art, but the kind of artists I tend to really like have a habit of being rather far out of my price range. I also have such specific ideas for my characters that I’ve sort of resigned myself to the fact that the only way I will get what I want is if I learn to paint really, really well myself.

That still holds true when it comes to ‘real’ art, but in the mean time (while I am trying to learn to paint, that is) I have found one way of at least what I think are pretty good representations of my characters: Second Life.

It sort of started with GRRM’s Second Life appearance. Elio already had an account, though he had only used it a few times to check things out, but for this event we spent a few Linden dollars to make his avatar look more presentable. And it was then that it hit me that this could be a really neat way of creating character portraits. As a result, I ended up creating an account, and now I’ve spent more than a few hours the last few months creating a custom avatar shape for each of my characters. In addition to that, we’ve purchased skin, hair and pretty clothes, and the first few portrait pictures are now up in the Art gallery.

A few pictures from the show last Sunday have been added to the Ringo 2007 gallery. Next time, I think we’ll see if we can’t get a bit of filming done as well (and hopefully he won’t act like a rabid little monster just then).

The fourth chapter of The Mirador can now be read on Sarah Monette’s official website, and if offers another tantalizing teaser (which may or may not make the wait easier) for the book that is due out in August.

On Saturday, we set on our annual summer trip to our house in the area of Sundsvall. This year, however, we didn’t do the whole 700+ km drive in one go. Instead, we did about half on Saturday, then stayed the night at a tiny camping place in the middle of nowhere. On Sunday morning, we got up way too early to get ready ... for a boxer show. Somehow, we had decided it would be a good idea to go to a dog show along the way. So, at around 8 am on Sunday morning, we arrived at a cosy little dog club, also in the middle of nowhere, to join a pretty large gathering of (mostly) happy, tail-wagging boxers and their owners.

Today the whole family went to Slottskogen, a park in Gothenburg with assorted animals such as seals, a myriad of birds (including a few peacocks), several varieties of goats and various deer types. This is something we’ve done with all of our previous dogs, as its usually an excellent way of getting them used to lots of people as well as introducing them to all sorts of animals.

Ringo, alas, turned out to be much more interested in children. Baby strollers are a particular favourite. We kept trying to get him to notice the various animals, but only a few of them got him to look for any length of time. Of course, it used to be much easier years ago when you were allowed to feed the animals. They then congregated near the fences and we have a few shots of our first dog standing with his paws on the fence and sniffing something with very large horns that was standing up against the other side of the fence. These days, when the animals know they’re not getting anything from the visitors, they see no reason at all to come up close. Much better for their health, no doubt, but I did like getting up close and personal with them when I was younger.

The only ones who came up at all close were some goats and one of the peacocks, and Ringo did seem at least somewhat interested in them. But the highlight of the walk for him was probably meeting another boxer. He can be such a speciest little dog.

It took some effort this year, but we finally managed to put together a decent-sized order of books to bring along for our vacation. In case we’re not alone in suffering a shortage of ideas for what to read, we figured we’d share a few of the titles we’re picking up as well as some of the books we’ve either read recently or will be picking up as soon as they’re released.

Last lesson of the semester today. Fortunately, our regular instructor was well enough that she was there today, so we were able to hand over the coffee and chocolate that I had bought for her from the group. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t able to book a private lesson with her on Murphy for Thursday as I had planned, since some wicked pony had bitten Murphy right where the saddle would be. Apparently several of them had come on with bite marks, so it looks like the boys had quite a rowdy time in the field the other day. ;P

So, no Murphy for me today, and probably not on Thursday either, unless I decide to do a bareback private lesson. Still considering whether that’d be worth it or not. If not, I might still call in tomorrow and book one on another horse. Perhaps Sammy, whom I rode today for the second week in a row. Though, I had planned to work on my seat, and Sammy isn’t exactly great for that. But I’ll ponder it some. Otherwise, this was likely the last bit of riding for me for about two months.

Looks like being late with these is becoming a habit. Then again, this week wasn’t overly exciting either. Our poor instructor was no longer ill, but now she was injured instead. Her (very large) horse ended up spooking as she took him in from the field, and landed on her foot. So, we had a replacement this week too (and may have one next week too, which means I won’t manage another private lesson before the semester ends, darnit). She allowed us to pick horses ourselves (we usually get them selected for us), and I ended up second-to-last. Fortunately, Sammy was left, and though I was a bit miffed about missing out on both Murphy and Nelson, I really like Sammy too and haven’t had a chance to ride him for ages. And now that he’s the oldest horse in the stables and nearing 20, I do feel I have to take the chances I get to ride him, since he surely must be nearing his retirement (though, so far he’s doing pretty well, being a sturdy Irish horse).