Hippoi Athanatoi

So, today we had another show. A big, national all-breed show about an hour away from where we live. Despite the size of the show, however, with some 1200 dogs both Saturday and Sunday, there were only 5 boxers entered. We knew this in advance, and we also knew that boxers were going first in their ring and Ringo was going first of the boxers. So, it could be either a very short day or a fairly long one. As it turned out, it ended up being a long one, but not for the right reasons. Which, in this too darned hot weather (I am burned to a crisp in places, despite putting on lots of sunlotion and trying to stay in the shade) wasn’t all that welcome.

The third chapter of The Mirador is now up at Sarah Monette’s official website. This is the sequel to Mélusine and The Virtu, and this chapter (like the two earlier previews) is a real treat.

A late report again. I better make sure this doesn’t become a habit. Though I had a passable excuse this time, since we didn’t really do much yesterday. Our regular instructor was sick, and the replacement had decided we were going to trek out. Never mind that we had already done that once this semester and we really aren’t supposed to have to do it more than once since it isn’t exactly great value for our money. So, some of us were less than happy.

And I got even unhappier when she told me I could pick between Nelson and Sammy. Now, I ride both, and I really like them, but outdoors? Sammy .... no way, as much as I love him. He gets very frisky, and he’s much too big for me outdoors. Nelson is small enough, but I had a feeling he’d be very lively and without our regular instructor around I wasn’t going to take the chance. So, I said I couldn’t come along unless I could get Murphy. She said she couldn’t change the horse lists, but fortunately one of the regular instructors was there and she said it was okay to switch out Sammy for Murphy. Whew.

Murphy was pretty sweaty already from being in the previous class (not that they worked hard, but the weather here is currently too darn hot), but he had nothing against another lesson once he realized we were riding out. He just loves that. And on the whole, it was a pretty nice ride. For once, we actually got to canter some (and Nelson got to buck a lot, proving my point about him being a little frisky), and Murphy really liked that. I would just love to do some eventing-style jumping on him. Irish horses have it in their blood. When we got back in, I made sure to sponge him off thoroughly, and he just loved it. It was nice and quiet in the stables, and it was good to spend some extra time with him. So, I felt pretty good about the whole evening, all things considered.

Subterranean Press has just announced that they’ll be producing limited editions of the first two Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. If the limited edition run does well, Subterranean will produce limited editions of the following books. Besides the high-quality that Subterranean promises to bring to the book, one of the most exciting things about it all is that Michael Komarck will be providing the full-color interior illustrations. He’s a fabulous artist who’s created what’s widely-considered the definitive depiction of Jaime Lannister, and promises to be a name fans of genre art will be hearing quite a lot of in the future.

My arms and legs had definitely not recovered from Tuesday’s lesson, but I was set to have a private lesson today, so they just had to come along even so. Fortunately, the rain and thunder that had been forecasted had disappeared entirely in favour of suddenly very summery weather, so I was in for a very pleasant lesson in the outdoor paddock.

When we got to the stables, all the horses save Nelson and Murphy were out in the field. Nelson was being ridden for a private lesson just before me and I was going to be riding Murphy. Neither of them looked very happy to be left indoors, however, though they did have a nice big pile of hay each to make up for it. Still, Murphy is a lot more mellow when the stables are quiet, so he was quite polite while he was groomed and tacked up. Once it was time to lead him down to the paddock, however, he suddenly seemed quite confused about where we were going in the middle of the day, while all the other horses were elsewhere. Spotting Nelson already in the paddock seemed to sort the situation out for him, though.

Now that was one tiring riding lesson I had yesterday. I collapsed into bed with rather wobbly arms and legs at least one or two hours earlier than I usually need to sleep.

For this, I blame Nelson and our instructor. Then again, she did warn us at the start of the class that we’d be really sore tomorrow. Of course, that was after I had booked a private lesson for Thursday. That’ll be interesting. ;P

The things you do when you’re into dogs (and horses, too). Like getting up at 6 am on a Sunday morning to head off to a dog show. Of course, not just any dog show, but Ringo’s first official dog show. He turned 9 months 6 days ago, making him eligible for the Junior class (for dogs 9 to 15 months old) at the official all-boxer show for the boxer club in the area where we live.

The promotional blitz for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales has begun ahead of its July 24th release date, and fans of the series will appreciate some of the material that’s now making the rounds. We’ve gathered links from far and wide to share with the fans, and you can read our reviews of B5’s pilot and first season if you’re wondering about the show but just aren’t quite sure about it.

Despite not riding yesterday (or perhaps because, since it always seems to wake me up), I was dead tired when I got back from the theory lesson and managed to completely forget about posting. So, it’ll have to be a quickie today, since I’ve got a Discovery show to subtitle. Of course, since it was a theory lesson, there’s less to report anyhow.

Though, we did get to try something I’d never done before: long reining. That is, you walk behind the horse with a pair of long reins and try to get it to do some useful work. This can be done either to prepare the horse for driving it or as a substitute for riding. Apparently they use it a bit at the riding school when exercising the smaller ponies that none of the instructors can ride.

No matter how often I try to get started blogging ‘properly’ (that is, with some regularity) I can’t seem to get the decision to stick except for when it comes to chronicling my riding lessons. This may be due to everything else I do being terribly boring and really not worth writing about. It may also be the result of me being a nit picky perfectionist with certain hang-ups about either doing something ‘properly’ or not doing it at all. So when I do have stuff to post about, it feels silly to do so if its on an irregular basis. This usually leads to an end result of no posts at all. However, I am trying very hard as of a few days ago to keep myself in a writing mode as often as possible, so I might just as well use this as one of the exercises. Without, that is, trying to set any goals about doing it regularly.

Via SF Scope and the Science Fiction Book club blog, we’ve learned that Lloyd Alexander—the author of such memorable Young Adult books such as the Prydain and Westmark series—passed away while in hospice care, two weeks after the death of his wife of 62 years. He will be missed.

Brrr, so cold still. I have been back for a few hours, and I don’t think I’ll ever get warm again. Blasted weather.

Woke up to a persistent rain today, and got very close to not going, but Elio persuaded me by noting how much I’d kick myself later. So, off we went. Once we got to the stables, we found out that it had rained too much for us to use the paddock. This meant we’d have to change this around and build the course indoors once the dressage was done. We’d also have to do our warm-ups in groups since we’d have to do them indoors too. In short, we were in for a longer day than expected. And I was already pretty cold.

There’s a veritable perfect storm of announcements coming from Dabel Brothers Productions regarding upcoming series they’ll be publishing. A fan of romantic fantasy? Check out the forthcoming adaption of Kinley MacGregor’s Lord of Avalon: Sword of Darkness. Or perhaps you’re a big fan of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake? Feast your eyes on this original comic story written by Hamilton, Anita Blake: The First Death. Or perhaps you’ve a yen for the work of George R.R. Martin? Try The Hedge Knight II: The Sworn Sword.

Well, wouldn’t you know it. Of course Murphy has ended up with a slightly swollen knee this very week, which means that although he’s doing lessons this week, he’s not jumping. So, I ended up with Fleur today and Fleur for the competition on Thursday. Argh. I am glad he should be fine soon again, but the timing really sucks. Fleur is in some ways easier to ride, but last time I had her for a dressage competition she just died once she got inside of the arena all on her own. Since I don’t tend to ride with spurs, she lost all interest in moving forward at a good pace as soon as I put my whip aside. Also, since the jumping will be outside, I’ll be nervous about her being flighty if it is as windy as it has been the last days.

At first, I had myself convinced we were supposed to have a theory lesson today. Then I discovered that no, we were jumping this week and next. Great, I thought, since next Thursday is the dressage and jumping competition I signed up for. Getting a chance to get some extra jumping practice in (though, to be honest, I probably need to practice the dressage more ;P), especially if I could manage to get Murphy, sounded like a good idea.

Unfortunately, Murphy wasn’t doing lessons at all this week. Instead, he’s got the week off for further education with the instructors. They do that now and then with the horses, to get a chance to polish up their training. Good idea, bad timing for me. I really hope he’ll be doing lessons as normal next week and that he will be available for the competition. Our instructor thought so, but she wasn’t certain. However, if I do end up getting him for the competition, she’ll try to place me on him for next Tuesday at least. I am also considering squeezing in a private lesson on Monday or Wednesday, but that will make it a very busy week.