Round the Campfire ~ April

**jennaboo88** · #1 04-01-2012, 10:41 PM

Hello everybody, and happy April! Of course, it's also April Fool's day. Did any of you pull a prank or get pranked?

(From last month's Campfire.)

Hi Robert. Wow, that's quite a feat! Did I read that right? 3 x 8 feet?! Wow, that's amazing! Keep us posted on the progress. It's looking great.

Ok, well, it's nearly my bedtime, so I'll catch up with you all later.

Donald_Smith · #2 04-02-2012, 07:01 AM

Morning campers, rise and shine! Breakfast is on, home grown eggs, with sausage links, with bread and butter and a glass of milk.

I had a great time at my son's house over the weekend. My grand daughter wasn't ready for us to leave.

Oh, for you horse savey people. We stopped at the college yesterday so my daughter could see the horses. There were a bunch of people in top hats and tails, they would each take turns riding around the arena, the horse was just prancing. They all took the exact same route, then they would leave the ring. I'll probably offend someone, but it all looked pretty silly to me. What is what the riders were doing called?, and what were they grading them on? and what is the point? It was a competition, they had numbers on their backs. My daughter of course wanted to stand there and watch for hours instead of minutes. We had a park to get to, it was beautiful weather.

Thanks,
Don

Mustbenuts · #3 04-02-2012, 10:24 AM

Morning Don. The riding competition you watched is called Dressage and the classes you saw were a very advanced level probably international. Lower level riders dress in less formal English riding attire jodphurs, boots etc. Think of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna or the Disney movie The Miracle of the White Stallions to picture the style of riding. The movements can also be set to music and the performance is beautiful to watch.

Horse are trained from the most basic walk, trot, canter, halt and then move through more progressively difficult levels, building on the skills they have already gained. Each test at each level is judged on the movements/skills necessary. Scoring is on a scale of 1 to 10 for each skill from the time the horse enters the ring and does the halt and salute to the judge. It's a very disciplined sport with tremendous attention to detail. A beginning test can have 20 different parts to be judged.

The point will have a different response from each person you ask.

At its most basic, I see it as a perfect balance of horse and rider moving as a pair with the movement you would see from a horse free of constraint.

Have I manage to confuse or bore you to death?

KJSieloff · #4 04-02-2012, 11:24 AM

Mornin' campers!

Don, thanks for breakfast!

And I'll add a little to what Andrea stated. The 'prancing' you referred to by the horses - these movements are usually very precise, the horse is taught to respond to different signals from the rider's toes, heels, knees, or maybe a small touch by the bridle. I've never gotten into dressage myself, so I'm a little over my head here. But the overall goal to my understanding is for the horse to do things like change directions, prance, sidepass, without the signals from the rider being detectable.

Kate

**jennaboo88** · #5 04-02-2012, 11:54 AM

Good morning, everyone!

Hi Donald. I can see why you'd think that dressage might look silly, but it is really an art form in itself. If you go to YouTube and search for "Amazing Dressage" and click the first video on the list (Andreas Helgstrand), you'll see how intricate it can be. It's definitely a different way for a horse to move. It's different, but quite beautiful.

Mm, thanks for the good breakfast!

Hi Andrea. Welcome to the Campfire!

You must know a fair bit about dressage. I never have seen it in person, but anything that involves watching horses is something I love.

Hi Kate. Hey, you didn't have to make breakfast today.

Hi to everyone! Have a great day!

Lisa M · #6 04-02-2012, 01:48 PM

Dressage without soring is fine. The top ones are mesmerizing to watch, but I still prefer a naturally moving horse. I agree with you, Don--it looks pretty silly. You don't see a horse in the wild moving along with its chin tucked into its chest. Now that I've opened the proverbial can of worms, I think I'll duck on outta here.

As long as the horses are trained without pain or coercion, it's all good.

Donald_Smith · #7 04-02-2012, 06:13 PM

Thanks to everyone for the replies about dressage. I actually own The White Stallions movie, and could see the similarities, but the thing I say wasn't near as good as the movie.

Donald

mtnrunner · #8 04-03-2012, 08:36 AM

Morning gang
Did somebody say April? Looks more like January- we have close to a foot of new snow and still coming down. Our power was out all night and still clunky this morning/ so much for my gardening plans. Gotta love this spring weather - sat. I wore shorts and a tank top to run.
I didn't know all that about dressage-interesting
Thanks for breakfast but I had vegan buckwheat/flaxseed pancakes with organic blue agave syrup. Yum.

KJSieloff · #9 04-03-2012, 09:56 AM

Mornin' campers!

Deb, your breakfast does sound yummy! Stay warm girl!

Ya know gang, pancakes do sound good this morning. I'll make some whole wheat blueberry pancakes, and serve some prickly pear syrup - or some blueberry syrup for anyone who wants it. Gotta have some protien, so I'll poach an egg for anyone who wants it too. Sorry Deb, can't do the vegan thing yet! HA!!

Have a meeting in a few, y'all have a super Tuesday!

Kate

**Catherine1** · #10 04-03-2012, 11:45 AM

Love your breakfasts Kate! Think I'll have another cup of Joe too.

Lisa..Its funny how animals and people get along to do different things and feel odd about how others approach the same subject.. Gee.. its a lot like art isn't it? ( Do you remember the western style they were doing about 10 years back? We called them the peanut rollers.. Why anyone would make a horse keep his nose tucked into the ground is beyond me.)

Ah Deb.. that sucks.. You may be surprised though when you open the boxes though, snow is a wonderful insulator. Hope it all melts..

Don.. Your daughter sounds head over heels horse crazy.. What a wonderful way to be..

Andrea.. It is beautiful to watch.. I love it when the music plays and they dance...

Hi Jen!!! Kittens yet?

Been busy painting.. catching up on pot throwing.. Hubby is almost done with the dry walling. Means it will be on-ward to finishing my studio. (Ron.. I would have paid big bucks to have you come over and do this! The learning curve has left dust everywhere and its taken two weeks.. dust everywhere every day.. for days.. and days.. and days... ::sigh:

Hope all you cowpokes are doing well... painting.. and playing.

Jo Castillo · #11 04-03-2012, 05:27 PM

Wow, I was wondering why there was no campfire in my wetcanvas box. Ah, it is April and I haven't commented. Sigh...... So hard to teach this old dog tricks.

Don, I'm glad you asked the question and got the dressage pot stirred up. I like to see it, but am usually more interested in action, like a cutting horse contest!

Deb, I can't imagine snow, it is 86 outside here at the moment. Nice evenings and nights and haven't had to use the air in this newer house.

I got a merit award on my Breakfast View painting in the Austin Pastel Society show and then one of the other artists bought it for her MIL for Mother's Day. How nice is that??

I finished painting a donation for another APS silent auction where the money will go to charity. It isn't really Southwest, although it is all Texas wildflowers, so I will show it to you. It is box about 7 inches high, turns like a lazy susan. I painted 6 three inch pastels for it. Bought the box at Hobby Lobby. Really for photos, but have done similar boxes before and they sell when regular paintings don't in a thing like that.

Hope the rest of you are doing well.

Later.....

Donald_Smith · #12 04-03-2012, 10:10 PM

Catherine, yes my daughter is horse crazy.

Jo - I prefer a little, (okay a LOT) more action. I love to white water kayak. Search for Eric Jackson on the web, he is a white water rodeo winner many times over. WAY beyond my skill levels. The Dressage would have been interesting if they had done more than just prance around the arena. I've seen the White Stallion movie and they were very impressive animals.

G'night mates!
Donald

KJSieloff · #13 04-04-2012, 10:21 AM

Goooood Morning campers!!!!!! *Pots and pans rattling***

Y'all have slept long enough!!!!!

Jo - I saw where you got the award on your breakfast view painting - that painting is beautiful! Congrats on the sale as well! I love the box! What a cute idea!

Mornin' Donald! I can understand horse crazy....be patient with your daughter!

Mornin' to the rest of the camfire!!

Kate

**Catherine1** · #14 04-04-2012, 11:36 AM

Morning everyone!!!!

Jo.. Congrats on your win! I really love those boxes.. The flower seem to glow.
K Kate.. I'm up.. Can't help but be up. We have a new alarm clock. Totally green and all. Comes in the form of a silly male robin who thinks he wants in the house. Every morning at first light he flutters against the window. Just the one window.. Every morning. He did it last year too and he got his girlfriend to start doing it. I saw him sitting on the railing a few days ago and just knew it was him. Yup next morning 6:30 he was tapping and fluttering. Last year we put newspaper up on the window, silly bird just continues to do it. Never dreamed he would be back.. Ugh.. Joe jokingly said to tape up glue traps. We don't want to hurt him. We are hoping to open the window and capture him for relocation. Wondering how far to take him and if they are so territorial that he would suffer emotionally. (Joe says he is not the brightest bird in the flock and would probably never 'get it.' ).. Bad, bad, bird..

mtnrunner · #15 04-04-2012, 11:56 AM

Catherine, so funny!!! How about taping up a picture of an owl on that window?
At least he's not a woodpecker, convinced your house is full of worms. We get that on occasion.

I got notice that two of my paintings in the show down in ABQ won awards - that's cool. Only now I feel obligated to attend the opening. Which means I have to dress up. Which means, I have to go shopping (and I hate shopping) because, I currently have two sets of clothes. Clothes with paint on them, and clothes with even MORE paint on them. One of the folks from the jury who called said, "Oh, this is New Mexico, a nice pair of jeans, and a blazer will be just fine!". Well, great. I only own one pair of jeans, slightly soiled with paint,(does that count as "nice"?) and do not have a blazer.
I work in my pajamas, remember. And then put on running clothes. I seldom have to appear in public, so this sort of thing just stresses me out. Maybe not going is easier (certainly cheaper)

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