Somewhere in my blog I have a link to this movie, and I found it again today while I was looking for something else. I think it is worth posting again.. so here it is.. I hope you like it. It took an enormous amount of physical work to make them look as though they are flying. Very clever!
I made some new horse friends today. Here is a young colt I played with this afternoon. I had him follow me on the lead line, and moved him around with a gentle porcupine game, with lots of scratching and petting in between. He is quite sweet and very much a worrier, so I spent a lot of time kneeling down and letting him sniff my hair and my jacket. Having me down low like that really helped his confidence because each time I stood up and walked away he followed with less hesitation.
Here is his pasture-mate, a sweet filly who kept interrupting us by trying get in on the fun and games. Each time I would walk around the colt she would come up beside him and look over his back like this to see what I was doing. She would reach out and nuzzle my arm and head, smell my pockets and try to walk through the lead line her buddy was connected to. She is also the half sister to the little dude
Here you can see the mischievous one sticking her tongue out while the shy one looks on.
It was a beautiful day and I wish I had taken my camera with me.. luckily the cellphone camera saved the day with these few photos. I hope you had a good day too! :)
Cool animation! The song is Ankle Injuries by Fugiya & Miyagi.
Here is the Fujiya & Miyagi web site.
I bet you didn't know this, but parrots are into recycling and composting. Tyler can recycle 4 feet of packing paper into a cave/nest/playground and then compost it into tiny shredded bits while playing hide and seek. Who needs a paper shredder?
I made pizza for dinner tonight. Garlic and herb dough topped with a bruschetta topping because I didn't have any tomato sauce. Mushrooms, olives, red onion, marinated artichoke hearts, a few pepperoni, and shredded assiago, provolone, parmesan & fontina cheeses covering the whole thing like a winter blizzard.
My assistant, who doubles as a walking vacuum tells me I should take fewer photographs and add more pepperoni.
Melty goodness ready to be enjoyed with more wine. Mmmmmmm
My stat counter isn't showing much activity for the Flatland blog over the past few days. I guess everyone is out shopping till they drop, or working too hard at school & work to come by and read.
Nothing much to report here except it's my one year anniversary at work today. Whoop! What have I gotten besides a pay raise, and sleep deprivation? Sore wrists, epicondylitis, a few colds, and poor sleep habits. I guess the pay wins out in this equation where the other factors are negative. I wonder how long I'll last physically and mentally.
For your viewing pleasure I present to you Truck Pull fashion. Yes, I admit I went to a truck pull.. it wasn't my idea but I knew if I took my camera I'd have an okay time. I had an okay time. Along with all the grimy jeans, backwards baseball caps, endless spitting and a cigarette in nearly every hand there were the t-shirts. This one was better than most.
My friend once told me that I should consider selling my photographs to an online image gallery. I have been giving that idea some thought and have found a place to sign up with. I realized that I have a very diverse collection of images that many people could find useful.. and so why not try and sell some of these photographs? M has been telling me that I should do the same thing with my photographs, but you know how it is when you hear things from friends vs. hearing the same things from people who are close to you...
Can you tell what this is a picture of?
WHITE BALANCE Magazine...A special publication for those photographers who can never seem to get a firm grasp of digital technology.
I was looking at someones photographs on Flickr this morning and in their photo set they had made a magazine cover using a picture of their cat. I didn't want to use the Flickr program so I went into Photoshop and designed my own magazine cover. Feel free to subscribe in the comments section.
White fluffy stuff fell from the sky this morning, and Jack couldn't bark enough about how excited he was to see it (and eat it) again. 
Ack.. it's in my eyes... blink, blink.
Appropriately brought to you by Garnier Fructis: 
skullet:
"This subspecies of mullet refuses to let go of its cherished plumage. Too many years of Pabst Blue Ribbon and 7-11 hookers have made this mullet confused and nonsensical. What isn't on top, it more than makes up for in the back. It keeps its locks locked-up in a ponytail for good luck and to keep the chicks hot".
Jane: Bobby your daddy has a skullet!!!
Bobby: No he aint go no dog gone sku-let.
Jane: oh yeah he do Bobby
Bobby: Hey woman how bout you go get me a beer?
Jane: *heads for the fridge*
That is what she was saying as I took this photograph. I didn't really understand why until the horse got closer and I could see all the restraints it was wearing. Clearly this woman wasn't proud of what she was doing.
I was at this stable in California for a natural hoof trimming clinic, and the barn adjacent to where the lecture was being given was as quiet as a morgue. The word morgue is what keeps coming to mind because the horses that were in the stalls were alive but they weren't living, if you know what I mean. It was really, really sad.
When the people from the hoof clinic walked into that barn during the lecture break there was no nickering, no whinnies heard. Instead we saw horses tied to the walls IN THEIR STALLS, wearing these contraptions to "train" their tails to stay in this upward bent position. It was AWFUL!! The horses were miserable.
I started to feel this anxiety, and I couldn't understand why then I realized that it was coming from the horses. I left the barn and went as far away from it as I could to clear my head before the lecture resumed. For the rest of that weekend I stayed away from that barn.
How uncomfortable does this horse look? This is about as far from Parelli Natural Horsemanship as one can get. I think it's a perfect illustration of how humans inflict unnatural standards upon animals. "It should move like this, it should carry its head, and tail like that" etc.. I felt bad when I saw these pictures so I decided to post them so that everyone can see how gross and unharmonious this is.
Here is something much nicer to look at..
One night when I was driving home, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this beautiful sight.
