I Speak of Dreams

Girls Horse Club

Via a post at BlogHer, I found another horse blog -- GirlsHorseClub.com.

A New Way of Sharing Multimedia Projects

When I was marketing a horse, I had the tiresome chore of (a) shooting video of the horse in action  (b) editing the various shots (c) replicating it, and  (d) distributing it.

That was a number of years ago, but now there's help -- Limber Media.  It is an online service that will take your video images  (miniDV, DVD, or VHS tape), scan it into their online editing service, and help you with production and distribution.

I can see a lot of applications for this service besides selling horses, of course, like sample videos for artists and entertainers,  making a whole bunch of "here's the new baby!"  videos for distant relatives,  teachers distributing mini-lessons on subjects of interest, etc. etc.

Disclosure: I heard about Limber Media via my nephew Jesse Robbins, and he has more than a passing interest in the company's principal, Allegra Searle-LeBel.  Limber Media's blog is here.

More on Horses Jumping

I made another horse jumping video, herewith:

Each time I make a video, I learn something. Or somethings.

Long Horse

Update: now you, too, can become a long-horse breeder

Boing Boing pointed me to Tinselman's posting on extinct breeds, with more photos curated by Hardy Burmeier .

The first photo on Tinselman's site is (I believe) one from the Spanish Riding School's visit to England after World War Two.

The comments are pretty funny.

Now there's even a Wikipedia entry.

Equestrian Studies at Charter School in New Hampshire

While getting myself educated on for-profit management companies for charter schools, I ran across this article from New Hampshire, on the scheduled opening of a college-prep high school with an emphasis on equine studies.

The New Hampshire Equestrian Academy, under the supervision of Susan Hollins, will have a full academic program plus equine-oriented vocational classes.  Leslie Bryan is  president of the academy’s board of trustees.

The facilities are being provided by  Grant Myhre, DVM, who owns a large farm on which his equine clinic is located. 

I wish them the best of luck -- it looks like they are well-organized and have a clear plan.

JumperGirl and Claudius

I made a video of one of JumperGirl's rounds.  The buzzer sounds to signal the rider   to start the course, and timing starts when the horse passes the timing mechanism (visible as a tripod against the wall of the Dome).  The buzzer at the end indicates that the pair aren't eligible for the jumpoff (another 4-6 fences), because they knocked a rail down.

How a Horse Jumps: The Movie

I made a little movie of a horse jumping one fence.  I don't know who the horse and rider are -- I just grabbed the footage as we were leaving.

Previous post on How a Horse Jumps, and the photo album.

How Horses Jump

This site is a description of how the horse jumps, using the  famous still images shot at Stanford by Eadweard Muybridge:

The problem with the Muybridge images are twofold: the horse isn't a very talented jumper--she isn't using herself well--and the rider appears to be interfering with the horse's natural use of her head and neck in the jumping effort.

Essay (in Dutch)  on the mechanics of jumping, with photos of a horse free-jumping.

(note on the images: I took them all, and manipulated some so the horses' heads are facing to the left).  If you want to see all the images, please look at the photo album.  Commonly we think of horse jumping having 5 phases:

1. Approach Phase (all the strides between the completion of the recovery phase and the  beginning of the take-off phase)

Round One, Round Two Equestrian Update

The Strideaway Farms gang is having a pretty good show, with good performances and (sometimes) ribbons as rewards. 

Is Dressage Judging Accurate

I found this on the way to finding something else.

The conclusion of the study is that the results of the freestyle dressage classes are often biased. The present system of judging should be permanently checked. The offered method of evaluating agreement between judges' rankings may help to improve the consistency of judging and the reliability of the horses' scores.