Showjumping – it’s not for the feint of heart!

So are the days of my life, with that amazing horse. Yes, you know the one, Rocky! The horsey love of my life! I could smother him in kisses if I could. No, wait. I’ve already done that!

But, the brilliant frisian child has managed to destroy yet another bridle. And I said to him when I saw him in the field “That’s why you don’t get nice things!”. He just looked at me as though I was mad. And then proceeded to nuzzle me for carrots!

But, this leads me onto the title of the blog: Showjumping is not for the feint of heart. And it isn’t! Heck! Even dressage isn’t easy! But, their is one amazing person that has mastered both of those disciplines: Kirsty Rault.

Yes, she’s an amazing rider! She is a fabulous dressage rider, and has ridden in the Avis Derby! Not everyone is good enough to ride at that level. We all aspire to ride in the Derby, but, very few of us have what it takes to get there.

I know I have the dream of riding in the Derby one day. But, alas, I fear that I’m too old already. If I had not given up riding about 12 years ago, who knows where I’d be! I might even have ridden in the Derby with Jade Hooke and Kirsty Rault.

But, I must request a moments silence for Kirsty Rault, as earlier this year she tragically lost Cruden Bay to colic. He was a fantastic horse, and I believe that he deserves a moment of silence in his memory.

Now, onto the main topic (again) of this post. Showjumping is hard. I say this because I had my first “jumping” lesson, and let me tell you, it isn’t easy!

Even though I was just trotting over 20-odd centimetre jumps, it was *extremely* difficult! You have to adjust your weight and position in the saddle, and try not to yank the bit. Or even fall off! And that’s the important thing!

They say if you’ve fallen off 7 times, you’re a good rider. I’ve fallen off once, so I’ve got another 6 to go!

And that worries me, because the ground is a lot harder than I am. and even though I have medical aid, I don’t fancy having to phone them and tell them that I fell off. Riders are an injury waiting to happen.

We also have helicopter medical evacuation. Something that’s very reassuring when you find out that this year three, yes, three riders have had to be airlifted away from shows this year! Not very reassuring! That’s another case for dressage being safer than showjumping!

But, it’s a skill that I’m willing to learn. I want to ride in the derby one day, but, alas, that is something every rider wants to do. And with only 22 places available, I’ve got almost no chance of qualifying!

But, I’ll NEVER stop dreaming!

If you could have your life all over again, would you want to?

This might be a little bit of a strange post coming from me, but it’s something that I’ve been pondering about for a while. Given the choice, would you want to be able to live your life all over again? It’s a strange question, but one I’m sure that we’ll all benefit from looking into.

Now I’m not saying my life is bad. Not by a long way. But what I would like is to be able to change a few things I’ve done in my life. Things I’m not proud of, like rolling my car, and losing my temper, and being able to bite my tongue at the right moment. Certain things like that.

Now as for a change of career, I’m sure a lot of people would love to do something like that. Be able to choose a completely different career. Yes, I’m happy with IT, but, there are negative aspects of it that you just can’t overlook. Like needing epic amounts of experience before getting even a basic job. That’s the difficult thing.

The other difficult thing is the never ending “certification wagon” that you have to remain on to have job security. You fall off it for a minute, and in essence you have to start from the beginning. Do not pass go. Do not collect your salary. It is very serious if that happens to you.

Sure, that’s mainly on the networking side of things, where a new “certification pack” comes along every week, and you find yourself receiving training for the rest of your natural life. Programming, on the other hand, is simpler. Choose a language, get certified on it as soon as possible, write your exams, be qualified. Then, receive some extra training every 3 years to remain current on the new language. It’s far simpler.

Now, imagine for just one minute that you could have a different career, where you don’t have to attend a training course every single week. And something where the staff don’t treat you like a piece of dog turd on the sole of their boot.

Equestrian springs to mind as a career right about now.

You experience something very special in this sport. You are one with an animal. He does all of the hard work. He doesn’t complain. He loves it. He is loyal. He is magnificent.

You get an adrenalin rush whilst on horseback. Flying over a jump with your trusted steed. He is amazing. You are, to him, a hero.

You have the opportunity to work with one of the most magnificent animals in the world. Every day. And he’s always happy to see you. He looks to you for reassurance, he looks to you for everything.

Yes, there is the potential to be killed in an accident, or a fall, but, you make peace with that. You are aware that this is a dangerous sport. You are aware that you are in control of a 500 kilogram gun, that is liable to go off at the slightest upset. And he can potentially kill you in the process, albeit accidentally.

It’s that living on the raggedy edge that I enjoy on the horseback. That’s not to say I would do something stupid. Far from it. I wouldn’t dare do anything that A) I’m not capable of B) that would put the horse in danger, or C) put my life in danger. Things like jumping a barbed wire fence, or jumping a jump that’s above the height I’m capable of, or riding without a helmet.

It more has to do with riding an unpredictable animal. An animal that can spook at its own fart, or get a fright from his own shadow. That’s what makes you live on the edge. The fact that horses are not totally predictable.

Horses are in my opinion never bombproof. Certain older horses that have been schooled to within an inch of their lives are called bombproof, meaning they’re stable and predictable. But, I’m not so sure about that. A horse can never be exposed to everything that could scare him. A camera with a large lens might spook him (true story!), and you’ll never know, because you don’t typically bombproof horses against large camera lenses!

Still, I have digressed. It would be a dream career for me. If I was of an excellent standard, I could potentially tour the world, travelling to exotic locations, and meeting famous equestrians, whom I have huge respect for!

And the olympics! Every riders dream! (That and the Avis Derby) The pinnacle of your sport, representing your country on the international stage! Feeling 10 feet tall even coming last. And, if you win it, you will feel like you’re the tallest person alive! And your horse, that special animal in your life, their with you, sharing the moment of glory with you! He, after all, did all of the hard work!

But, it is a mammoth task trying to qualify for the olympics. Even the Derby is a tough event to qualify for. You would need to be at the top of your game, and then improve on it by a million percent. It isn’t for the feint of heart to try to qualify for.

And, then there’s the cost. You need tack, transport, clothing (for you and your horse), food bills (which are astronomically high), vets bills, farriers bills, stabling fees, registration fees, the list is endless. And then there’s the price of your baby. And insurance. And what would happen if he was to fall at a jump and injure himself? Possibly ending his career.

And then there’s your insurance. You need to tell them that you’ve started to ride horses. Something that they’ll rub their hands with glee at, as they class it as a hazardous sport. It’s only dangerous if you fall off is what someone told me once. Still, they don’t see it like that.

But despite all of this, I’d have my life over again and pick up equestrian as my career. It would be an adventure to be the best I can be on horseback.

Still, it’s never too late to start dreaming, and maybe even realising that dream!

That horse never ceases to amaze me!

Now, as I’m sure that you’re aware, I have somewhat of a soft spot for one of my neighbours horses. Rocky specifically. Now as exams are drawing closer by the second, I want to try to get as much riding in as I possibly can! So that’s what I’m trying to do.

So, on Saturday, I took Rocky out around the block. Not our normal route. Oh no. This was way more ambitious! Not nearly as ambitious as the individual legs that Barry Armitage and Joey Dawson ride, but ambitious for Rocky nonetheless.

You see, we normally turn right out of the stables, but I decided to go left. And normally when we go left, we ALWAYS go left again. But, something told me to try Rocky in a different direction. We went right.

Right took us past the bottom of our families property, which is home to another neighbours cows and goats. So, I was quietly praying that there were no cows, or otherwise Rocky would have a puppy right on the spot.

Thankfully, there weren’t any cows that I could see, so he blissfully trotted past, completely unphased by the grazing goats, much to my relief.

Now, I had yet another decision to make. Do I turn right at the end of the road, or do I go left. Both of them were ambitious for me. Right was somewhat more predictable in that there was a predictable amount of traffic, and the route was often used by horses. Left took us on a bridge over the river, and up into our surrounding area. It has a very steep rise, so I would need to dismount, and I wasn’t sure whether or not Rocky would be phased by the flowing river. There would also be dirt bikes and “The World Rally Championship” to contend with.

Now Rocky is unphased by traffic. He is unfluttered by it. Unless it is a truck full of cows. Then he’s a little bit touchy about it.

I decided to take the more sedate route to the right, as I wasn’t quite sure how “my” boy would respond to idiots screaming past throwing up clouds of dust and showering us with dust and stones. I know I wouldn’t be too happy if I was showered with dirt and stones, even being a human!

So, off we went, up the road towards the main entrance towards the suburb. And, as I had predicted, there was a fair amount of traffic, but everyone slowed down for us. He was a darling! He did what he was told to do (most of the time) and he did it without questioning me. He only hesitated once! And that was a first even for him! But circling him soon put him on the right track again.

We didn’t do much trotting, but we were both content with walking. I tried to keep his mind occupied by softly talking to him as we went along, and stroking his neck when he did something right. He was an angel with 4 legs and hooves! I’d never seen him like this before!

He did shy away from a kerb once, but, hey, he did think that the kerb was trying to eat him! After all, we all know that kerbs sometimes do eat horses! :p

Unfortunately, we did pass a herd of cows, but, once again Rocky kept a level head and didn’t spook or try to run a mile from me with me on the ground. He just kept plodding along like nothing was wrong. I felt so proud! I was literally beaming with happiness!

We did do some more trotting on the way back, but not too much, I didn’t want to get him overexcited and do something that we both regretted.

Once we got back to the stables, and he was untacked, he got lots of carrots, because he was such a good boy! I was so proud of him! He did *everything* right (for once!), and he didn’t make a single mistake!

At this stage, I was still beaming from ear to ear with happiness! I was in 7th heaven! And it showed as well! I’d forgotten about all of my worries, all that mattered was that I’d just had one of the best rides of my life!

Now, part of the unwritten agreement that I have with his owner is that I keep her informed about what I did with him, just so she knows what’s been done and who’s who in the zoo.

I walked in and said “Rocky was a compete gentleman! He was an angel! He was a dream!”

Upon hearing that, she burst out laughing and replied “That’s most unlike him! I think we need to get the vet out to have a look at him!” She managed to say that, and then burst out laughing again.

I then raised a somewhat more important question of whether or not he could jump. Because I want to learn to jump, and my instructor and I believe it would be good for the both of us if we were to do something like that over the holidays.

She said that he loves to jump, and he’s terribly lazy (everyone knows that) and prefers to do it at a trot.

That’s both good and bad news for me. It’s good that he loves to jump, but bad news that he does it at a trot. Still, I suppose it’s something that we can work on.

So that’s that riding adventure out of the way. Rocky, the gentleman with hooves!

Have camera, will travel

Well, as you might have gathered from one of my Twitter posts, I’ve recently decided to take my hobby of horses and photography to a whole new level! What I am going to be doing is running my own part-time business doing equestrian photography.

And I’m not talking about graded shows. They’re currently way out of my league. And budget. What I intend to do is start small and work my way up to something like that. Eventually. Given enough time. And money.

When I say “Start small”, I really mean, start small. Don’t start with jumping, or dressage. My plan is to do small, private photoshoots, that involve a person or yard, and their horses. Do some artsy posing shots, or take some pictures of the horses in the stable or the field. Or whatever floats the owners boat.

And the images will be presented on a CD with a copyright logo embedded into the image. For an extra fee, you can have the images separated onto separate CDs according to the respective horse/owner, if the shoot is of a yard.

And printing? I won’t handle it. If you want your images printed, you have the CD, you can do it. I’m not being nasty when I say that, but I don’t have the time or the energy to handle the printing of an image, and then fight with someone because it doesn’t look perfect. Or fight with the printer because there’s a glob of red was stuck in the middle.

Yes, we’ll get canvases printed for you, and send it off, but be assured that it won’t be cheap. Or quick. We’d rather let you handle something like that yourself.

But if you want us to do an image manipulation of one of our images for you, and then print it on canvas for you, we’d be more than happy to do it for you!

And package deals? Things like “Get a photoshoot for your yard and have a canvas of each individual horse for Rx” will be offered, but probably won’t be that popular due to the price of it.

And apart from horses, what else will I do? Well, a bit of pet photography, but, bear in mind that my prices will be rather high for that, as I don’t want to have to trek all the way to Pretoria North, only to have to take a few pictures of someone’s half-dead cat.

Aircraft pictures will also be taken, but I wouldn’t mind doing something like that, due to the fact that I quite like aircraft, and there aren’t too many places you can keep an aircraft in the Gauteng region.

I say Gauteng region, because I don’t feel like travelling too far. University has to come first. Because without a qualification, I’m not really going to make anything of myself later in life.

And why am I doing this? Well, I want a Nikon D3200 and a D7000, and maybe even a D300s don’t I? And where am I going to get the money for those babies from? It’s unlikely that I’m going to win the lotto.

So, we’ll get it properly kicked off and started in around mid-June. That’s when I’m having the first competition draw to win a free photoshoot for you or your yard. Check out http://fb.me/hamratimageworx for more information!

So, I have a camera, and I will travel!

Introducing the Nikon #D3200

So, if you’re into photography, and you’re a fan of all things Nikon and DSLR, then you’ll probably have heard of the brand new Nikon D3200. If you haven’t, you’re either a moron or you’ve been liking with your head up your arse.

Now, forgive me, but announcing this fantastic new camera this far away from a major event (Christmas, CES, etc.) seems quite strange to me. Because you want your product to fly off the shelves. You want people disappointed that they haven’t got it. But, there’s probably always method to madness.

So, the specs on the little beauty: 24 megapixels in your typical run of the mill Nikon DX sensor. And, they wisely have decided to stick with the fabulous Nikon F lens mounting system. (Well let’s be honest here: to change the lens mounting on your entry level camera would be akin to committing company suicide) And once again they’ve chosen not to include an in-body autofocus motor (and I mean seriously, if you need one of those, then the D3200 really isn’t for you. You’re more of a professional. Perhaps consider the D7000 instead?).

I for one currently don’t need one of those. And when the time comes for me to need something like that, I’d probably have outgrown the need for a D3200.

And what about image stabilisation? It’s still in the lens. But, it begs the question: the odd lens that someone *might* want to put on the camera that doesn’t have VR (Vibration Reduction: Nikon’s term for image stabilisation) has to suffer because of it. It would have been nice to have an in-body image stabilisation feature as well, but the kit lenses that will inevitably be supplied with the camera will have it in. And if you’re someone who’s into using lenses without VR, you should probably be looking at the D7000. See my post on “It is all so easy now” (or something like that. It’s been a week since I wrote it, and I couldn’t be bothered to go back and look the correct title up) for the point I’m trying to make.

The apparent lack of release priority also concerns me somewhat. If you’ve bought the camera, you’re undoubtedly going to want to try it out on something fast. And probably very sporty. I will use showjumping as an example.

Release priority is essential for any sports photography as you will be tracking your subject, and the focus will be constantly adjusting, and compensating for the movement, and when the horse is at just the right position over the jump, you want that image taken there and then. You don’t want delays. You want that image taken immediately.

And if you’ve got the D3200 at a showjumping event, taking pictures of your child/friend/spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, you’ll want that image captured without delay.

I mean, how hard can it be to integrate the necessary code into the firmware of the camera? It’s a very, very useful little feature.

Another feature is called “tethered shooting”. In essence what it does is allows you to connect your camera to your computer and control it via a keyboard and mouse, and immediately have the image sent to your PC. Or Mac. Whatever floats your boat. But, this feature isn’t targeted at a D3200 user. It’s targeted at a prosumer, which is what the D7000 is for.

And why don’t they enable the use of non-CPU lenses? Well, if you’ve got a non-CPU lens, then the chances are the D3200 isn’t for you.

I can understand why Nikon haven’t included release priority, in-body focus motor, tethered shooting and support for non-CPU lenses. It all boils down to money. If you were to include all of the features listed above, you’d essentially be left with an enhanced Nikon D7000. And Nikon already have one of those. It’s called the Nikon D7000.

Sure, release priority would be a handy feature to have, but if you really need something like that, then you won’t be buying the D3200.

I’m not trying to put the D3200 down. Not by a long shot. If I wanted to do that, I’d mention the fact that I strongly suspect that they haven’t fixed the battery door problem of the D3100, whereby the battery drops out as soon as you open the door. Even my Sony α330 has something to stop that happening. Oh shit, I just put it down. Oh well.

I can also say that I have my suspicions as to why the D3200 has Eye-Fi support. That’s normally a professional sort of thing. Not many people I know have a need for Eye-Fi. They’re overpriced, delicate, and have an exceptionally short range. I would have dropped support for that, and instead focused on including release priority.

Better still, bundle the new Wi-Fi dongle with the camera. In essence what it allows you to do is control the camera from a smartphone (running Android, with iOS support to come later. And hopefully Windows Phone support coming as well), or to allow you to upload images from the camera to a PC, or the information superhighway.

There is also the DSLRs for Dummies mode on the camera. And to be reasonably fair, you can see who this sort of camera is aimed at. Average consumers who think they need something like this. If they ever change the lens on the camera it will be a miracle, but, alas, I stray. From what I can glean from the brochure, what the mode does is asks you how you’d like the image to look, and it sets the settings to how IT sees fit.

Wouldn’t those people be better off with a Nikon Coolpix of some sort?

And there’s the “Movie mode” that allows you to record movies on the camera. Utterly useless in my opinion. If you want a video, buy a video camera. No-one apart from some nimrod will use it. But, if you remove the feature, no-one will buy your camera. Seems that we’re really stupid as consumers. I know I’d use it just to see how it does, and never touch the button ever again.

There are several nods towards “basic prosumers”. Firstly is the ability to have either a wired or wireless remote shutter release. Something that I believe Sony forgot to put in my α330. Secondly is the ability to use multiple external flashes in a studio environment. But, once again, if you’re using this camera in a studio, wouldn’t you be better served by using a D7000?

And another thing: it isn’t weather sealed. Which means that if you decide to go onto a Durban beach, you’ll be chiseling salt off your sensor for the next 3 lifetimes. Nikon: please, please, please put some sort of basic atmosphere seal on the D3300 when you release it.

As a camera for me, despite all of the features that I want, only release priority, weather sealing and tethered shooting are features that I want. But, they’re things I can work around. Yes, tethered shooting will potentially be a combination of things that Nikon never foresaw being used together, and as for release priority, I’m sure that we can find some sort of way around it (even if it does mean switching to manual focus). As for weather sealing, there’s no way around that, short of using masking tape to seal around the lens and the body, something I’m very nervous about doing.

But, as much as I’m trying to put it down, and also as much as the D7000 is my real dream camera, I have to be realistic. Unless I win the lotto, I can never have what I want unless I wait forever. So, I will make a compromise: I’ll buy the D3200, and make it work for me. Even if it means that I have to use manual focus.

Nikon: once again I take my hat off to you and your engineers!

I’m tired of being screwed by banks!

There. I said it. We probably all are, but when I have paid R50 or so in random bank fees, something is up. That’s an excessive amount, by anyone’s standards. But as a student with fixed payment into my account every week, that starts to hit me where it hurts – in the wallet.

And, to add insult to injury, I received an SMS from my bank saying that there will be no more monthly management fees on my account from the 2nd of April this year. And guess what the did next? They decided to apply a management fee to my account that same day. What am I? Their cash cow? Do I look stupid?

I also made the mistake of not canceling my chip card that I had for the account when I noticed a R100 annual fee coming off the account. Yes, R100!

I’ve raised this issue with them before, but nothing has been done by them. Nothing, jack shit. Diddley squat. Bugger all. It’s almost as though they don’t care that they’re slowly milking you dry. Wait, scrap that. They DON’T CARE that they’re milking you dry, one drop at a time.

So, what am I going to do? I’m going to clean that account out, cancel it, and move to Capitec Bank, as their fee structure is far more reasonable. They don’t charge you a ridiculous amount of money for transactions, they charge you a fixed, one off fee for unlimited transactions. Yes, UNLIMITED! That’s my sort of bank!

And although I have a student bank account with my current bank, which they say is “Specifically designed to help you save, with a reduced number of fees”, they’re lying. I’ve never earned a cent of interest on that account.

They just keep stacking the fees up. Statements (Which I haven’t received for the last year and a half) are charged for, and if I want (Read: Need (As I don’t get statements)) to get one, it’s another R15 for a readout from their systems.

Standard Bank: Give me a break! Pull your heads out of your arse and do something to stop people from migrating away from your bank.

The end is very nigh for you, Standard Bank.

It is all so easy now…

These are just a few examples of the images that I have managed to capture with my camera over the years. Yes, the horses aren’t that brilliant, but that might be due to the fact that I was using “intelligent” autofocus on the camera, which blatantly disregards the horse as the subject of focus. Still, using manual focus is not an option for me, as my eyes are bad enough WITH glasses, so my manual focusing will not be at all good. I could have tried focusing on the bottom of the jump on single autofocus, and time it to perfection when the horse is at the right point over the jump. But that is easier said than done. Much, much easier said than done!

It’s little tricks like this that I have learned from my previous jobs as a photographer.

The other little trick that I’ve learned is “Buy Nikon”. Why? Well, quite simply, no-one can rival their value for money, feature list, and their customer support. Yes, even though I do have a Sony camera, I feel the urge to point and laugh at anyone who doesn’t have a Nikon camera in their hand.

But, on the other hand, Canon is able to give you a very good kit with its entry level DSLRs. You get your standard 18-55mm lens, and some other lens of their choice. It won’t be the mighty 18-300 F2.8, but it’ll probably be a 70-300mm with any luck. You’ll also get a bag, and a spare battery, and even a reasonably sized memory card as well.

But that doesn’t mean Nikon can’t do the same! For R22,500 you can get the Nikon D7000, an 18-105mm and a 70-300mm lens, a memory card, a bag, and a spare battery! I used to use that lens, and let me tell you, putting it in that kit for that price, it’s a steal of a kit! It’s a semi-pro camera, with a bloody good pair of lenses! What more could you need?

Of course, with the price of DSLRs dropping by the day, will there be any market left for the normal “point and shoot” camera? You can get a Nikon D3100 with a couple of kit lenses and battery for a cheap price, and it makes you wonder if people still want a normal camera anymore.

You are, after all limited by the lens of a “point and shoot” camera. Digital zoom is a waste, all it does is crop the image. So you could end up with a 50 * 50 image of a flower. However, with a DSLR, you can get the lens you need, and shoot the picture just how you want to do it. And you can keep getting new lenses for the camera as long as you have the camera, provided the manufacturer doesn’t decide to go bankrupt, or worse, discontinue the lens mounting.

But most people should be happy with the “point and shoot” cameras. But, they insist on buying DSLRs. When I was at Easter Festival, I couldn’t help but notice that there were hardly any “point and shoot” cameras in the crowd. Nearly every person in the crowd who had a camera had a DSLR. And it wasn’t even at their eye! They were using the “live view” feature! I mean, seriously. You’re not doing it right. You’ve got a D7000 and you’re using “live view”? I felt like saying to them “Give me the camera, fool! You don’t need that!”

People like to think that they’re photographers, but they’re not. That’s what digital photography has done to us. It makes us think that we’re good photographers, but the truth is, most of those people aren’t photographers arses! And with the advent of Photoshop that allows us to fix our mistakes, any fool can take a half-decent picture, and try to make it great, and then bullshit the world into thinking it’s the greatest thing ever to grace the face of the planet.

I know that I’m not artistic, not by a long way. But I try my best to capture what I see through the lens of whatever camera I’m using. And let me tell you, it is not easy to do. It takes skill, and finesse. And patience, and an aptitude for the job. A Nikon training course doesn’t give you that. All it does is teach you how to use the camera on a basic level. It teaches you not to put a giant lump of cheese in the place of the lens. It doesn’t teach you about the important things, like how to adjust your exposure compensation, ISO and aperture to compensate for the light.

And that’s what is so important about being a photographer. You need to be able to adapt your shooting style to the conditions at hand. Only a handful of amateurs are able to do that correctly on the fly without having to resort to a notebook, or a manual, or a guide.

“I can fix it with Photoshop” is what I’ve heard people say. Certain things you can fix with Photoshop, but if the image is out of focus, not even NASA is able to get that right!

The people who still use film: I take my hat off to them! They are aware that they have to have the right film in the camera. They will be able to gauge the shutter speed correctly, the aperture, and probably even be able to get the timing of a shot just right. Because every single shot counts with film. There’s no room for mistakes.

But it does raise an interesting issue: If you’re doing a showjumping class of even 25 horses, you’ll need a lot of rolls of film. If you’re shooting 5 jumps, with a fall every 5 riders, which will take 5 images, and you do a headshot, a canter shot, and get some pictures of the crowd, it’ll quickly add up to a massive amount of film that will need to be processed. I don’t know how companies used to do it before, but I take my hat off to them.

Once the shot was taken, that was it. No going back. No viewing it on the camera and deciding you didn’t like it. Once the shutter was released, that was it. That shot was final. Cast in stone. Irreversibly committed to film. For life. FOREVER.

And here we are in 2012, with digital cameras that make people think they are professionals, when, in fact, they are blithering idiots. With film, you had to think about so many things, but now with the advent of digital images, that are effectively free, you can shoot rubbish images to your heart’s content.

It used to be so different…

Now I understand…

As I’m sure you remember, in my very first post, I lamented and criticised horsey people for going to the shops in their riding attire, smelling of horse, and not bothering to change. I also said that I would *never* do that, not as long as I was of sound mind. And when I dated a rider, I would insist that they wore jeans, just because stable clothes should stay at the stable.

But, oh how times have changed. I’m now singing a completely different tune. I’ve made a complete 180 degree turn in my opinion of jodhpurs, and paddock boots.

“And why is that?”, I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you.

It is because I now own the aforementioned items of clothing.

“But why don’t you change before going to the shops?” is the other question that I hear you screaming at me.

Well, apart from it being convenient, and who doesn’t like something that’s convenient? I most certainly do!

And, it makes me feel as though I have a certain amount of class. Especially with a leather hat.

Yes, the pockets on the jodhpurs are impractical,  but, then again you don’t buy jodhpurs for the pockets, you buy them for riding a horse with! Something I do, albeit not every day. So that’s why I bought a second-hand pair.

And what about the jodhpur boots? Well, the pair of boots that I wanted to buy weren’t designed for riding, but, alas, the Hi-Tec shop didn’t sell them. What they sold instead looked *exactly* like jodhpur boots. But with a carbon fibre toecap. And a steel shank. And acid proof. And heat resistant up to 300 degrees. Because they’re actually welding boots, and they just so happen to look *exactly* like jodhpur boots!

But, whether or not I could actually compete in them was another story. I couldn’t ask the guys in the shops, as they don’t know one end of a horse from the other. So I decided that on the way back I would stop in at the shop were I bought the jodhpurs, and ask them. They said exactly what I suspected they would. They were completely legal.

But, just to confirm what they said, I took a picture of them and sent it to my riding instructor, just to get an official opinion. She also agreed with the tack shop, and she said that she was also interested in them, and I must let her know how well they wore, and if I encountered any issues with them.

So, I’m now testing a pair of jodhpur boots, and having a whale of a time going to the shops in jodhpurs!

Some questions for you

Right, it’s time for some questions regarding my blog. I’ve decided to ask you, the reader, what you think of my blog. Does it have too much of “This”, and not enough of “That”? If it does, you can share your views on this post!

Please note: You can only vote once per poll

 

 

 

 

 

The results will be released in August 2012

The Horses Prayer

The Horse’s Prayer

- I’m only a horse, dear Master, but my heart is warm and true.
I’m ready to work my hardest, for the pleasure of pleasing you.

Good corn, hay and water, are all that I wish to ask.
And a warm dry bed to rest on, when I’ve finished my daily task.

Don’t strike me in needless anger, if I’m slow to understand,
but encourage my drooping spirits with a gentle voice and hand.

Finally, O my master! When my health and strength are gone -
When I’m getting old and feeble, and my long life’s work is done -

Don’t sell me to cruel or strange owners, to be slaved to my last breath,
But grant me the untold blessing of a quick and painless death;

That, as you have always found me a patient and loyal friend,
The years of my faithful service may be crowned by a peaceful end.

I plead in the name of the Savior, Who cares when the sparrows fall.
Who was born in a lowly stable, and knows, and loves us all!

Your Faithful and loving friend,

The Horse