We met with Katie yesterday to do conditioning work with Tumbleweed and Epona, and it was clear that a month off had done them no favors.
It was Tumbleweed’s third ride since getting back to work, but Epona’s first.
Tumbleweed’s attitude has been exceptional. He is 100% trying to do his job with a good attitude. It reminds me of the saying, “the mind is willing, but the body’s weak.”
Katie didn’t want to overdo it, so she stopped after about 30 minutes and handed him over to me to do light obstacle work.
He did everything for me, and more. We ended up dragging the log all around the park. He loves that “obstacle” now.
Which reminds me, I’m putting together a private cow clinic for me and my friends at a local ranch. We’re trying to decide on the date, but it’s looking like the end of September. I can’t wait! Tumbleweed is going to love it! All day with my horse, good friends, and some cows. Perfect.
I talked to Katie about his lack of conditioning and a plan to get him back in shape. She thinks one day of the collection work and the rest trails will be enough to bring him back. So, she’s going to do the collection work and I’m going to do the trails.
I’m adding an extra day of collection work this week on Friday. The forecast calls for rain for the next five days, but I look forward to working in rain. I probably won’t get a trail ride in due to my babysitting schedule, but grandson starts two day per week preschool again next week.
In fact, that reminds me that I will have my grandson in tow Friday, too. (Good thing for Katie!)
He enjoys sitting and watching us ride horses, but his tolerance is about an hour and a half. After that, he needs to walk around and be part of it.
While Katie rode Epona through the obstacles yesterday, daughter and grandson walked around and petted the horses. One was a fjord who is used as a local ambassador. Her name is Dolly.
Dolly’s owner called the grandson over to see Dolly and even gave him a trading card with Dolly and all her stats as part of the COPS and SCOPE program.
On the way home he clung to his card and kept spelling out her name and talking about her.
D-O-L-L-Y, Dolly.
Before he went to bed, we asked if he could spell Dolly, and sure enough, he remembered and spelled it out for us just from that 10 minute drive home.
Sweet Dolly really is a unicorn. A magical ambassador for horses.
I want to circle back to my anti-data center and AI post from a few months ago. Back then, I was blissfully unaware that a hyperscale data center had targeted our area and was in talks with our local politicians and energy providers, hiding behind NDA’s.
A stay at home mom put in a records request and uncovered the plot just in time for the community to impose a moratorium and figure out how to proceed in our best interests. If they had filed for permits it would have been too late. (Their sneakiness worked against them.)
This isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. Both parties are in on it and my state is number 10 in numbers of data centers, even though we have a MASSIVE energy shortage and drought.
The one trying to go in about five miles from us wants to tap into our aquifer, which could drain our private wells.
They purchased 500 acres under a shell company formed in Deleware. It would be a hyperscale data center and will eventually take 1.2 GW of electricity to run. That is more than our entire city and county at peak, and we don’t even have it to give.
That doesn’t stop them. They’re going to piece it together and even get some from the neighboring state of Idaho.
It’s INSANE!
I found out that much of this is being financed by SWF’s, or sovereign wealth funds, who are dumping US Treasuries for gold, land, energy, and water. Hard assets.
Lovely.
Many of these hyperscale data center projects will be like Malls for tech where they can rent out space to run their AI programs.
Big. Ugly. Tech Malls.
Man, I hate where this is going.
I am with you about data centers- they want to build a huge one here in Alberta smack dab in the middle of prime farm land. No matter how they sugar coat it, it isn't good for the environment or for local land owners. And we have enough of them already! Go build one in the Sahara desert!!!
ReplyDeleteNice to see Tumbleweed getting back in action, I bet he is going to shine in that cow clinic.
Does your grandson like to ride?
Unfortunately, we don’t have a horse that is quite right for my grandson at this age. But soon he will be able to get rides on Tumbleweed. He might be able to even now. In fact, he’s down here at the arena with me at the moment and it might be a good time to put him up there.
DeleteThe data center push is just heartbreaking. And don’t get me started on the rogue AI that broke out this summer and last spring.
Good plan with Tumbleweed. The fact that you feel your young grandson can begin riding him soon, says a lot about a horse. Cow Clinic? Fun!! I did not know you did/liked working cattle. Looking forward to reading about the clinic.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing good to say about Data Centers. If a person uses a phone or computer, they are most likely fueling the need. Even those of us that don't want to contribute to the inevitable destruction of our planet. Sad but true.
I never get opportunities to work cattle, although we are surrounded by them on every side of our property. About 20 or so years ago, we boarded at a facility with two indoor arenas and a herd of cattle, and they hosted weekly team penning, sorting, roping competitions. We would sometimes make a group of 3, me, my husband, and daughter—to team pen for fun.
DeleteTweed hasn’t had any experience with them, so I thought it would be fun and give him something new to do to gain confidence.
Yes, it seems they are also moving us towards more and more reliance on their remote products, like the Cloud for our photos, rather than keeping them on our desktop computers or storage drives. I remember when Microsoft Office became a pay monthly, rather than a one time purchase. The money is made in renting access and storage.
The big hyperscale buildup is more about powering AI and even quantum computing, robotics, etc. Hard to say where this all ends up. There’s only so much energy and water and farmland.