Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Yeah, I would not want to live in *either* of my cyberpunkish worlds. There's some damned ugly stuff there.

I use one over my hips to ease tight muscles in my back. Somehow they always want to wait to cramp on me after I've been in bed for twenty minutes. Heating pad, though? Big difference.

Imagine being this angry all the time. My business is defense and most of us aren’t even close to this level of rage on a day to day. Like the weird E6 in the company that can’t PCS talks like this when you hang around the smoke pit too long.

But not a lot of neon (none, really). A short sequence of political exile in Japan, spent mostly in labs and on the ski slopes.

Everything else is heavy outdoor, heavy into digital uploads or digital thought clones and...hints of food shortages that impact even the wealthy. Grungepunk.

Aesthetic shorthand, probably:
Netwalk Sequence: skipunk and biohack
Martiniere Multiverse: agripunk and rodeopunk.
Both series depend heavily on nanos, bots, biobots, nanobiobots....
(yes, I do have a thing about bots, m'kay?)

Weelll, I do have an entry. My Netwalk Sequence series is more of a PNW aesthetic for cyberpunk, with a greater focus on biohacks. Mmm, come to think of it, elements also pop up in my Martiniere Multiverse books.
But they are nowhere near '80s aesthetics. Nowhere near.

ball spurs, or non-roweled spurs. Again, I've seen a lot worse.

Police brutality using a trained animal. Whether that's a horse pushing into crowds, or dogs attacking protestors (as we saw in the '60s), let's call it what it is. Police brutality.

(look, you could argue the same thing about police dogs)

The oaf is an oaf but he's doing nothing worse than I've seen in a beginner group lesson...or a dude string trail ride. He's not a sensitive and aware rider. And at least those are roweled spurs, with more diffuse pressure than

There's competitive dressage and then classical, non-show dressage. I'm pushing back on using this as an example of abuse because...that leads to a slippery slope making just about everything people do with horses abusive and...no.

The problem is police brutality. Not animal abuse.

Because you will see the same sort of spur usage.

If he'd used them in the flank, well, that would have had a bit of a bucking fit happening.

And those spurs are in the barrel, not the flank.

Ever seen a dressage competition, especially piaffe?

Citation, please, because I want to see what researchers are doing to distinguish between fear and excitement. Also take a hard look at the horse when he starts pushing into people. That's training.

Nope, I'm speaking from experience and having seen reactive horses in action. I'm seeing a trained horse doing his job in spite of an oafish rider. Like I said...the long rein and the bit is the giveaway. You're less-experienced and seeing abuse. Focus on the action, not the horse.

If the horse was being forced, with that long of a rein and that much of an opening, the horse would take advantage of the situation and whirl away. He's not. He's excited because of the situation but he's not trying to escape. That tells me--trained horse for crowd control.

The horse body language does not say fear and force, it says excitement. Spurs in themselves are not abusive, they're a tool for cueing.

If the horse was being *forced* into this situation, he would be trying to get away, especially given the mild bit and the oaf's long rein. Yes, it can be done with more finesse, but I'm damned glad we're seeing oafs and not more finesse in this situation.

Let's save the label ABUSIVE for more egregious behavior and condemn the actions taken by police, not veer off into mistaken plays for sympathy using so-called animal rights arguments. If the horse was being forced into this situation you would not see him willingly pushing into people like that.

That's a SNAFFLE which is more forgiving than a CURB which has shanks and leverage. That tells me in this situation the horse is well trained because the oaf of a rider doesn't need to worry about a runaway. The spurring is on the level of cueing, though abrupt due to the oaf's excitement.

Reins are too long for effective hanging on the mouth and dear ghod, have you seen some of the abusive stuff that happens in certain competitions? Yes, it gets condemned but...the mouth is not gaping, the horse is excited but you'll see the same behavior with a wound-up racehorse ready to run.

Well...I'm one handshake away from C. Peter Wagner of Church Growth/Seven Mountains Mandate fame.

With a chair seat and too long a rein, to boot.

Nah, the horse is one trained to push people with his body. Some geldings are that way--my Foxtrotter would do that and hoo would he be dangerous if he had that training. Standard police horse training, though. A non-trained horse wouldn't push into people even with being spurred.

Now the guy is riding with stirrups too short and his seat is crap. A schooled dressage rider or someone better trained in horse warfare could manage it, but you're seeing poor training both in horse and in rider.
(note: not condoning, speaking as an equestrian).

Snaffle with a tie-down and lemme tell you, that's mild. No gaping mouth which is a sign of serious yanking. His reins are too long for what he's trying to do which is why he's pulling. The horse has been trained to push against people and may be a wee bit overeager, but it's not super-anxious.

mothermayhem protestants: god is not an absent father! talk to god like a friend! god is always with you! bring your problems to god, no matter how small! it's not at all weird to call god "daddy!" catholics: god is far too important to give a fuck about your lost keys or your algebra exam. please address your petty concerns to one of god's ten thousand holy secretaries. if it's really important, consider asking his mom.

I have so much Holy Envy over saints. I do not want to bother Adonai with my paranoid worries about my dinner party, I want to talk to the Patron Saint of Hospitality or whatever

Obscene as hell.

Not a Hit Air for me, but I do have a Tipperary vest for riding on pavement. Marker-boy is pretty steady for the most part, but...he can bolt when startled.

I don't play follow back games.