Qsilv

Running on sand is a kind of classic training device for both humans AND horses (especially distance marathoners)... builds strength and flexibility in a way no hard surface work-out can. You get less direct impact shock, but you're forced to use muscles/tendons/ligaments in a lateral way to keep upright, not just bone. Gotta build up to this gradually tho... if you start out forcing yourself (or your horse) to do all you're used to doing on hard ground (or wet sand), you'll strain something for sure.

Brunnhilde

I know nothing about horses - BUT I have heard of a "manege" [pronounced as if there is a grave accent on the first 'e'] and saw how one was built on a recent "Grand Designs" programme here in the UK. And I always understood that a manege was an area where horses could be schooled or trained, so it is interesting to have Qsilv's explanation. Another snippet of information that may come in useful some time!

Brunnhilde

... and I just love the cat and toilet story. My beautiful Ross (his portraits in my early gallery) used to sit on the edge of my bath, and patted the water and licked my knees dry over and over: was he worried about me being wet, or did my knees taste nice? Both his mother and his sister used to love a gently running tap and again would sit by basins and pat the stream of water.

Aren't cats the most wonderful creatures? I have a grey tabby long-haired beauty as a neighbour now and her amazing tail is as wide as her body.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to South Sudan, Fred Savage, Shelton Benjamin, Kelly Holcomb, Trent Green, Mark Stoops, Kevin Nash, Tom Hanks, Jimmy Smits, John Tesh, O.J, Simpson, Dean R. Koontz, John Casper, Richard Roundtree, Brian Dennehy, David Hockney!, Michael Graves !!!, Lee Hazelwood, Ed Ames, Mervyn Peake and Dame Barbara Cartland!!!

marius

Thanks Qsilv ... fun to learn new things. Great explanation! Checked out fitness training in sand and there is indeed a great deal of info, but mostly for people. I've run on (in?) loose dry sand before, not something I enjoyed but can see that it would aid in fitness. : )

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Thanks for introducing the subject, marius. Thanks also for the logical explanation, Q.

Dragon

I know whenever I've done much walking or running in loose sand my calves have always gotten quite a work out. I've usually kept to the wet sand part because it's easier.

As for cats and bathtubs, every cat I've had has been fascinated with me when I'm taking a bath. My last boy Ozzy would often sit on the edge and drink the bath water, his tail would frequently drop into the water and he wouldn't ever notice. He was a goof.

lynnspotter

Happy Birthday to Mike Lee!! (likemee)

Baldur

Happy Birthday to likemee, Antonio Brown, Elijah Blue Allman, Orlando Jordan, Silvetty Montilla, Johnny Grunge, Urban Meyer, Bela Fleck, Tommy Bowden, Cheryl Wheeler, Greg Kihn, Arlo Guthrie, Arthur Ashe, Pyotr Klimuk, Ronnie James Dio, Fred Gwynne, Bobo Brazil, David Brinkley, Reg Smythe, Blind Boy Fuller, Jack 'Legs' Diamond, Marcel Proust, Nikola Tesla!!!!!, Adolphus Busch, Camille "Pissarro, Emma Smith, John Calvin, King James III of Scotland and Emperor Go-Hanazono.

Baldur

Baldur has been busier than a one-armed paperhanger this Summer.
I hope everyone is well.
The cats are doing well. the garden is superb this year.
I also have a tale about Switzerland to relate, and have I even touched upon the mallards here at Boughbreak? 3 females have used the neighbor's tiny pond as a nursery. We are overrun with ducks.
right now it's bedtime.
Have a great evening everyone.
All Baldur, All the Time.

sheftali52

Glad to hear all is ducky at Boughbreak. Waiting patiently for the Switzerland tale, and perhaps an anecdote or two about this year's garden. In the mean time, sleep well and recharge.

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It was obvious you were more than a little preoccupied, Baldur. You must be exhausted. Looking forward to the Switzerland anecdote, when you get the time.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Chris Cooley, Andre Johnson, TJ Wilson, Lil' Kim, Willie Anderson, Jeff Corwin, Suzanne Vega, Richie Sambora, Sela Ward, Butch Reed, Leon Spinks, Bonnie Pointer, Giorgio Armani, Tab Hunter, Brett Somers, Yul Brynner, Venetia Burney!, E.B. White, Dolly Wilde, Jim White, Millie McCoy, Christine McCoy, John Quincy Adams and Robert the Bruce.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Jonathan Lewis, Brock Lesnar, Gregory Helms, Julio Cesar Chavez, Bambi Woods, Cheryl Ladd, Richard Simmons, Christine McVie, Bill Cosby, Van Cliburn, Andrew Wyeth, Curly Joe DeRita, Milton Berle, Oscar Hammerstein II, Buckminster Fuller, Amedeo Modogliani, George Washington Carver, George Eastman, Henry David Thoreau, Josiah Wedgwood and Tsar Michael I.

Qsilv

*blinks.... Bill Cosby... Andrew Wyeth... Bucky Fuller... !!!

(leaving a small box of verrrrry black chocolate morsels, hardly any fat or sugar at all, as a kind of pre-tribute to the Switzerland tale...)

Baldur

...and to think, Baldur did not have any chocolate at all whilst in Switzerland.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Christopher Bauman, Sean Waltman, Robert Abraham, Michael Spinks, Claude Giroux, George Nelson, Cheech Marin, Erno Rubik, Harrison Ford, Patrick Stewart, Aleksei Yeliseyev, Bob Crane, Johnny Gilbert, John Jacob Astor IV, Pope Clement X, John Dee and Julius Caesar.

Baldur

One should note that Patrick Stewart is but 2 years older than Harrison Ford.

Dragon

Wow, Captain Picard and Indiana Jones sharing a birthday! What a day.

And Baldur, no chocolate whilst in Switzerland?! Isn't that some sort of crime there?

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Darrelle Revis, Adam Quinn, Halil Mutlu, Joey Styles, Mark LoMonaco, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jeff Jarrett, Jane Lynch, Maulana Karenga, Roosevelt Grier, Polly Bergen, Nancy Olson, John Chancellor, Harry Dean Stanton, Ingmar Bergman, Gerald Ford, Woody Guthrie, William Hanna, Tom Carvel, Irving Stone, Dave Fleischer, Alexander M. Volkov, Gustav Klimt and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.