Centaurs?

If you need to brush up on your mythology, the Wikipedia page on centaurs covers the basics.

The basic idea though, is of human & horse as one. Now, I'm a die-hard SF&F fan, and come from the point of view that all myths, legends and fictional stories come from some sort of truth. That does not mean that I think the Roswell Alien is real - I've been to Roswell, New Mexico, and it does little to inspire belief, though I will argue that something happened in Roswell to spark the stories. My point of view explained, without ranting, I'll return to my subject. Centaurs.

I will hazard to say that the half-human half-horse myth was started by the simplest of things: a horse and rider.

Today I would like to propose the Centaur as a metaphor, which I know has been used before, but I'll use it again, because it simply works.


Duo corpora unum mentis. Two bodies of one mind.

Don't knock the cone over! (It didn't fall.)

For anyone who has never ridden a horse, or has and never experienced it, I feel truly sorry for you. Quite simply, it is what I live for. It is not, however, something you can experience with a few attempts, it is an intangible, unteachable thing that takes a devotion that cannot waiver.

Sometimes I lose touch with that. In 2009 I retired my best friend, and mount since 1998. I ride him occasionally, but never again can I experience that feeling of true oneness that comes when your combined actions require no thought, no cues. It is a truly magical thing to know someone so well as to not require any communication at all, to simply work together, two bodies with one mind. The sad thing is, as much as he wants to work, to compete, he is aging, and there is no turning back the clock.

May '09

At times I have despaired of never having a partner like that again, at times I have had brief flashes of it with other horses, but never a level of communication that required no thought. I've bounced from horse to horse since Aug '08, and found no peace.

Then, about a month ago, I pulled my five-year old, home-bred Appendix Quarter Horse stallion off break. I don't know what happened, but it was like that wall that was between our minds has melted away. We've had all kinds of issues over the last year and a half, though I always enjoy riding him. It wasn't until this past Saturday that I realized what was happening the last month.

We are learning to speak each others language. He is a very intelligent horse, and learns from his mistakes (I'm realizing). He also gets very frustrated when I micro-manage him, which I've had a very hard time understanding. Now that I see it, I'm starting to open my ears and listen. Leonidas wants to work as a team, not as a rider and horse.

So, centaurs a myth? Perhaps. But I'll stick with the metaphor, unless I'm working on some SF&F of course.

And when I let go of my inhibitions and ride...

Duo corpora unum mentis.

Diesel Blood & 2D Money

I changed my own oil today, for the first time. (Yes, first time ever, can you believe that?)

Why? Well, I've always said "Why do it myself? For about the same amount of money, you can pay someone else to deal with the mess."

 Recently (over the last two years that is) I have jumped my knowledge up from 'I drive a Powerstroke' to 'I have 2 1997 Ford Powerstroke 7.3l Direct Injection Turbo Diesels. I can tell you all the specs for it, replace the water pump, fuel pump, starter, fan clutch, pulleys, fuel filter, Mass Airflow Pressure sensor, Injection Drive Module (my truck takes a 110 model), CAM sensor, prime a dry engine, replace a cracked down-pipe. And if I don't know how, I'll figure it out.' 

That is a long of information. At the same time, by learning all of this, I suddenly realized that the people we blindly take our vehicles too, trusting them to perform the maintenance we don't know how to do, or don't care to fool with, aren't always doing what you think they are.

Thought for years that my truck was consuming 2 quarts of oil ever 3000 or so miles... truth? Its only been getting 14 quarts to start with at an oil change, instead of the required 16. It doesn't burn it off at all.

So much for my mystery leak.



Oh, and forget getting them to put my own Motorcraft filter on, instead of their over-priced Fram junk. Give 'em my own filter, get home and find my ride is still rolling with a cheep-o filter. So, after all this time, I've decided that if I can do all that other stuff, I can do my own oil, even if it is an immense pain.

Guess what? Its not.

Its insanely easy, and really kind of fun. Not to mention, Young is running OEM grade filter, and the correct amount of oil. Monday, when I go to town, I'll drop off my used oil (which, with 10k on it still has the same viscosity as the brand new stuff, if considerably more soot in it. Delo rocks.) at O'Reilly's and I'll be ready, prepared and happy to change Beastin's when he gets home from the shop. (Having his front-end taken care of, needs ball joints, grease boots, shocks, and some regular TLC. Poor Powerstroke wasn't taken care of properly before me.)

I warmed the truck up for about 15 minuets, just to get the oil warm, because normal operating temps... yeah, I am NOT opening that little bolt with 203 F or hotter oil in there.

I let it drain while I figured out which screw driver and hammer combination would best suit my needs (nixed the hammer with no handle as impractical... for obvious reasons.), and then wiggled under there to poke a hole in the old oil filter and let it drain as well.

Diesel Blood!

The biggest challenge was knocking the screwdriver through the side of the oil filter so I could untwist it. Its not too terribly hard, but I was hanging from my left elbow from the leaf-spring, holding the screw driver in my left hand, and trying to hit it with the hammer in my right, while laying on my right shoulder. Its... awkward to say the least, and totally messes with my depth perception. First hole was too low, and I got the screwdriver stuck against the drive shaft when I started twisting the filter off. Got out of that, and punched another hole, higher up. Not high enough though, I got that try stuck too, but I had loosened the filter enough I could get it off by hand at that point.

Wiped the dust and oil away, dipped the gasket, put oil in the new filter, put it on, put the oil pan plug back in, sprayed the bottom of the oil pan off with some brake cleaner and wiped it down (it was disgusting), filled everything back up, and cranked Young up. Levels were good, no leaks, and I'm a happy camper!

I haven't been able to find a drain pan that is bigger than 12qts, and a regular 5 Gal bucket is too tall, so I went with an old horse water bucket. When I was finished I poured it up in a water jug with a lid so I can haul it to recycle without spilling.

Also, I cleaned out and repainted my dad's old tool chest this week, and it came in handy today as a worktop.

Before... (mind you, its older than me. 25+ yrs for sure.)

After! With Young, which, obviously, is where I got the colors.

Change of subject. My 5 yr old Quarter Horse stallion that I bred, raised and trained my self has recently been going to events again. (A long string of... craziness... has kept him out of competition, and in a really bad mood about it for a year now.) I know, kids and horses make liars of you every time, but I'm really proud of him, and I hope he continues to improve on his performance like he has, and I hope he stays patient with me. I tend to over-check (I blame riding too many OT and/or green horses), and that frustrates him.

Last weekend he placed 3rd in the 2D at a local 4D race. I'm very proud of him, as that's his highest bracket placing in his very short career, and it matched my personal best time that I set on a horse that is retired now, at that same arena, four years ago. I can't wait for our next competition, a playday, and his third since I brought him back to the ring.

He really wouldn't even be competing right now, except by happenstance. I bought a project horse in Feburary, and started the year on him. He's an 8 yr old abuse case, who has more speed and power than he knows what to do with, and way too much goofy to go around. (Thanks abusive moron that ruined a great horse.) Any ways, back to my stallion, I loaded him on a whim, just because he's pathetic and cries when I leave with the trailer. Long story, but the event we were going to got moved to a different arena that I've never been too. My project horse was a total basket case, and just got worse as the day went on, so by the time my first ride was up, I had switched to my stallion, just planning to trot or slow lope, and try to make the best of our gate issues.

What gate issues? The Kid had his game face on. So I ran him the next weekend. He was hitting first and second on everything. So I hauled him to that barrel race last weekend, and, as I already said, he was amazing. I'm starting to figure him out, which, you would think I would know him better than I do, but I think he is only just figuring out HIS game, so I'm learning it with him.

Barrels 2 weeks ago at a Playday

After all, he is the first horse I've bred, raised and trained that I've kept to go all the way with.

Whatsit?

Lastly, I want to leave you with something a good friend of mine said about being self employed:

"I like being able to fire myself for the day sometimes."

~Diesel or Die~