a prophet's log

2.5.2008

For all who know us: LaB2 is on the way. No idea what this will mean in the long run. For starts it will be a year of construction sites, interior design, preparations and interviews. No wish to spend another year out here, at the edge of the old continent in 19th century social structures or alone. Details forth coming ...

Reading about Gunnar Heinson, the German professor with some new ideas, I must compliment the 'old' media for their telling title (Die Verführung zur globalen Zockerei). Re-thinking my idea of doing a broadcast news fom the old world's edge: Today, some five years later, new technology has brought it well within reach.

When I read dlG for the first time, sitting on the train from Paris to Cologne some five years ago, the idea struck me to do a systematic thesis of equitation based on this master's empirical pre-industrial knowledge and modern research results. The title: "The Anatomical Alphabet". Re-reading dlG the idea is back. Here is the outline.

The best way to illustrate this is 3D.

May be the a.i.s. should do a talk on what was lost at the beginning of modern times. Not to point fingers (and at whom?), but to regain that which was lost while keeping of ensuing modern ages that which is useful and according to creation.

11.5.2008

Today is Pentecost. It has become obvious, why the continuation of study-horsemanship seperate and outside of the context of life would not have made sense. The God of creation, the Lord of history and the Savior of the soul is one and the same. The horse's role in history speaks to it. The perfect correlation of human and equine structure and locomotion in the forces of gravity confirm it. And - there is more to be understood concerning the body and the soul. Things pointing to new worlds. Natural sciences and the history of man's ever growing awareness going hand in hand. I like the way ... and Neil Turok present their new theory of evolution: out in the open, its proof (or disproof) open for all to watch.

16.5.2008

This morning I prayed. I was frustrated with Fiona's right hindleg and out of wits what to do about it. The Lord reminded me, that he likes my company, not only when I am in trouble.

Early in the morning I had a good, long talk with our younger son, I found a way to treat Fiona's hip and she opened her clenched jaw. I saw Pinochio showing off to Nidal. In the evening I discovered that singing makes sense in equitations. The order for the chairs got on the way. We prepared the measurements for the deck. The roofers began.

In the afternoon we went to town, to hang out in the market café. I took Kurt Albrecht on d.l.G. in 20th century Vienna and Jean-Claude Racinet on Baucher in America today. It dawned on me why I did not read these books before my research on how riding functions. Under such weight I would not have had the courage to continue and go for physiology and riding as my only clues. Today these books are very helpful indeed. They are like friends sharing experience that lies ahead.

Slowly the ideas for the a.i.s. program next year is coming together. Including first hands-on contacts and directions on how to continue. The day is sunny and cool, more training in the evening... Why do I always forget, that He was walking with Adam in the cool of the morning, calling me to do the same. And rest.

25.5.2008

Reading John 3 this morning, an issue of modern science came up, concerning this other world, which parallel and very rarely touching, may only be a fraction of an atom away. He says, I know what I am talking about, but you do not believe me, concerning the need to be born once again, spiritually, to be able to participate and play a role in this other world. This conversation was 2000 years ago.

In this world science or ways of knowing have not advance much further. Albrecht in "Meilensteine auf dem Weg zur Hohen Schule" speaks of the points of contacts, the horse needs to progress in the movements of the Haute Ecole. He mentions the rider's seat bones, the inside of his seat, the seat muscles and the Steißbein (these a the rest of what in four-legged mammals constitutes the tail). He does not speak of the rider's legs and feet, which quite evidently may play a role as well.

Looking it up in my Thieme, I once again notice that the inside of the seat is innervated by the nerves of the dermatome S3; this dermatome continues down the inside of the legs to the anckles. The seat bones, however, are right in the center of S2; this dermatome running down the rear of the leg to the heel and proceeding along the bottom of the foot to the big toe.

Albrecht mentions the Steißbein and the seat muscles, which both seem to be one step removed. Both hold no immediate contact to the horse's skin. No function can be attributed to them directly. As it stands, in the horse nerve sections S2/3 are located right in the sacral joint (by the way, who gave this joint this name, and why?). Maybe equitation works with corresponding frequences via the skin. In mammals skin and core are united via the innervations of the skin. Why should not this same system serve the unity of man and the horse?

Missing in this presentation, but mentioned elsewhere in Albrecht's text is the role of the rider's torso. Come to think of it. A study of the first lumbar vertebra and the corresponding dermatome might be worthwhile. There is more than one detail to be mentioned here. Facts relevant to human motion and to equitation. Fact is, the dermatome L1 proceeds from the first lumbar vertebra mid-back out and downwards, wraps around the hips and gets in touch with S2 in the loins. With that very skin region S2 that covers the seat bones and proceeds down to the heel and the big toe. I bet this means something to riders who do Piaffe and Passage. They keep the horse's hindquarters (which extend from the first lumbar vertebra to the tip of the hind hoofs and are innervated accordingly) well together just with the seat in which L1 and S2/3 meet.

How does the human function in the other world and how in this world. The reader may realise why I would like to inspect and visualise these aspects of the human and equitation in 3D.

14.6.2008

humuncu.li/2

On file are companies for newsletter distribution, click rate tracking and web seminars. As it turns out: the latter may be a super way to build and keep members for the project. In other words, the tools for what we have in mind are there.

Thinking about a charter for participation the following issues have come up. No back biting, say what you think, provide high quality information, be ready to argue your point conclusively and respectfully, disclose your sources, share your goals and dreams etc. No text yet but a theme: focus is the history of thinking.

We will begin by preparing a software, that will permit me to mark existing text in typepad for a search word index. This index will replace current user surface links. It will function like a tag cloud humuncu.li style. Next will be a wiki-type unit that permits participation.

Needless to say humuncu.li/2 is looking for colaborators

25.6.2008

Tom Wolfe, famous chronicler of New York and author of "The Bonfire of the Vanities", calls stocks and bonds evaporated property cubed. He points to the fact, that Wall Street dealers and wheelers have lost sense of the assets that underly their transactions. Well - that's common knowledge by now. But what can we do? Money as such holds no value. How can value be created?

An idea has returned. The value of the search string. We live in exciting days. Enter any term/word like for instance China, flood or horse in Google. Within seconds you will be able to access literally millions of sites that contribute information to these points. With a little skill and some time on your hands you can build an inventory of information and, probing deeper, look for details that may interest you.

Here is my a.i.s. idea. Why not meet in La Boulaye and probe into humanity's history together. Posing such questions as, "the great flood: pros and cons", "religions and philosophies: chronologically" or, "math programs on-line: how good are they".

Details forthcoming ...

There is nothing like releasing the horses in the fields at the end of June. Spring research units are completed. Hay is done, food supplies for the winter secured. Days are long, nights cool and flies infrequent. Finally the horses get off the small and by now heavily grased fields of the spring. The fresh grass is short and no longer overly rich. All is clean. It smells of fresh air and the pleasure of being. I love the looks on their faces, when we bring them to the gates.

18.7.2008

Ich kann nicht wollen was ich will. Aber was ich will kann ich tun. "Ich will aber was ich will", war der gelungene Ausspruch unsere Enkeltochter, als sie sich fast dreijährig mit diesem Thema auseinandersetzte. In Abgrenzung zum Willen ihrer Eltern und im Rahmen des Daseins. Auch sie hat nicht darum gebeten geboren zu werden. Wir kommen in die Welt und können weder daran, noch am Rahmen unseres Daseins etwas tun. Im gegebenen Rahmen jedoch haben wir einen Willen und Gestaltungsspielraum.

Vorgestern fiel meinem Mann das im nachkriegsjahr 1950 erschienene Buch "Kavalade" in die Hände. Letzte Nacht sind mir dort die Namen begegnet, die ich zur Grundlage meiner Untersuchungen der deutschen Reiterei machen werde: v. Rosenberg mehr als Steinbrecht und Baucher. Und Bürkner mit seinem Konzept der Wahrhaftigkeit.

Alles was schmerzt ist Torture, kann man zur Rechtfertigung der U.S. Regierung des waterboardings , die gestern durch die Äther huschte sagen. Wie ist es mit, "... liebe Deinen Nächsten wie Dich selbst, ... selbst wenn er ein Feind ist"?

Alles was der Wahrheit nicht entspricht ist Manipulation. Im Bezug zur Reiterhand werde ich das im nächsten Abschnitt nicht sprich-, sondern wortlich nehmen. Meine Bitte: kleine feine gefühlvolle Hände und freie Schultern. Heute geht das Kinderreiten mit sechs Pferden weiter. Schrittarbeit. Die kleine Enkelin wird halt statt traben erst einmal auf dem Pferd stehen lernen müssen.