Just Picture it!

OH I know ... I know!
I ranted about editing just a bit ago, saying take that shot, make it perfect, be...a true perfectionist.

However.
Here is a sample of a before [above] and after editing [below]. I used a graduated filter in PaintShopProX7 to give the sky a bit more of a punch and the water a bit more blue.
The shot below is what is looked like to me in my mind's eye.

I like to change things up and sometimes when I take a fall or winter photo all the colors just seem wrong.
What I see in my eyes is not what the camera shows me no matter how hard I work at it.

For example, I was out in the pasture the two days ago and the lighting was subdued but the colors were absolutely brilliant.

There is not much difference between the Original here and the edit. Just enough added warmth added in Viveza 2, from the Nik Collection. [The Nik Collection is free for download now as they are not developing it any further.]

More of a difference here. The yellows are more defined without the saturation becoming too offensive. This is more how my 'eyes' saw it. However, my camera is set to 'natural' and doesn't 'up' the saturation. There are settings on most cameras that allow you to take jpegs on a more colorful setting.

Here is two of our elderly donkeys. On the left is Princess and on the right is Emma.

I took this shot into ON1, a program that is now my favorite.
I took a bit of liberty with how I wanted this image to brighten up.

And then there was Julie...she was kind enough to pose again.

I thought the clouds and the skies were fantastic and needed to be brought out in the photo.

For this edit, I used PaintShopProX7 and Topaz Adjust 5. I edited the sky and the foreground separately.

And then one more edit. Julie's colors seem dim in this shot now. So I went back and did a bit of dodging on her body...

I do edit. I like to keep it somewhat realistic unless I am going for something completely odd and fun.

There you go. Fall color edits with donkeys as my star models.

Thinking again...

I was thinking ... again how I really need to get back at working with Eddie and Princess.

I was reading The Dancing Donkey today and it got me thinkin'.  I started with good intentions last May with Princess.  But I did stupidly put my finger in her mouth and that ended my good intentions ... for a while.
By then summer was in full swing and Princess was forgotten as preparations for Grandma & Grandpa Camp got under way.

She is a very gentle donkey and not much seems to bother her.

When we got her, it was a daring thing to do to try and pick up her hind legs.
But I worked with her and now she stands quietly and picks up her feet properly for the farrier.

I actually did saddle her and sit on her in the round pen last year with that aching owie finger.

We've even gone on hikes together and she seems willing enough just to follow me down the deer trails and stop to browse when I am trimming the riding trail.

My sister asked me once how on earth do you train a Donkey?  She has trained and had her horses trained for show.

I simply said.
It isn't hard, if you make it routine, they are good with that, donkeys love routine.

If you convince the donkey that to ride under saddle, cross streams, logs, and ride down a trail is their idea, then it is a piece of cake.

If I also take her down my riding trail a few times, I won't have to bother with guiding her.  She'll know the way out and know the way home.

This spring...this spring....oh please let me get this done this spring!

Please don't Feed Your Fingers to THE Donkey!

The kids from the neighbor's place wanted to come down and see me work with Princess in the round pen.

It is really not a spectator sport but I said sure they could come and observe.

Princess was not pleased to be inside a building in a round pen away from her buddies.

Interesting.  When I walked away from her she paced like a high strung horse.  When I was with her she was pretty quiet.

After a bit of lunging, I put a saddle blanket on her.
Next a saddle.

Just a light one to see how she'd react.

She really didn't care.

Being smart I decided to fit a bridle on her also.

I was monkeying with the headstall when Princess spit out the bit.

I didn't think.  I knew better.  Really I did.
I used my finger to push it back into her mouth.

Her teeth clamped down on the odd sensation in her mouth.  Which happened to be my finger.

Now I know this fact:
It has been said that horses can bite down with 80 thousand lbs per square inch.
Normally they cannot release the pressure until their teeth touch.
I figured the only release was to 'skin' my finger clean to the bone.

Not a happy thought with a 7 and 9 yr old girl standing and watching.

So I said through clenched teeth, without swearing, cursing, or crying...or fainting, that I'd gotten my finger in a very bad spot.

I lifted her head and showed them.
I then tried like hell to figure out how to get my finger out of there without skinning it or breaking it...or getting it bit off.

I can't say how long I stood there before I was able to use my other hand and shove my fingers up in the back of the mouth and dig with my fingernails on the roof of her mouth.
Meanwhile she was grinding those powerful big teeth.

By dumb luck she may have gone for a better grip on the strange item in her mouth...or it may have been my fingers digging into the roof of her mouth...

but she moved her teeth slightly, and my finger was out.

I showed the girls my slightly mashed finger and told them that this was a great lesson to learn.

Never do what I did.

They nodded in solemn understanding.

I did fit the bridle properly and then worked some more with her.
I did some limited lunging and put weight in the stirrups on each side of her.
She was curious and not alarmed.

If I laid across her back for several moments, she did take a few steps which was okay with me.

I know spots on the lens, from dirt and dust.  This is after the finger incident.
Ambrosia took this for me.

And this one.

Princess did everything right and I think we will make good progress.

I did put her back after the girls brushed her.

And the first thing they told their mom when they got home was...*Guess What Val Did!*

And they said they NOW understood why never to put their fingers in a horse or any other equine's mouth.

I guess I went through some real pain to get a point across?

Edit:
This morning?
The finger is swollen but I can use it.
Painful yes, broken, I don't think so.

But a lesson was well learned.

Princess the Donkey makes new friends

Princess is a nice polite Donkey.  I've had my eye on her for a while wondering how she might be as a riding donkey.

Normally people don't consider donkeys for riding.  It is rare to go somewhere and see a person riding one in the United States at least.

I decided to see how Princess would lead away from home and how she would do just walking some trails in the woods.  I wanted to see if she'd be patient or herd sour.

She was patient.  She was not herd sour.  She was polite of my space and learned quite quickly not to walk into me.

Princess of course decided she could help clear up some of the brush that I was cutting.

She was a willing partner and very attentive to everything I was doing.

I like that in any equine.
Gentle, polite, not pushy, and completely relaxed.

Of course this idea of just walking around with a donkey on lead while hiking came from a blogging friend of mine.

Her blog is called The Dancing Donkey.

I want to thank her so much for writing about her adventures with her donks.

After losing Opal and knowing that Fred is pretty aged [a chart on equine shows that 30 yrs old is equivalent to about 90 yrs old in human age.  I am not sure that it applies to pony mules though]....
I figured I best get an animal trained for riding that was reliable, quiet, and very dependable.

Princess was one of my first choices.

There is still Eddie of course, but he has more attitude than Princess.

After our hike in the woods, I decided to take Princess up the drive to get mail.

She had no issues with that until she saw some odd creatures whizzing about on bicycles.

She had to think about that for a moment by locking up her legs and watching.

After she decided that the creatures were not going to eat her, we got the mail.

And the creatures decided to introduce themselves.

After much petting and admiration from the neighbor's children, Princess was not sure she really wanted to go back home.

Stay tuned.
Princess will be getting her first saddling pretty soon.

I'm sure that will go as well as our hiking did.

A Donkey may not be the most glamorous animal to ride, but in some ways I think they can be the best mounts.

I have ridden donkeys and contrary to popular belief, they are nice and smooth.
And they make mules look clumsy.

Here's to donkeys and making new friends!