What Makes Us Happy?

A good friend sent me this article recently, stumbling across the work of a group of Harvard researchers pleasantly surprised him in an otherwise uninspiring look at the positive psychology movement. In it, Joshua Wolf Shenk gains access to one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history: 72 years of research taking into account the stories of 268 men as they enter college in the late 1930s, through war, career, marriage, divorce, parenthood, grandparenthood and old age.

The study is a fascinating look at happiness, with participants replying to detailed surveys, undertaking interviews and medical examinations; their lives documented in detail provide some inspiring stories and yet there are also stories of despair even for a participant who “exemplifies the qualities of a superior personality”.

What is fascinating is not only the individual stories, but the findings of those common threads that exist between people who have lived happy, fulfilling lives. The secret? This 5-page article is worth reading.

Images by Rich Dahlgren
[What Makes Us Happy?] The Atlantic
Send an email to Danelle Jones, the author of this post, at danelle@gingerbeet.com

Title: Balmoral Presents Johan Hamminga
Location: Balmoral Equestrian Centre, 299 Harkaway Road, Narre Warren North VIC 3804
Date: 19-22 October 2010

Description: One of the most famous and well respected judges and trainers in Holland!

Johan Hamminga is the chief judge for the Stallion Performance Testing at KWPN in Holland. Johan has trained many successful combinations right through the levels to Grand Prix, including Adelinde Cornelissen. Adelinde is a member of the Dutch Olympic Team and part of the team who won gold at the European Championships in 2010.

Johan has an excellent eye for the young dressage or jumping horse and is also the head coach for the FEI instructors training program.

Masterclass Gold Tickets ($60)
Friday 22nd October 2010, includes table seated dinner indoors with wine and a view of the Masterclass.

Masterclass General Admission ($25)
Friday 22nd October 2010, includes seating in the indoor arena.

Clinic Lessons ($200)
The clinic runs from the 19th to 22nd of October and limited lessons are available, with a maximum of 6 x 45 minute sessions per day.

How to book:
Contact Louise Hocken at Balmoral Equestrian Centre
P: (03) 9796 9519
E: contact_balmoral@yahoo.com.au

Balmoral Equestrian Centre
299 Harkaway Road
Narre Warren North
VIC 3804
www.balmoral.info

Images from Horse and Sport Magazine, February 2009.

Send an email to Danelle Jones, the author of this post, at danelle@gingerbeet.com

I’ve stumbled across a poster for this last night on the walk home from the office: The Amazing Bodies Exhibition, currently on display at Melbourne’s Docklands until 31 August 2010.

The exhibition will move to Sydney, Perth, Brisbane soon, although dates and venues are not yet announced.

Open daily from 10am (excluding Sundays) tickets cost $25 for Adults, Children $17. Groups of 15+ and families can secure further discounts.

What makes this exhibition more interesting than your run of the mill museum stand is the process – plastination is the process of replacing bodily fluids with polymers, pioneered in 1977 by a professor Von Hagens who has a reputation for the interesting and controversial: In 2002 he televised an autopsy and he aims to complete a ‘Museum of Man’ to permanently exhibit human specimens.

During the process of plastination about 70% of the body (mainly fluids and fats) are replaced by polymers such as silicone rubber or polyester resin, using a special vacuum process. Using plastination, it is now possible to preserve natural anatomical specimens and even whole bodies. The features and structures of the specimens are retained in this process. The end results are durable, real and aesthetic preservations that can be used for teaching and research purposes; and as this exhibition demonstrates, for general education. Each specimen requires more than 5,000 man hours to produce, and is a mix of art and science.

Composed of animal and human whole body specimans, slices and organs this is a great opportunity to get up close with the inner workings!

Title: ‘Equine Feeding Fundamentals’ Presented by Pet and Horse feed, with Dr Caroline Foote B.Sc.Agr. (Hons) M.App.Sc. Ph.D.
Location: Living Legends, Oaklands Road, Greenvale

Start Time: Doors open 6pm (Seminar begins 6.30pm)
Date: Thursday, 08 July 2010

Description:
Join Dr Caroline Foote for an equine nutrition evening covering:

• Equine nutrition basics
• Myths and misconceptions about feeding horses
• Creating the perfect dietary balance
• And introducing Head to Hoof, premium feed balancer pellet

How to Book:
To secure your place at ‘Equine Feeding Fundamentals’ please contact Pet, Horse & Farm:
P: 03 9374 2277
E: sales@pethorsefarm.com.au

Pet, Horse & Farm
Cnr Bulla Road & Tullamarine Fwy
Essendon North 30414
www.pethorsefarm.com.au

Equitana 2010 tickets went on sale this morning 8am.

Superticket (all days, all access) – $295 Adults, $280 Children/Concessions

All day passes start from $95 Adults, $90 Children/Concsssions and there’s lots of tickets for one-off events that’ll set you back around $50.

There’s also travel and accommodation packages and the programme roundup available on the website.

You can purchase your tickets via the website: http://equitana.greentix.com.au

Or over the phone:

Toll Free – Australia Only
1300 765 929

International Callers
+61 3 9596 8744

Code: EFY2010

Discount: 5% off purchases

Store: http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au

*Applies storewide when you enter the coupon code at checkout

In support of victims of the Haiti earthquake, on Friday Jan 22nd and Saturday Jan 23rd Malvern Saddlery and A Bit Less will donate 10% of each sale to the American Red Cross to help with relief efforts.

Malvern have a wonderful range and being a US company you’ll pick up great off-season deals – take advantage of the high Aussie dollar and do your bit for a better world!

Send an email to the author of this post: danelle@gingerbeet.com

It’s something we all know we should do, but procrastinate terribly over. How many times have you postponed cleaning your bridle, saddle or leatherwork for fear of starting an all-day journey to banish dirt and dried-on sweat scum?

Cleaning your tack not only improves appearances, it’s also critical for safety of both you and your horses, so why does it get relegated to the chores list and how can you make the process less onerous (maybe even enjoyable?!).

Here’s our top-five tips for keeping your cleaning regime simple and quick, so you can spend more time in the saddle:

1. Wipe down with a damp cloth after every use

Sounds simple enough and you’ll find this rule in any leather care article you’d choose to open. A quick wipe over with a damp cloth removes dirt and sweat from your equipment before it has a chance to settle in and cause deterioration. *The trick is to do it every time you ride* Don’t leave it till you get home from the barn: it won’t happen. Make sure you do the quick wipe over straight away, before the saddle cover goes on, whilst your waiting for him to finish his feed (it’s a great way to get some chill time with him after a ride).

In dry climates like Aus, I find swapping the water for some effax leather combi (solvent based cleaner) once a week does wonders to keep leather spruce – more on cleaners and conditioners below…

2. Use a proper leather cleaner, and clean often

Most people use glycerine saddle soap as their staple cleaner, taking great delight in working up a good soapy lather to apply to leather. Whilst it’s true, the lather is what helps to lift dirt out, glycerine’s not the best choice for a soap. The glycerine leaves a film on your leather, stopping other products (and water) penetrating into the leather fibres. Whilst this may be advantageous in some situations, as soon as it gets wet, that film starts to get tacky, holding dust and dirt – causing the black gunky build up on tack. With ongoing applications, you can end up working the dirt further into your tack, rather than removing it! Glycerine’s best left for application if you’re storing leather for a long time, or better yet, excluded completely from your cleaning regime.

And we won’t insult your intelligence by delving far into the detail of why a 2-in-1 product is generally a bad idea: cleaners strip grease out, conditioners put grease in. ’nuff said.

So what constitutes a proper cleaner? We’d recommend a product that dissolves dirt and grime without harming the leather (solvents do the trick nicely). Effax leder combi is particularly effective and won’t leave a greasy residue on your equipment. As mentioned above, you can use it once a week or so to replace wiping over with a damp cloth and really, that’s about all you need on a regular basis. Supplement with a conditioner *very* infrequently…

3. Complement your frequent cleaning with infrequent moisturising

Here once again, most people get it wrong, oiling their tack to add moisture and doing it frequently with the goal of obtaining ‘butter soft’ leather. First, oiling doesn’t add moisture, oiling creates a moisture barrier. Secondly, ‘butter soft’ does not necessarily equal safe, ‘butter soft’ equals leather which has been weakened to the point of failure by separation of the leather fibres.

What are we trying to achieve with moisturising? Soft, supple, strong leather that’s no longer vulnerable to cracking. It’s like your own skin: moisturise when you feel it’s drying out, not as a preventative or you end up with a greasy mess and everything feeling weighed down and gluggy. Moisturisers for leather will help to replace some of the oils lost through activities with regular use, but shouldn’t be used to ‘soften’ the leather through excessive, repeated applications. What you’re trying to avoid is working so much oil and emollients into your leather that those particles start to force apart the leather fibres, giving a ‘soft’ feel which is not moisturised, supple leather fibres, but rather fibres stretched out of shape and ‘soft’ due to a weakening of the leather structure.

Moisturising once every 6 months should be plenty – once a quarter at most – with regular cleaning to maintain pliable, supple equipment.

4. Use a proper moisturiser

What you’re generally after is a moisturiser made up of emollients – to help draw moisture into the leather, rather than seal it out.

The word emollient is associated with words like ‘soothing’ ‘softening’ and ‘relaxing – especially in relation to skin. Think of soothing your leather when it’s getting a little tired and dried out: nowhere are the words ‘drowning’ or ‘drenching’ mentioned, so keep a leash on it.

I’ve found particular favour with the Effax range generally and here leather moisturisers are no exception: their ‘leder balsam’ provides a mix of beeswax and oils with some water solubility: i.e. they’ll help to transport water into the leather rather than providing a complete seal. (And bonus: Effax also does products for your handbags, leather lounge suite and vehicles)

Less is more with these products: a little, worked well into clean leather (take your time) will yield best results. But remember, you should only need to do this once or twice a year, so enjoy it!

5. Invest in a bag or cover

If you’re serious about keeping your leather in tip-top condition, invest in a bag or cover for all your leatherwork – saddles, bridles, halters – as a cheap and portable way to keep the dust off and the sunlight out: minimising deterioration between uses. Use your commonsense, don’t bag it if it’s wet and make sure it’s aired regularly.

So, in summary:

1. Wipe down with a damp cloth at the barn, after every use – it takes 5 minutes so don’t promise yourself you’ll do it at home
2. Use a proper cleaner, ditch the saddle soap
3. Moisturise once every 6 months (making the hardship of tack-spas a thing of the past)
4. Use a proper moisturiser
5. Bag it between uses

Send an email to Danelle Jones, the author of this post, at danelle@gingerbeet.com

NB: We don’t stock Effax leather products in our online shop at time of writing, however we do intend to. As with all products we do stock, they’re chosen after purchasing retail and testing ourselves: no free samples from suppliers or wholesalers, just our favourite picks from around the world.

The free online version gives you access to create a profile for your horse including photos, pedigree and then associate reports or records with the individual profiles. From there, it’s really a matter of how much time you’re interested in spending, to track performance or racing stats, maintain training and health records and schedule reminders for upcoming appointments: great for remembering the farrier’s appointment due 6 weeks from now, or a follow-up consultation from the chiro.

You have a journal, calendar and basic contatcts management tools available too: and the software allows you to set up handy email reminders to your local home address.

The Rendaivu Team also offer a desktop version in both personal and enterprise editions, with capacity for multiple horses (great for managing barns) and multiple accounts.

We’ve signed up for the free version and found it very handy for keeping track of all those little horsey items that tend to go amiss during our busy work weeks.

Rendaivu.com

Send an email to Danelle Jones, the author of this post, at danelle@gingerbeet.com

Equisearch released this Tack Safety Check Chart which gives you a quick rundown of things to check each time before you ride. And if you’d like more detail less pictures, you can check out the Tack Safety article as well.

[Tack Safety Check Chart] Equisearch.com

Send an email to Danelle Jones, the author of this post, at danelle@gingerbeet.com