One group that I am apart of is the “showing horses” group. I have shown horses my entire life. When I tell people this, many have the same reaction. The majority of people know of either horse racing (which really isn’t showing) or jumping. They just assume I do one of the two. They usually ask me if I jump, I guess to be polite. However, when I tell them I show western pleasure, the next question is always the same. WHAT IS THAT? I guess I should just start explaining it before they get the opportunity to ask me. Once they have asked this awful question, I have to answer it; and there is no short answer to this question. Since no one really seems to know what it really is, western pleasure is a western discipline of riding which focuses on all three of the horse’s gaits (walking, jogging, and loping in pleasure terms) being very slow and relaxed. The horse’s head should also be relaxed (being level or even lower) and collected (the horse’s nose should be slightly tucked). It is really hard to explain this to people who don’t know what it is. This is what a western pleasure horse should look like.

The next question I get is usually “what classes do you show in?” This is another difficult question to answer because my four classes include showmanship (where I am on the ground leading my horse executing a pattern), western pleasure (rail work), horsemanship (execute a pattern on the horse) and hunter under saddle (which is not a western discipline and done with an English saddle). The last class always throws people off. Yes, an English saddle is what people jump in and yes, all of my other classes are western, and yes, I am telling the truth. I’m sure whoever is reading this is lost right now. Below are some links of each type of class. The first is a video of me actually showing showmanship with my horse about 3 years ago. The second is at Congress and is a western pleasure class. The third is a horsemanship pattern and the fourth is hunter under saddle. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IP9xhfX22Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17YnLlKLa4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUj2S7WeckA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonLL9qni8U

TED talk

Beating Stage Fright I chose this TED talk because the title was about stage fright, and I, just like most people, get pretty nervous before I give a speech. This speaker describes his struggle with stage fright while trying to be a singer. In order to get over his fear, he wrote a stage fright song and sang it to the audience before every performance. I happen to think that this is a great idea. While singing a song in front of my audience would be kind of weird, the idea of a “song” is a good idea. In the song, he addresses his symptoms of his fear. These include his voice being higher, his body shaking, and his voice cracking. All of these are common when presenting a speech when one is nervous. What this song has done for this man is incredible.

While giving his speech about his song, he had good body language. At first, he seemed nervous and appeared to be passing or rocking out of nerves. However, as he warmed up to the audience he began walking across the stage in a positive way. He also used his hands which gave the idea that he wasn’t nervous. The speaker used different tones of voice to cover his nervousness. He projects his voice so everyone listening can actually hear him (granted he does have a microphone). The speaker also speaks slowly and clearly. Sometimes, I know when I get nervous; I speak a million words a minute. However, even though he was nervous, he had to control his voice which made him look credible and not nervous. He made his struggle funny to the audience. The more the audience laughed, the more he seemed to relax. He did a great job playing off his audiences’ reactions and I think this is what made his speech so effective to me. The fact that he addressed his problem instead of hiding it made him and his audiences relax. This speaker’s technique might work for a lot of people. That doesn’t mean that a speaker has to sing a song in order to become less nervous. Instead, if the speaker simply addresses that he or she is a little nervous to his or her audience. Or maybe, just addressing the fact that you’re nervous to yourself will help. I am not sure if it will work, but I will definitely be trying it out on proposal day. 

Detroit vs. Everybody

The second sentence of the article “Rembert Explains America: Detroit vs. Everybody,” truly explains my previous thoughts on Detroit. Even when I was younger, I knew it was a big city and bad things happened in a big city. The fear of Detroit didn’t become real for me until my competitive cheer team decided to attend a competition held there. I remember my mom conversing with her cheer mom friends about how she was shocked we were coming here, how it was not really the safest place to go. My gym even sat us down and told us to stick together and never go anywhere alone. After these multiple conversations, I was even more scared than before. However, after traveling to Detroit twice and receiving a partial bid to cheer worlds, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I believe Rembert is exactly right. Everyone says Detroit is dangerous, and Detroit is in a funk, but no one is doing anything about the situation. I was a victim to the gossip about Detroit, fearing it to the point where I didn’t want to go. Yeah, it was a little rough around the edges; however, there was that beauty about it that could not be explained. Rembert uses his own personal experiences to provide examples of how America’s perspective of Detroit. At first, he was hesitant. But once he looked beneath the surface, he realized that Detroit wasn’t as bad as he thought and in desperate need of our help.

I thought the best example Rembert presented was the Heidelberg Project example. I had never heard about the Heidelberg Project until after reading this article. If the author wouldn’t have put those pictures in the article I would have never imagined something as bizarre as that. When Rembert states that it was beautiful and sad at the same time, it reminded me of my thoughts on Detroit as a whole. The fact that this artist is using these run down houses to explain his or her vision is crazy to me. Too many, these houses aren’t beauty, they’re run down. But this artist wanted the world to look past the exterior walls and see the light that is actually there. It’s kind of like don’t judge a book by its cover. That is pretty much exactly what America is doing to Detroit. It looks bad, people say it’s bad, and it has no money, so it must have no chance. However, America is wrong, we are wrong.

When I read the title, “My Bodies of the Year,” I fully expected it to be full of reflections of how great this person looked at this specific time. However, I realize now that my first impression was way off. Morris’ argument about how the last 12 months were “unsexy months” is true and false at the same time. When I look at a picture of Mathew McConaughey clothed, I think he is attractive. I notice things like his eyes and his smile. However, when I look at a picture of him shirtless, that’s when the word sexy comes to mind. This example that Morris explained was completely true. I like Mathew McConaughey. When I ask myself why, it is mainly based off of what he looks like and the certain characters that he plays (my favorite movie of all time, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” is where my love for him began). On the other hand, when I look at pictures of women, for example, Katy Perry, the word sexy never comes to mind. This is where I think Morris is wrong. Maybe it is because I am a girl, but when I look at Katy, I see a strong and successful woman. She respects herself, which I think is “sexier” than her body. When I look at Kim Kardashian, I don’t see a sexy woman. Instead, I see a woman who tries to use her body to get what she wants by being the actual definition of sexy. That is definitely not sexy in my book.

Bodies have always mattered. It is the very first impression one will ever make. Bodies are important because they define us. They describe our eating habits, self-confidence, and style. The bodies we associate ourselves with can also describe our personalities and interests. I believe that bodies matter more now than they did 10 years ago. I know the women size situation has been used multiple times, but I’m going to use it yet again. Most women these days are not a size 0. However, the vast majority of the models who advertise our clothes and tell us what “sexy” is (Victoria Secret Models) are 6 feet tall and weigh 95 pounds. Why are women held to such a high standard when in reality, the models are not the norm. But why does it matter? Why can’t a woman look the way she is naturally made? Granted, the USA is very unhealthy and 60% of women do not exercise regularly for more than 10 minutes each time (as told to me by my Zumba instructor). That’s off topic, but, what I’m trying to say is bodies have become such a big part of society, that they not only have positive effects, but also negative effects.

In conclusion, Morris is right. We care about bodies way too much. We should spend less time wondering how much she weighs or if she can twerk right and start focusing on things in life that really matter. The more we study bodies, the more superficial we, as a nation, become. So we should all pick up a book, because nothing is “sexier” than that.