[PART 1 OF 2, 2 COMING SOON!] This “paper” was presented on September 10, 2024 at the virtual portion of inaugural Cheiron Journal conference “Horses in Our Heritage, Past and Future.” The conference was organized by Dr. Anastasija Ropa and Dr. Miriam A., Bibby, editors of Cheiron: The International Journal of Equine and Equestrian History. It was sponsored by the Latvian Academy of Sport Education and the Riga Stradinsh University.Conference. Doctors Ropa and Bibby, thank you for your professional courtesies and I hope to attend the next conference in person! K.M.]
When I saw the call for papers for this conference a few months ago, I was already behind the ball in terms of time. First, I had to hustle to write such paper, and then, because of my work schedule and the time difference between Tucson, AZ and the country of Latvia where the physical conference was being held, my paper proposal was kindly accepted, but I knew that I had to create a product that wouldn’t require my presence to administer it.
So I asked my friend and long-time colleague Robert Ashbaugh, who is a graphic and design wizard and master of Adobe products (AKA Robert Ashbaugh Digital Design), to help me cobble together such a thing. We started with Powerpoint, but since I wanted to add a voice over and music selections, the project morphed into Adobe After Effects and became a video in MP4. I had to write a script from the paper, which was a new and fairly painful experience for me since I am definitely a long form writer, and that’s how it is. 🙂 Then I had to find the right illustrations from my large archives of 18th century selections, figure out where to put everything, find 18th century music of the time, figure out how to record my voice overs, which I did in one terrifying three-hour sit-down session before work early one morning the day before the presentation was due to the conference, and Robert had to do more hustling to put it all together.
Robert and I had a crazy amount of fun while blundering around experimenting, and as always, he was so patient with me as I changed my mind as my ideas kept growing like happy mushrooms in the dark. Please enjoy Part I of the video; Part II is still in the making, where we will repeat the growing pains-type process and stir again. (P.S. Robert is a freelance professional and he can do anything that has to do with photography and design. Contact me here or FB if you want a Robert of your own, and I will put you in touch!)
