Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. Or Not

It’s been two months since I wrote about Rodney, Milton, and the happenings at home [Summer Suffering]. Within that time period, I have posted on four saddleseat shows, many lessons, and endless saddle seat theory.

What’s up with that?

IF we ignore the screamy voices in my head and IF we ignore that fact the American Eventing Championships will be happening without me again this year, all is well.

They are gorgeous horses. I never tire of watching them: eating, napping, or running around the field like idiots.

Work is moving forward. Slowly, but forward.

Rodney & I are going for walks when the ground crew is around. We have gone back to first principles. Greg leads. I sit aboard. Rodney sorts out how to deal with rider weight. We have done enough body work that he has to relearn to use his back. Sans saddle for now, as the right point of a saddle impacts directly on his injured area. [Daddy Dearest, Piling on the Therapy, The Latest Magic Goo] The rest of the week is easy groundwork exercises to give him successes.

I still want a cowboy to get on Milton first. That requires a truck to get him to Stepping Stone, in order to have an enclosed space, and a saddle to use once we get there. Have saddle [New Equipment]. Finally. As for truck, inertia seems to be winning that battle. Otherwise, lunging & long-lining. Seeing who he is & identifying the body kinks left over from the track. I don’t think the track is a happy place for horses, at least not for ones who don’t run fast.

Quiet progress is the order of the day. Dear Diary: Rode Rodney. Hysteria failed to occur. Dear Diary: Lunged Milton. Hysteria. Over quickly. Exciting if one is the owner of the horse. Not the stuff of gripping narrative if one is the reader of the blog.

On the other hand, saddle seat shows are discrete, self-contained events. They have a beginning, middle, and end. Cause and effect. More obvious results that are easier to write about. In my saddle seat lessons, I am walking & trotting & cantering. More activity gives me more theory to ponder. Overall, saddle seat is new. Retraining an OTTB is not. New is more interesting. This is why a croque-monsieur tastes better than a grilled ham & cheese sandwich. Unless one lives in France, then vice-versa.

Blog and reality. Parallel but not identical.
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Gratuitous Cat Pic, as promised [Why]