Riding
Awareness of the horse world. Helmet Watch. Devon livestream on USEF Network. Amateur Road Horse class. Spotted two helmets out of three entries. Doug Shiflet > (Horse Show Proofs) > (2022 Proofs) > 2022 Devon > Wednesday PM > 013 – 431 Roadster Horse Amateur. All the hunter/jumper riders had helmets. I think it’s universal in h/j now? Slowly seeping into saddle seat. [Watching Louisville]
Also spotted, vest in a jumper class, and mask in the audience. [New Equipment]
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What I want from a hunter barn is a local guide in my corner at shows.
I don’t need help jumping 2’6″. I was stuffing George over that height back in the 80s. [The Whatever Horse]
Yes, I would need help to jump the round smoothly and flawlessly.
Yes, I would need help with bigger heights.
However, given a modicum of cooperation from the horse, 2′ 6″ is in my wheelhouse. [The Cast Assembles]
In fact, if when if when I ever get Rodney to a show with jumps, I’m would be better off without help, at least in the beginning. There will be so much baggage. So. Much. Baggage. I would be better off left alone (with my ground crew!) to get over myself and get my horse around.
What I would like is someone to answer questions, to point out local rules, to generally keep on eye out. In other words, what Coach Courtney did when I took Milton to Mid-South. We kept to ourselves for the first two classes. Then, after Milton misbehaved, I didn’t know the correct protocol.
Should we do the third class? I was out of earshot, but I could see the ‘Oh hell yeah’ from where I was … being 10 feet off the rail made me harder to avoid. ‘If your horse is going to be a jackass, stay out of everybody’s way.’ Yes, Ma’am.
[Hanging With The Saddlebros IIb]
So, that’s what I’m looking for, with less jackass.
From a time standpoint, I am talking about less work for the money. No getting ready. No warming up. I would be happy to pay a full day’s training fee for someone to watch my rounds and be on hand for advice. If they need to watch my rounds from the warm-up ring while getting someone else ready, that’s fine – perhaps even preferable.
Conversely, different requires effort. Everyone else is over here, being part of the program. I’m over there, flitting about on my own. Keeping track of an outlier is hard. From what I’ve seen, the hunter/jumper world around here is riders, mostly kids, at training barns. AOTs doing their own thing are rare. Therefore, folks don’t have procedures in place for dealing with us. Even the show entry form assumes a barn affiliation.
No solutions. A conversation I was having in my head and decided to get out into real space.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 