Awareness of the outside world. Disco Santa. Yes, really. Press release with video, GSD&M: JOHN TRAVOLTA IS A DISCO-DANCING SANTA IN CAPITAL ONE’S HOLIDAY NOD TO ‘SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER’ by Nudd, Ad Age, October 31, 2023. Making of, “Holiday Night Fever” Commercial Behind The Scenes | Capital One
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[Milton at Work] repost
This was all about Milton going to a show. [Academy Represent! Playing With The Big Kids, Show Report AWTA 2023-2024 #1]
Back in October, we went to Stepping Stone Farm to help with the in-barn, Halloween show. I didn’t ride because the other adult from the spring show wasn’t showing. I didn’t feel like prancing around by myself. [Bringing in the Year with Blues, Show Report, Spring Fun Show]
I could have joined another class. This did not occur to me until the show had started. Meh. I just wasn’t feeling it. More on this tomorrow.
During the show, Coach Courtney took it into to her head to announce the upcoming winter tournament show being held at SSF. Greg took it into his head that he want to drive Milton in the Academy Driving class at that show. I wanted to think that he was out of his head, but he’d been right about Milton being ready for the clinic. [Milton Rises To The Occasion, Clinic Report]
We prepared. Milton hitched at home. Milton hitched at SSF. Milton took lessons. Each time he hitched, we all breathed a little easier. We were prepared to regroup at any time if Milton showed any resistance or disinclination. He kept trucking along, doing well at each step.
The set-up was as good as it was going to get. Schooling show. Single horse class. A ring he was familiar with. Single horse class? Yeah, if someone else had entered, we would have said Thank you and gone home. We wanted everything possible to go right.
Then, last lesson before the show. Milton was a little sticky. Lack of forward. Tossing his head. All of these were new behaviors. Was he off? Maaaaaybe if you squinted, he took an occasional stiff step on a right corner. Maybe? The resistant behavior was way out of scale to any sign of lameness. Was he tight from the cold? Did he need to warm up? He got going better as the lesson went along, so maybe that was it.
Milton, we are listening, but you gotta give the peoples a hint.
At the lesson, Coach Courtney told us that since rain was forecast for show day, they might have to move the show to a barn with an indoor ring. Well, if that happened, we were out. The whole point of the exercise was doing this at “home.” Milton had been to the other barn and had taken a long time to settle. His record at shows in general, and driving shows in particular, had enough black marks that we did not need non-ideal conditions.
Hmm. If the show is at the other barn, I could show. Beats sitting around at home watching it rain.
Possible options. 1) No rain. Stay at SSF. Milton shows. 2) Rain. Change barn. Milton stays home. I show.
Non-possible options. 3) Iffy, on-again, off-again rainy day at SSF with Milton. Not gonna happen. Milton is a grump in the rain, or when rain is coming. See above, wanting all variables to be perfect. 4) Milton and I both show at SSF. This was logistically possible. My classes where a long way from Milton’s driving class. We would be there anyway. So not gonna happen. No way my stress level was going to cope with showing in addition to getting Milton in the ring.
Finally, Milton’s driver decide that Milton would stay home regardless of the weather. The show had served its purpose in acting as a target. It gave us a tangible reason to keeping chugging along. Progess was made. For the show itself, we wanted Milton to be set up for success, Finicky weather was not his friend.
Come the day, the weather was good enough to stay at SSF, but bad enough that Milton would have hated it. After the show, we worked in the backyard. Milton was very content to hitch at home and happy in this work. He was still every so slightly sticky at the trot.
Earlier in the week, we found a small, healed scrape on his right hind. Looked suspiciously like a kicked from his roommate. No heat. No swelling. No reaction when we poked it. However, when I did body work Saturday night, I found several areas of minor tightness in the right haunch. We suspect shenanigans. The problem was not the scrape. The problem was whatever acrobatics they were doing that resulted in the scrape.
So, Milton staying home turned out to be a good call.
Doing what was right for Milton was the major consideration. A minor influence was that if Milton wasn’t showing, then I could. I do like me a horse show.
Tomorrow, the one who did show.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
Perils of Pauline!
Jane
😁
I got as far as Saturday Night Fever… The cut I saw of that film included a scene with Travolta’s character in the front seat of a car while his buddy rapes the young women who loves Travolta in the back seat. The horror of that is then cast away out of concern about a potential suicide of another buddy. Do I need to mention how much I hated that film?
Yeah. Missed the movie when it came out. Finally caught part of it on tv. It was the car scene. We were supposed to feel sympathy for our hero bc he was disturbed by it. Oh, poor him. Turned it off & have never watched the rest. Completely forgot about that in the amusement of the commercial.