Awareness of the outside world. If you pick the State & Federal option at halfstaff.org American Flag Half Staff Email Reminder, you have 56 choices. The first 50 are obvious. Can you name the other 6? Answers below.
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Boogie
Driving lesson
Stepping Stone Farm
October 2025
I have a tendency to fling the reins and say go horsie. I get by with leg aids and weight. It works, up to a point. Real conversation happens when you have an educated, sympathetic contact through the reins. So I’m told.
Flinging the reins is a particularly nonuseful habit in driving, when reins are all ya got. Along with voice commands and a tap with a driving whip. It works at Stepping Stone due to nice driving horses and simple tasks. Optimist could probably do an Academy driving class by himself.
Anyway.
Drove Boogie. He was a star. He tolerated my clunky hands figuring out how to hold the reins with contact. Hey, look I have steering!
I go on about him. He really is a nice horse. I made sure to give him a good rubdown after. I may be only moderately effective as a rider/driver, but I speak excellent horse when my feet are on the ground.
Photo above. As mention before, one has to take the ears photo before sitting in the cart. Otherwise the view has lots of anatomy. [Days With Diego]
Previous post. Me saying go horsie. Optimist doing his thing. [Summer Showing, July 2025]
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56 State Notification choices at halfstaff.org: 50 states. American Samoa. District of Columbia. Guam. Northern Mariana Islands. Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
Simply based on what you did with Priney, I’d say you were more than moderately effective as a rider. I, too, tended to communicate primarily with body, rather than reins. Especially when riding bareback with just a halter and leadrope.
Thank you. Definitely a highlight. Mostly due to Priney. She simply needed the situation explained. Pony power!