Awareness of the outside world. Daughter of a friend does well. ” ‘Katie has built a reputation as one of the sharpest labor reporters in the business — tenacious, well-sourced and unafraid to go after difficult stories. She’s broken news, won awards and given a voice to people who rarely get one.’ ” THR: Katie Kilkenny Promoted to Enterprise Reporter, TV and Labor at The Hollywood Reporter. March 2026. You’ve seen her byline here from time to time.
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{Backstory. Each morning, people & horses go on team walk: one-mile, unmounted, & off-lead. Route is back and forth five times along one side of the pasture.}
An example of correlational vs causation.
Item one. Rodney was walking awkwardly. Not off, just not as comfortably as previous.
Item two. Rodney had balloon legs. Weirdly, three out of four. Neither two nor four.
Conclusion. He no longer liked these booties. Had stood all night. As a result, stocked up.
Went on walk. Let him do as he would. Wondered what to do next if booties were off the table.
Went back to barn. Checked feet. Found small pebble in shoe. Tiny pebble for a big horse but then, I would like not like a pebble in my shoe either.
Walked fine. Legs still up. Stayed up for several days. This happens every so often. Legs blow up. No pain. No heat. Go down in a few days. Reaction to local flora or fauna? Sleep in a funny position? Random horse thing? Who knows.
So, footwear issue and leg issue had nothing to do with each other. Happened to occur at same time.
Overall, Rodney doing great with footwear. (Hence a small amount of despair when it briefly looked like booties were a problem.) When we stopped for a scratch session mid-walk, he cantered to catch up. He will also trot here and there on occasion.
Milton does not trot off. First, this is normal for him, spontaneous trotting his not his fav. Second, he generally marches along and doesn’t get out of line as often.
The one time in recent memory that Milton chose to trot was when he and I were walking while Rodney was milling about awaiting foot servicing, above. I went to put a hand on him while we walked, as we sometimes do. Nope. Not today. When I failed to get the message, he trotted off, complete with small hip check once he was a polite distance away.
Onwards!
Katherine
