Horses, Life, A Touch of Geek

Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Cindy Sez

… that I am done with my computer work for the evening.
… that I should have finished my post before the storm blew in.
… that it’s a good thing I have a wireless iPad.

But seriously folks, tropical storm Cindy is headed our way. We’ve been having rain for daaaaays. Fortunately, we had enough break in the rain that I could pick up feed (yay!) and Greg’s driving apron from the dry cleaners (the apron, not the feed) this morning. As soon as I got home, boom. Given the rate that trees drop onto power lines around here, I’m staying off my desktop, which is where my images are, where my drafts are, and where I upload from. But enough about me.

To those suffering bad weather &/or flash floods, stay safe.

BTW, horses fine. Pasture a soupy mess. Barn not as bad as it could be. Cross fingers.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging, Horse Care, Pasture, Weather

State of the Blog: Status Haiku

Nearing two thousand.
No fame; no money; no trolls.
My subway car art.

~~~
Previous SotB posts [list]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging

Anatomy of a Snit

The Short Version

Had a meltdown. Decided to stomp away from riding and blogging.
Had a great lesson. Decided not to.
I meant it at the time.

The Rest of the Story

Descent into Despair
My first lesson after Mid-South was terrible. The bridle was set up in a way that makes me uncomfortable. Because I was concerned that it would go wrong, it did go wrong. I managed to upset an absolute beginner horse. Seriously, people who have never ridden a horse ride Bingo. At one point, I was so bent out of shape I was shaking.

That was one meltdown too many.

I was done.

Since I would not be riding, I would not be blogging [Breaking Radio Silence, 2nd para]. I drafted the post, scheduled for today. That gave me a week. If I still felt the same way, off I went. Maybe not forever, but for now.

Wallowing in the Deep End
Since I was upset, I treated myself with care and respect and sensitivity. HA. Things I said to myself in a 24-hour period.

I thought I found an answer at Mid-South. Apparently not. Turns out there are two horses* in the world I can ride, and one of them is dead.

Rodney is 18. I’m kidding myself.
Milton bucks whenever he is asked to canter.
The only ASB I can ride is Sam. I upset the rest, including Bingo. Bingo!?!

Forty years is enough time to hit one’s head against a wall.

I recalled every meltdown and bad show I’d had this year. In drafting the departure post, I looked up previous rants and realized nothing had changed [Que Pasa?].

(*Caesar, aka Previous Horse, & Sam.)

Wallowing in the Shallow End
Greg did not believe. Part of me admitted that he was probably right. I knew I was being over-dramatic, but it felt real to me.

Strangely, I was going to miss the blog more than the horses.

Somewhere in there, I realized that, at the very least, I would continue to sit on Rodney. We’d never go anywhere, nor amount to anything, but he was here and we could at least go stand in the ring.

Riding Out of the Miasma
After a fun-filled day of this, Mr. E. Came for our third lesson [Dressage 1, 2]. It went great, on an absolute scale not just grading on a curve for Rodney.

Well, okay then.

I guess I’ll stay with Rodney.
… and Milton.
We’ll figure out something with the Saddlebreds.

Looking Back, Looking Forward
I seem to flirt with quitting every so often, either riding or blogging or both [2012 Where Do We Go From Here?, 2013 Hiatus/I’m Baaaaaack, 2014 Sine Die … Or Not, 2015 Whither Now?. Not to be confused with non-quiting meltdowns, 2016 A Look Inside My Head/Headspace Update].

Although I have elected to plod forward, all of this remains bubbling below the surface. It will probably continue until I achieve whatever my psyche considers a success [Nerves Update].

Onwards. For the moment.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging, Horses, Riding, Saddle Seat, Sports Psychology

Foto Friday: Instagram May 2017

May Instagram from @rodneyssaga.

Redneck pussycat

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Atlanta, GA

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I love my truck, but driving to the top of a parking deck makes me miss the Fiat.

A post shared by @rodneyssaga on

Box O' Cute.

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Baby horse!

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Evening Walk

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Spring

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Evening Walk II

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Was working on the walk post [Proper Walk Protocol]. The first was single file. This one was supposed to look more side-by-side.

Waiting for online navigator training class. Driving in the 21st century.

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A cat and a truck. The antidote for too much news.

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It'a hard work being a horse show cat.

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May 2017

Previous [April 2017]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging, Horses, Photography

Guest Post Invitation & Rules

Wanna write a guest post?

Recently, I have asked a few people if they would be interested in expounding a particular subject into a guest post. I hereby open the invite. Below is the result of my emails on the subject.

Content
Probably best if the subject is horses, or at least equine-adjacent. This is a wide umbrella and I’m comfortable shoving a lot of things under it.

Let’s agree on a subject before you start. If it’s something I can’t wedge in, I don’t want to waste your time.

Deadline
Up to you. I tend to run guest posts on Mondays. I read somewhere that was a high traffic day. Otherwise, whenever you get to it. The blog is daily & I have no plans on stopping any time soon.

Length
Also up to you. One on showing a model horse was over 1600 words [All Hail Augustus Invictus, A Guest Post]. One on book plates was about 1000 [Guest Post: Amy Kilkenny on Equine Bookplates].

We can always split it over several days. Short is okay too. It’s all about mixing in new ideas and different voices. (And yes, not having to do the typing myself.) If you’d like more examples, search “guest post” on the sidebar.

Important details
… hmm … can’t think of any. It’s not a huge blog, so I can’t promise huge exposure, but I do have some nice people who read it. Similarly, I don’t pay, so it would have to be for giggles.

Style
Up to you. Formal essay. Avant garde stream of consciousness. Whatever. If you want to send me a draft, we can bounce it back and forth a few times, or you can send me the text and tell me No Word Shall Be Touched.

I’m not big on profanity, unless it’s done well. Usually it’s just laziness. I’m not big on negativity either. Back when I did book reviews, if I hated a book, I would pass over it rather than pan it. That said, there are many, many ways to get one’s point across without being mean.

I bet that’s no help at all.

Images
Your own or with photographer’s permission.

People
If you mention other people, get their okay first. People can be weird.

For Authors
Very interested in helping promote your book, particularly if you would care to share a behind the scenes look at the writing thereof [Amber Heintzberger, co-author of Modern Eventing, on Babies & Books].

Right of Refusal
You will have total control over the text. I won’t make any changes without discussion. OTOH, I reserve the right to nix the whole idea if – for whatever bizarre reason – we can’t come to an agreement. As do you. Standard practice.

Whatcha got?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging, Horses, Writing

Letter Art: SketchBox Fail

What is failure? Who decides?

Two-thirds of the way through, I am declaring failure of my SketchBox foray. While there could be a sudden reversal with the last two boxes, at this point I’m not holding my breath.

The original impetus for my six-month subscription was a thank you to a friend (waves Hi!). I signed myself up as well to give us an activity that we could enjoy together while separated geographically. It would, in some ineffable way, make me more artistic. I used the Sunday lettering posts as an excuse [P&P].

It started well.

[Pen & Pastels]

Then I began to struggle. I never got this where I wanted, but at least I achieved content.

[Watercolor]

For April, I never even got that far [Wallpapering, no photos of box or attempts].

This month’s box arrived.

 

Watercolor didn’t sound too bad. I’d already done one. Determined to succeed, I bought extra paper and a watercolor book with inviting and clever exercises.

 

I have touched none of this in weeks. I make plans. I castigate myself. I make promises. I shift the pile back and forth.

Who am I kidding? One doesn’t become artistic by osmosis any more than one learns history by falling asleep on one’s textbooks.

I don’t have to. I apparently don’t “want” to [Definitions]. Why am I making myself crazy?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Art, Blogging

State of the Blog: Another Aborted Twitter Adventure

@RodneysSaga – active briefly, inactive once again.
@RodneySagaBlog – active, for now. Post alerts, except for weekends [Weekends Off].

Aside from a set of horse show tweets [Nationals], I had not Twittered since January of 2016. Then came Rolex 2017. I followed anyone who was posting on websites, Facebook, or Instagram. I even resurrected my Twitter account. 7 Rolex tweets, listed below.

What to do now that I was back in the Twitterverse? Eureka! I will post biweekly equine bon mots … and I will use the hashtag #horsewords …. and it will catch on …. and I’ll create a whole Internet movement … and I’ll gather the best ones into a book and …

Pfffffffttt.

I came up with 2 since the end of April.

 

You’d think I could do words. I do words here. I can post. I post Instagram. Ah-ha. cute cat photo op.

Snap. Post. Done. Does Twitter work this way for me? Alas no. Twitter continues to elude me. Dunno why.

Any advice to improve my appreciation of Twitter?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Previous state of the blog [posts].

Tweet Storage for April and May 2017
12 tweets & retweets

I retweeted her retweet of

Previous Tweet Storage
Show, October 2016 [Show Tweets, NACHS 2016]
Kitten addendum [SSF Kitten Tweets]
End [Tweet Storage as of April 2016]

Category:

Blogging, Eventing, Horses

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