Horses, Life, A Touch of Geek

Archive for the ‘Combined Driving’ Category

New Equipment: Bit & Pieces

Milton’s new driving bit, to replace the one borrowed from Coach Kate [With Great Bit Comes Great Responsibility] Shorter shanks and a gentler mouthpiece.

More pants. Previous pants [Shopping Spree] were too small. How did I end up with a waistsize bigger than my inseam? In my defense, I like a loose fit. Previous pants did not have enough room for me to leap about the back of a carriage [Derby 2107]. Summer weight EMT pants with cargo pockets.

Yet another strap that goes somewhere on the harness.

Watch mount for carriage.

Storage racks for the tack room at shows. Yes, we have a tack room at driving shows. The stuff. So much stuff.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Horses, Tack

Foto Friday: MTCC Driving Derby 2017

Fiddling with post-production art. Let’s call it a work in progress. [Show Report]

 

 

Other PPA

 

Weaving With Light
Caeruleus Descending

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Art, Combined Driving, Horses, Photography

Show Report: MTCC Driving Derby 2017

MTCC Driving Derby
Whip Hand Farm
Franklin, TN, USA
Saturday, September 9, 2017

Bliss WH. Greg driving. Katherine navigating.
Preliminary Single Horse: 1st of 4.
Preliminary Division: 2nd of 7.

We came. We saw. We ran around like idiots. A good time was had by all.

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Slide show photos by Kate Bushman. More photos of competitors on the MTCC Facebook page. She makes all of us look good.

An athlete prepares.

[MTCC Derby 2016]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Horse Shows, Horses, Photography

Outing Report: Full Circle Farm 2017 Fall Schooling Show

Milton attended his first practice show.

Full Circle Horse Park, in Cropwell, AL, had a dressage, combined test, and lower-level three-phase schooling show last Sunday. We took Milton over to look around. He was fabulous.

Look at that. And that. And those horses over there.

As soon as he got off the trailer, he greeted his 15 new best friends. Although he stared at everything, he failed to dance and fuss. He was a bit distraught when Greg walked him down to the XC, away from the new friends. Note to self, Milton doesn’t like to be alone. I wonder how this will play out in competition.

Milton’s first showground warm-up.

Milton behaved so well that Greg harnessed up and did groundwork off in a corner. The original plan had been to go to SSF to hitch. We decided this was equally valuable experience.

After working, Milton was over the novelty of it all.

The only misbehavior was going home. He stared at the step-up into the trailer as if he couldn’t figure it out. ‘It’s too hiiiiiiigh.’ and ‘I can’t lift my feeeeeeet.’ Being stymied by height is not good news in a jumping horse. Not such a big deal in a driving horse. We gave him a few tries and one ‘Seriously, Horse?’ He got right on.

The new paradigm seems to be “portable” jumps strewn about an open field.

Full Circle Horse Park is a new facility that plans to be both a boarding barn and a full-service competition venue. Right now they have a ring, a jumping area, and Amoeba & Tadpole cross-country. Bigger courses and more facilities are in the works. Gonna be a nice resource to have close to home.

And me? How did I survive surrounded by tall boots, jumping horses, and cross-country fences? Shrug. I’ve given up so hard it doesn’t even hurt. Much.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Checking the news feed.

Category:

Combined Driving, Horse Shows, Horses

New Equipment: Rodney Tests The Vest

Vests for our CDE debut.

Greg gets the short vest since he sits. I get the longer since I stand. Plus I might, someday, possibly, in a fantasy world, use it on cross-country.

Overall, Rodney has done little this summer. Once his ankle was almost deswollen [Dubious Future], he got a small scuff right under the saddle. Thanks Milton. Once that was healed and growing hair, I took him for a brief walk, pictured here.

Afterwards, I found a cut on the inside of this lip. Although small and nowhere near the bit, for a horse who is already hyper-sensitive, it is enough of a pea under the mattress to warrant yet more days off. [Images here, if you want the not very gory details.]

None of this has been serious. All of it has kept Rodney out of work. Do they plan it this way?

As for his trailer issues [Trailer Training], Precious Prince Snowflake Cupcake will load and stand, but is clearly miserable and panics at the first hint of confinement. I’m pondering our next step.

Sigh. Or is the sigh implied when dealing with Rodney?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Eventing, Horse Care, Horses, Tack

Solo!

We have a driving horse. No training wheels. We hitched our horse, to our cart, by ourselves. Twice.

No worries. We were cleared for this at Greg’s lesson last Saturday. On Sunday, we went back to SSF and did the exact. same. thing. The only difference was that Miss Courtney was not in the middle of the ring … and we were trying really, really hard to act calm. If Milton noticed, he figured, ‘Meh, it’s a people thing.’

We went back on Monday and did it again. Milton buckled down and worked diligently all three days.

What a star.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Horses, Video

Milton & Me, Redux

We are quietly examining the schedule for suitable places for Milton to start showing with a cart. Yes, yes, many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip. It’s all tentative and progress-dependent.

One factor has become obvious. Greg doesn’t have the time. He’s busy working. (Go him!) If he’s to have a competition horse, I will have to work said horse during the week.

I don’t know how I feel about that.

I don’t know how I feel about that while my own riding continues to tank.

Or it could just be August. I hate August. [Hello September]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Horse Shows, Horses