Horses & Other Interests
Awareness of the outside world. Saddle & Bridle: When Two Worlds Collide, Moore, 2017.
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Showed up for lesson at Stepping Stone Farm last week.
Was stressing about my event barn lesson the next day. [Chestnut Mare Fanfare]
Asked for fun and easy.
Coach Courtney suggest a new horse.
New horse!
What part of fun and easy do you not understand?!?
Of course it went great.
Peaches is an adorable little sports car.
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. YouTube: Horses like violin playing, 2019. Hat tip to J for the find.
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Last week, I had what I hope is the first of many lessons at Silver Lining Equestrian Center in Auburn, Alabama. SLEC Facebook, SLEC Instagram. [Lesson Ahoy]
I went there years ago when the saddle seat riders of Stepping Stone Farm Advanced Camp went down for a jump lesson. No, I am not reposting the photo, once was bad enough. [Up & Over]
The People
Stephanie James Counts is the boss mare at Silver Lining. She takes the big horses and riders to the big events. Hanna Miller is the one who takes students to the schooling shows. Since a schooling show/event is far more likely for my immediate future, I elected to start with Coach Hanna. Her teaching schedule also works out better for us. Technically, it would be Instructor Hanna until we go to a show. I live in hope.
The Horse
Coach Courtney kept assuring me that the Silver Lining school horses were wonderful. The Silver Lining folks kept assuring me that Tuesday was wonderful. Sure, sure, everyone thinks their own horses are wonderful.
Tuesday was wonderful.
Stand quietly? Sure. Trot in a perky fashion? Sure. Pick up contact and motor around in a perfect intro dressage test frame? No problem.
Chestnut mare attitude? Myth.
The Lesson
The corrections Coach Hanna gave me were not a surprise. I am consistent and not subtle with my errors.
‘Thumbs up.’ If my hands are not up around my ears for saddle seat, they tend to drift down to the horse’s withers, which causes them to flatten. My hands to flatten, that is. Well, also the horse.
‘Sit up/shoulders back.’ Partly defensive hunch on a new horse, partly long-term bad habit.
‘More lower leg.’ Been a long time since I heard that. Coach Hanna explained that pinching with the knee takes the lower leg off the horse. I smiled and put my lower leg on.
For those not up on the nuances between English disciplines, saddle seat is all about driving your knees into the saddle and having your lower legs stuck out to the side like pontoons. Check out Reagan’s victory pass photo here. Different styles, different purposes. I pretty much fixed that with a reminder. In general, the transition back has always been easy. I revert to hunter/jumper(/dressage/eventing) as baseline. Re-establishing saddle seat takes effort. [Switching Gears]
My position at the canter was not lovely. I had to struggle to sit. Bit of a shock since the ASB canter is one of strengths. But then, that’s the whole point of the breed, a smooth, luxury ride.
By end, it was as comfortable I have felt in h/j saddle in a while. Can’t ask for more from a lesson that that. 100% success.
Tired after. Not so much the lesson as the stressing beforehand. Self-inflicted, but no less tiring for that.
The Point of it All
Point is to bring it home to my own horses, else why bother. [Why The Wait, Where Have Hunter/Jumper Lessons Been All My Life, Or At Least Recently]
When Tuesday accepted the contact and offered to pleasantly trot about the ring, the thought came unbidden, ‘Horses do that?!’ It made me realize how difficult Rodney is. No, that’s not fair. Difficult has connotations of resistance and disobedience. Rodney is complex.
Let’s say you want to type a sentence. You open a word processing program. You type a sentence. The sentence appears on your screen. That is a school horse.
Let’s say you want to type a sentence. You open a graphic design program. Where do you want the text? What font? What size? What kerning between the letters? That’s Rodney. Plus each button effects each other button and every so often one of the knobs turns itself up to 11.
I’ve made this analogy before. Still true. Still need to remind self. When you have an N of 1, you lose track of how extreme the situation is. I have to monitor my weight, my bend, where I’m looking, pace, direction, line, and so on. This feels too hard. Am I doing something wrong? No, it is hard. As I said before, “Way more ability. Way more powerful. Way more options for the operator.” [Finish Your Pass, um, Corner]
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Secrets have a way of getting out.
“If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?” Favre wrote in an August 2017 message.
“No, we never have had that information publicized,” New said.
CNN: Brett Favre’s texts included in lawsuit over misspent Mississippi welfare funds, Levenson, Sayers and Gallagher, September 15, 2022.
Early in the life of the Internet, I was given the advice to never say anything online that you didn’t want to see on a billboard on your way to work the next day. Also, don’t misappropriate funds, but you’d think that would be a given.
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Moving mats.
Rearranging dirt.
Spreading gravel.
Making sure the horses have clean, dry, level places to stand.
The floors in my house?
Ahem.
IYKYK.
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Protective: Community Involvement.
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Entryway at the South Gate of Protective Stadium.
Photos taken 6 July 2022. [Volunteering at The World Games]
Links
40Visuals: Rough Textured Brick Wall Vinyl Graphics Bring Magic to Birmingham’s Protective Stadium, May 11, 2022
Archive [Views Of Vulcan]
Onwards!
Katherine
I am not upholding the side.
I live in the Deep South. I did not grow up in the South, deep or otherwise. I’m living the meme. A bright blue dot in a really red state. According to a NYT widget, 930 of the 1000 voters around me are in the opposite political party to mine. [Spring]
Its not about me believing X or Y. It’s about me believing X when everyone around me believes Y. The same dislocation would effect a red dot surrounded by a sea of blue.
Should I say something? Where is the line between living your truth and loving your neighbor? If I’m polite, am I selling out? If I’m impolite, am I annoying people to no purpose? Pissed off people do not change their minds. Is this the right venue? And so on. And so on.
That’s not my issue.
My problem is that I never even get that far.
I react with stunned silence.
Women’s March in 2017. A woman, a professional, in charge of her own business, said she didn’t see what women had to march about.
I just stood there, with wind whistling between my ears, with so much to say that I couldn’t get a single word out. My brain was mental log jam. Where to even start? I could not believe we were this far apart. Maybe we disagree on tactics. Maybe we disagree on substance. I thought at least we all agreed that there was a problem to be addressed.
Another time, a friend was explaining why she was against gay marriage. I couldn’t understand her argument. Literally. I knew the meaning of each word. I could not parse the sentences she was uttering.
More silence.
Early on. Fellow sitting at desk. Me and other fellow hanging out near door to room. Desk dude yells to door dude, “Are you going to the Klan meeting?”
Cue me staring in silence with slack jaw. I was pretty sure they were joking. Time to bait the Yankee. Pretty sure. I should say something. I couldn’t form a sentence that didn’t start with, ‘Are you out of your *#$% mind?!’
I could go on. Some were way worse. Some were lateral. My response is the same each time. Frozen disbelief leading to lack of external reaction, i.e. stunned silence.
It is easy to speak up when you know the audience is on the side of the angels.
Woman who worked with young women: They are being told not to excel because that makes their men feel bad.
Me, flabbergasted: Didn’t we already go thru that years ago?
Woman who worked with young women: I know, right?
[Giving Birmingham Its Due]
I did speak up in one instance. In a tiny way. It involved words. Are we surprised?
Fire department meeting. Situation under discussion. Speaker said, in that case they would send a truck to pick up the firemen. I piped up, ‘So you would leave me and X (other female FF) on the side of the road?’ Pointing out that ‘firemen’ is gendered, while ‘firefighter’ is not. It’s also a way better word. More active. More descriptive. Internal alliteration. But I digress.
The men of the department don’t understand, but they know to expect the fisheye from me if they slip.
[Labels: A Gender Rant]
I would get eyerolls, but I would get the right wording.
Such a small gesture. Does it even matter?
Political activist, I am not.
Bad blue dot.
Update: Proof that living in a blue state is not necessarily a fix, Imperfect Patience: BLUE DOT
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. “Raising funds to support animal care and wildlife conservation.” LPZ: Lincoln Park Zoo’s 44th Annual Run for the Zoo 5K/10K Returns to Chicago In-Person, May 2022.
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Two walks in two weekends. Not planned. Just sorta worked out that way.
Run For The Zoo 5K
Lincoln Park Zoo
In-person & Virtual – June 2022
My walk – Saturday 27 August 2022
Blount Cultural Park
Montgomery AL, USA
Official time – 1:30 hh:mm
IRL time – 1 hr 3 min
The official virtual was Thursday, June 2 to Sunday, June 5. I was not doing 5Ks at that time. [Bored]
Had the shirt already. Reported an estimated time plus a penalty for being out of date in order to get the virtual bib & finishing certificate. Unexciting, so I didn’t post them.
Only 20 finishers. Sadness. I want to see big virtual results so folks are encouraged to continue offering virtual options. It’s been interesting to see who stays with it and who bails. BreyerFest & WorldCon, yes. ComicCon, no. But I digress. [Results]
The Walk
The problem with averaging 3 mph is that one has to go faster to account for slow spots. Some are in my control, i.e. stopping for photos & notes. Some are not, i.e. traffic, street crossings, and so on.
Sagged in middle. Never had doubts that I would finished, just less enthusiasm than other times. I walked when it was logistically convenient, not at a time that was optimized for temperature or meals. Okay for the last mile. I could smell the barn.
The walking surface at Limestone the previous week was grass & dirt. This was tarmac. My knees noticed the difference. [The Strudel Sprint]
Scenic but empty. Saturday afternoon in summer should have been bustling. Do we still behave as summer once school has started?
The Park
Shaded paths …
… lakes …
… and fields.
The Shirt
Despite remembering to smile, my selfie game remains weak. [The Strudel Sprint]
The Question
Paw prints in concrete. Art statement or graffiti?
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. also, The fast lane will henceforth be know as the zoom-zoom lane. Braymere Custom Saddlery: On the road with Tiffany Purdy, Thursday, July 21, 2022. See video at end. Profanity.
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The Intro
Not much to add from yesterday. [Week]
However, every show gets a Show Report post. If I don’t make one for this show, the details will get lost in the electron cloud. #howthesausageismade
The Show
ASHAA Summer Fun Show III
Heathermoor Farm
Moody AL, USA
Saturday 10 September 2022
Emeralds Brown Sugar (Bubba)
26 Academy Showmanship WTC-Adult Amateur, 3nd of 5
27 Academy Equitation WTC-Adult Amateur, 2nd of 5
Thank you to the Walters family for excellent EBS.
Same horse. Same classes. Slightly different ribbons. Same results. [Red Queen Reprise]
Broke at the canter in the second direction in the first class. As before. Coach Courtney said everyone else did also. The winner was the last one standing. As before.
Kept the canter in the second class, including a tight u-turn when we had to pass folks in a narrow indoor ring. Not sure anyone thought that turn was there.
Speaking of unchanged, although it was a tiny show, my nerves before were bad as ever. Zero progress. Been in a mood lately. Nothing specific, just feeling crosswise to life. Adding a horse show on top of that was not a formula for farting rainbows. As soon as I got aboard? Bring it on! I don’t understand it. I live it and I still don’t understand it. [Crux]
Fitted Vs. Fatted
Some things do change. I rode with my shirt untucked. Gasp. Clutch the pearls. I hate sloppy riders. How hard it is to clean your boots, pick out a tidy shirt, and tuck it in? If you show up for a lesson, you show up organized and presentable. (Crawls reluctantly down from soapbox.) The shirt was close fitting with a finished hem that sat below my waist. I decided it had a nicer line that way than tucked in with the waistband of the jods emphasizing my flabby midsection. See, I can adapt. A little. [SSF Summer Show Shirt]
The Red Queen Rides Off Into the Sunset
That is my last saddle seat show. Okay, don’t laugh. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a horrible record for predicting my riding future. That’s how it feels right now. Definitely no big shows. At the end-of-the-year home show, I’m just as inclined to offer to be gatekeeper or ringmaster.
Why? Short version. I’m done with Academy and don’t want to make the commitment to Performance. I’ll stay with lessons because it’s good to get off the property. Time will tell.
If this is to be my last saddle seat class, it would have been nice to go out with a blue. Instead, I went out as I came in, with a red.
Outro
I guess I did have a few things to add.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 