How Other People Ride, Blog Hop Invitation, State of the Blog

Words

Awareness of the outside world. Tor.com: The Plotter vs. Pantser Divide Has Been Exaggerated, Palmer, Aug 8, 2022.

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Blog hop idea. What is it like to keep your horse in a full-care, full-time training barn?

I don’t know and I’m curious.

Over the years, I have kept my horses at eight barns in five states, from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Seven of the barns were boarding situations. They feed your horse; you do you. Some were basic. Some had an instructor available. In each case, you were the captain of your ship.

One barn was a training barn that I thought was a boarding barn. That worked out as well as you would expect.

Now my horses are home, and have been for years. [Barniversary]

So what’s it like not having control over your own horse?

Not talking about a co-op barn. I, personally, don’t share well enough to do this, but I could see how it could work.

Nor do I mean sending your horse off for training for a specified period of time. I wouldn’t, but again I can see it.

Nor do I mean training as a supplement to your riding. I have seen this in both dressage & hunters. At least you ride your own horse.

Speaking of riding your own horse, neither do I mean being the owner of a fancy horse shown by a Big Name Rider. That is a totally separate set of expectations. While I don’t see the attraction of paying for other people’s fun, clearly folks do. More power to them. Maybe if I were so rich that I could pay the fees out of petty cash, I might give it a whirl.

That’s a lot of restrictions. So what do I mean?

What I mean is the very specific situation where your horse, the horse you own and show, is mainly ridden by a trainer. Where maybe you have a lesson on the horse, or maybe you ride school horses until the show. Where riders are discouraged from hanging out at the barn before or after their lesson. Where your horse is presented to you tacked up. Where, perhaps, riders are not even allowed into the barn. Where the trainer is appalled at the idea that there are other barns wherein people ride their own horses every day.

I am on record as unable to fathom this. [Why Not Rack Off Into The Sunset?]

Is it the best way for you to get to the top of your chosen sport? You want to be more involved, but lack the time? You prefer it this way?

Talk to me, tell me what I’m missing.

As before, if you blog this, please comment here &/or message me so I can list your post. If you have already written posts that fit, please drop a link in the comments. Not a blogger? Please feel free to comment at length below or contact me about a guest post. [Stories I’d Like To Hear, 10 Blog Hop Ideas]

State of the Blog [archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Humming Along, State of the Fitness

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. My Best Race: #5417 In a Naked Pandemic Race, You Can Leave Your Hat On. Aggregated from NYT, MIller, August 2020.

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Fitness program same as before. Lots of walking, a bit of biking. Have re-added taking one of the horses with me on walks. Figure walking can’t hurt any of us.

Places are walks, one mile unless noted.

New Places

Publix

Downtown Columbiana

Repeat Places

Pasture

Beeswax Creek Park, repeat & photo safari [Strolling By The Lake, Photo Safari The First]

Orr Park, repeat & 5K [Greenway Stroll, Virtual 5K post pending update Slow Flight Around The Park, Dragon Con Hustle Virtual 5K 2022]

Walmart [Ambling About]

Stepping Stone Farm

Local park

Virtual Places

Minnesota, walking & biking. [Biking and Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Part One, Minnesota]

DragonCon Hustle, Virtual 5K

Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile. On the third try, I finally sorted out how Strava recognizes this. Among other things, the type of activity must be a run rather than a walk. Didn’t bother me in the past. I walk all manner of 5K runs. This year, I decided to be a purist and not count this since I did not “run” it. [Strolling Along The Avenue 2020, Replicating The Setting 2021]

Data Dump

Walking – 23 days

Biking – 3 days

Doubles – 2 days

Nothing – 8 days. Six of the zero days where horse-related activities, show, lesson, driving derby. One day was the dentist, which wears me out. Only one day when I said Pffffft and sat on the couch.

Last month [State of the Fitness, Ambling About]

Onwards!
Katherine

A Disturbance In The Force, State of the Now

Riding, Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. More of this please. The Guardian: ‘The American lawn feels irresponsible’: the LA homes ditching grass for drought-friendly gardens, Beckett, photographs by Jucevic, 24 Sept 2022. Yes! Thank you. I have long thought we as a society should stop trying to pretend we live in bijoux English country estates. I remember seeing pebble lawns at my grandparent’s retirement community in Florida many, many years ago. I was told that residents gave it the side eye. I thought it made a huge amount of sense.

~~~

The new Now.

+++

As of 3 October 2022

Milton is driving.

Rodney senses a disturbance in the force. It’s easy to claim the #1 horse spot when both of you are pasture ornaments.

Until next month.

+++

Last month [State of the Now, School In Session]

Onwards!
Katherine

The Comfort Ride, ASB Lesson

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Gov.UK: History, 10 Downing Street, Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.

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Lesson at Stepping Stone Farm with Optimus, with inaugural ride of new helmet. [Shopping]

I want to be the bold, aggressive rider who takes on any challenge. I’m not. Especially now that the saddle seat barn is third on the Feelin’ Froggy list.

First. Energy, drive, and enthusiasm goes to my own horses, i.e. riding Rodney and being Milton’s header.

Second. Silver Lining, the event barn. [Chestnut Mare Fanfare]

Third. SSF bats clean up. Fortunately, it does that well. Optimus is such a good dude.

Plus, barn cats.

Lucy In The Cart With Hay

Lunch Demon! Lunch Demon foiled by putting cover back on!

Onwards!
Katherine

Tennessee Travels, Rodney’s Contribution

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. I don’t remember the exact statistic, nor where I read it. My point here is my reaction. Statement: Important-Covid-Factiod does not effect people under 50! Okay, I’m safe. No, I’m not. Not by 9 years. Sheesh.

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We almost didn’t go to the MTCC Derby. [Tennessee Travels, Driving]

The evening before, Rodney’s leg blew up again. Just the inside of the forearm this time. We weren’t sure if we wanted to leave him on his own recognizance from before sun up to after sun down.

When we checked him in the wee hours of the morning, leg was not better, not worse. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Nothing for us to do if we stayed home. Off we went.

We did cut the trip short. Left after the derby. This is why the lunch photos are not mine. We left before the food. [Tennessee Travels, Photography]

Got home in daylight. No change.

That was Friday & Saturday. Rodney was better by Tuesday. Just in time to get new shoes. Which means more time off to cope with the new wardrobe. After being stoic for several shoeings – well, for a Rodney version of stoic – he’s back to the post-shoe bootie.

In the good news department, the heel is getting better. The bell boot appears to be protecting as hoped. As I said, I picked neoprene for the padding potential. Neoprene gets a bad rap for heat retention. That is a good thing when one is a lizard and wants one’s body as warm as possible. [Tennessee Travels,Shopping]

Speaking of heat-worshiping lizard, the post that called Rodney a drama llama went up last Tuesday. That night, he wore a winter blanket. In September. In Alabama. With his winter coat growing in. He was delighted.

Back to the leg.

No idea what is going on with him. Two sets of tree-trunk-like swelling (bug bites?) and a sore heel. All on the same leg.

Either.

He has had three separate events on one leg, which is weird.

Or.

He had some underlying issue that is manifesting this way, which is weird.

Plus.

Same foot as the sprung shoe. Might be related to bruising the heel. Can’t see how it could be related to the swellings.

I would sigh, but I think that is a given by now.

Onwards!
Katherine

Tennessee Travels, Shopping

Riding, Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. While the ‘very important people’ are going to do a bunch of posturing, a whole army of workers is going to get started fixing very explicit problems. AL.com: ‘Very fluid situation’: Alabama utilities on stand by, or in Florida, to help restore power after Hurricane Ian, Sep. 29, 2022.

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After the Derby, we took a quick trip through Dover since there is not one near us. [Tennessee Travels, Driving]

New hats. One for me, left. One for Greg, right. Since our current hats were bought in 2014, we were well past due for new. Got a discount due to Safety Awareness Week. [3rd Day of Christmas]

Aside, requiring people to replace their helmets seems like planned obsolescence. As I understand it, shattering is a better way to dissipate force than absorbing. This makes the material more brittle. Similar to the way modern car fenders decompose on impact. Any safety scientists want to weight in? End aside.

Second aside, personal. The poor lady at the store asked, ‘What kind of riding do you do?’ A simple question with complicated answer. More of a fraught question than she was intending. Back to our shopping list.

I wanted to check out the new Mips helmets. None of them fit the shape of my head. Despite being willing to splash out on the high(ish) end of the price scale, I ended up with the cheapest – still ASTM/SEI approved – helmet.

Why not? The color makes me smile.

The saddle seat folks can’t complain. They had me in a blue hat.

The eventers probably won’t complain. Two of the three phases in eventing are objective. No one cares what color you wear on cross country or in stadium. One of those two phases actively encourages people to bling out.

The hunter barns? Well, I’m coming to the conclusion that disciplines where I can’t wear a raspberry helmet are not places I would not be happy anyway, i.e. serious hunters, upper-level dressage.

That particular black helmet was chosen for driving as it gives more coverage at the back of the head. Going out the back door is a serious option in a cart.

I’ve had a Troxel helmet before. Very comfortable. Not the first time I have gone in ready to spend big bucks and come away with what suited me best as the least expensive. Back in the dinosaur era, my favorite black show jacket cost $29. Cheap, stretchy, thin. Looked fine from a distance. Technical before technical clothing existed.

For my future reference. Troxel Spirit medium. Tipperary Sportage 8500 large black.

Another reason we stopped by was to pick up jump blocks. These things are a bit hard to ship. Bought in blue to be left at [Stepping Stone Farm].

BTW, “a bit hard” was what my phone autocorrected to when I texted that these are a bitch to ship. Clever bowdlerization.

Double ended snaps because one can never have enough.

German Horse Muffins as special loading treats for Milton. Rodney doesn’t see the appeal.

Bell boots to protect Rodney’s heel. Figured squishy neoprene would be better padding that the harder plastic of regular bell boots.

Bought Cob rather than Full size for my 17-hand horse, because the industry standard is no longer Thoroughbred. Grumble. Grumble. [Get Off My Lawn, And Take Your Warmblood With You]

No deals with store or products. A simple loot reveal post.

Onwards!
Katherine