Horse On Course

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. More time to consider the outside world; less energy to cope with it.

~~~

Jump schooling two weekends in a row!

Kept in mind the ideas from last time. [Back Into The Ring]

One. Do not buy into his anxiety. A slow start to schooling does not mean the entire day is doomed.

Two. Be clear and certain about path and pace.

At the beginning, Rodney was in a good place physically, but mentally wired, which was a weird feeling for both horse and rider.

Lots of trot poles.

He started to get concerned, almost as if he was anticipating the questions becoming harder and harder. (… and harder and harder and it’s going to be impossible and I won’t able to do it and … and … The only one I know who can get spun up from a standing start as fast as Rodney is me.)

A walk break does not help. Had to do trot circles to get him actively thinking about something else. Coach Courtney calls this ‘changing their brain.’ [In Which We Learn Things]

We ended with a short course of tiny jumps. Crossrail from last week, pole and tiny vertical for a quasi-related distance, second tiny vertical. Two trips.

He actually relaxed once we got to the course. ‘Oh, this is the question of the day? Okay, I can do this.’

Did a cute little jumper turn at a trot the second time around. He can dump momentum if I cut the turn too tight on the flat. This time he whipped (metaphorically) around.

A little hop over last that felt like him showing off. Good Pony!

~~~

The plan was to take advantage of the long weekend and go back on a second time. Didn’t happen. [Bored]

Onwards!
Katherine

Remembering How To Ride

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Alabama News Center: Alabama quilters escape to Lay Lake for ‘Building Better Quilts 2021’, By Meg McKinney, October 12, 2021.

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At some point, I will expand my repertoire to riding a wider range of ASBs at Stepping Stone Farm once again (small shudder). For my lesson last week, I deliberately asked to ride Optimus. I wanted to see if I could take less than three classes to remember how to ride saddle seat. [Switching Gears]

Get ready. I tried to consciously consider the fact that I was wearing jods and using a different saddle as markers to put myself in saddle seat headspace before I got on.

Get on. Remember where to put body parts. [Gears]

In motion. That’s the hard part. My understanding(?) is that one is constantly asking the horse to compress the stride and lift the feet. Therefore, I figured that if I was asking the horse to do this, the rider should be doing analogous things with their body. [Learning From Youth]

Overall, successful. I was not perfect, but I was not perfect within tolerances for a saddle seat rider, rather than a rider orbiting in from another discipline.

Which raises the question if the riding style I revert to is actually hunt seat or simply a collection of sloppy habits and real hunter/jumper/dressage/eventing is closer to the things that trip me up in saddle seat, i.e. sit up, sit back, constantly gather the horse, etc. etc. Isn’t all riding about the center of gravity? But that’s a post for another day. [Center of Gravity, Notes From A Lesson]

~~~

Well, done with that for a while. [Bored]

Onwards!
Katherine

Delay of Game, Week 8, Virtual Tevis 2022

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. A reminder that progress is possible. Your Local Epidemiologist: We can reduce gun violence in the U.S. Article talks about tobacco & car safety. To this I would add the rapid – in societal terms – reversal on drunk driving. Are you old enough to remember ‘One for the road’?

Pause to remember those for whom progress would come too late.
~~~

~~~

Total. 56 miles, 30 rides, 24 hours 41 minutes, pace 26:27 min/mile.

This week. 1 mile, 1 ride, 30 minutes, pace – walk

To go, 44 miles in 48 47 days. Still ahead of game by four three miles. That will change. Update, corrected for date of post rather than date of draft.

Notes

Rain at the beginning of the week. A quick stomp thru the mud. Rider vet delay at end of the week. [I’m Bored Already]

Although lessons and schooling are out for a while, I hope to be able to wrap the ankle, hop on, and log a few easy VT miles, sooner rather than later.

[The Good Way To Have Ups And Downs With Horses, Week 7, Virtual Tevis 2022]
[VT archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

I’m Bored Already

Not Riding

I’ve taken up this new hobby of cage fighting …

One of the ER nurses suggested that sounded better than what actually happened.

Stepped off stool in barn. Ankle twisted underneath me. I went splat.

Not broken. Sprained to the point that the treatment is similar. Ligaments are apparently hard to heal b/c they are not well vascularized. Reminds me of equine lower legs.

Wear boot. Take it easy. How long depends on whether I stretched or tore the ligaments and how badly. Recovery could be up to 6 weeks, depending on damage.

Onwards!
Katherine

Barn Cat With Fern, Guest Photo

Images

Ricky surveys his domain.

Photo by Courtney Huguley.

~~~

Note. Writing to you from Friday evening. Since this post is for a Saturday, I had a fiction post planned and partly written. Lesson today. Tired, as much mentally as physically. I think both from lesson itself and from the excitement of being around people.

Note to self. Have lesson-day posts done ahead of time. I will not have the energy. No matter how perky I promise myself I will be.

Onwards!
Katherine

A Walk in the Zoo, A Sprint for Sloths, A Semi-Virtual 5k

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. The Sloth Conservation Foundation.

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16th Annual AAZK Zoo Run : Sprint for Sloths
Race day – Saturday, May 21, 2022
My walk – Thursday, May 19, 2022
Distance – 3.1 miles
Time – 1:03:49 hrs moving time, 1:07:32 hrs elapsed time – dunno if this includes pausing the clock for the sea lions or not
Pace – 20.35 min/mile moving, 21:47 min/mile elapsed

IRL that I did DIY, in order to support a local event but not take a Saturday away from horse activities. Also, the web site not clear on the medal situation. Awards to fastest/slowest but no word on finisher medals. Looked like the shirt might be the limit to my loot. So, after I got my shirt on one of the the pick-up days, I wandered about the zoo for an hour. Not a bad time for slaloming through camp crowds.

Shirt pic if it ever stops raining.

Break for Sea Lions

Caught the end of the sea lion feeding during my walk. The last behavior was clever. The keeper gives the We’re Done signal. One sea lion dives into the water; the other scoots over to a pen next to the gate, see photo. Keeper tosses fish into the water. Exits gate. Gives fish to other sea lion through fence. Everyone gets fish. No one tries to follow the keeper through the gate horking about more fish. Anyone who’s every had to turn a horse out in a pasture knows how problematic gate traffic can get. BZ: California Sea Lion

Finish With Feathered Friends

Planned my route so that I would end at the Lorikeet aviary. BZ: Rainbow Lorikeet

Hello.

Noms!

Bird selfie.

Selfie with birds.

Onwards!
Katherine