Virtual Brush Box

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. Blue dot in a red state. I have not inquired into what my deeply red neighbors think of current events. I’m pretty sure I already know the answer. Do you live among like-minded souls or are you a vox clamantis?
~~~

Back in March, I said that Rodney has to reinvent the wheel at every property.

We go through the same process at each new place. [Peeling The Emotional Onion]

Remember that?

I forgot it.

Good work at Stepping Stone Farm. [Update]

Nice outings at Falcon Hill Farm. [Check-in]

Headed back to Full Circle Horse Park.

I made the mistake of thinking that Rodney would act in a similar fashion at FCHP as he had been at FHF. I was thinking that he was doing well at new places.

Nope.

Not new places, plural. Each new place, singular.

He was fine at FCHP. Just three steps further back along the adjustment process that I had been expecting. He was still at the walk and look and stare stage. No trotting. No tiny cross rails.

He does not generalize. He has to wind down at each new place. I have no idea why.

On a side note, he kept staring at the cross-country course.

‘What’s that? Over there? Cross-country? I’d be great at that. Dunno what it is, but I’d be great at it.’

He walked around the tiny little logs like a kid in a candy store. One has to pay extra for XC schooling, so we didn’t walk over any jumps. Trotting was out. Way too much pressure in the tea kettle. Still, he seemed to be having a grand time.

Maybe he knows something. That would be nice.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have horses

Awareness of the outside world. It’s hard not to be aware of the outside world right now.
~~~
Well, that was a weekend. Political turmoil. Way too much news. Rising Covid numbers.

… and then …

Both horses chose to have issues. Small, well-managed issues, but issues none the less.

Rodney

He’s been doing the on-again-off-again-does-your-foot-hurt-or-are-you-in-a-mood-? dance for a while. Blacksmith couldn’t find anything. Finally displayed a diagnostically useful wobble. Soaked foot for suspected abscess. No noticeable change. Clearly, it was in the foot. Maybe a bruise? New theory.

Daytime, turnout with booties over shoes to cushion his flat feet. Night, put up in heavily-bedded stall with salt poultice. Second night, both feet. [Treatment]

Rodney thought this was the bee’s knees.

Milton
So there’s Rodney. Happily tucked into a fluffy stall.

Milton decides, ‘Dinner? No thanks. I’ll pass.’

Shit.

‘Cookie? I’ll nibble at it ineffectually.’

Double shit. Break out the Banamine.

Turned out to be a mild case. Good gut sounds. Regular temp. Responded well to the shot in the neck. Removed food. Walk. Check. Wait for poop. Lather, rinse, repeat. You know the drill. Mild or not, one always gets alarmed when the c-word is involved.

In fact, he had pooped as we were standing there watching him not eat. Either the poop was already on the launchpad or he was almost over it anyway. Half an hour later, we might never have noticed. Who knows what they get up to the other 20+ hours in the day.

Speaking of hours, why do they always do this at night? On the weekend? Why can’t they chose to raise our blood pressure at 10 in the morning, on a weekday, while the vet is down the street doing an unexciting wellness check on a broodmare? In truth, a horse crisis never comes at a good time. At least at 10 am, we wouldn’t be dragging a horse around the field by flashlight.

No vet visits, this time. Pain behavior was mild in both cases. One upside to having fragile cupcakes is that they do not lie to you about their pain levels. Treatment was obvious. We did call the vet for Milton. Put this on the radar instead of coming as a complete surprise at 2 am. Fortunately, not needed.

Milton is fine. Rodney is still on foot rest protocol. I’m exhausted. The world is still a mess.

How was your weekend?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Writing About Writing

 
Awareness of the outside world. For your amusement. Desktop Stables: A Tiny Barn. A toy barn for dolls. That’s right, 1:144 scale. Not only does the blogger construct this wee thing, she makes doll-sized dioramas of the process. Amazing.

The world is still serious. Sometimes you have to take a break.
~~~

My greatest dressage challenge and how I overcame it

 
This is my new writing assignment for USDF Connection.

More money. Yay!

More words. Double yay! I was always agonizing over all the good bits I had to leave on the cutting room floor.

More space, writing-wise. Triple yay!

The previous assignment, Behind The Scenes, was a series of first-person statements. What I do. How I got started. That meant direct quotes. [Clips]

Here’s the inside pool. Vanishingly few of us talk in complete narrative. In 32 years as a journalist, I have had it happen to me twice. It was weird. The rest of us, myself most definitely included, converse in sentence fragments. Our verb tenses migrate. We start a thought, wander off, circle back.

Because of this, I would beat my brains to jelly assembling the best possible narrative with only the words in front of me. I did this every two months for seven years. I stressed myself out each time.

The new gig is third person. Here is Jack. Here is what happened to Jack. Here’s how Jack feels about what happened. Snappy pull quotes? Awesome! Bring ’em on. If not, I can explain what happened. I can take this part of the story from over here, attach it to that part from over there, and bridge the transition with a few words of my own. I can cite an outside source if appropriate.

This should be more work but less stress. At least, that’s the plan. We’ll see how it goes.

Onwards!

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have horses

 
Awareness of the outside world. Georgia? Who would have thought?
~~~
It’s the little things.

The happiness of walking into the local feed store & seeing a tall pile of your hard-to-find feed. [Beginning Nov 4]

Getting to the poop pile before it is kicked all over the stall.

Finding the glove you dropped.

Finding the glove you dropped *not* in the mud.

And one not so little.

Finding out it’s an abscess instead of tendon damage. Picture from late December when blacksmith was finally able to carve out the remnants. Abscess was back in November. Pardon the blur. Trying not to clog up the shoeing process in my quest for blog media. [The Replay]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride, For The Record

 
Awareness of the outside world … no words … or maybe too many words …
~~~

The Theory, Revised
The plan was for fewer medals this year. They are fun, but how many medals does one need? Notice, I never say this about horse show ribbons. [Medley]

I had also decided to cut out the weekly 5Ks. Since September, I had been doing one 5k each week, whether or not a specific race was involved. When I’m walking the horses and walking myself, I can easily walk three kilometers in a day. What does the extra distance prove? That I can walk? I know that already. My fitness time would be better invested in flexibility or strength or aerobics. Improve things I am not good at instead of doing more of what comes easily to me.

However.

I may have been ignoring psychological component. Those weekly walks were one of the few reasons I left the property. My inner nouvellevore needs to see new places and new people. I don’t interact with these people, but at least I see them.

So, I’m back to weekly walks. Also, medals. If the aim is for mental enrichment, the medals amuse me.

The Types
Mostly to help me keep them straight.

Bike -> ongoing virtual challenge. Australia’s Great Ocean Road at the moment. Then a second GOR with a different company for comparison. More virtual run companies are adding digital touring to their offerings, instead of simply sending a medal. [GOR]

Daily walks of self & horses -> ongoing virtual challenge. UK’s Land’s End to John O’Groats at the moment. Being done with a team. [LEJOG]

Weekly 5Ks, one day-one walk ->
1st option) specific races, e.g. Drum Run, BreyerFest
2nd) if nothing available, then mileage put toward a short-term ongoing virtual challenge, e.g. Year of the Ox, Fuji.
3rd) if neither available, then a long-term ongoing challenge, LEJOG if still going on.

Lurking in the background is my DIY virtual walk of the Mississippi Great River Road. Standing by to soak up any free mileage. [MS]

Complicated? Why not? If I am going to be living inside my own head, might as well have a varied landscape.

The 5Ks
I am doing local races and a few special ones. Turns out I have a broad definition of special.

For the moment, I am limiting my engagement to races that are virtual only. Running outside with non-bubble people is probably safe. Probably. Given the current state of the country, I prefer to support organizations that err on the side of caution. If they are holding an IRL race, I wish them the joy of it, without me or my money. That will change at some point. Not yet. This is how I chose to vote with my dollars. YMMV

January & February
Jan1 to Feb 28. Year of the Ox. 20.21 miles. This is a challenge race masquerading as a series of 5ks. I prefer races that are tied to a real place. I can convince myself that the effort is slightly less imaginary. However, I got distracted by a pretty medal. So, I signed up, then figure out how to deploy the mileage. 20 miles is 32.5K so I have 6 weeks of medal motivation for the price (and storage) of 1.

January
Drum Run. Signed up. To be done in the pasture due to wanting to play the soundtrack as loud as possible. [2020]

February
SF YMCA Chinatown? A second Year-of-the-Ox medal walk.

Mardi Gras?

Mercedes Marathon Super Hero 5k? Local, no details yet.

Atlanta Marathon 5k. On the Speedway at night. I would love to stomp around the racetrack. Violates my self-imposed no-IRL rule.

March – (?)
Fuji Challenge. No date specified. As above, mind changed by medal. Four was more than enough Conquer Challenges. Then this. The Fuji medal is soooo pretty. I don’t have a bucket list. If I did, Fuji would be on it. 46 miles/74 km, 15 weeks of 5ks.

March
Tokyo Marathon, Run as One? They are talking about having associated global, virtual races. No details yet. Would like to do a 5k associated with each of the six major marathons: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. IRL would be a fun fantasy. Virtual for now.

May
Empire State Building Run-Up? Find a tall building around me?

Flying Pig. Signed up. How could I not? [2020] [Flying Pigs]

July
Walcott Day? Walcott, Iowa. Maybe they will have a virtual run?

BreyerFest. Will sign up when available. Will try for an equine theme this year. [2020]

Sept
DragonCon? Depending what they offer and what is going on in the world by then. [2020]

October
Baltimore Running Festival. Signed up. Was offered $15 off of a $25 race, and special shiny red 20th anniversary medal. [2020]

November
Fuji? Different from above. Virtual run in 2020, missed the deadline.

City of the Sun? Cahokia, IL.

Magic City. [2020]

What are you doing for exercise this year?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott