The storm that took down the large tree in the pasture [Damage] left behind a radar covered with green splotches. If it wasn’t raining, the sky was overcast and the ground was waterlogged.
Days of this. The week dragged by.
Despite my brave words [Adverse Conditions, A Reference], I was an unmotivated lump. As a result, not much happened. As a result, not much to report. I have many thoughts. Most of them, like the footing, are damp and squishy. I’ll keep them to myself.
Let’s see if a few days of sunshine and movement over the weekend puts me back on track. (I’m writing this on Thursday for you to read today. It’s the blogger version of time travel. [The Meaning Behind Mondays])
It was over. Words were exchanged. I had my own place now. Yet, I hung around the apartment like a Christmas tree in February. #GWstorieseverywhere
Entry 2
Sunny sky becomes heat wave. Scenic snow becomes inconvenient slush. Refreshing rain becomes mud and flood. Time. The difference between good weather and bad. #GWstorieseverywhere
Sunny sky becomes heat wave. Scenic snow becomes inconvenient slush. Refreshing rain becomes mud and flood. Time. The difference between good weather and bad. #GWstorieseverywhere
Entry 3
Night. Fading echoes of revelry. Other guests depart. The table bears crumbs and candle stubs. My host invites me to linger. Polite or lonely? #GWstorieseverywhere
Night. Fading echoes of revelry. Other guests depart. The table bears crumbs and candle stubs. My host invites me to linger. Polite or lonely? #GWstorieseverywhere
Procedure
“Each month we invite you to post a story on Twitter.” #GWSE Winner, December Gotham Writers
All of my entries hit the 25-word limit. I found that adding one more word can wedge in another thought.
The contest did not give a limit on number of entries. Since other contests from the same source specify one-entry-per, I proceeded under the assumption that more was okay for this one. Makes a better blog post.
Present
Today is the first day of the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. I have a week to write a story with the given prompts. Contest is four rounds, ending in June. I shall report back on the process if there is anything interesting to say. I will post entries here once I am booted out or the contest is over. [FYI, Another Writing Contest]
Future January: Let it go#GWSE
Requirements: 25 words, posted on Twitter, end of the month, free Gotham Writers
Mistakes Were Made
“The year 2020 reminds us of the phrase: Hindsight is 20/20. So we invite you to look back on your life and tell us about something that, in hindsight, you would have done differently.” Mistakes Were Made
Requirements: 20 words, March 1, 2020, free Gotham Writers
Speaking of Contests
While I did not win the Mares In Black Coloring Contest, I did have a excellent time using the contest as excuse to work with digital colors. Check out the variety of coloring choices, MIB Coloring Contest Entries Winners were announced on the 12/31/19 podcast, Happy New Year from the Mares! Since there are no names attached to the posted entries, I can't tell you which won, other than not mine.
He’s not sensitive in the ‘twitch your eyebrow, horse explodes’ manner. This is good. I don’t ride hot horses well. He does what I ask. All of it. No matter how subtle. I’m sure I’ve said this before. Probably will again.
We were in the round pen at Stepping Stone Farm. Working on cantering. (Yay! Go us!) Cannot get around the entire circle without coming down to a trot.
I put my leg on. Doesn’t work. No matter how much I support, he breaks. I have a strong leg. It’s hard to ignore. Just ask Sam, my favorite ASB lesson horse.
Rodney always breaks at the same spot, right as the very slight slope levels out. In the first direction (ASB term, i.e. counterclockwise), this happens at 8 o’clock. In the second direction (clockwise), we trot at 4 o’clock.
Does he have trouble with the downhill, minor though it is? He gets on his forehand and can’t maintain the canter? Leg should’ve helped that.
I think about the geometry. Could he be making a straight line from 12 to 4, and then has to come back to the trot to course correct?
Or it could be me.
Or both. As he comes across at 12, he drops his shoulder to the inside. He slouches, for the same reason we all do. It’s easier. I follow his weight &/or fail to suggest otherwise. We thunder straight ahead instead of turning. At the bottom of the “hill”, I look around the rest of the circle. Instead of letting him sort out his own feet, my weightshift asks him to turn a corner. He can’t canter a corner. At least, not yet.
So, I sit up. Drop my heels. Keep my inside shoulder back. I concentrate on asking for the same degree of arc all the way around the circle. Voila. We make it all the way around the ring. Smooth circle. No feeling of going downhill. Flawless. Whoever started it, I was not helping by being mushy with my directions.
Rodney responds to aids I don’t even know I’m giving. This could be good. As long as I remember to ride.
~~~
Unrelated video from earlier in the ride. Our first step into a larger world? Music usage investigated and deemed to be legit, as best we can tell. Tune. Fan wisdom says the company is cool with short, fan-related uses, abwct.
Schooling session at Full Circle Horse Park. Rodney and I are walking toward the ring to use the mounting block. Woman and horse walking at us. I notice that she has leading her horse in the approved fashion: right hand on the reins near the bit; left hand holding the excess. If the horse acts up, she has close control with one hand and a second chance to keep long-range control if the horse shakes off the first hand.
I realize I am not leading my horse in the approved fashion. The reins are flipped over Rodney’s head, laying on his neck. I have one hand lying loosely on a curve of one rein. If he spins away, I’m toast. He’s gone for a good gallop.
Hmmm.
Not very Pony Club of me.
I blame saddle seat.
For a few years in there, the only bridled horses I dealt with were lesson horses at Stepping Stone Farm. Most of the horses wear a work bridle, which comes with two reins and a running martingale or one rein and a German martingale. There’s no flipping those reins back down. You’d end up with a snarl of leather straps. In the vanishingly small number of cases that my mount had a double bridle, I tacked up – or more likely someone tack up for me – and then left the heap of reins in place to walk the short distance over to the mounting block.
At home, I’m less worried about control and more concerned with possible breakage. We groom in the run-in shed and ride in a flat area of their pasture. They are never outside of an well-enclosed space. If a horse goes walkabout, they just run back to the barn. If the reins are trailing on the ground, they risk stepping on the them and hurting themselves and/or snapping the reins.
Rodney and I need to brush up our manners for going out in public.
I talked about Rodney last week [Holiday Rides]. What of Milton? He’s been doing great.
Groundwork
Milton has become quite the long-line star. He’s doing enough work that he’s starting to put on weight somewhere other than his hay belly. There might be a topline in there somewhere.
Future Driving Practice
Milton likes to drive. It’s hitching that upsets him. To address this, we have broken the process down to into tiny increments. First step, stand between the shafts. That’s it. Nothing connected. Just stand while someone rolls up the cart and holds it in place. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
We had a chance to practice often during the holidays. Milton is up to three minutes without shifting. His eyelids have been know to drift semi-shut on occasion.
Will he ever drive? Will he ever compete? No idea. My driver says that if Milton only pulls a cart around the ring at Stepping Stone Farm that will be fine. Between me as the worrywart and Coach Courtney as the supervisor, we won’t do anything that puts horse or human in jeopardy.
Pasture Walks
Milton participated in several holiday trail walks around the pasture [Team Ride]. One of the days, we ended early because Rodney was too wound-up to focus. We did enough to declare victory and stopped. Milton’s stood quietly, walked calmly, and mostly wondered, ‘What’s up with him?’ Good boy.
Riding
I even hopped on for a short stroll around the side field during a trip to SSF.
Where is all of this going? No idea. We’ll keep moving forward and see where we get.
Virtual Brush Box 