Super Duper Starter Neon Baby Green Hunter

Training Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won.

 

 
Rodney at Falcon Hill Farm.

Me: We are going to walk over this line of two crossrails.

Horse: I can walk in but I have to trot out.

Me: No you don’t. You can walk quietly over both.

Horse: Really?

Me: Yup.

Horse: Cool.
 

 

Watching the traffic on Lay Lake.

Rodney: Egad, a motorboat.

Jumping Diary
Day 1, above. Walked poles & cross rails.

Day 2, one week later. Trotted a “course” of poles. Cantered a pole.

Onwards! Without actually, you know, leaving the property.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

What’s In The Feed Scoop, Winter 2020

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 
Introductory note: Wanted to include witty and engaging commentary. Not happening. Brain clogged with the latest from the news cycle. Stay safe out there.

 
& apple or carrot

Images from manufacturers’ websites.

Rodney
ProElite Senior
ProElite Performance, handful
Cosequin
treat

Milton
ProElite Performance
ProElite Senior, handful
Cosequin
Heartburn Relief, aka cimetidine
treat
DuMorSand-Aid, occasional

[What’s In The Feed Scoop, Winter 2019]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Pi Horse

Celebrating Art

 

 
Yesterday was Pi Day.
 
 
Process notes: Pasting one image on top of the other & making it match turned out to be more of a learning curve than I expected. How to import a GIMP file into Inkscape? Save as JPEG. How to insert pi. Unicode? Wrong answer. Character maps? Wrong answer. Glyph? Ding ding ding. We have a winner. When using nodes to make curves, what is the difference between lengthening the handle & moving the handle around? Is it better to use handles on both ends to shape the curve? Still no idea. Fiddled until it looked right.

[Inktober Horse]
[To Celebrate Pi Day]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

To Celebrate Pi Day, 10 Examples of Numbers and 10 Examples of Math Involved with Horses

Thoughts

 

 
Numbers
Dressage ring measurements

Speed in timed events: jumpers, barrel racing etc.

Jump numbers for jumpers, 2/3 of eventing, obstacles, and cones

Course length & optimum time on cross-country and marathon

Fence heights and widths in jumping disciplines; distance between fences, ditto

Horse height measured in hands

Sizes in blankets and bits and shoes for horses; sizes in boots and saddles and shirts for people

Temperature, pulse, and respiration measurements, for health or conditioning

Pounds of feed, quarts of grain, percentage of protein

Weight of horse, dosage markers on paste tubes

Math
Setting up a dressage ring corners. a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

Dressage ring geometry. Distance from the corner letter to where my 20 meter circle needs to touch the side. Half of circle, 10 meters. Corner to F, 6 meters. Therefore, aim at a point 4m past F. 10m – 6m = 4m.

Dressage scores. One ) Individual movements and collective marks. 6.5+7+5.5+7+5.5+5+6+5.5+7+6.5+6+12+6+6+6=97.5 Two) Convert to percent of total possible. 97.5/160 = 60.938 [Words]

Converting dressage score to eventing penalty points. There use to be a multiplier (I thought?), but that appears to have gone by the boards, USEA, Rule Refresher: Dressage Scoring Aug 2019. 100% – 60.938% = 39.062%

Calculating split times on course for cross-country and marathon. Where do I need to be when in order to come home without time penalties? See photo [Gator Data]

Converting faults to time. Show Jumping Table C appears to be straight up 1 time fault = 1 second. The show jumping phase of Eventing is 0.4 of a penalty per second (or part of a second). One knockdown & three seconds over = 4 + .4 x 3 = 4 + 1.2 = 5.2

Striding in combinations and lines. 12 feet per stride minus landing and take-off. (On average, in reality, adjusted for horse, terrain, fence construction, etc, etc, etc.) 36 feet – 6 feet x 2 = 24 feet = 2 strides.

Optimistic calculations. If the next level is X and I am jumping Y how much higher do I have to be able to jump? I prefer not to put numbers on this one. Current jump height for either horse is not conductive to a positive mindset. Desired height – current height = schooling gap.

Converting horse height to human height. 16 hands x 4 + 2 inches = 66 inches => 66 inches / 12 inches per foot = 5 feet, 6 inches.

Hay usage. 20 bales at 1/2 bale per day = run out in 40 days.

Around the Internet
A group is using horses to explain math, Horse Lover’s Math: Understanding Math Through Horses

Pi Day

The Tau Manifesto, No, really, pi is wrong…

Happy Pi Day!
What have I missed?

Update

[Pi Horse]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Milton’s Moments, Driving Practice, Liberty Work, and Bite of Hay, March 2020

Training Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won.

 
Between rain, mud at home, and shipping Rodney, Milton has had a steady but low-key winter. Lots of long line work; pats on the nose on days when that wasn’t possible. Lately, he’s had a series of almost, not quite, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Driving
Cart moved to Stepping Stone Farm. Standing practice accomplished [Holiday Rides]. Potential hitch day scheduled … and he comes up lame. Dramatic on the step-off. Walks out of it quickly. We suspect he tweaked a butt muscle from slipping in the mud and/or while frolicking.

Liberty Work
One session. Worked about the same as he does on the long lines. Unlikely Rodney, who moves much more freely at liberty. Milton was chipper and sassy after. May be good for his brain, even if the work is the same. Will pursue.

Hay
Gets a small serving of alfalfa when Rodney gets his [Recap]. He also is managing to keep the lid on.

Rubber Band Horse
Tried a resistance band around his buttocks. Once in the barn for fit, once in work. Did not go hopping back to the barn, much to my surprise. In fact, when we tried it for proof on concept, he wouldn’t move. ‘Hey boss, my butt is tied in place.’ I didn’t see a difference in his work, but I’m not the local groundwork expert.

Band Posts
Cob Jockey: More Thoughts on the Equicore Concepts Equiband System
The $900 Facebok Pony: Gold Star for the Baby Horse

Riding
While he the team is making the transition back to driving, we decided not to cloud the issue with riding.

Milton & Me
I have been trying to spend more time with Milton, either doing bodywork, patting him, or simply sitting with him.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

An Attempt To Freeze Time

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Enjoy the ride.

 

 
I wasn’t going to show you this because framing a ribbon is over the top, even for me.

I shared the picture because Craig Zernik of Four Corners Gallery did such a nice job. He put the ribbon on a backing so that it floats in space. He was able to include the trophy while keeping the frame from being ridiculously huge, instead of simply huge. You can see part of the Top Ten sash lining the side.

I had the ribbon framed to keep it as pretty and fresh as the day they put it on Tigger’s bridle. Much harm can come to a defenseless ribbon. One needs to …

Protect from fading. It is a cosmic injustice of horse showing that the ribbon color most prone to fading is blue. One is left with a dull purple. Ask me how I know. The glass is UV-museum quality.

Protect from dust.

Protect from damage. I was prescient here. The cats have decided to attack anything with a tassel. I am finding 2017 ribbons all over the house [ASHAA Awards]. Plus, that delicate fretwork trophy was never going to survive.

Ain’t it lovely?

Show Report with list of links [That Elusive Sunday Blue]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott