Don Me Now My Gay Apparel, Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange 2019

Blogging About Blogging

Let’s Get Meta

 

First Order Of Business
All hail The Printable Pony for organizing the blogger gift exchange. These things are always more of a hairball than they seem from the outside. How hard can it be to collect a few names, match them up, & list the resulting blog posts? Ha! My sympathies.

If you want to see what folks are getting, blog roll at The Printable Pony: Thank You 2019 Gift Exchange Participants!

To: Me
From: Equinpilot

The haul
Horses – German horse muffins, Uckele Equine Equitreats, & Start to Finish apple treats
Dog – Pupperoni
Cats – treat potpourri
Me – two shirts

The pink shirt was exactly what I asked for. When I say exactly what I asked for, I mean “exactly.” The sign-up sheet had a space for notes. I asked for a 2x shirt from where the person lived, regardless of whether or not the result had anything to do with horses. Is being that specific helpful or greedy?

I wear big shirts as at-home lounge wear in warm weather. Since I am home a lot and it is warm a lot, I go through a lot of oversized shirts. Either they wear out, or they are from past activities that I am over. Clean cups!

So, when I wear this, I can think about the blog, about blogging, and about the new friends I have met in giving and receiving. And about pink Marines. I have so many questions.

Saved the best for last. Custom drawing of Milton & Rodney. On a shirt. With bows. I must buy these bows and take this picture. Awesome the shirt is. Gobsmacked I am. Would it be weird to frame a t-shirt?

Thank you Equinpilot!

Here’s what EP got as their blogger gift, Equinpilot: 2019 Blogger Gift Exchange.

To: Quantum Chromatic Abberation
From: Me
When I signed up for the Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange, I had such plans. I was going to read the target blog throughly, in its entirety if feasible, and craft the perfect suite of low-price, adorable gifts ideally suited to the blogger. The recipient would have fallen back in awe at my ability to encapsulate them in a box.

Then I got QCA.

QCA has a wish list.

The wish list had a book.

Welp, that was easy.

I’m a sucker for books, [Retail Therapy]. I wrote about them professionally for years. I have a book feature on the blog, [Have You Read This? Travel]. I am on the record as liking to send books to people, “Everybody wins! Giving away books is fun! I need to stop having giveaways if I refuse to pick a winner!” [$700 Giveaway, see comment].

The outcome was inevitable.

It’s more than I was supposed to spend, but when you add in the shipping I would have paid for the items I would have bought, not *that* much more. That’s my story.

Their copy, Quantum Chromatic Abberation: Blogger Gift Exchange! I also ordered a copy for myself, [Tsundoku Additions].

Update
[Gift Theory and Blogger Gift Exchange Follow Up]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Blogiversary, Quilty Logo

Celebrating Art

 

 
Eight Years today. Post #2829. First post [We begin. Again.].

Process Notes
Meg [Threads, Archive] introduced me to Bonnie Hunter’s blog, Quiltville’s Quips & Snips!, which led me to Kevin the Quilter. On the link, October…thus far…. , Kevin taught a class where they made quilts from blocks of color strips. Oooh pretty. How can I use that?

Bottom layer. Color strips from photo exercise [Blue At The Barn] made into blocks …

…. then “quilted.”

Top layer. Letter template. Got the idea from the post Kevin’s post Quilty Visits Part 1 where he shows making a block of color & then trimming. I didn’t trim. Laid template on top as a reverse mask. Color showed through. Same result.

Voilà. Quilt letters.

Note to self. Be really, really sure you are happy with an element before you cut & paste it 24 times.

Quilt Posts
[Text Art: Q is for Quilt]
[Gift Celebration]
[Framed!]
[Threads Make Feathers, Guest Post]
[Letter Art, AlphaBooks: R is for Rubin]
Not a quilt post, but the result is quiltesque. [Foto Friday: Weaving With Light]

Blog Anniversary Posts
Mentioned in 2018 [Christmas Gift].
In 2017, got caught up in Christmas & forgot about anniversary [The Night The Animals Talked].
Noted in 2016 [Five Years Ago Today]
Didn’t commemorate prior to 2015.
2015 [Doctor Hooves Meets Manehattan]
2014 [Penguin Farm]
2013 [Text Art: Holiday Stickers]
2012 [Goodbye & Hello]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Short But Frightening, Contest Entries

Writing About Writing

 
Looking Back
Frightening First Line

We could have avoided so much tragedy, if only the aliens had not landed on Halloween.

“Create the first line of a frightening story … limit was 31 words.”
My entry was 16 words.
Frightening First Line Contest
Winner & Runner’s Up
Gotham Writers
[Can You Write Short?]

Last Date

Harvests failed. People migrated. Residents objected. Tempers flared. Then violence. Strife. Peace. Symbolic tree planted. Became known as The War of the Last Date. #GWstorieseverywhere
@willwrite4feed

“Each month we invite you to post a story on Twitter.” #GWSE
My entry was exactly 25 words, but only 186 characters.
##GWstorieseverywhere, Last Date, November 2019
Winner, November
Gotham Writers
[Can You Write Short?]

Looking Forward
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
Mistakes Were Made
Gotham Writers

December: Overstayed welcome
“Each month we invite you to post a story on Twitter.” #GWSE
Requirements: 25 words, posted on Twitter, end of the month, free
#GWstorieseverywhere
Gotham Writers

Did anyone else enter?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

60 Before 60

Random Thoughts

The world is vast & weird.

 

Today is my birthday. 57 years old. I have three years before I turn 60. Moving quickly past the existential angst, I decided to steal be inspired by See Jane Write: Help Me Create My 40 Before 40 List.

So, a list of things I would like to do in the next three years. Some are simple; some are complex. Some are realistic; some would require a holodeck. A handful are broken into stages, mainly the riding ones. Doing all of them is mutually incompatible.

0 Baseline. Continue to be happily married to this wonderful dude. Have my health. Keep our horses at home. Have time to enjoy all of the foregoing.

So, this list is basically the life I have now, just doing a better job with it. Since this is a horse blog, I start there.

Horses
Half of the goals are horse-related (34/60). Sounds about right. Disciplines listed in reverse alphabetical order [A-List].

Travel
1 See the Western States Trail Ride in person. Volunteer? [Tevis Cup Magic]
2 Take a mule ride in the Grand Canyon.
3 Attend the All-American Quarter Horse Congress.
4 See a performance of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. I’ve see a practice in Vienna. I’ve see two performances in the US. Be nice to see them do their thing in their own place.
5 See horses on an airplane during a nice safe flight in which the horses ate the snacks & enjoyed the inflight movie.
6 Compete at the Kentucky Horse Park [7 Ways To Dodge Nostalgia].
7 Compete abroad. Half credit for Canada & Mexico. Double credit for Asia/Australia
8 Earn a ribbon abroad.
9 Win abroad. Even if the result won’t be the right color.

Saddle Seat
10 Learn to use a double bridle.
11 Move out of Academy. As soon as someone loans me a horse.
12 Ride a game horse … happily.
13 Show in the ASB jumper class at the the St. Louis show [Saddlebred Versatility].
14 Show on the green shavings [Spotted on the Green Shavings]. Why not dream big?

Obstacle Challenge
15 Complete all the obstacles in a class.

Model Horses
16 Show in a model horse photo show.
17 Show in a model horse live show. For real this time. [What Happens at a Model Horse Show?]

Jumpers
18 Yes. I don’t know the state of the industry well enough to know what I want, other than Jump! All! The! Things!

Hunters
19 Ditto.

Eventing
20 Event at any level.
21 Event at Beginner Novice.
22 Event at Novice.
23 Event at Training.
24 Complete a Prelim event.
25 Win an event, any level.
26 Win an event, Training or higher.
27 Ride in the AECs. Been a goal for a while [I Owe It All To Rodney].
28 Win the AECs.

Dressage
29 Ride First level.
30 Ride Second level.
31 Ride Third Level.
32 Earn my USDF bronze [Bucket List: USDF Bronze].
33 Ride a trained Lipizzaner. A kind, understanding one.

Awards
34 Win year-end awards, 3rd or higher, in three disciplines from three different associations in one year: saddle seat, obstacle, hunter/jumper, eventing, dressage [A Dog Can Dream].

Body
Swim
35 Learn the Australian Crawl [Black Line Therapy].

Fitness.
36 Get fit. Vague, but I know what I mean.
37 Learn an entire Tai Chi form. Use it to start a daily practice.

Dance
38 Be able to follow along in the adult class [Challenge, Do Something You Are Bad At].
39 Take a class with Intercity Dance Collective. Lifted directly from 40.

Biking
40 Bike 100 miles. I’ve done 50 miles. I could see doing 100 … slowly, carefully, and fully supported.
41 Go on a bike tour. Chateaus of the Loire Valley comes to mind.

Mind
Work
42 Restart my career.
43 Have a writer’s website.
44 Find a writing group, in person or online.

Writing
45 Write a book, i.e. finish a book-length piece of fiction.
46 Publish a book, self or otherwise.
47 Publish a book with a commercial publisher.
48 Be invited to a panel at Dragon*Con.

Hobbies
49 Weaving. Finish something. Anything. I’m sure I will have more. This is a start.
50 Travel. Walk the NYC Marathon 5K [Proof of Concept, Race, er, Walk Report, Magic City Run 2019].
51 Stamps. Create & show a stamp display. What? Examples AAPE. [My First Stamp Show]
52 Photography. Have an art photo published. In other words, have a photo published because of technical merit, not because it shows the winner of the class.

Blog
53 Attend a blogging conference.
54 Reach post #3900. Today #2827 + three years, 1096 posts = # 3923. Gave myself wiggle room in case I have drop everything to do something wonderful [Delay Of Game].

Life
55 Find volunteer work that is both useful and satisfying.
56 Leave space for my spiritual life.
57 Get on top of my chores. Live in a house that is acceptable for people to see. Tidy, repair, decorate, and so on.
58 Find a charity to get behind, as The Fat Cyclist did with World Bicycle Relief, Superduper Cool News.

59 Reader suggestions. Anything to add? Things I should do? Things I would have fun doing?

60 Left blank for things wondrous and unthought of.

Well, that takes care of my New Year’s resolution posts and gives me automatic blog posts on this date for the next 3 years.

Notice how I have avoided the g-word? I don’t do the g-thing. [This Is Why I Don’t Set Goals]

Previous Posts
[Dream Rides, Shows] 2019
[Goals 2018. Not.]
[Hello 2016!]
[Looking Back at 2015]
[On the 8th Day of Christmas: Eight Resolutions] 2105
[My Go Mighty 10] 2013
[Bucket List] & [Bucket List – Accomplished] 2012

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Recent Changes, Milton’s Padding

Training Journal

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

 
After the success with Rodney’s padding [Recent], we decided to see if anything of that sort would help Milton. He’s always been girthy and hates to be touched. Perhaps he would like to be insulated from the slings and arrows of life.

We messed around with pads and girth covers, with the saddle and with the driving harness. I’ve lost track of the number of pads we have ordered, tried on, cut up, and tried on again. Some were learning experiences [Tiny Victories]. Hop, hop, hop.

Current configuration. For long-lining, Milton wears a jointed wither pad and a sheepskin girth fuzzy. The wither pad is a second purchase of the one we cut up for Rodney. The driving saddle gets the fancy fuzzy because the girth is shorter. For riding, he wears a thick felt pad and a Muppet-fleece girth fuzzy.

Yes, we are enveloping our horse in bubble wrap.

In the photo, Rodney demos Milton’s felt saddle pad. Rodney’s padding lead us to try the concept of padding with Milton. The success of the big felt pad on Milton lead us to circle back and try it on Rodney. The black line is from where we trimmed the pad. Turns out Milton does not like an extra long pad touching him on the back. No sir, he does not like that at all.

The mail fairy just brought a foam girth channel and a double-ended elastic girth with bright red fuzzy lining. More options to ask Milton about.

How will we show in all of this? I have no idea. First step, ride the horse. Second step, practice at schooling shows where one can get away with non-standard gear [1000 Words]. Third step, figure out a way to make it all rule-compliant and stylish [Rodney’s Bit]. Fourth step, take the show on the road. Many steps between here and there.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Recent Changes, When You Find Out You Are Not As Good As You Thought You Were

Training Journal

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

 
At some point earlier this year, I burbled on about how Rodney was a sensitive horse and how I was learning to ride him in balance and how I was understanding the concept of being on the outside rein. I likened the feeling to being on the inside or outside edge of a figure skater’s blade. As I rode, I had to make a conscious effort to monitor my form in order to stay in harmony with my horse.

All very poetic.

All very wrong.

I wasn’t riding subtle shifts in my horse’s balance. I was riding a slight saddle wobble. Once we stuck a matchbook under the table leg [Padding], my seat was as dead as ever.

Well, then.

Good to know.

Onwards.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Recent Changes, Rodney’s Padding

Training Journal

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

 

 
Rodney has always had a torn-up back [Daddy Dearest]. It looked more scarred than deformed and the saddle seemed to fit. Still, we decided see what would happen if we put a thin piece of felt to fill in any possible gap.

Thin, ha! We ended up wedging an inch of felt in there.

My tack designer found a western wither pad that came as two 11″x 8 1/2″ x 1″ rounded felt pads joined by nylon straps, State Line: Western Felt Wider Wither Pad. We – the barn “we” – cut the straps off and shaped one of the felt pieces to match the area behind Rodney’s withers, mostly by thinning it toward the back and bottom edges.

He loves it. We have shaken off the first 10 or so minutes of anxiety at the beginning of each ride. Turns out the saddle was wobbling more than I realized. More on this tomorrow.

The photo shows the taper on the pad. This is where “we” did the most carving. The upper left corner in the photo is the lower back inside corner on the horse. Curry comb for size. Cat for supervision. It is impossible to keep hay off of this. Rodney has a regular cotton pad under, so he isn’t being poked by hay stalks.

The filler pad has been feature since September. Long enough that it’s here to stay. For now. We are still messing with the rest of the padding.

Last weekend, we tried a full-size, square felt pad. Nice but thick. We tried a folded western saddle blanket. Thinner, so I feel more of the horse. Seems to have the same effect as the thicker, stiffer felt. We have not determined if he likes the additional saddle pad for the cushioning (felt), to keep his back warm (wool), or both (?). We know he likes to be warm. [Piling on the Therapy].

It’s a work in progress.

Update
[Recent Changes, When You Find Out You Are Not As Good As You Thought You Were]

“BTW, filler pad stayed. The second saddle pad did not. He preferred more stability over excess padding.” [Being Happy Alpha, Peeling The Emotional Onion]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
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