In The Ring, Show Report, Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series, L&C Horsemanship Ranch, October 2019, Part 2

Overcoming Obstacles in Our Way

 

Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series [Part 1 In The Pink]

Novice. 0 of 10/11, score of 72.5 out of 100. First time in a ridden obstacle class.

The Prep
As with last time [Pink Is His Color], I waited to see how he/I/we felt before entering. Fortunately, the show had a pen for warm-up and a mounting block in the pen. Walked around the pen a few times. Got on, more easily than last time. Walk was a hair quick but mostly calm. Trot was a little tight, but manageable, especially since the course had a lot of walking and looking.

Let’s do this.

Since we entered late, we had to go first. No problem, they do that same with with jumpers and, I think, hunters. That meant I couldn’t let time and the sun help him unwind. I needed an active warm-up rather than a passive one. As we started our bendy exercises [Lesson Recap], I could feel/see (yes, I was looking at my horse) him putting his game face on. Ground crew reminded me to do the walk exercise-trot-walk exercise maneuver. That works so much better than simply upshifting to trot. I need to remember that.

We moved over to the waiting area. Rodney stood. He quietly and politely asked, ” … um … where’s my village? … I know I have to go in the ring by myself … can I have all of my people with me until then, please? … oh, here he is … that’s good …”

I was so proud of him for walking to the big, over-stuffed arena. Everything after that was gravy.

The Class

1. L back walk in back out

We stopped halfway through the zig, as instructed. Unfortunately, his size-large posterior had not made it completely around the turn. We got dinged for making the turn too short.

2. Step up

Given how well he did the platform at the last show, I had hopes. When he didn’t like the looks of this one, I circled around so that we were headed toward the in-gate. He got a foot up. I made an excited squeaky noise. He got startled and pulled his foot down. We tried again, but I had blown it.

3. Step over log walk around cone walk back over log

Sounded easy enough, particularly since he had been through it twice. I had a more trouble than I expected redirecting the momentum to turn back out. Things look different when one has a saddle on, I guess.

4. Tree barrel noodles

Not gonna happen. He dislikes things hitting his sides [It Touched Me!]. No way was he going between those barrels. If he did, he’d squirt out of them like a watermelon seed. I compromised and told him if he walked between the barrel and the tree, I would count it a victory.

5. Trot/gait a figure 8 around haunted hay maze

Steering around the circles not great. About what we had at the dressage show [Words].

6. Turn on the haunches 180 in the box

I have yet to understand how to fit a circle or half circle of radius = 1 horse length into a 10×12 box. He was okay with it, but did better in warm-up.

7. Haunted car wash walk up halt say trick or treat walk though

Wind was not in our favor this time, blowing the fabric straight at us. Nope. Direction was not specified, so we circled and walked thorough with the ghosts blowing away from us. Clever on my part, I thought.

8. Side pass 4 steps in front of pole

Did great. 4 steps like he was the one counting.

9. Rope gate open only

Even though we did this fine in-hand, I did not expect it to go flawlessly under saddle. He has trouble coming alongside gates [Gotta Go Through It]. Then the animated skull went off. Either it didn’t during the in-hand, or we didn’t notice. Rodney would get close, but not close enough. I finally leaned over farther than I should and flicked the rope off the hook. The task was Open-only, so I could let it drop. Through we went.

10. Pick up net bob for apple replace net

He doesn’t have problems picking things up at home [ibid]. I expected to have no trouble here, Unfortunately the net was lava and he would not get near it. I got the sense that his brain was full. I finally reached out and got two fingers on the pole to pick it up. He started backing away. Dropped the pole and raised my hand. We were done.

On the way out, I asked what he thought of the apples. Still not interested.

Walking away from the arena, he started to get shirty. I looked around. Was he spooking at something? No, he was making a statement, ‘I am not a Saddlebred. I do not get ridden back to the barn/trailer.’ He’s right. House rules say rider dismounts after work. ‘You may get off my ass now.’ Yes, sir.

The Future
I wondered about adding trail classes next year. We’re be at the show already. So I stayed to watch.

First maneuver. Enter round pen with cows. Say what? Push cows ahead of you. That’ll be an entire can of nope.

Second maneuver. Rope fake cow head. Rodney would not go near the cow head in the photo. I cannot imagine him standing still while I roped a sibling. Not enough nope in the world.

Unlisted obstacle. After three obstacles in the arena, horse and rider took a meander up the driveway, across a pasture, and down to the trail obstacle space. Right next to the space lived a mini and a donkey. Rodney spent the entire show obsessed with the minis. I honestly don’t know if he was scared of them or wanted one so that he could hug it and squeeze it and call it George. He thought the donkey was weird. He would have spent the entire trail class staring at the audience.

We’ll stay in the arena for now.

The Scoresheets
Note the 5/5 for horsemanship on the second page. I think the judge liked me talking to Rodney.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

In The Pink, Show Report, Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series, L&C Horsemanship Ranch, October 2019, Part 1

Overcoming Obstacles in Our Way

 

 
Show report split due to superabundance of media. TLDR. Best he’s ever adjusted at a new place. Delighted how well he applied himself, particularly since he is playing against type. I think we will all agree that Thoroughbreds are not the usual choice for obstacle competition.

Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series
L&C Horsemanship Ranch, Facebook
Wilsonville, AL, USA
Saturday, October 5, 2019

In-Hand. 5th of 11 or so, score of 79 out of 100. Up from 44 last time [Pink Is His Color].

Novice. 0 of 10/11, score of 72.5 out of 100. First time in a ridden obstacle class.

Third show (!), third pink.

The Prep

I have been trained in number trimming by the master.

I worried about looking stupid. I had English boots and a 17-hand horse. We were clearly a petunia among daffodils. I was concerned that we would perform so badly people would stare and wonder, ‘What is SHE doing here?!’ Sigh. Someday I would like to get back to doing things with horses without stressing beforehand.

But that’s my mental issues. Rodney had a firm hold on his head space. As it turned out, there was a lot of nope, not today, what were you thinking? comments from the horse, but no hissy fits or hysteria.

Ground crew felt the only way I would incur social approbation would be to yank the horse about &/or yell at him. Everything else is schooling & having fun.

The Class

It occurred to me that I might choke up on the bat out of excitement, giving the false impression that I needed to keep a tight hold. When I could, I demonstrated/exaggerated that Rodney goes on a loose lead and rein. Much better approach/departure scores. Or a higher scoring judges. The world may never know.

In we go. (I know some of the pictures aren’t great, but I think my horse is adorable, so you’re stuck with them in all their blurry glory.)

Thata way.

1. Z back

Walked in. Backed out. A touch of pilot error.

Taking a few extra back steps to set us up for a spiffy turn to the weave poles. Or at least, that was the theory.

2. Trot weave poles

As I suspected, he did just fine with these. The only problem was a bit of engine stall at the 3/4 mark. I’ll take slowing down over traumatized racing about.

3. Enter box yield hindquarters 360
4. Send at trot over poles at markers

Box was big enough, but I had trouble figuring where to put the turn on the forehand with the cone in the way. I would have said I did better job with the weave poles than here but they scored the same.

It did not help that he became utterly fixated on a car in the driveway. Someone had parked halfway down and set up a chair to watch the festivities. He kept spinning around to look at it. None of the obstacles. A car.

Egad, a motorcar!

The course walk had the horse trot in, turn 90o, trot out, while the rider stood outside the box. I knew that maneuver would involve heaving him around the corner. How much interpretation were we allowed in the obstacles? Trotting straight through would be a piece of cake. Or should I do the exercise as presented? I was still undecided when the person before me (who ultimately won) trotted the two poles in a straight line the other direction. Sold.

5. Spooky hay ring

Nope. Walked right up to it. Stood. Gave an excellent impression of a rock. Not happening. Since it was the last obstacle in the section, I uselessly fiddled until they called time.

6. Trot into haunted hay maze halt in center then walk a figure 8

Pulled up from the trot a bit early to look at the decorations. Which goes to show that horses will look at something at a show that they might not give the time of day at home.

What a good boy.

7. side pass pole either direction

Mushy the first time. Did it again better.

8. Haunted car wash. Halt in front say trick or treat walk though

The wind was blowing the curtains apart. Walked right through.

9. Open gate send through yield hindquarters close gate

Opened gate. Told him, ‘In you get.’ Walked through ahead of me. Told him, ‘Spin around,’ Walked through myself. Closed gate.

10. Let horse bob for apples.

Stood near water. Looked at apples. Never got the plot. Again, kept trying until time ran out.

I think – I’m guessing here – that it is more than simply performing the exercises correctly. A really high scoring round has the horse waiting and attentively watching the rider for direction. Think Border Collie. Rodney is more well-meaning but mildly goofy Labrador at the moment. At least he’s not Basset Hound, who wanders off with ‘Oh, interesting smell. Catch you on the flip side.’

The Scoresheets
I enjoyed the “Nice Jumps” comment!

Note. I reported the addition error. The nines should have been a tip-off to me even without doing math. Show management said my results stand. I’m glad. I think it’s cute that Rodney is on a pink streak. Plus, I could not face redoing all of the photo borders. In the future, I will use a less variable referent, such as a farm or association logo, which is what I usually use.

Tomorrow, the novice class, our obstacle debut.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Visions of Flying Pigs Wearing Iceskates While Singing, Help Me Make It Happen

Random Images

The Proposal
Attention Artists. I am looking to commission an artwork, content explained below. Any media. If you are interested, please send your thoughts on what you envision for this project, your rates, and links to examples of your work.

Not an artist? Who would you recommend? Either people you know or artists whose work you admire who might be up for a lark.

This is a paying proposition. [Contact me].

The Project
At the end of last year, I had my doubts that my horse would make an appearance in the show ring.

“Rodney: Ha. It could happen. Pigs could fly. The horse could learn to sing. If Rodney sets a hoof in a show ring, any ring, I will commission an artwork of flying pigs wearing iceskates while singing.” [A Radiance of Ribbons]

Seems I was wrong. [Words]

Now I must do what I said I would do. My prediction must be brought to life.

At the end of August, I sent an email query to the artist of my choice. No response. Occurred to me that the first email arrived during a major work event. Sent second, added text that said, “If I do not hear, I will assume you are not interested & won’t ask again.” Sigh. Their style would have been perfect for this.

Nevermind. We will find someone even better. Onwards!

My statement combines three sayings.

One) When pigs fly. Obvious. Wiki says this is an adynaton “a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility.” Wiki: When Pigs Fly

Two) When Hell freezes over. Also obvious. Wiki has this in their List of idioms of improbability, along with flying pigs.

Three) The horse could learn to sing.

My family has a story. A prisoner comes before the king. Prisoner is condemned to death.

‘Alas, your majesty is wise and just,’ says he. ‘I am only sad that my great skill will be lost.’

The kings asks about great skill.

‘I can teach your horse to sing.’

The king is intrigued and grants him a year. If it has not happened in that time, the prisoner will be put to death.

When later asked why he promised such an outlandish thing, the prisoner says, “I have a year. The king could die. I could die. The horse could learn to sing.”

Turns out the story much older. The prisoner is Mullah Nasruddin, The very embodiment of the wise fool. The story is Nasreddin and the Sultan’s Horse, Wiki Books: Sufism/Nasrudin. “The most honored Mullah indicates that all spellings are acceptable when they are on invitations to dinner.” Mullah

Back To The Proposal
Please feel free to scatter this commission as far and as wide as possible to help it find a home with an interested artist.

Update
Et voilà [Flying Pigs]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Inktober Horse

Random Images

 
I can’t draw.

Correction. Everyone can draw. Everyone can write. Everyone can dance. Everyone can paint. Ability? That’s a different story. Mine is such that I wouldn’t want to draw in the public square and scare the horses. And yet I find myself intrigued by Inktober.

Inktober Rules:
1) Make a drawing in ink
2) Post it
3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2019
4) Repeat

I have chosen the 5k option.

“Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week.” Rules

This meshes well with my graphic posts on Sunday. For tools, I have gone with hand-drawn, black ink, and brush pen, although I may switch to technical pen if I do any lettering.

“That’s it! Now go make something beautiful.” Rules


 
#inktober
#inktober2019

Well, I don’t know about beautiful. Mainly I have proven that

a) I was not wrong about my artistic ability.
&
b) The list is vast of things I am willing to do for a blog post.

I tried to do a head-on sketch of Milton from life. When I added the round nostrils at the end of this long face, the result was disconcertingly genitalic. We’ll skip those.

What are you doing for October?

Update
Paper: Canson Mix Media, spiral bound, 98 lb
Pen: not sure, possibly Prismacolor brush tip
Digitization: cell phone camera
Post-production: resized, border, & watermark in GIMP
Retouching: None. (B/c I don’t know how.)
A materials list appears to be an art thing.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Where Are They Now? Fiction Sketch

Writing About Writing

 
Crossposted [Will Write For Feed]

Another one that started as a question on a blog. In Millennial Life Crisis: Solo Road-Tripping the ‘Highway Thru Hell’, the author ponders initials and names carved on a bridge, “I can’t help but wonder if Abby and Brad ever worked out.”

No. They didn’t.
~~~
The Old Bridge
by Katherine Walcott

My neighbor Vicky and I were on our way into town. I was driving. She was recounting her most recent adventures with online dating. The stories made me thankful to be married. When I turned off Mill Road, she interrupted herself, “Why are you going this way?”

“Family habit,” I said. “We always go this way.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Vicky turning to stare at me. “It’s got to be 10 miles out of the way”

“11.4.” I said.

“What?”

“11.4 miles. I’ve measured it.”

“Then why?”

“My grandmother used to drive to this way. She said it was prettier.”

We drove in silence for a few miles.

After a few more miles of trees, Vicky said. You know the old bridge is perfectly safe, don’t you. All the important bits have been replaced. The wooden parts are strictly decorative. I mean, I’m all for highway scenery, but at this speed, that’s 25 minutes. With the return trip, that’s almost an hour of your life. Was your grandmother that into trees?”

“My Mom has a theory. You know how the wooden slats of the old bridge have names and initials on them? On the upstream side someone carved “Abby & Brad.” You can see it from the car if you know where to look. Well, my grandmother’s name was Abby. My grandfather’s name was not Brad.”

I paused for dramatic effect. I glanced at Vicky. She looked suitable impressed.

“My mom thinks my grandmother drove this way so she didn’t have to go over the bridge and pass those names.”

“Did she ever ask?” Vicky wondered.

“Sure. She said every time she asked, Grammy told her not to be silly and then changed the subject.”

“It’s weird to think of your grandparents as young enough to date.”

“I know, right?”

“Do you think she loved Brad all those years? If she were truly over him, she’d be indifferent. She would have no trouble driving right past.

“Maybe it wasn’t heartache,” I said. “Maybe they broke up after a huge public fight at the Homecoming game. From then on the sight of his name filled her with with righteous rage at the memory of finding him under the bleachers with another woman.”

Vicky countered. “Maybe it was a forbidden romance. Brad was visiting from downstate for the summer. They fell in love. He was heir to the Kwik Loc fortune. He would never be allowed to marry an upstater.”

“Kwik Loc?”

“Yeah, those little thingies that keep bread bags closed,” she explained. “Somebody has to be making money from them. Those things are everywhere.”

“Maybe Brad was charming but old-fashioned.” I said. “He proposed but she wanted to marry someone who would treat her more as an equal. Each time she saw their names together she was overcome with melancholy for what might have been, but she knows she made the right decision. People can have conflicting reasons for what they do.”

Vicky began ranting, “Maybe he was a jerk and she was sorry that she ever saw anything in him and now she can’t stand to drive by his name and she hates herself for thinking he was ever worth wasting time on.”

I glanced at her, “Over-identify much?”

“We all make mistakes. Moving on.” Vicky changed the subject. “Do you know what happened to Brad?”

I shrugged. “History does not record.”

“Imagine if she’d married him instead of your grandfather. Then your inheritance would have been substantially more than questionable driving choices.”

“But then I would never know if anyone liked me for myself or for my bread bag fortune.”

“Bread bag CLOSURE fortune.” she corrected. “Bread BAG money takes their vacations in the islands. They’re kind of snobby.”

I paused to negotiate a tricky corner.

“But seriously, I think Brad was a perfectly normal guy.” I said. “They had a teen romance that didn’t work out. He grew up to be a nice person. He married that other woman and they had 2.3 kids and a station wagon. He spent his life taking the bridge up by the highway, driving 10 miles out of his way in the other direction to avoid the wooden mill bridge. I imagine them constantly circling in opposing orbits with the Abby & Brad bridge at the center.

I considered the scenery. “So I drive this way and think about my grandmother.”

Vicky considered the scenery. “It is a pretty road.”
===

It’s Gramming Cats & Dogs, Instagram Recap October 2019

Random Images

 
Posts through the beginning of October 2019 from my blog Instagram account, @myvirtualbrushbox. Previous [Synecdoches and Soft Kitties, Instagram Recap August 2019].


 
Posts By Subject I
Cat pix – seven
Dog pix – two

Posts By Subject II
My cats & dog – three
Stepping Stone Farm cats & dogs – five photos of three cats & one dogs (Ricky was the double, plus a appearance in the background of a third *cough*attention hound*cough*)
Inanda Stables – one

Posts By Location
Home – two
SSF – five
Other – two

Most Liked
1st – tie, Lucy on picnic table & tabby butt
2nd – tie, Ricky by tree & cat shelf

Process Notes
After I posted 2 or 3 cat pictures, I decided to try for an entire segment of cat pictures, because clearly the Internet needs more of those. Dash cuted his way into the series with his shopping cart style. I rounded it out with Nicky & her squeaker to bring the count to nine and be done.

It was fun. OTOH, I have a tendency to create projects when the blog itself more than enough project all by itself. I may try again in a few months. Maybe a Through The Ears series.

Individual Instagrams

 
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Back In Harness

Training Journal

 

 
Milton is back in harness. What with one thing and another – Milton’s show schedule, Coach Courtney’s show schedule – we have not driven him since spring.

After a small kerfuffle at the start, he was a star. A slow star, but a star. Quiet, relaxed, pleasant. I’m not happy about the kerfuffle, but we will keep working at Stepping Stone Farm under the watchful eye of Coach Courtney until we can hitch reliably on our own, as we used to.

All of the long-lining has increased the strength and flexibility of his topline. He was almost tracking up at a casual walk. He still prefers cones over doing laps around the the ring. Like driver, like horse.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott