What Next? Who Are You?

Training Journal

 

Elite show horses need to get used to posing for post-show photo sessions.

Job one. Get to know my horse.

Now that Rodney is getting less disturbed about life, I am meeting the horse underneath the hysteria. Please understand that I mean ‘less-disturbed’ for a high-strung, Thoroughbred definition of the term. Rodney is never going to be an easy ride.

Over the years, I have gotten used to thinking of Rodney as anxious and timid. The anxiety is real, for him [Weekend Report]. The timidity comes because the anxiety makes him concerned about new things. But not all new things. He’s can be weirdly bold [XC Sorta].

Remove – or reduce to manageable levels – the anxiety and the timidity goes with it. Well, hello there.

I’ve always know Rodney had an underlying confidence in himself. It was obvious the first time I saw him, years before he came to live with us [HI: The Horse Next Door]. I have nothing against arrogance in a horse. Previous Horse was utterly certain he was the center of the universe, or at least of the parts that mattered, which if course meant the parts that concerned him.

That confidence hasn’t been much in evidence over the last nine (!) years. I want Rodney to be confident. I want him to believe in himself. Does that make him sassy? Great. This is this attitude I hope to tap into as our show career progresses (!!!). I shall have to become the rider he needs in order to manage it.

I’m finding out that Rodney also has a temper. During our most recent ride at Stepping Stone Farm, Rodney stumbled for a step in the canter. Then, he threw his body about as if it was MY fault that he tripped. He seems to get mad as he gets tired &/or feels mentally pressured. A bit of easy trotting put him back in a better mood.

At the show [Report], I felt the kettle start to boil over during our last trot in warm up. He was telling me ‘Enough!’ So, we went back to walking for the time remaining and took our tour around the outside of the arena on a long rein. That seemed to restore his mental equilibrium.

In his defense, he may get mad but a) he’s fair about it and b) he gets over it. It is his way of saying that he feels he’s working too hard. He has a point. Given the amount of work he’s done, I have to be careful not to get caught up in the excitement of riding my horse and thereby asking for too much/too long.

The new, improved Rodney can also be pushy. After our test, he marched me all over the showgrounds, having a bite of grass here, a bite of grass there, and another bite from that tuft way over there. I tried to stop to talk to someone. Nope. Rodney was on the move. “I was a good horse. I can do anything I want and you’re not going to stop me.’ He was right.

Big horse got ‘tude.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Words, Show Report, Dressage, Full Circle Horse Park, August 2019

Training Journal

 

Dressage, CT, 3-Phase
Full Circle Horse Park
Pell City AL, USA
August 24, 2019

Rodney
Class 3 – 2019 USDF Intro Test A – Adult, 5th of 6, with 60.938%
Highest score: 7.0
Lowest score: 5.0
Results FCHP Shows
Jeremy Villar Photography

Done!
Jeremy Villar Photography
(border added)

How Did That Happen?
After Rodney cantered so calmly and quietly, the idea was proposed that we take him to the next Full Circle show. Do a short, simple test. See how he feels about horse shows.

We took it step-by-step. Several trips to acclimate him to the show grounds. Several trips to Stepping Stone Farm. Picking a test about which the rider would have zero stress level.

No red flags sprung up. Time to move forward. How would he react to a show environment? How would he react to being in the show ring? We had no idea. Only one way to find out.

As It Happened
We planned our work; worked our plan.

Got to show early. Took him on two long hand walks to check everything out. Had a chance to walk about the empty dressage arena. Gotta love a schooling show. He looked at this. He looked at that. Overall, he kept calm but startled more easily about little things.

A little more than an hour before our ride time, Rodney long-lined for 15 minutes. In the rain, God bless my wonderful groom. Took a little longer than it might have since I completely messed up reassembling the bridle after cleaning it. Goes on the last hole. Wait, that doesn’t look right. The other last hole.

Tacked up. Horse walked down to warm-up while rider made a stop in the little blue hut of nerves. I don’t know the exact time, but it was well over 1/2 an hour before our test, probably closer to 45 minutes, That’s a lot of warm-up for a 3-4 minute test that is essentially two trot circles. We needed every minute of it.

We really had no idea what he would be like when I got on. I kept telling myself that if he was too anxiety-ridden to listen, I would get right back off.

He was okay. Wouldn’t hold a stand, but would walk carefully around the warm-up. Rationally, I knew I needed to put my leg on. Emotionally, that was not happening. A lot of saddle seating done in those first minutes.

Eventually, I could put my inside leg on for serpentines & circles. I kept walking and kept the faith that the trotting would happen. It did. More walking. Some standing. The space between stopping the anxiety and starting to tire is not wide right now. By the end of warm-up I was running out of quarter. Good thing we only had one test.

I let him walk on the buckle around the arena and in we went.

How Did He Feel About What Happened?
Rose to the occasion. The test was noticably better than the practice ride we did two weeks earlier. Yes, it was still full of bumps and lurches. At one point, I settled him so much be came back to the walk. At another time, he kicked up sand, which hit the boards, which spooked him. I think that’s where the test sheet says I pulled him into the transition.

We went in the ring. We did the test. Marbles were retained. There is the distinct possibility that Rodney might actually enjoy being a show horse.

How Do I Feel About What Happened?
Emotions are weird. I expected to be doing more handsprings. It’s as if a cantankerous part of me is saying, ‘You have a horse. You took him to a horse show. Isn’t that how this is supposed to work?’ I have to shake myself to remember that it took us nine years to get to this simple point.

Its possible I’m still stunned.

How Did We Score?


 
Update
Show Today! You Are Not Going To Believe This
No Words
Words, Show Report, Dressage, Full Circle Horse Park, August 2019
What Next? Who Are You?
What Next? Where To?
Worth 1000 Words, Show Photos, Dressage, Full Circle Horse Park, August 2019
State of the Blog, Oops
Rodney’s Ribbon

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Beadapalooza

Random Images

 

Last weekend, friends who are bead artists pried me out of the house planned a trip to a local bead show. Since the endless maw that is daily content must be fed, I figured I’d find horse-themed beads to buy and use as blog fodder. Ha!

Animals shapes were abundant: turtle, bee, gecko, scarab, fish, butterfly, starfish, dragon, peacock, frog, bird, dolphin, monkey, lion, owl, whale, dragonfly, dog, & elephant. So many elephants. This was the closest I could come to “horses.” From Beads & Rugs By ATA, Paducah, KY, Facebook.

Copper, patina-ed, Greece

Melted coin silver, Greece

Actually, that’s not completely true. There were palm-sized brass horse silhouettes decorated with semi-precious stones. Pretty. $175 each. There was an undecorated version on the same table. I did not ask the price. I love y’all, but not that much.

Links
Beadapalooza 2019, Facebook.
Helena Reporter: Helena hosting Beadapalooza Aug. 18-19, from last year, with picture of hall.

Update [Seahorse Transformation]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Today! You Are Not Going To Believe This

Training Journal

 

Dressage.

Full Circle Horse Park.

Intro Test A.

With Rodney.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, right?!?!?!?!

Since our canter session at the end of July [They Said It Couldn’t Be Done], we have been quietly planning this show debut. I hope you understand why I haven’t said anything until now. Many a slip twixt cup and lip [God Laughs].

Our ride time is 3:24 pm US central time. Alabama is GMT/UTC – 6h during Standard Time; GMT/UTC – 5h during Daylight Saving Time, per TimeTemperature.com. While the horses’s mouth, GreenwichMeanTime.com, converts the time correctly (-5), the text doesn’t mention daylight savings. But I have fallen down an Internet rabbit hole. Back to the show.

If I never get on, that’s okay. He may get off the trailer, take one look, say “Holy Horse Show, Batman!”, and stage a meltdown.

If I warm up, but don’t show, that’s okay. We have his pre-test routine planned: grazing, watching warm-up, long-lining, a break, rider up, walking, more walking, brief trotting, standing and watching as needed, more walking, enter A working trot rising. We are prepared to take the off-ramp at any point in the process.

If I show, but have to stop halfway through, that’s okay. Although the test is so epically short, if we get in and get started, we *should* be able to scramble to the finish.

I’m saying all of this for myself as much as for you. To remind myself that, regardless of the result, today is a success. As long as everyone comes home ears up and steel down, today is a victory.

To talk about a show. To be able to use the words “show” and “Rodney” in the same sentence. This is more than I thought possible at the beginning of the year.

Sending in the entry. A miracle step right there.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Milton Continues His Summer Break

Training Journal

 

tldr: We almost found a saddle for Milton, but fell down the NQR rabbit hole instead.

The local tack shop had a used 18″ Steuben. Ideally, I ride in a 17 1/2″ saddle, but 18″ is not a dealbreaker. It was old, but those saddles last forever. Eventhough Milton was taking time away from riding [Getting A Break], we brought it home to try. Fit well. He went well, at least at the walk and trot. Since Milton & I are not cantering outside of the ring yet, I wanted to ride him at Stepping Stone Farm before we closed the deal. Between shipping Rodney (yay!) and ridiculous levels of heat, we kept not getting over there.

Meanwhile, the tack shop found another 18″ Steuben. Brought it home. Fit a little better in the cantle, less well in the pommel, but on average about the same as the other one. Milton did. not. like. it. No hysterics, but he never relaxed at the walk. Even my ground crew thought I should end the test before Milton began expressing himself more firmly.

It almost as if he doesn’t like having any saddle on his back. Did he go well in the Devoucoux because it fit or because he was used to wearing a saddle at that point [Does This Saddle Make Me Look Sporty]? Did he dislike this particular saddle or had it been a while since he wore any saddle?

We returned both saddles and resolved to take another stab as sorting him out.

No one – vet, massage therapist, instructor – has found anything amiss. Well, the saddle fitter thought Milton had a sensitive back. Dig those fingernails into my back, and I’d flinch too. Everyone has given him a clean bill of health. The instructors have both told me to give him a good thump in the sides to get him moving. Given the horse we presented to these folks, their judgments make sense.

The problem is a host of little things that you only realize if you see the horse day after day. He’s a shade too grumpy. He’s a little cold-backed. He doesn’t like being groomed. His dressage is mediocre. He has not embraced jumping, even at the lowest level. And so on. Every individual attribute is explainable. Together they don’t add up to the horse Milton ought to be.

We’ve tried so many things. Naps. Feed changes. Spray and unguents. Baths. Meds. There appears to be some progress at first. Then we settle into a new status quo pissy. It definitely involves his skin, but it’s not fungus or itches or anything on the surface.

Current theory is a histamine reaction that we are treating with Benadryl.

Scenario. He is a fine and happy horse in Canada. He comes down to Alabama. Over the first week, part of his new environment infiltrates and sets up a low-grade irritation. It’s minor, until we put a saddle on his back. The sensation is not pleasant, “Oh shit. Ow. What the hell? No. No. No.” It’s almost as if his initial outburst was as much of a surprise to him as it was to us. Photo below taken seconds before he absolutely loses him mind, dumps me, and takes off bucking around the field [Did I Piss Off the Universe and Not Notice?]. None of us saw it coming. Including Milton? Over time, he adjusts to this annoyance as his new reality, but he’s never happy about it.

Interesting narrative. Now to see if it has any bearing in reality.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott