A Spirited Horse, Slane, Ireland, Guest Photos

Introduction, next few days. I am away from the blog being morally supportive. I leave you with a handful of photo posts from the reserves. Back soon.

Introduction, today. My friends are awesome. They go places. They send me pictures. Today, we travel vicariously to Ireland courtesy of Amy Vanderryn [Archives]. Photos by Amy. Text & links by me. Welcome Amy.
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Slane Irish Whiskey,
Slane, Co. Meath

Artist: “Made from old whiskey barrels and steel.” Lynn Kirkham, Sculpture Art & Commissions. Scroll down for horse info. Scroll further down for basketry dragons.

Location: In the courtyard outside the distillery that is “Housed within the 250-year-old stables of the iconic Slane Castle Estate.” Slane Irish Whiskey, Visit the Distillery, must be over 18 to enter.

Most of us think of green when we think of Ireland. The Journal asks, So you know Ireland’s national colour might not be green, right? Mar 17th 2013. Also Wiki, St. Patrick’s blue. What say Irish readers, have I been led astray by Google?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Photos On Ice

Fit To Ride

 

Trying out ice skating in the exercise mix. Much like swimming [Black Line Therapy], I have oodles of experience at the intro level. I can propel myself forward around the ice. After that, pfffft.

The advantage to skating is that it can be done alone or as a social activity. Also, it is not subject to thunderstorm restrictions the way the pool is.

Unfortunately, it is yet another leg exercise to add to the walking and biking I already have on the list. I must find a way to address my noodle arms.

There exist photos of me skating along with aplomb on this day. This one is more honest. It’s been maybe twenty years (?) since I last skated. There was a lot of wall hugging.

Pelham Civic Complex
Pelham, AL, USA

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Non-Material Cost of Showing


 
The goal was to attend a horse show [A Huntering We Will Go] without warping our training schedule too badly [To Show Or To School, That Is My Question].

How did we do? Pretty good for a first attempt.

Week before show. 100%. No change. On Wednesday evening, Milton went to Stepping Stone Farm to lunge in the big ring and be ridden in the covered ring. Excellent work in both rings. Tired but proud-of-himself pony.

Friday. T-1 day. 50%. Without the show, we would have gone back to SSF for a repeat of Wednesday. With the show, we lunged at home and I trotted about mildly. If we could have worked in the morning, or if the show classes had been in the the afternoon, we might have taken him over anyway. As was, it didn’t seem fair to give him a heavy workout and then get back on 12 hours later.

Show Day. 0%. There will always be opportunity costs in showing rather than schooling. We could have had a lesson, or hacked outside the ring, or worked at home. The hope is the lost time will be replaced with valuable lessons from the show.

Sunday. T+1 day. 0%. Milton got the day off. Another sunk cost. Rodney had his turn at SSF.

Monday. T+2 days. 25%. Milton went for a handwalk to loosen up. By the time the designated long-liner got home from work, we were both done. Neither horse worked. We probably would have been perkier on Monday if we had spent more of Sunday recuperating rather than hauling Rodney about. The Bay Wonder is many things. Restful is not one of them.

As with taking time out to attend the show, there will always be a mental toll, that translates into time lost to recovery. As soon as local shows become NBD, it’s time to aim for bigger shows.

Week after show. 100%, in theory. Massive scheduling problems, but they had nothing to do with the show.

What about you, how do you planning showing & recovery time into your schedule? Pointers appreciated.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Showing In The 21st Century, Online Entry, El Gezira, June 2019

El Gezira Jumper Show
[Show Report]

As it says in the title, I entered the El Gezira show online. That was a first. For me at least. It may be old hat in the horse world by now. Aside from the ultra-local dressage schooling shows Milton has been to, I’ve had someone else doing my entries since 2012. And that’s a weird thing to say considering I’ve always been an AOT and have had my horses at home since 1992. But I digress. We all know my riding career has been odd lately.

Anyway.

I am familiar with the websites HorseShowsOnline and horseshowtime.com from stalking following Stepping Stone Farm at shows over the years.

Entering was simple. Make a free account. Add personal & horse info. Pull up specific show. Click away. When you arrive at the show, the secretary has a pile of numbers with pre-printed labels, sorted by barn. Give your name. Get your number. One less thing for an overburdened show secretary to worry about.

They have a $50 late entry fee. That is large enough to scare anyone into entering on time. Worked on me. Well, I’m compulsive enough that I would have entered on time, but it did prompt multiple emails to Coach Molly. These classes? It only says submitted. Does it need to say processed?!

Welcome to the new millennium.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

A Huntering We Will Go, Show Report, El Gezira, June 2019

The Gray Wonder

 

El Gezira Jumper Show
Alabama Hunter Jumper Association
El Gezira Riding Academy
Harpersville, AL, USA
Saturday, June 22, 2019

1 Academy Caveletti I, Adult – 3rd of 4
2 Academy Cavaletti II, Adult – 4th of 5
3 Academy Beginning Hunter I – 4th of 20
4 Academy Beginning Hunter II – no ribbon of 16

Our first two classes do not appear in the results. They split out the adults. In the second two, I have no idea how one judges a round that consists of four trot crossrails. Therefore I could not tell you why we placed in one nor why we didn’t place in the other.

The Classes
In case you don’t have these in your area:

Academy Caveletti I. Four sets of trot poles. Layout similar to poles class at dressage show [Sorta, photo]. Around once.

Academy Cavaletti II. As above with last obstacle a crossrail. Opposite direction from first class.

Academy Beginning Hunter. Four low crossrails. Around once. Reverse direction for second class.

The Minuses
– I had grand plans to canter the two crossrail classes. Probably unlikely anyway. Definitely unlikely with warm-up off in the middle of a huge pasture. Canter transitions are a work in progress. Riding in the open is a work in progress. Canter transitions in the open were a bridge too far. Since I never asked for it in warm-up, I couldn’t expect it in the ring.

– He was sooooooo slow. Looks like my choice is narcoleptic, slug pony or hysterical, hopping, wind-up toy.

The Pluses
+ His feet stayed where they belonged. Given the choice between narcoleptic and hysterical, I’d have to go for Mr. Sleepyhead. Milton’s version of hysterical is not game or animated, it is a horse completely out to lunch. There’s no upside to that.

+ We cantered one fence.

The Maybes
? Milton did seem to perk his ears when aimed between standards – I can’t really claim that I aimed him at any jumps. Most of our classes have been on the flat. Perhaps there is a third option between the two extremes? Maybe Milton will like jumping and turn into a reasonable horse? Cross fingers. Cross fingers.

🙂 Milton saw no point in closing hunter circles. ‘The jump is back there. Why am I still moving?’

Update
The Non-Material Cost of Showing
Showing In The 21st Century, Online Entry, El Gezira, June 2019
A Huntering We Will Go, Show Report, El Gezira, June 2019
To Show Or To School, That Is My Question

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

To Show Or To School, That Is My Question

I am trying to learn how to keep shows as an element of the program rather than gravitational black holes that suck in all my time and attention.

Sometimes shows are destinations. Rolex-as-was. The AEC. The show may be national and noteworthy [That Elusive Sunday Blue]. The show may be tiny and local and of huge value to you (*cough* Full Circle Horse Park in November *cough*). Got a big show coming up? That’s great. Come up with a plan [Let the Tune-Up Begin]. Work that plan [Final Progress Report]. Own that sucker [Show Report].

Other times, shows are scheduled within the plan as a step in the learning process. So I’m told.

The original summer schedule had six weeks off until our next show [Aspirational Events]. My mature, rational side decided this was a good thing. Looking back, I felt that I had spent too much time targeting each show and not enough time doing the work in between to do well at said shows.

That was one reason I declined a small local show, despite the convenience factor. Then we ended up there as spectators [Milton Went To Watch]. It was a small, relaxed show. Hmm. Coach Molly convinced me that it would be okay for an adult on a green horse to show in the ultra-low classes. There weren’t just for kids and ponies. Double hmm.

Milton needs to learn to show. He needs to go into show rings and keep the lid on. This is an acquired skill as much as canter transitions or trotting on the bit.

New plan. We will continue to work at home as needed. We will go to shows as they occur. We will not change the former to accommodate the latter. At least, not until the delightful day that we are ready to plan for one of those lovely destination events.

Which is a roundabout way of saying, schooling experience/show report tomorrow.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Tao Of Horse Shows

On My Mind, Miscellaneous Visuals

 

 
The graphic is for tomorrow’s post. I was sufficiently pleased with the result that it gets its own post.

Meaning no disrespect. It’s an illustration for trying to understand the deeper meaning of horse shows and their role in my life. How would I feel if someone made a cross out of ribbons? If it was related to discussing how horse shows brought them closer to God, I would not have a problem with that.
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Process Notes. I had no idea how to draw the swishy s-shape. The rosettes had awkward square backgrounds. Had the time come to struggle with union, difference, and all the other object combinatrics? Nope. Not while I can find clever work-arounds. I piled up the various shapes (big circle, big half circle, two medium circles, two squares with inset circles), made them the same color, et voilà. Smoothness. There’s a metaphor lurking in there.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott