Coach Courtney: Why don’t you ride Milton in Academy at Mid-South Spring Premiere?
Me: I can do that?
Apparently, yes. There is nothing in the class description that specifies either Saddlebreds or saddle seat. Other folks have ridden hunt seat in Academy, frequently the Morgan folks, I am told.
The Horse
No braids. ASB performance horses have one red ribbon braided into the top of their manes. Academy horses do not.
Snaffle bridle. Check
Hunt seat saddle. Check
Technically, Milton should wear a fitted saddlepad, i.e. one in the shape of the saddle. However, Sir Snowflake has an opinionated back. Last time I fiddled with the padding, he tried to buck me off [Two Hops]. Square pad it is.
The Rider
No jacket. Saddle seat Academy does not wear them, so I won’t either.
Britches. Check
Boots. Check. That’s a lotta leather boot to polish after 7 years of cleaning short, shiny, patent leather jod boots.
For dress, I proposed Academy from the waist up & hunt seat from the waist down. The Academy vest & tie look like a coordinated outfit. A hunt seat shirt looks like I forgot to put on my jacket. Plus the purple vest would look great on a gray horse. Alas, our sartorial director sneered at half-and-half. White and boring it is.
The Class
The last time I rode hunters seriously was … let’s see … um … North Carolina? That means the early 90s. Previous Horse and I did one Working Hunter division in Alabama. Local jumpers weren’t what they are today, and we had no class to ride in. Clearly we were jumpers just there for the height. That would have been early 2000s.
Milton has shown Hunter Under Saddle in Walk-Trot [Heathermoor et al]. He has cantered in public [FCHP]. He has even cantered in this ring [MSSP 2018], and that was this time last year when we weren’t cantering much of anywhere.
Time for the next step. What does Milton think of a WTC flat class?
The management at Full Circle Horse Park was kind enough to send along my missing ribbon & prize from our dressage class [Show Report], along with a nice note.
Process Notes. Was going for an mirrored ink blot. Inklings, inkblot, get it? I crack myself up. Anyway. Couldn’t figure out how to get an inkblot shape that was going to be even halfway attractive. Decided to make a virtue out of a necessity and go with what I could manage.
Since I generally yap about current horse events, random prompts don’t help with the blog. So, the idea is to use the Daily Inklings prompts for my daily fiction splurge [750 Words]. I find if I use plot bits that I have already pondered, my brain starts planning ahead for story structure and audience and tone and all those things that do you no good without a draft to work from. The goal for now is to get used to writing fiction. Editing for commercial use comes later.
Confession. Despite my enthusiastic start, I have been less than diligent with my daily 750 words. I wanted to. I really wanted to. It made my To Do list on a regular basis. But I didn’t want it enough [Definitions]. I can get the blog out the door every day, come what may. Everything else, from fiction writing to daily exercise, not so much.
We’ll see how it goes. The start of my Hugo-winning novel? Or another idea that is interesting in theory but winds up on the defunct pile? Time will tell.
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Admin. I had planned to respond to the comment last week. Post wasn’t ready. So I swapped with the monthly State of the Blog [A Marketing Haiku], which was ready. I note this for myself when I wonder why the SOTB isn’t in its regular spot at the end of the month.
Back when I was learning to dress myself, cotton was good, polyester was bad. Cotton was soft and breathable. Polyester was wrapping yourself in Saran Wrap.
Flash forward to the show last weekend [Show Report]. Time to dress for dressage. I had on a loose-fitting, all-cotton, aloha shirt. I had to change into a long-sleeve, close-fitting, show shirt. The material was suspiciously slippery. I had worn the shirt before. Never when it was this hot. I was NOT looking forward to putting it on. Imagine my astonishment when the show shirt was cooler than my casual shirt.
I’m so out of touch that I simply bought what the nice ladies at Carousel Tack Shoppe recommended. Therefore, I’m not totally sure which model/make of shirt it is. The tag says Ovation. The pattern in the picture matches the one on my shirt. I’m assuming this one.
The page copy lists all manner of fancy features, complete with proprietary names, each with their own TM mark. The shirt purports to be ventilated, dirt-repelling, odor resistant, and UV blocking. I think it worked harder during our dressage test than we did. Clearly things have changed in the tack closets of the world.
I can’t say whether this one is better, worse, or the same as other show shirts. I’m still trying to wrap my head around man-made being better performing than cotton.
Despite my hesitation [Pre-show], I’m glad we entered the same level as last time. Milton did an excellent round, but he was still not sure about the looming wall of trees during warm-up nor about being surrounded by that many brightly painted piles of wood as we made our entry circle.
Once we got going, he was a star. He trotted over most, jumped a few, cantered away from several, and cantered over one.
He also handled 6 or 7 horses in warm without batting an eyelash.
The next show is in August. Will we move up to 18″? Maybe all the way up to 2′?
Apologies for the lack photos from the show. The paparazzi failed to appear (gasp!) and I forget about media in media res. Plus, it all looks pretty much the same as last time, down to our matching red outfits and me talking the entire round.
Major Milton
Class 5 – 2019 USDF Intro Test C – Adult, 1st of 2 or 4 (4 entered, 2 showed, this is important later), with 65%
Highest score: 7.5, canter circle!
Lowest score: 6.0, various
Results FCHP Shows
Question of the day.
Could we canter on command?
Yes, we could!
Best part of Day
Without doubt the best part was getting both canters, on the correct leads, in time to finish the movement. The transitions themselves were labored and it took me until the centerline (halfway through the circle) to sit up, reorganize, and ride a decent gait. That’s all stuff we need to work on. For now, we went in the ring & execute the maneuvers. Yay!!
Apparently, I also talked to him. A lot. Didn’t even realize it. The judge seemed to understand that these things happen at Intro level.
Other Best Part of Day
Milton had an outstanding attitude all day. When we arrived, he gave a deep sign – while still on the trailer. Grazing. Lunging. Tacking. Riding. The edge was gone. He was remarkably unremarkable.
With two exceptions.
Exception One: What the cool kids do.
As I attempted to detangle his tail, Milton fidgeted. This was unusual. He usually likes people to fuss with his mane and tail. He’d move left. He’d move right. Not spooking. Not excitable. Just bratty. Well, I know how to fix that. On went the nose chain.
Milton sobered up immediately. Not with a contrite ‘Oooh I was bad, I’d better behave now.’ Not at all. Instead, he relaxed and start chewing. His minions had gotten the message. He wanted a chain, thank you very much.
We decided that Milton had been talking with the Saddlebreds. At shows, Stepping Stone Farm uses fancy leather halters and leather lead shanks with chains. Often for good reason [In Chains]. So that’s what Milton wanted. He wanted to do what his Saddlebros do.
At horse shows, all the cool kids wear chains.
Except Two: Hello Mr Hyde.
Our friend S was making her canter debut. She also got both leads and won her class. Go Us! The schedule was such that I had to watch from aboard.
I dunno what weather you have, but we went from winter to summer. Do not pass Spring. Do not collect balmy, breezy days. By 11 am, it was outright hot. To give Milton shade, we loaded him on the trailer, put up the body barrier, and left the doors open. He had a hay net, water, shade and as much breeze as was available. This was a mistake.
Time to get on. Remove horse from trailer. Tack up. What have we here? Pissy. Pissy. Pissy. Suddenly, I was riding the horse I had in March. Hops were not imminent but neither were they off the table. Tried walking. Didn’t help. Tried quiet trotting. Didn’t help. Eventually gave up & stood to watch the test. This gave him gave time to chill/reset his brain. When we got back in motion to walk over to the jumping field, Mr. Hyde had left the building and Dr. Jekyll was back.
Did he think he should have gone home because he got on the trailer? Did we violate debarkation protocol by tacking him up as soon as we took him off? Did we forget to say Mother, may I? Who knows. In way, it was interesting. It meant that mood in the morning was a choice on his part.
It wasn’t being worked/ridden a second time. He does that all the time in schooling and at shows.
Highlights of Test
On the trot around the ring beforehand, we had a smoking trot on contact. Well, for us anyway. Went away in the ring. So hard to stay loose AND steer. At least we know it’s in there.
Starting the first trot circle.
Milton: Oh, we’re doing one of those circle thingies. That means we pick up a canter in the first quarter.
Me: Good memory. This isn’t that kind of circle.
Milton: Hmmmph.
At the end of the test, I tried to hot dog with a show trot down the long side. Milton hadn’t settled from the canter. The same thing happen in in rehearsal [Demo]. I should have remembered.
The last two are highlights rather than errors because they meant we were having a conversation. Milton did not put his hooves over his ears and endure until he could escape the sandbox.
Truth In A Clerical Error
I can honestly say that I am more pleased with how Milton went than about how we placed in the class. When I went to get my ribbons, they handed me fourth. I spent the weekend thinking I was last in my class. I didn’t see the correct results until Monday morning.
On Sunday I made notes for the blog. The original title of this post was, ‘We Cantered! We Were Last! Guess Which One I Care About!’
At the show, the results board posted the Junior section of Class 5, but not the Adults. I never saw a score sheet. The secretary was looking at what I suspect was an alphabetical listing of the class, particularly since there should have been two entries not four, due to the scratches.
Although it means I missed out on a blue ribbon and a gift certificate, I’m glad to know that the 7s were because we did a decent job not because the judge was feeling generous to everyone in the class. Note for the future. Never believe a result until you see the whites of its eyes. This is not the first time [Important Questions: What Would You Do?].
Virtual Brush Box 