Now It Can Be Said, Nine In A Row

Training Journal

Show season has ended, with a whimper rather than a bang [Woe, Noshow]. That’s okay because what an Autumn season. Multiple horses! Multiple disciplines! One stretch of nine weekends in a row!!

Aside. It’s not all about the shows. I know that. I really do. Shows are exciting diversions. This makes them interesting to write about, the same reason we take pictures of our hotel rooms but not of our living rooms. Shows are narratively discrete events. This makes them easy to write about, unlike the imperceptible changes that accumulate from day to day. Both reasons raise the visibility of shows on the blog [Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. Or Not]. End aside.

Let’s check the stats.

September
ASB show with Whiskey & Sam on Saturday [Spontaneous Showing, Show Report, Alabama Fun Show, ERA Stables, 2019], lesson with Rodney on Sunday [Steady On, Lesson Recap].

Driving demo with Milton [Milton Does Demo Duty].

Obstacle Challenge show with Rodney [Pink Is His Color, Show Report, Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series, King’s Ranch, September 2019].

Lesson with Rodney [Where Are We Now? Lesson Recap].

October
Obstacle Challenge show with Rodney [In The Pink, Show Report, Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series, L&C Horsemanship Ranch, October 2019, Part 1].

ASB show with Joe & Sam [Taking The Reins, Show Report, Alabama Charity 2019, Driving].

Lesson with Rodney. Plans never solidified.

ASB Hunter show & costume class with Rodney [Getting Our Hunter On, Show Report, SSF Home Show 2019 & Neither Sound Nor Light, Halloween 2019].

November
Dressage show with Rodney [Woe Is I, Noshow Report, Full Circle Horse Park, Dressage, November 2019].

10 activities, 9 weekends in a row. Two did not happen. For horse scheduling, 80% is a darn good average. Plus shows two weeks before & two weeks after the 9-streak [ Words, Show Report, Dressage, Full Circle Horse Park, August 2019, Noshow Number Two].

It was fantastic to be in a position to make so many plans. To clarify, be in position to make so many plans with a reasonable expectation of them coming to pass. Making hopeless plans is easy.

I almost mention this streak several times, but decided to wait until we were done for the show year. Superstitious, moi?

Despite all this activity, there was not a jump in sight. But I waive that point. I do not press it. I look over it.

Onwards!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Noshow Number Two

Training Journal

 

Looks as if Rodney did not want to do bad dressage any more than I did [Finishing The Season]. Once again, I had to cancel a dressage show [Woe is I].

Same class: Intro A. Making the class as easy as possible in order to concentrate on the psycho-social issues rather than on the technical requirements.

Different show. Dressage at Falcon Hill Farm .

Different foot. Left front this time. Last time was right front.

Same sh*t. After a brief but exciting period wherein he waved his foot around and I feared the worst, Rodney quickly revert to his standard, barely discernible lameness. We’ve been in drought this fall. The ground is hard and very dry. Both times he has been off after it finally rained. Slick? Brain fade on how to walk in mud? Who knows.

Horses!
~~~
Later. I wrote this during the week, as I do [Monday posts]. Rodney was mildly off Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. At breakfast on Saturday morning, he was hopping lame. The change was sufficiently dramatic that a diagnosis of abscess was obvious. Soak & poultice with Epsom salts. By Sunday afternoon, Rodney was sound at trot & canter. His choice, not ours. He did not appreciate being kept up for 24 hours.

I repeat, Horses!

Yes, I’m happy he is sound & that it was a brief/simple problem. Happy enough that I feel free to stomp & snarl a bit.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Answering My Own Question

Writing About Writing

Write. Write every day. This is what all of the writing advice gurus will tell you. Does it matter what you write? What if you are just making words shapes on your screen?

Is it better to write 750 words of fluff if I can’t figure out what to write?

Yes. Daily habit. Typing is typing.

No. I do not need to prove that I can crank out text. Between blog posts & emails, I know I generate words as fast as I can type them.

The preceding block quote is from my 750 entry for November 1st. [A Place To Write, Best Laid Plans]

At the beginning of the month, a friend decided to do NaNoWriMo. (Waves hi.) I did it back in 2011 and felt no desire to do it again. However, I offered to match their word count with my 750 typing.

So there I was, first day of the month, sitting at my desktop, having to type 750 words. I had nothing. The only, absolutely only, reason I continued was so that I could text my friend and say that I had done it. I even typed about it. Was there a point? Was this a valid use of my time?

I went to brush my teeth. Noted it in the text.

Typed.

Took a Google break. Noted it in the text. Hey, words is words.

Typed.

Somewhere in there my mind started wandering. The last 300 words were spent wondering about a character who might reappear someday, if I can ever figure out what to do with him, or her, or it.

The second day I spent writing about writing prompts [What To Write].

The third day, I was as blank as the first day, “If it wasn’t for reporting to KL I would so not slog through this.” Shortly thereafter, I found myself typing at great speed in the words of a kid complaining about a school field trip to the moon.

Two out of the three days, I started with drivel and ended up committing fiction. While the muse did not come along and whack me coup de foudre with a complete story idea, both are little bits of business that I did not have before and my fiction habit is that much stronger.

So, it it worth typing just to type? Yes.

Even if you type ‘The cat sat on the mat.’ over and over. Soon you will start to wonder. Why was the cat sitting on the mat? Where was the mat? What color was the mat? What color was the cat?

Does it matter what you write? No. Just write.

That was a quick answer.

Update. Crossposted on [Will Write For Feed].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Tiny Victories, Take II

Training Journal

Victory One – Finishing The Class With Rodney
As I said in the show report [Getting Our Hunter On], Rodney had a moment in our walk-trot-canter debut. Compared to what Milton can do, it was low grade hoppy-hop. Still, not what you want the first time you canter at a show. I thought about pulling up. The feedback I kept getting was, ‘S’okay. We cool.’ IRL Rodney is more dorky than street, but that was the gist of the message. I kept going. He was fine. We finished.

Go me.

Victory Two – Tack Test With Milton
We have been fiddling with Milton’s saddle padding. At first, the plan was to do the test rides at Stepping Stone Farm in the small, covered ring with the nice, solid, half walls. The last time we added padding to Milton’s repertoire, he lost his tiny, pony mind [Two Hops Forward, One Step Back].

… well, there were other factors that day … we’re talking about a few steps at the walk … it’s hardly worth shipping over for that … my groundperson is good enough to evaluate on very little data … okay, let’s do this at home …

Mind you, this would be my third time aboard Milton since the show in July. Conditions needed to be optimal. Before I rode, Milton long-lined. For some incomprehensible reason, the operator used an itchy felt pad. Milton objected. Violently. He pitched a spinning & hopping fit. His gyrations caused the pad to squirt out from under the driving saddle.

… I’m outta here … no way am I getting on that horse … not today …

After ridding himself of the annoyance. Milton went back to work. After a few more minutes, it was time to switch to riding tack. You’re kidding, right? The above-mentioned operator/groundperson convinced me that Milton was over it. Apparently, Milton does not hold a grudge. I rode. We walked. Milton approved of the tack under discussion.

I got on. At home. In the open. With experimental tack. After a fuss.

Go me.

Victory Thoughts
This is not just patting myself on back – which I am definitely doing – it is also reflecting on the nature of progress.

Will I ever get over the fact that Milton had an hysterical hissy fit the first step of the first time I rode him? Probably not. That muscle memory will haunt me each time we start.

Will I ever forget watching Rodney slide from being my mid-life crisis horse into years as a pasture potato? Probably not. That level of frustration leaves a stain.

Each successful transaction is a feather added to the other side of the scale, slowly tipping the balance back into a manageable zone.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Stomping My Feet

Training Journal

 

I’ve argued that one can’t do it all [This Is Why]. There are times one can’t do any of it. All of these non-shows were the same weekend.

Yes, yes, yes. Bright side, gratitude, blessed. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I’m still human. I get frustrated. I shall hereby indulge in a bout of foot stomping.

This time last year, I was eyeing the AHJA year-end show in Franklin, Tennessee. “Will I go back {to Nationals} next year? Well, this year the Alabama Hunter Jumper Association year-end show was the same weekend (ironically, 45 minutes away in Franklin TN). They have a .65 meter (~2 foot) jumper division. Just sayin’.” [All The Thoughts]

Nope.

I would happily, gleefully, miss both Nationals and the AHJA year-end for a chance to bunny hop Milton around a beginner cross-country course. “If I were a goal-setting sort of person, this would be our goal for November.” [Looking Forward, Aspirational XC]

Noppity, nope. [Getting A Break]

At mid-summer, Nationals was still a possibility, albeit one that would have required massive course correction in how I spent my riding time. [Where I Am Not]

Nope. Nope. Nope.

That’s okay. I’ll take Rodney to the dressage segment of the show. It’s not cross-country. It’s not a big show. It is with MY horse. [Finishing The Season]

Le grande nope. [Woe Is I]

Three shows in one weekend. I didn’t go to four of them. Neat trick.

Stomp.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott