Virtual Brush Box

Advice Sought, Kid Wants Horse

Horsekeeping

A friend has a child who is interesting in getting a horse. They asked my advice. I gave it. I then asked for permission to fuzz the details and post the exchange in order to see what the hive mind had to say. Do you agree with my advice? Disagree? Have anything to add? Please forward to any persons or groups who might be interested in weighing in.

To Me From Relative of Child
Child is interested in buying a horse. What advice can you give them about buying a good horse. Any advice will be helpful.

To Me From Parent of Child
A bit of background. Child is 11. They are very good at taking care of chickens, guinea pigs, and dogs. However, I told them that they can look into it but I can’t help in terms of buying and carrying food and cleaning poop etc. They are smart and understand there will be work but I’m not sure how much work.

My Advice
A horse at home is a big commitment. I was an adult, had been riding for 15+ years, and was still surprised at what I didn’t know. What to feed. When to feed. What’s normal. What’s not normal. What to do in an emergency. When to call the vet. And so on.

The good news is that there are tons of ways to explore intermediate steps. Take lessons at a barn that emphasizes horsemanship, i.e. not just showing up and riding. Lease a horse. Board at a barn that lets you work off some of the expenses. Become a working student. Try different disciplines. They may like to ride English but find a Western barn that has a good program. Or vice versa.

Start talking to your neighbors. Drive to a local barn & start asking questions. Horse people LOVE to give advice. Be warned, they also like to sell their horses, services, etc. People will offer solutions that fit you into their program rather than what might be right for you.

(Direct Address to Parent). You know exactly who is going to end up unloading a pickup truck full of hay, or hefting feed bags that I can barely lift.

We haven’t even touched on riding facilities or supervision at home. I have these problems to this day.

I hope I helped somewhat. You live in a horsey area. There are tons of ways to get involved with horses.

Oh, wear a helmet. Every ride, every time.

From Me To Blog Readers
Thank you for reading and for your advice.
Katherine Walcott

Looking Back, Awards SESHA 2014

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Found a draft from 2014 that I had never posted. as I am not one to let text go to waste, here it is. I am in the third photo, with Alvin. One of the original aims of the post was to illustrate the range of classes at saddle seat shows. Win reported [On the 5th Day of Christmas: Five Fluffy Foofs].
~~~
Winners of Southeast Show Horse Association Year End Awards
SESHA
SESHA Facebook

Three-Gaited: Denise Treathaway (top left)
Equitation: Reagan Huguley (top right)
Open English Pleasure: CH Best Day Ever, with mother-daughter team Diane Dorsey and Allyson Bass (bottom left, Bass up, I think.)
Amateur Five-Gaited: Shiftin Gears and Alexis Braswell

Country Pleasure: Big Boy Elroy (left top)
Show Pleasure: CH Reggies Indigo Jim and Diane Dorsey (left middle)
Hunter: A Riot on 43rd Street with Ashley Brandies for Nancy Fortner (left bottom)
Western: New York Fire! with Jan Henderson riding, Jay Love training (right)

Academy WT Equitation and Showmanship: Brooke Zell (top left)
Walk Trot Pleasure: Autumn Zwilling on Chantillys Clarice, the youngest winner (top right)
Academy WTC Showmanship: Katherine Walcott (bottom left, photo from 2013. This year was Sam, Maggie, Lola & Bingo)
Academy Equitation: Grace Murrow (bottom right)

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

That Fresh Stall Smell

Horsekeeping

Our horses live out. Milton is the one who mostly uses the stall: for a few minutes at mealtimes and when Rodney is working in the pasture or away on a trip. So, the stall is only occupied a handful of hours each week. Since Milton prefers not to pee in his house, spot cleaning of the poop is all that is needful.

As a result, I go weeks without having to strip the stall. When I do, I’m usually tossing out old, uneaten hay as much as old bedding. Rake everything into a pile. Remove pile. Fill any holes that have developed. Adjust mats. Let air. Slice open shavings bag. Dump. Spread.

Is there anything prettier than a clean, raked stall with a pile of clean shavings in the center?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Happy Horse Labor Day

Horsekeeping

Thank you to …

The people who feed and clean up after our horses. In my house that would be us. The people at Stepping Stone Farm and Falcon Hill Farm who take care of the horses I ride for lessons.

The people who sell the feed and hay our horses eat. The people who sell the shaving our horses sleep on. The people who grow the corn, oats, or soybeans. The people who work in factories that mix the feed. The people who grow and bale the hay. The people who grow, chop down, and chip up the trees that go into a bag or pile of shavings. The people who make the bags the feed goes into, who make the bags the shavings go into. The people who deliver bags of feed, bales of hay, piles of shavings.

The people who choose to be farriers and vets in order to take care of our horses. The people who make the supplies they use. Their assistants and accountants and advisors.

The people who make our brushes, our bridles, and our britches.

The people who run those tempting tack stores that sell brushes and bridles and britches. The people who keep the brick and mortar stores lit and heated. The software coders who keep the online stores metaphorically lit and heated.

The people who box up, ship, and deliver all our goods, either wholesale or retail, either before or after we buy. Everything we touch has been transported multiple times by multiple methods, passing through the hands of countless people.

The people who make horse shows possible. The people who run shows, who judge, who ringmaster, who announce, who mind the gate, who mind the warm-up, who mind the office. The people who clean up once the show is gone. The people who manage the facilities that provide us with places to show.

The people who make it possible to get to shows and recall them after. The people who run convenience stores so that we can fill our trucks with gas and ourselves with trip treats. The people who provided us with our photos. The people who run the stores that keep the photographers in cameras and cables and memory cards.

The people – instructors, family members, and barnmates – who stand on the horse show rail and ride every stride with us.

How far back could we take this? The people who raised the cows that were used in our leather saddles and leather boots. The people who mined the ore that was smelted to make the metal that went into our stirrups and bits. The people bred our horses, the people who bred our horses’ dams and sires, the people who bred their dams and sires and so on ad infinitum back to Eohippus.

It doesn’t take village. It takes the entire freaking planet.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Rodney’s Ribbon

Graphic Design

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

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

State of the Blog, Oops

Blogging About Blogging

I didn’t mean to do that. I got excited.

When I was by showing by myself, I got the idea to post whenever I went off to a horse show with Stepping Stone Farm. It was amusing. It provided content. The feature lasted from May 24, 2014 [Horse Show Today, MSSP 2014] to Feb 26, 2016 [Show Today, Winter Tournament 2016], for a total of 26 posts.

When my ground crew started coming with for moral support, and then when we started taking Milton places overnight, I stopped. Why advertise that the house is empty?

Do I think nefarious villains are stalking me though my blog? No. Well, now that I write it out, a little. It would make a good NCIS/Criminal Minds/whatever plot. Weirder things happen every day. But I digress.

Do I think we have anything worth stealing? No. Everything in our house is useful, sentimental, or covered in pet hair. Or a combination of all three.

So why do I worry? What can I say. I grew up in a big city. I am defensively paranoid by nature.

Thus ended the Show-Today-post tradition.

Last Saturday [You Are Not Going To Believe This], I resurrected the idea for the reasons stated, namely that the day was a victory before we ever entered the ring. I thought some folks might want to cheer us on in real time (Hi Mom!), so I gave the exact time of our test. I even added the displacement from GMT, lest there be any doubt.

Brilliant move. I manage to alert to the entire world to the exact time that our house would be unattended. I did not realize this until the post was published and & it was too late.

Oops.

As it turned out, no one ravaged our house while we were gone. Plus, on Saturday morning, it gave me something to worry about other than the horse show.

I now return to announcing horse shows in retrospect.

State of the Blog [Archives]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Worth 1000 Words, Show Photos, Dressage, Full Circle Horse Park, August 2019

Training Journal

Dressage, CT, 3-Phase
Full Circle Horse Park
August 24, 2019
[Words, Show Report]

Jeremy Villar Photography
(borders added)

2019 USDF Intro A

Chilling in warm-up

A word about tack. Schooling bridle and “illegal” bit. If Rodney decided he hated showing, I didn’t want to invest in new bridle & bit. Got permission ahead of time from the judge to use the driving bit that Rodney goes in. Bit with the same mouthpiece and dressage/hunter-compatible sidepieces has been ordered.

Also, please forgive the green slime. The bit was clean when we started.

1.
A Enter working trot rising.
Between X&C Medium Walk.
6.5
Slightly right on center line.

Here we go!

5.
C Circle left 20 meters, working trot rising
5.5
Circle (a) bit small

Number on my boot rather than on his bridle. Rodney can be headshy about some things, i.e. brushes, unexpected movements, but tolerant of others, i.e. towels, skritches, hoses. Now was not the time to find out what he thought of piece of cardboard near his eye. Another option is to pin it to his saddle pad.

Same movement

Someone decided to make it a stretchy circle. I have no memory of this. I was trying to steer, and not very well apparently. I thought we nailed it. Usually my navigating/precision is better than this. At the Intro level, it’s all one has.

7.
H-X-F Free walk
6.0
Needs more march & swing

Nor do I remember him looking out of the arena. This may be about where I was hunting a horse fly that was circling us.

Same movement

8.
F-A Medium walk.
A Down centerline.
5.5
Counterbent through corner & turn.

Yeah, he’s bad to drop onto his right shoulder. I worked on making a clear transition from free walk to working walk, but neglected to get the horse straight. OTOH, check out my German Army officer dressage position!