Virtual Brush Box

Lapping It Up

Home Team

I ought to talk about our current schooling progress, or at least our current schooling efforts, but this is too cute. I had to share.

Since Milton doesn’t drink away from home, we always offer water to him before he travels. On this day, he decided to lap like a dog. Endlessly.

I got a text notification just as he pulled up to the trough. After this performance had been going on for a while, I checked the time stamp. Four minutes. So we know that he was there for at least four minutes by the clock.

It was as if he thought, ‘As long as I stand here drinking, I don’t have to get on the trailer and go to work.’

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

More Filler, More Adorableness

Home Team

I’m still irked with Milton for phoning it in at our grand finale for the year. Rodney is being Rodney, blending glacial progress with frustration. So, have some more kittens.

21 weeks as of Saturday, October 20, 2018. Photos in chronological order unrelated to text.

They have reached the age of adventurous but clumsy. Their eyes are bigger than their paws. If they jump into a box, they tip it over. If they jump onto a table, they knock off everything within reach as they land. Multiple this by four.

Last weekend, two kittens and one of the adult cats dogpiled – catpiled? – on me during a cold snap. I tried for a selfie, but all you can see is fur and random cat parts. It is the first time, to my knowledge, that the kittens have interacted comfortably with one of the big cats. Owners – more convenient than space heaters.

The newest yoga pose – sideways-facing kitten.

Bonus Kittens

New Stepping Stone Farm barn cats in training. From the same farm as mine, different moms, dads unknown. That farm has become an inadvertent home for wayward lady cats. Owner conscientious about spaying. Cats kept showing up pregnant. I guess the word got out.

Bonus Cat

Nap, Interrupted. Smudge, formally/formerly know as Rhyme.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott8

AlphaBooks, F & E are for Farley & Ebony

Graphic Design

The Island Stallion (Flame)
Walter Farley
1948 Random House 2003

The Ebony Horse
Adapted by Anne Terry White
Garrard 1969

Even though “Flame & Ebony” is poetic, I put Farley in the title. Fire and horses are not a good mix. I also toned down the color to basic orange. Dark orange & orange red mixed with the black were too evocative of colors on a fire scene. I’m aiming for happy fun letters, not visceral ones.

Farley bought from Discover Books via AbeBooks.com; Arabian Nights from Thrift Books via AbeBooks.com.

TBR? Maybe the Arabian Nights. Never got on the Farley train. Suspect it is too late. To tell you the truth, I bought these for the blog. That is not a good precedent. I do not need encouragement to buy books.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

This Is Why I Don’t Set Goals

Home Team

Back in the heady days of starting to ride Milton [Milton’s Show Schedule], the original plan for last weekend’s show [For This I Cleaned My Tack?] was to do the small three-phase.

Ha.

Okay, it wasn’t so much a plan as a hope. Lots of stars needed to align for that to have happened. More realistically, there was the idea of jumping around one of the little stadium courses.

Ha. Ha.

At least we could do walk-trot-canter dressage tests and come back the next day to school cross-country, this time at a trot [Mr. Excitement Regards His Future]?

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Because of my thwarted plans, I was not prancing about about farting rainbows and spouting platitudes.

Every ride is a special occasion.

If you are lucky enough to be on a horse, you are lucky enough.

I believe these platitudes. I was not feeling these platitudes. Instead, I was watching horses of all shapes and abilities go over teeny, tiny, wee jumplets, and thinking,

‘That should be ME!’

I hate goals.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

So It Continues, Show Photos, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, October 2018

Photography

Dressage
October 13, 2018
[Show Report, For This I Cleaned My Tack?]

Poetry in motion we were not. These are from our second test. The one that rode better but scored worse.

2015 USDF Intro Test B (Walk-Trot)

Between K&A, Medium Walk. I picked one photo that showed what we might look like some day. Possibly. In the far future. There is another moderately acceptable shot at the other end of the walk section. The rest, pfffft. That makes 2 out of 60.

B, Circle right 20 meters, working trot rising. In contrast, this is the worst of the photos. I decided to steer into the skid.

Leave arena free walk.
Horse: That was … I can’t even …
Rider: Drama queen much?

For the rest of the gallery, Jeremy Villar Photography > online store > Full Circle Horse Park – October 13th > enter email > #346.

Collective Remarks
For comparison, our previous tests [So It Begins, Show Photos, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, Summer 2018].

Braiding. Several competitors braided this time. I didn’t. Despite a ride time of nearly noon, there wasn’t a convenient time to braid: feed, load, ship, warm-up, and so on. I decide that I would see if he was more relaxed without braids. I can always practice at a lesson if he needs to get used to the idea. As it turns out, I don’t think it made a difference in either our appearance or his behavior.

As one might expect, I have been been perseverating about our performance. Before the tests, I told Milton that if we came out of the ring together with our ears up, he could not fail. Therefore, given my own definition, he did not fail. Didn’t even come close. To use Coach Courtney’s term, there were no jackass moments. The only hint of outright disobedience was at one point in each test, Milton eyed the ankle-high ring fence and thought about how easy it would be to make a quick exit.

Not a dressage star. Not a jackass. Milton has worked his way up to green.
~~~
Post #2400

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

We Say Goodbye to Driving Posts, For Now

Blogging, Combined Driving, ASB Pleasure Driving

Driving On The Blog
I have one more driving post coming shortly. After that, I will be retiring Driving Thursday for a while. Neither us been in a cart since September [Husband Greg, Katherine]. Milton hasn’t been hitched since June. None of us has done serious schooling since our last non-compete adventure [Notes from North Georgia, Milton]. I’ve spread the driving peanut butter as thinly as I could over the blogging bread, hoping for a resurgence. Didn’t happen. I’m out of news.

Maybe Jumping Thursday?

Driving IRL
We are not giving up.

Our Equipment Manager is searching a way to fix our two-wheel schooling cart or to get an inexpensive one with competition-compatible features (i.e. non-pneumatic, non-wire wheels). He has found several used carts that he likes. All in the UK. ‘Pick up in Sheffield’ does us no good.

Meanwhile, he has been long-lining both horses. This is good exercise for them and keeps his hand in.

All of the riding and showing I have done this year will contribute to making Milton a better driving horse. He needs to learn to go to shows. He needs to learn to tolerate the sandbox. Even jumping and cross-country – should we ever get there – will introduce concepts applicable to cones and marathon.

I shall continue ASB pleasure driving as Coach Courtney and the nicely tolerant horses at Stepping Stone Farm permit.

[Ready For Our Close Up]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

This Is Why You Can’t Do It All

Adventures in Saddle Seat, or Not

For the first time since I starting showing saddle seat in 2012, I did not ride at the Alabama Charity Championship show. This is our big fall show. The association runs it. Everybody goes. Except me.

I had two shows this month. They occurred on the same day, at the same time. This is why dueling disciplines does not work.

Let us airily wave away the cost of two horse show seasons. Let us make the rash assumption that I could possibly leave Horse A in the care of someone while I show Horse B. Let us decree that I am a brilliant, adaptable rider who can encompass conflicting styles.

You can’t fight the schedule.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott