For This I Cleaned My Tack? Show Report, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, October 2018

Home Team

 

Dressage, CT, 3-Phase
Full Circle Horse Park
Pell City AL, USA
October 13, 2018

With Milton, aka Moonlight Rainbow
Class 3 – 2015 USDF Intro Test A (Walk-Trot) – Adult, 2nd of 2, 60%
Class 4 – 2015 USDF Intro Test B (Walk-Trot) – Adult, 5th of 5, 58.875%

Highest score: 7.5, halt
Lowest score: 5, circle & two collective marks

Results will be available at FCHP > Shows

Yes, I am riding and showing my own horse. That is good. I also feel as if I have been granted the barest possible minimum performance level that fulfills the criteria. When I said I wanted to show, I did not expect the culmination of my year to be pair of mangled walk-trot tests. Perhaps I should have been more specific.

First Test
Milton came out more settled than our last dressage show [Show Report], although he still likes to fool everyone. The ring steward complimented him on looking chill. Yeah, he looks chill. He is chill. Right up until he isn’t.

This time, he wasn’t a hissy fit looking for place to happen. OTOH, if a reason presented itself, he wasn’t ruling out going sideways. We walked this way and that. We trotted this way and that. Eventually, we achieved an acceptable approximation of our work at home. I figured he would be better in the ring with possibly firmer footing and without other horses to snarl at.

Then we went in the ring …

… and I had a totally different horse.

Milton spooked when we went past the new judge’s hut. Normal. Once in the ring, he decided the entire sandbox was an unsafe space. He wasn’t bad. He wasn’t good. He just endured until he could escape. We scored 5 points higher than last time. Go figure.

Second Test
As the first to go after lunch, I had time to trot back & forth past the judge’s hut and to trot several times around the outside of the ring. Milton got over himself. Horse, groundcrew, and rider all felt it was a better test. More forward. More rideable. Not good, but better. It scored 2 points less. Go figure.

By The Numbers
Judge: Pam Kimble

Note the impassioned plea in the comments of our second test to please, for the love of all that is sacred in dressage, please pick up the front end of my horse. At least, she seems to think the hind end was going somewhere. Progress.

Update
This Is Why You Can’t Do It All
So It Continues, Show Photos, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, October 2018
This Is Why I Don’t Set Goals

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The World’s Most Adorable Filler

Home Team

 

I got nothing. Have a some kitten.

September 16, 16 weeks, 1 day.
~~~
I write & schedule Monday posts the week before to keep the weekend free. Therefore, one reason I got nothing today was that I spent last week in horse show prep mode. On Saturday, Milton and I made our return to the dressage ring. It would take a better writer than I to wrest narrative possibilities out of endless iterations of Intro A & Intro B.

Although, I will say that Milton doesn’t seem to mind practicing the entire test. The books all say Not To Do This, lest the horse learn to anticipate. Rodney certainly would. If I even do a trot transition twice in the same place during schooling, he’s convinced – convinced, I tell you – that I will require a trot in that place the next time we pass by. Milton may know the tests by now. I think he doesn’t care. ‘Yeah, we’ll probably trot when we get over there. Why get upset about it now? We may not trot. She may learn to ride. The horse may learn to sing.’

Dressage results tomorrow.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

AlphaBooks, G is for Gallopalooza II

Graphic Design

 

Gallopalooza II: The Horses of Possibility City
by Lynn Huffman
Gallopalooza/Power Creative 2009

Not a TBR candidate. A book to pick up and admire the pretty pictures.

Gallopalooza on the blog [Champion City, Guest Photo], page 85 in the book. The photo from Coach Courtney led me to finding the book.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

In Which I Ponder Street Art, Briefly

Writing & Blogging

Saturday posts are supposed to be about writing. I’m supposed to be a writer. Fiction? If I could think of a story, and hadn’t be traumatized by English professors in college and grad school. Non-fiction? Perhaps one of those brilliantly creative essays that observes a small aspect of life, spins it up to a overall theme, and returns to an elegant denouement.

Thhbbbbffftt.

I wanted to write that sort of essay about street art, neatly pulling together …

… the hay bale art from yesterday …

.. with the fiberglass horses for tomorrow.

However, the only commentary I can up with is …

Street Art. Why the hell not?

Who can argue with enliving the urban landscape?

Maaaaaaybe cost, but that could be said of anything that is not food, shelter, or hospitals. Art is what makes us human. It use to be tool-making that made us human, but that ability is turning up all over the place. I don’t recall an instance of animals in the wild spontaneous producing art. Please correct me if I’m wrong, that would be fascinating.

Sure, it’s not high art, but so what. Neither is Peanuts, yet Snoopy has brought joy to millions.

So, street art, yeah or nay?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Low Key Photo Challenge, Hay! Look at the Street Art

Photography

 

Theme: Hay Bale Art

Same Place, Previous Years

[Hay Roll Art: Snowman] 2015

[Hay Bale Art: Thanksgiving 2014] 2014

Different Place

[A Couple of Hay Rolls] 2015

For more, Google hay roll art or round bale art.

Process Notes
The street shot, taken moments after the other two, shows that I need to start looking at the actual lighting rather than simply reading the meter.

Procedure for Low Key Photo Challenge
1) I post photo(s) on a given theme.
2) You comment below with a link to your photo(s) on that theme.
3) We all click over to see what you have.

That’s it. No prizes. No rules. No submissions. For more explanation, see [Inaugural Edition].

Show us the hay art in your area! Or other street art! It’s up to you!

Previous Challenges
[Hello!]
[Labor]
[Toys]
[Travel]
[Books]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Ready For Our Close-Up, Show Photo, Southeastern Charity 2018, Driving

Pleasure Driving

 

Photo by Doug Shiflet
Class 108
Southeastern Charity Horse Show
Saturday, September 22, 2018
[Show Report, Whisked About]

I wish I had something profound to say about today’s photo (see yesterday [Show Photo, Riding]).

A) It’s hard to pontificate about the results from a single-horse demo class.

B) I have not the slightest idea how a judge sorts out a class full of student drivers. It’s Academy, so the horse isn’t judged (ideally). Then, you can’t see half of the driver, and the part you can see doesn’t move much. I can’t say whether this is good Academy Driving form or not.

As for the photo, I like how Whiskey’s mane is back-lit as it wafts in the breeze.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Putting the SHOW in horse show, Show Photo, Southeastern Charity 2018, Riding

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

Photo by Doug Shiflet
Southeastern Charity Horse Show
Classes 110 & 111
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Bell Cheval’s I’m Joanie
[Show Report, First Dance]

If you look at technical merit, I’m not riding all that much better than I am in the photo from the horrid ProAm show last year [Show Photo: ProAm 2017]. My toe is out. My knee is off the saddle. While my hands may be up, my elbows are flapping in the breeze. I’m probably leaning forward, I always am. My upper chest is caved in. A poster child for equitation I am not.

In terms of artistic impression, this show was the total opposite of ProAm. I’m doing two things right. I’m looking up. And I’m grinning like a fool. I was having a blast. Joanie and I tore up the ring in high style.

The lesson here is that attitude can cover a multitude of sins.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott