WEG 2018 – Opportunity or Distraction? Crowd Sourcing My Decision

Home Team, or Not?

 

The nice people at WEG have asked me to come work as a Crossing Marshal on cross-country day. To go or not to go. I am a model of undecided dithering.

Opportunity – The Pros
Chance of a lifetime! World-class competition! Like-minded souls! Shopping!

Crowd control. I can do this. As I told them, “I know crossing/crowd control is considered a low-status volunteer job, but I’m actually quite good at it. Smiling at people and saying – for the hundredth time – No you can’t go there. It is empty/off limits for a reason (explain reason with perky song & dance. Get laugh). And the fact that NO ONE else in this ENTIRE crowd of people had that same brilliant idea means you are just a special genius snowflake. Only I don’t say that last bit. After several hours of this I have to go off and be extremely bitchy. But that’s not your problem.” Plus, crowd control is a skill that never goes away. With jump judging, I found it hard to work major events without little events to keep my eye sharp and my confidence high.

Will I have a good time? Yes.

Will I regret missing it? Yes. Somewhat. I’m still sorry that I did not get up to Toronto for the PanAm Games in 2015. It’s not a decision that keeps awake at night, but I do have mild regret. (For an entertaining recap of PanAm 2015, see Writing From the Right Side of the Stall. Blatant plug, I’m a fan. Ten Things About the Toronto Pan Am Games, 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games: Dressage, 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games: Eventing.)

Distraction – The Cons
Been there, done that. Obstacle Communicator in Atlanta for the Olympics in 1996. Giudice Ostacolo
in Rome for WEG in 1998, Crossing Guard in Lexington for WEG in 2010. How many once-in-a-lifetime experiences does one person need?

Money.

Boredom. Doesn’t makes sense to go all that way for one day. What would I do with the rest of my time? You’d think I could volunteer elsewhere on other days. That didn’t happen in 2010. I spent a lot of time doing the Flying Dutchman back and forth across the Kentucky Horse Park. Thumb twiddling is not a good look on me.

Work. Could I turn it into a writing opportunity? No. Or at least, I’ve never been able to. Staff writers & editors get the big ones. They don’t need freelancers.

Blog. I would certainly get blog posts out of a trip to Tryon. But, I’m generally not lacking for reasons to yammer.

Vanity. The person who contacted me is very good at their job and flattered me inordinately. I’d hate to let them down.

The main reason, the big reason, is that I just said I was tired of watching other people ride, that I need to get out of the stands and get into the ring myself [End of the Road]. Am I falling back into the pattern of getting involved in everything but my own life ? Just this once? But there is always another once.

In Closing
I’m not asking to tell me Go or Not Go, unless you feel like weighing in. Instead, what other questions should I ask myself to make my decision?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Referral Saturday, Tevis Cup Magic

Tackbox Tales

 

Every year in late July or early August, I become obsesses with the Tevis Cup, i.e. the 100 Mile One Day Western States Trail Ride.

Watching The Tevis
Watching the Tevis, Take II

I follow the feeds and maps and standings. I wait to see who won and who was awarded the Haggin Cup. And then I forget about endurance for another year. Along the same lines as becoming a horse racing fan on the first Saturday in May.

This year, my Google searches served up

Tevis Cup Magic: Taking on the world’s toughest 100 mile endurance ride
by Merri Melde
Available as en ebook only
Cover photo from author’s website

Published in 2016 about her surprise ride in the 2009 Tevis. Yeah, you read that right. As of the Monday before the ride, the author had no plans to ride in the Tevis. Ever.

The short book reads like a long blog post. Imagine you have a friend who rode in the Tevis. Afterwards, you send her an email that says, ‘Congratulations! What was it LIKE?’ This would be the response.

Yes, you have to pay for it, but not much. I can spend more than $3 at a snack stop, and the book lasts longer.

Enjoy.

Previous Referral Saturdays [List]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Spotted at the Birmingham Mural

Photography

 

While I cop to being lazy about dragging out my big camera, I do have legitimate photo news. I signed up for another evening education photo class.

Birmingham’s History in Plain Sight
Taught by Meg McKinney
Samford Academy of the Arts

This is the same Meg who has guest posted and given me photo lessons [List of MM posts]. One reason I took the previous classes was to meet the prerequisites for Meg’s classes [Photo Class Without The Photos, It’s All Grist for the Mill, Spotted at Kymulga Grist Mill].

Yes, I will be taking Spotted along, in a blatant attempt to turn my homework into blog posts.

“Wells Fargo Community Murals celebrate the legacy of the communities we serve, highlighting the geography, industry, and cultural diversity that give each community its unique character and sense of place. From small towns to big cities, we have installed custom community murals in over 2,300 Wells Fargo locations nationwide.” Wells Fargo Community Mural Program

I found this 10 minutes into my search for a suitably historic photo op. Photography is all about learning how to look.

Update. Forgot to include the address. The bank is at 316 18th Street South. The mural runs along 4th Avenue South.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Filling Out The Historical Record, Show Photos Dixie Cup 2017

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

HB Whizbang
After the Class

Casey McBride Photography

Another example of good photos from a bad show [Show Report]. With a two-for-one deal, I ordered the win photo to soothe my ego after ordering the terrible ProAm photo [Show Photo] & the candid because I have always been more interested in editorial than in presentation.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

XC, Kinda, Sorta, Maybe

Home Team

 

What is lower than Tadpole? Fish Roe?
What is lower the Amoeba? Blue-Green Algae?
Whatever you call the level, we set up a course at home and schooled it. It was more of a horse question then we expected.

As a giggle, for a little variety last weekend, Husband Greg put three cavaletto at the lowest settling along a well-trodden path in the field. Voila, instant “cross-country.” We expected both horses to trot casually back and forth a few times.

Rodney & I have walked the path to the corner many times. Rodney has done it an infinity of times on his own, see photo. In the ring, Rodney knows how to handle cavelleti. However, path plus cavelletti was a whole new world. I could almost feel him thinking, Path – check. Poles in my way (he doesn’t speak Italian) – check. Poles in my way on the path – Hmmmm. I … I … I got this.

We walked the line. We trotted one of the three. We trotted the entire line, complete with an imaginary start box were I counted us down and told us to have a good ride. (Verisimilitude is important in training exercises.) By the end, we did the mini-est of mini courses, trotting one way, circling the ring at a trot and trotting back the other way. Rodney was a star.

I think he had fun. For Rodney, riding is serious business. He doesn’t know how to have fun undersaddle. He is scared of so much – leather halters [Here We Stand], loading [Trailer Training] – that I forget in other situations, he can be quite bold [Dry Pool]. He sashayed back to the barn like he was the king of the universe.

Milton, not so much.

He too knows the path & cavalletti. He did not like the combination. He sucked back when we walked over them. He was so concerned when we trotted them that he spooked at Greg sitting at the end of the line. This does not bode well for encountering jump judges.

Me: Seriously horse? It’s a pole.
Milton: Yeah boss, but it is exhibiting unusual behavior. I must watch it closely for signs of danger.

I consider myself a weenie. It was weird to be the brave one.

He started to (mildly) pull when we trotted the line heading toward the barn. It was less Wheeee and more, I don’t like this, I gotta run. We did one more in that direction to prove we could and then trotted the other way with a lot of Whup, Whup on my part, to keep him slow. Groundcrew said Milton handled it fine. I, on the other hand, felt the storm brewing, distant, small, but on the horizon. The amount of nervous sweat on Milton’s shoulders supported my thesis. Of course, it is entirely possible that the next time, Milton will be all, Oh yeah, I’m an expert at this.

So, we inadvertently came up with a way to expose the horses to the essence of cross-country with none of the jump.

Yes, I’m still chugging along with Rodney. Slowly, oh so slowly. Not writing about it helps [not a post: Ramifications], [About: Two Names].

Thank you for reading.
Katherine Walcott