Summer Camp Dressage Letters, A Colorful Idea

Home Team, Random Tidbits, Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

Instead of letters, Coach Courtney has placed markers of laminated colored paper around the inside of the covered ring at Stepping Stone Farm. Trot to purple. Stop at blue. Walk to yellow. Great idea for little saddle seat kids who may never have seen a dressage ring.

Yes, I am riding Milton. No, I’m not announcing any plans for him. Last time I did that [Milton’s Show Schedule], he decide to have major surgery instead [God Laughs].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Pretty Pink Horses

Graphic Design

My first stamp order.

“40p – With his head facing backwards, the horse is reminiscing on the previous year, whilst his raised front leg signifies his readiness for the year ahead. The cloud pattern is one of the oldest patterns in Chinese art & architecture.”
Set of 6 Stamps
Souvenir Sheet
Lunar New Year Year of the Horse 2014
Guernsey Stamps and Collectibles
Guernsey Post

I am edging slowly into collecting Year of the Horse stamps. The subject is small enough to be feasible as a back-burner hobby. Year of the Whatnot stamps are issued every 12 years. The USA & Canada started in 2002. Asian countries have been at it longer. The earliest mention found in my rudimentary research is Japan in 1966. So, that’s a handful of stamps per country. OTOH, the area is large enough to keep me occupied. As best I can tell, 65 countries issued Year of the Horse stamps in 2014.

Mostly, I like seeing how the same idea is interpreted by so many different countries.

What’s with the stamps?
[Year of the Stamp]
[My First Stamp Show]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

New Title, New Twitter

Writing & Blogging

 

Last @RodneysSaga tweet.

First Virtual Brush Box, @box_brush tweet.

“According to Gaiman, ‘I had typed the name Caroline, and it came out wrong. I looked at the word Coraline, and knew it was someone’s name. I wanted to know what happened to her.’
Wiki: Coraline

First content tweet. As with Instagram [May 2018: Better Living Thru Chemistry photo], this started as a message to a friend, an amusing moment to share. Hmm, do I really need to bother them? Hmm, this would fit on Twitter. And here we are.

No specific plans for this account. I may post every so often. I may never post again. I will not become a high-volume tweeter. For those of us used to the gentle, pretty pictures of Instagram, Twitter can be … um … strident. On Twitter, I feel hectored by hundreds of tiny soapboxes. Even if one only follows a handful of people, they retweet. More soapboxes. Ten minutes on Twitter has me despairing for the state of the world. I get enough agita from the voices in my head. They don’t need help. But I digress. Twitter seems to work for some folks. More power to them.

In theory, I could pull up Twitter, post a blog Tweet, poke around the blog account, and not check my personal account. Let’s be real. That is as likely as logging onto Facebook to post the daily blog link and not looking at my feed. The only winning move is not to play.

Update, Sept 2018. Since my Twitter vacation appears to be easing toward permanent, I am archiving my lone straggler from July here.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Primitive Trailer Camping, Us at Mid-South 2018

Home Team, Combined Driving
Home, Sweet Home

 

This was a test of concept. Many places that have enough space for cross-country or marathon courses are a long way from civilization, or at least the nearest cheap hotel. With a half-hour drive, checking on a horse after dinner becomes an hour-long project.

Set-up was simplicity itself. Pulled up next to a spigot. Attached the hose we brought. Rinsed the back. Inflated the air mattresses with our electric pump plugged into the truck. Lay them down. Threw down sleeping bag/blankets. Done.

Food was a combination of eating out of coolers and eating at restaurants. Still a work in progress.

We had a blast this time. We’ll see how it goes.

Pro
Location. Being able to check the horse early & late. Napping for a few minutes after lunch. Getting up early. Sleeping in.

Money. Saved.

Weather. We totally lucked out.

Packing. Everything is always with you. No unloading at the hotel. No deciding what comes with you to the show & what stays in the hotel. When you leave, no repacking. Simply shove everything back in the trailer.

Independence. We didn’t have to move lockstep for eating, sleeping, or horse-checking.

Con
Lights. The parking lot lights stayed on until 12:30 am.

Electricity. Battery operated lights for living. The problem was charging our devices. We had to remember to do so during the day.

Weather-preparedness. We had none. Hot. Cold. Rain. Our main back-up plan was to scamper to a hotel. In fact, we had purchased the air mattresses for Milton’s Tennessee driving show [Not a Post]. Then we found out the forecast was for below freezing. That’s a big nope.

Meh
Things that should bother me but don’t.

Sleeping where my horse poops. Meh. I’ve slept in worse places.

Walking through the barn in my PJs to the shower. Meh. T-shirt & sleep pants. While the outfit was obviously sleepware, it was as decent – and cleaner – than what I had worn the rest of the day.

Seeing other people sleeping on the grounds in fancy RVs. Meh. Good on them. A separate rig would mean two drivers. Coming home on Saturday evening it was nice to have two people in the truck. Particularly when we finally lost the rain lottery and Greg found himself piloting a trailer, in the dark, late at night, in a downpour.

Sunrise over the horse show barn

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Credit Where Credit Is Due, Show Report & Photos, Mid-South Spring Premiere 2018, Driving

ASB Pleasure Driving

Skill ranks below mood.
A happy horse drives easy.
Look like a hero.

Mid-South Spring Premiere (Facebook)
Northeast Alabama Agribusiness Center
Rainsville, AL
Saturday, May 26, 2018
[Show Report]

65. Academy Pleasure Driving All Ages, 1st of 2

HB Whizbang (Snippy)
Thank you to the Alvis family.

Official Photographer Casey McBride

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Show Report & Photos, Mid-South Spring Premiere 2018, Riding

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Mid-South Spring Premiere (Facebook)
Northeast Alabama Agribusiness Center
Rainsville, AL
Saturday, May 26, 2018

66. Academy Showmanship Adult WTC, 1st of 4
67. Academy Equitation Adult WTC, 1st of 4
70. Academy WTC Championship, 2nd of 11(?)

Sultan’s Miracle Man (Sam).
Thank you to Courtney Huguley.

Official Photographer Casey McBride

The Good
I adore this horse. We reach. After months apart, it takes us about five strides for me to say, ‘Hi Sam, it’s me’ and for Sam to say, ‘Oh, you. Well, okay then.’ On the plus side, he’s a reliable lesson horse with a dreamy canter (pictured above). On the down side, he can be a curmudgeon to the little ones. Sometimes the conversation goes, ”Hi Sam, it’s ME.’ to which Sam replies, ‘Oh. You.’ and off we go.

One of Sam’s foibles is to act up during the victory pass. As if to prove that he still has a mind of his own after being good during the class. He has spooked [Show Report Georgia 2014], has reared [one of the Mid-Souths], and has bolted with me more than once. One of the NE GA classes has no picture of the victory pass, b/c the bolt lasted the entire length of the ring.

Sadly, the saddle seat show photographers stop shooting when horses misbehave. Why?! Those are the best shots. Since I was working the booth [Photo Minion], I told the photographer that if anything happened (knock wood), I darn well expected him to catch it on film. Et voila.

Sam staged two protests before settling down to a proper show trot. Coach Courtney thinks I’m the one who gets him revved up. Could be. I’ve always been a sucker for a victory gallop.

The Bad
Outside assistance is allowed, nay expected, at saddle seat shows. Every time I rode past the ingate, Coach Courtney would yell, “Up! Up! Up!” like a demented pogo stick. Apparently, my posture on horseback remains inconstant.

The Ugly
A horse I like to ride. A place I have shown multiple times. You would suppose that I would be cool, calm, and excited. You would be wrong. I remain a hot mess.

Before class: Why? Why do I do this? Never again.
After: ALL THE SHOWS!!

[Show Reports, Rainesville & Priceville]

Update
My Weekend as a Photo Minion, Me at Mid-South 2018
Here for the Experience, Milton at Mid-South 2018
Show Report, Riding
Credit Where Credit Is Due, Show Report & Photos, Mid-South Spring Premiere 2018, Driving
Primitive Trailer Camping, Us at Mid-South 2018

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Here for the Experience, Milton at Mid-South 2018

Home Team, Combined Driving

I got in the big metal box. I drove for hours and hours and hours. (Only 2. ed.) (You go stand in a rattly metal box and then come talk to me about *only* two hours. Horse)

I went to live in a home-away-from home for 4 days. All by myself!

I talked my 200 new best friends. Mostly about being all by myself!

I got ridden twice, including cantering in the big, wide, open space of the show ring. Wheeeee.

I misbehaved the first time we hitched. That got shut down in a hurry. After that, they held my delicate, sensitive nose in a vice grip during hitching. I don’t know why, I was an angel.

I got hitched four times. I worked in the schooling ring. I worked in the warm-up ring. I worked in the show ring, with traffic! I walked around the barn. I went everywhere.

I had to work twice a day. Riding and hitching, or hitching and hitching.

I didn’t show, but I got out of my stall a lot.

I went for walks. I went for grass breaks. I went one aisle over to hang with my Saddlebred bros.

I ate a lot of hay, and cookies, and carrots.

I was ready to go. All my new horse buddies were leaving. I didn’t want to be left behind. I even had to get in the big metal box in the dark. It had lights, but still.

I am happy to be home. Boy, do I have stories to tell the brown horse.

I miss being the center of everyone’s attention. That part I quite liked.

I’m practicing. Do I look good in blue?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott