My Weekend as a Photo Minion, Me at Mid-South 2018

Adventures in Saddle Seat
My office for three nights.

This Week on the Blog
Over the Memorial Day weekend, we took a showcation at the Mid-South Spring Premiere. I wore enough different hats to fill five days of posts.

I worked the photographer’s booth, Monday
We brought Milton for schooling, Tuesday
I showed, Wednesday
I drove, Thursday
We slept in the trailer, Friday

Life as a Booth Babe
It was expected. This is our home show. All hands on deck. Two years ago I was the fly-by ribbon minion for a night [Show Report MSSP 2016: Volunteering].

It was a surprise. Casey McBride Photography needed a warm body in the booth while he took pictures in center ring. TPTB thought photography -> Katherine. I was flattered to be considered a photographer in any capacity.

It was simple. A trained monkey could do it. Every two classes, walk over to the side of the ring. Meet photographer. Take cards. Click this button. Load card here. Click that button. Wait. Check one of the monitors to be sure the photos loaded in the correct place. Lather, rinse, repeat. Photo experience was irrelevant.

It was confusing. Understandably, customers thought I was with the photographer. They kept asking questions. All I had was the price list, a handful of instructions, & Mr. McBride’s phone number. I would do an explanatory song and dance while I texted for an answer. Fortunately, Mr. M was responsive.

It was easy. Mr. McBride didn’t seem at all worried about how I was handling his business. As long as I recorded a phone number, he could sort out whatever hash I had made of the order.

It was hard. So many permutations. Does a mean b or c? Can he do x? Cue explanatory song and dance.

It was restful. On Thursday, I had all the time in the world to load photos, eat dinner, draw. Looking at photos was self-serve. No one was buying on the first night.

It was exhausting. Being! Perky! To! People! For! Hours! On! End! Or at least having to be ready to be perky. Even Saturday night wasn’t that busy. Apparently, a large part of his orders come via the website after the show. Some times months after [Show Photos CAA 2017]. However, even 1 or 2 customers an hour is more people than I usually see in a week. After show party? Show me the bed.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

U is for Underhill

Graphic Design, Alphabooks

 

 
Driving Horse-Drawn Carriages for Pleasure: The Classic Illustrated Guide to Coaching, Harnessing, Stabling, etc.
Francis T. Underhill
Dover 1989/2014
Originally published in 1897, back when carriages were the cars, trucks, & buses of the day. Recommended by Robin Bledsoe, Bookseller. For serious carriage enthusiasts out there, Bledsoe has, or had, a collector’s copy with with a gilt-stamped, suede cover. From the price, I’m assuming it’s the original, not the Dover reprint.
Non-fiction
Inkscape, spirals

 

On an unrelated note, do any of you read the author’s name & NOT think of Frodo dancing on a table at The Prancing Pony?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Jumping on the GDPR Bandwagon, My Privacy Policy

Writing & Blogging

I have no privacy policy; conversely, I have a 100% privacy policy. I don’t ask for nor collect your email address. I don’t send newsletters. I don’t market. I don’t – I couldn’t – sell your eddress to others. Personally, I loathe newsletters. Say it on your blog or don’t say it. Stay out of my inbox. I might feel differently if I had products to flog. I don’t. No marketing. No monetization. No affiliate links. I write. You read. That is the extent of our exchange.

With a few exceptions.

If you win a book giveaway, I will need your physical address. I do nothing with the address beyond that. If I you were to win again, I’d ask for your address again. I believe there was one book to an EU address, before I realized the price of international postage. She seems cool with it. (Waves hi!)

I have contacted a few people I don’t know IRL about guest posts (Waves hi with two hands!). Since I don’t have email addresses, I find the contact over on your blog, or somewhere on social media. In other words, I use an address that you have publicly displayed. I try to keep such exchanges within the bounds of polite conversation. Again, no marketing.

The Follow-By-Email feature is handled by WordPress. Since I use the simple WordPress.COM rather than the more flexible WordPress.ORG, I have no access to the process. A few times, people have stopped getting email notifications. All I can do it look at a list on my dashboard and say, ‘Yup, your name is still on it.’ I couldn’t get the emails if I wanted to.

This has been my practice to date. I have no plans to change.

Automattic is the owner of WordPress
Privacy policy for users, i.e. me
Privacy policy for visitors of users, i.e. you

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

What I Did While I Was Away, Instagram Through May 2018

Instagram from @rodneyssaga
Previous Instagram recap [February 2018]

Individual Instaphotos with commentary, as promised [Back to Blogging].

One of those that was cuter IRL. He looked like a kid in a tree fort.

I had a theory. I always have a theory. My departure post was March 16. This was taken that evening. The plan was to have this on the sidebar for the duration. Then, when I restarted, I would put up a photo of a sunrise over the pasture. Poetic, no? Come the day, I had posted enough photos in the interum to dilute the the sunset/sunrise metaphor beyond redemption.

I posted this because I was utterly convinced that the next photo would be a ribbon shot with Milton. I wanted to soften the appearance of breaking radio silence to brag. So I put this up as a icebreaker. As it turned out, vanity was the least of our problems [Not a Post].

Depth of field exercise for photo class.You are to be impressed by the blurriness of the leg in contrast to sharp focus on nose.

First canter. Posted b/c first canter!

Pretty cat. Do I need another reason?

Adorable halter. Also cuter IRL.

Text to a friend that became an Instagram post. This happens disturbingly often.
Alternate title – Tooooooth drugs.

I saw the quote right before going to the grocery store. It was so completely on point that I had to share.
~~~
Blog 1.0. At the end of each month, I made sure the number of photos was divisible by three. This made for a symmetric visual on the recap post, as above (happy accident this time). This was the sort of gratuitous detail that added to my stress level [Struggle Bus] to no needful purpose. So, I am trying to do better about taking both life and Instagram photos as I find them.

Blog 2.0 – photos as they occur. Default to NOT reaching for my camera. This means I share the ones I really gotta tell you about. Archive as I accumulate a sufficient number. Comment. Look into changing the title on the account.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Road to the World Cup, Traveling for the Team, Guest Post

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Stepping Stone Farm rider Reagan Upton is on the U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Team. She is sharing her story. Welcome Reagan.

Part 1 [Have Saddle, Will Travel]
Part 2 [First Team Practice]
Part 3 [Three-Gaited & Five-Gaited]
Part 4 [Do I Miss Equitation?]

Not many of us have the opportunity to represent our country in international competition. Do you have a question Reagan to address in future posts?
~~~
The World Cup team riders are from all over the country.

Midwest 50%, South 35%, West & West Coast 15%

Midwest: Wisconsin 2, Illinois 2, Indiana 1, Ohio 1
South: Louisiana 2, Alabama 1, Kentucky 1
West & West Coast: California 1, Arizona 1

The coaches change for each World Cup. They have to apply just like the riders do. This year’s coaches are from Illinois and New Jersey.

So, in order to get everyone in one spot there is a lot of traveling involved. Practices had to be strategically planned in order to find a weekend where everyone can attend. They were mandatory but they gave us the option of two different weekends to choose from and whichever the majority voted was the weekend we had practice. We did this for both practices. We also needed locations where there would be enough horses for us to ride.

The first practice was in New Orleans at Cascade Stables. New Orleans is a 5 1/2 hour drive for me, close enough so I was lucky enough not to have to book a flight for this practice. We traveled on Friday, rode on Saturday afternoon, and then traveled back home Sunday.

The second practice was in Tampa held at the Gasparilla Charity Horse Show at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Unfortunately, this practice was scheduled the same weekend I had planned on attending a horse show in Clemson, SC. Missing the horse show was not an acceptable option. I worked it out where I could show in Clemson earlier in the week and still make it to Tampa for practice.

Wednesday – Birmingham AL to Clemson SC. I flew from Birmingham to Greenville and then rented a car and drove 1 hour to the horse show.

Thursday & Friday – I showed Jimi twice on Thursday and once on Friday. We were 1st, 2nd, and 1st, in that order.

Saturday – Clemson to Tampa FL. Shuttle from the airport to the hotel. The team van drove us from the hotel to the practice. We had to be in Tampa Saturday night in order to be ready for practice Sunday morning. Practiced lasted about four hours. Sunday after lunch we were free to travel back home.

Sunday – Tampa back home to Birmingham. I was home by 7:00 pm.

It was a wild weekend of traveling but totally worth it.

We only had two practices. I think it was enough. Two practices gave the coaches an idea on what type of riders we are and which type of horses we ride best. I wouldn’t change anything logistically.

The World Cup competition will be held in Lexington, KY. Lexington is close enough to drive so I get lucky again and get to avoid the airports. Stepping Stone Farm is lending three horses to the competition and my mom has agreed to haul them up there. So I will be traveling to World Cup in a truck and trailer.

Pony for a Gift

Random Snaps, Combined Driving

What do you get as a thank you gift for a person who has helped a lifelong competition dream to come true [Show Report: Indiana CDE 2017] and more [Nashoba, scroll down for 2017 season links]? Money? No amount would be enough. In-kind equipment? I wouldn’t begin to know what to buy Coach Kate for her carriage. So, I went creative. Pony for a Pony.

One for Coach Kate. Her show colors are blue & red.
One for us. Milton’s carriage is black with red trim.

I got the idea from The $900 Facebook Pony in That Holiday Haul. The artist’s preferred method of contact is through Pony for a Pony Instagram.

I sent the artist a photo of Milton with his Pony for A Pony.

 

Update: I feel the need to add that I follow Pony for a Pony, both on the blog Instagram & on my personal account. Dunno why it’s not showing up that way.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott