Seeking Summer Schedules

Home Team

Milton
This year, we had two competitions in mind for Milton. Having attended them last year with Bliss, we were hoping to return with our own horse.

1) The MTCC mini-CDE [Show Report 2017]. After Tennessee [Not a Post], this became unlikely. It is in two weeks. We are not going.

&

2) The Indiana CDE [Show Report 2017]. This was always a long shot. After, Tennessee, it became a moon shot. We recently found out that the competition has been canceled.

So now what? Concentrate on driving? Concentrate on riding? Lots of options.

Rodney
Inspired by last year’s summer of leisure [Rodney Lately, Rodney Tests The Vest], Rodney is getting a good start on a repeat this summer.

First, we went for a walk [A Walk on the Mild Side]. Success. Too close to actual work. Must rethink.

Then, vet. Our special snowflakes are always sore for a few days after their annual shots.

Then, sore RF. Warm in the shoulder. We suspect a kick.

Then, sore LF. A bruise/abscess that is taking forever to heal.

In all of these, Rodney does just enough to stay on injured reserve while causing the least possible amount of pain or inconvenience to himself.

I swear this is a new photo.
[Hoof Meet Bucket] 2012
[Rodney’s Feet] 2017
You may be sensing a theme.

Blog
Testing my resolve not to whine all over you. Or, more importantly, not to let whining all over you make me feel even worse about going nowhere. Time to haul out some of those light-hearted, less-personal posts that I talked about [Back To Blogging].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine

The Winding Path to My New Blog Title

Writing & Blogging

Attributes of a Brush Box
A container for horse paraphernalia.
Non-horse-related objects can be found in them as well.
Odds & ends accumulate in the corners.
The contents are unique to the person using it.

Dead Ends
Take up/Taking the Reins
Short, expressive exhortation. I liked that reins apply to both riding and driving. Unfortunately, been done.

Take up the Reins – A program to encourage people to #GetHorsey in the UK.
Taking up the Reins – Advancing Girl Power Through Horsepower in Los Angeles, CA.

Both worthy-sounding organizations. I left them to it.

Taking Up My Reins
Same idea, personalized. Unfortunately, the initials spell TUMR. Not a good sign.

Pull Your Socks Up
A ongoing reminder to get my act together. Unfortunately, a secondary meaning of the phrase is, Duck, bullets are about to fly. A signal to your team without alerting your foes. Too much violence. Urban Dictionary

Katherine’s Kollection
Kute. Unfortunately, there are some initials you just don’t want to mess with.

The Way Thru the Maze
… move the focus off Rodney … use my/me/name as a signal that this is a personal narrative, not an examination of the horse industry … leave it open-ended so i can post chapters of my science fiction novel should i stopping talking about it and get around to writing it … Hanna Schock of Picture Book Theology suggested using a happy place, perhaps Katherine’s Pasture? … hmm … a tool? Katherine’s Muck Bucket? … doesn’t say much about the contents … i like the idea of a container … what do i use so often that i don’t even recognize it anymore? … Katherine’s Notebook? …. i always have one on my person … too literary … where do i store ideas? … Katherine’s Spreadsheet? …. not a math blog … Katherine’s Tack Box? … since i’m not boarding and not showing my own horses, i don’t actually own one at the moment … brush box? … i carry two in my truck …

… one for the saddle seat barn [What Makes You, You? A Blog Hop.]

… one pretty wooden version that i use for storage in the front seat [ASHAA Banquet 2017] …

… i have brush boxes in the trailer … i have brush boxes in the barn … each horse has his own … one for first aid, one as a pantry, at least one spare …

… one for foot care [Milton February 2017] …

… i guess i do have a lot of brush boxes … who knew? … IRL, i am as likely to call it a grooming box … Katherine’s Grooming Box? .. too much beauty blog … Katherine’s Brush Box? … Katherine’s Virtual Brush Box? .. okay, that’s not gonna fly … my name is way too long … i’ll never survive all the typing … My Virtual Brush Box … ehhh … after all that, I like the three-word version.

Virtual Brush Box

I also tried to keep in mind Hanna’s other advice. A good title is nice. Good content is better.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

It’s All Grist for the Mill, Spotted at Kymulga Grist Mill

Art Photography

I went to the Kymulga Grist Mill, Childersburg, AL, as the final outing for my photo class. I made sure to bring Spotted so I could squeeze in a blog post. Proving that everything is grist for the blogging mill. Spotted is standing in one of the turbines used at Kymulga. The mill used horizontal underwater turbines rather than the picturesque vertical water wheel I was expecting. More efficient.

The assignment was 4-6 unedited photos. I went one over b/c I couldn’t decide among the 3 door pix. For class, the photos were submitted straight out of the camera. For the blog, I renamed, resized, watermarked, and added a border. No other editing.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Hello Dr. Jekyll

Combined Driving

Okay, Milton, what’s up?

We took you to a perfectly nice show in Tennessee. You had an epic, Technicolor, hissy fit [Not a Post].

We took you back to Stepping Stone Farm. You loved it. We hitched you to the 2-wheel cart. You were a star. After a suitable period of reacclimation, we hooked you to the 4-wheel once more. You were a star.

You’ve been getting rave reviews from Coach Courtney. You trot around the ring like a dressage king. You do a roll-back to your cones that would cause envy in a jump rider.

Sure, that one time you ran off on the lunge line and that one time you spooked with the cart and for a moment under saddle you refused to walk past the enormous horse-eating shavings pile of doom. Those are no big deal. You stopped running. You got over yourself. You bravely walked forward. Those are normal training discussion points. We are trying to understand when you forgotten how to horse.

It’s not that we WANT you to have a meltdown. If the sea is always calm, one never learns to sail the rough weather. Tell us what demons haunt your psyche. We need to figure out how to deal with Mr. Hyde before he appears again.

What’s the deal, Dude?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Road to the World Cup, Do I Miss Equitation? 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]

Not many of us have the opportunity to represent our country in international competition. Anyone have topics for Reagan to address in future posts?
~~~

For the overwhelming majority of my saddle seat career I have shown and excelled in the equitation division. This year, I decided it was finally time to hang up the equitation hat and retire. I have won all three equitation finals, completing the triple crown, so there isn’t much left for me to accomplish in that discipline.

All winter I figured I would be miserable not showing in equitation this year and would hate watching other people at shows showing in “my” class while I just sat on the rail trying to relive the glory days. I imagined the thought of someone else claiming the national title this year would get under my skin.

In all honestly, I have been completely okay with it. It has been very refreshing not to have 2 leg lessons a week, ride with weights, or drill myself on patterns. I also don’t have the mental pressure on myself to be perfect. Equitation is stressful and I guess now that I am not showing in it anymore I realize just how stressful it was. Preparing for shows and sitting in the warm-up waiting to enter my class doesn’t have my stomach in knots anymore.

I have a new challenge this year that is a six-year-old spunky black gelding named Hendrix, also known as “Jimi.”  Jimi is quite the handful but in a fun way. Jimi is learning a new division, Country Pleasure, so it’s like we are trying to master the performance division together. I do miss all the blue ribbons I won in equitation, that is taking some adjusting, but Jimi and I have done surprising well so far this first half of the season. We have shown in 15 classes and have been 1st six times and 2nd five times.

This time last year showing equitation, I was undefeated, so the 5 blue ribbon tally is a little humbling. Jimi and I are working hard to become a team so when we do finally get called to the winner’s circle it is very gratifying. The adrenaline rush of equitation was addicting but the high stakes meant high pressure. This year is about learning my new horse and enjoying the journey and I am just fine with that.

Jimi’s classes are performance so they don’t prepare me for the World Cup. I’ve honestly been too busy traveling for shows to think about WC at the moment. The competition is five weeks away so I will get to focusing on WC here in the near future. I need to get back practicing five gaited patterns and do a few leg lessons. I’m not too worried about my equitation. Most of that is muscle memory by now. It won’t take long to get my form back in order.

A Walk on the Mild Side

Home Team

That moment when you decide to put on your big girl britches and take your horse on a walk all the way around the pasture despite that fact that the two of you have not been that far from the barn by yourselves in forever and your horse is so calm that he decides to rub his face on his leg while on a downhill slope and you feel as if a somersault is immanent and you try not to remember the time you fell off when his head was down by his knees and you make a gentle, totally non-panicking request for your horse to raise his head, which causes him to curl his neck like a shrimp, making you feel pitched even further forward, so you gulp deeply, drop the reins and ask him to walk on. Yeah, that moment.

The rest of the ride was a piece of cake.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott