Camp Report, Hittin’ The Trail

Home Team

 

Stepping Stone Farm Advanced Camp took a dozen hothouse flowers and three seasoned trail horses to Oak Mountain State Park.

Trail horses taking a break.
Photo by Courtney Huguley

Milton was a star. He followed. He led. He walked over TWO bridges. He stood at check. He walked up hills and down dales. He negotiated knots of muddy tree roots. All of this on narrow, forested trails. The term “goat track” was bandied about.

For the first two thirds, we were with the slow folks, which suited me. After the break, the line reorganized and we ended up in the – relatively – faster first flight. Milton’s back got the slightest bit tighter, either from trotting to catch up or from taking exception to a different horse behind him. As he did in drill team, Milton had opinions about who he wanted to hang with.

We never got to the point of strolling along admiring the countryside, but a solid effort for our first trail ride.

1 hour & 45 minutes!!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Camp Report, The Three Stages of Drill Team

Home Team

 

Stage 1) Oh! Hell! No!
Stepping Stone Farm Advanced Camp started off with a bang, or more accurately, a hop. At North Georgia, Milton handled traffic beautifully [Notes]. At his home barn, not so much. Unfortunately, drill team is all about having other horses in one’s personal space.

Overtaking horse? Hop.
Tailgating horse? Hop, hop.
Oncoming horse? Hop, hop, hop.

Milton’s go-to move is a crow hop. Drop head. Round back. Bounce around on four legs. While there is enough hang time to create doubt in the rider, so far I have been able to sit the hops and talk him down out of trees. Milton feels things deeply, but caves quickly [Milton’s Remediation]. Let’s keep it that way.

On the plus side, onlookers agreed that the meter was reading Overwhelmed rather than Evil.

When he wasn’t sproinging around like a wind-up toy, the racehorse got massively out-trotted by the Saddlebreds. We repeatedly trailed the field by many, many lengths. In the photo above, Milton is the gray blur on the far left, all by himself.

Stage 2) Y’all are f-ing crazy.
The second drill team session was at the end of a long day. He utterly failed to see the point.

Stage 3) I hate all of you. This is my life now.
As you can see from the screen shot of the video, we continued to play sweep. The only times we caught up were when I cut a corner. I was fine with our snail-like pace. No hoppy toad? Awesome. You do you, Milton.

Full video available on the SSF Facebook page. Since this is a business page, you do not have to log in to Facebook to watch the video. At about minute 3 when this screenshot was taken, Milton can be seen sashaying down the fenceline bopping his tail to the music. It didn’t ride that way, but it sure looks cute in the video.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

A Colorful Quad

Graphic Design

 

 

Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Year of the Horse 2014

“Aitutaki resumed a separate stamp issuing policy in 1972. The issues were aimed at the thematic collectors market. … since the late 1990’s, stamp production has been limited. The stamps of the Cook Islands remain valid on Aitutaki, while the issues of Aitutaki are valid only on the island itself.”
Stamp World History: Aitutaki

My second stamp purchase [#1]. Next step is to figure out how to store/display them. Albums issued by country won’t work for this.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The End of the Road, In Which I Consider the Price Of Living Vicariously

Adventures in Saddle Seat, Commentary

 

Stepping Stone Farm rider Reagan Upton rode in the Saddle Seat World Cup, July 4-6, Lexington, KY. I went to cheer.

The problem with living vicariously is that, at the end of the day, you are the one in the stands.

The Road to the World Cup is the biggest collaboration I have done in the blog: 12 posts by Reagan, 4 posts by me. Reagan’s text has been easy to edit. A few word changes, some tense adjustments, maybe a follow-up question. The posts are 99% cut and pasted from her emails. She tells a good story. Compare this to the time I edited a PhD whose use of English made my eyes cross.

I enjoyed. I learned. I over-invested.

Living vicariously can be a way to experience parts of the world out of your reach. I’m never going to climb Mount Everest. Reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is as close as I’ll ever get. (And after reading the book, as close as I ever want to get.) Nor am I likely to have someone play the National Anthem at me. Getting excited for someone I know is as close as I’m likely to get.

Living vicariously can be fun. I had the chance to spend five days in Lexington. I hardly need an excuse to go to a town famous for horses and bourbon. While I would not have gone to Lexington if Reagan hadn’t been there, it is also true that I would not have gone to watch the competition if it had been in any other town, certainly not if it had been at a shiny horse show facility in the middle of nowhere. So, part of my reasoning was personal.

Living vicariously is lazy. It is easier to borrow a someone else’s glory than do the work to create one’s own. It’s hollow calories for the soul.

Living vicariously can make one toxic to be around. This was a time for Reagan, for her team, and for her family. It was not about me or how I felt about any of it. I tried not to cross that line. I tried not to insert myself in places that I was not invited. Or at least, not very often.

Living vicariously is expensive in opportunity costs. What else could I have been doing with those five days? With those 16 posts? Would the alternative have been better? Worse? Was this the best use of my time? Did it get me nearer any of my own goals? The world is full of intriguing projects. You can’t do all of them. You have to chose. Love is unlimited; time and attention are not.

Living vicariously is not the same as being supportive. Supportive is when your husband finishes his first CDE and you are happy FOR him. Living vicariously is when your ego becomes tied up in another person’s victory. None of us are 100% selfless; none of us are 100% selfish. We exist on a continuum. I was happy for Reagan; I was proud to be a Stepping Stoner.

To be clear, this was all on me. I felt no pressure – zero – from Stepping Stone Farm. No pressure to donate money. No pressure to go to Lexington. No pressure to be involved in any way. Invited, yes. Included, yes. Pressured, no. I could have given Reagan a lukewarm Atta Girl and never mentioned it again.

This was me jumping in with both feet. Time to jump back out. Time to put on my mental blinkers. Time to focus on the work in front of me. Time to not get distracted by shiny objects. Fortunately, this resolve came at an opportune time. Because

… drumroll …

Milton & I are going/have been to camp! When I wrote this, camp was in the future. Now that the post is published, camp is in the past. Thus the weird time travel of scheduled blog posts. Camp posts start Monday: drill team, trail rides, tours, lectures, even jumping! Stay tuned.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Road Leads to Lexington

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

Stepping Stone Farm rider Reagan Upton rode in the Saddle Seat World Cup, July 4-6, Lexington, KY. I went to cheer.

Lexington street scenes.

Lexington shopping. My traveling companions were kind enough to let me get in touch with my inner shopasaurus.
Old Kentucky Chocolates
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Commotion! Consignment Riding Apparel
Freedman’s Harness
What can I say, I am predictable [OKC: 7 Ways To Dodge Nostalgia, J-B Logistics: Shipping, Lexington, sorta]. Commotion has the added bonus of having great prices on hunter/jumper clothes because most of their clientèle is not interested. I bought two pairs of jodphurs, two pairs of britches, & a pair of gloves. Freedman’s is worth going into for the smell alone. I bought a show belt.

Lexington nature. Raven Run Nature Sanctuary. Let’s go on a walk, she says. It’ll be fun, she says. After an endless slog through a forested sauna, we scenically overlooked the Kentucky river. It was pretty. I’ll grant that.

Lexington hotel. Lyndon House Bed & Breakfast. Lovely house, good food, charming innkeeper. No promo arrangement, just a nice stay. I chose the house specifically because it is around the corner from where I used to stay during Rolex [Kentucky Memories, 7 Ways To Dodge Nostalgia].

Courtesy of VisitLex Big Lex: The Blue Horse, Wallpaper

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Road Leads to the Kentucky Horse Park

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

Stepping Stone Farm rider Reagan Upton rode in the Saddle Seat World Cup, July 4-6, Lexington, KY. I went to cheer.

Spotted and her stunt double watch dressage & hunters. KHP is large enough to hold four completely separate horse shows at the same time.

Stalking #TeamLia. Yellow is a Hafliger thing. Winners get to chose their prize.
Haflinger Adventure: Personalities And Preparation
American Hafliger Registry National Sport Horse Show

Spotted meets a distant relative at the Breeds Barn. Distant relative is not amused. In the Parade of Breeds, all riders had helmets regardless of costume. Yay! Parade photos not included due to being exceedingly average.

Hall of Champions. Go for Gin is ready for his close up. Even the brushes are tidy at KHP.

“The park is comprised of many urban, impervious surfaces such as parking lots, sidewalks, roads, and building roofs…. but it is also visited by 18,000 horses annually and is home to a great many horses … These animals annually produce 30,000 cubic yards of muck, a combination of manure and bedding, which is a water pollutant … By generating this volume of muck on mostly impervious surfaces, protecting water quality at the park becomes a major challenge.” Green KHP

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

My View From The Side Of The Road

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 
Stepping Stone Farm rider Reagan Upton rode in the Saddle Seat World Cup, July 4-6, Lexington, KY. I went to cheer.

I’m tired of watching people compete at the Kentucky Horse Park.

What about me?

First, there was the years of Rolex [Peregrinatio in Stabilitate]. Then, there was WEG 2010. Then, Husband Greg [CAA Carriage Festival 2017]. Now, Reagan.

What about me?

Yeah, yeah, barnshine [Equine Neologism], the wonder of international competition, support your team. All that happy crap.

What about me?

Next time, it’s going to be ME, on MY horse, riding a baby novice round of such style and poetry that we become the standard by which all future baby novice competitors are judged.

It’s all about me.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott