Weekend Voyages, Rodney

I thought he was looking for a place to roll, but he was inhaling all the smells.

Rodney Goes Places!
On days 2 and 4 of our Thanksgiving adventure, Rodney loaded, shipped, and returned home with ears up and four on the floor. Yay!

Milton learned to be the one staying behind. He did not have the run of the pasture, but – as far as we can tell from the lack of horse sweat and the lack of churned up stall – he mostly stood about eating hay and napping. He did not start screaming until we began unloading. He makes more noise when I put him in the stall and take Rodney for a walk around the pasture.

Gold stars all around.

Rodney Is A Twerp!
The first day, I rode Rodney in the covered ring at a walk. Every two or three strides, I had to remind him to keep his eyes in the boat, not staring over the horizon. The second day, we didn’t even get that far. He decided that the horses in the next pasture where is newest bestest forever friends. It took 10 minutes of long-lining to get Rodney to even pay attention.

However.

Rodney was NOT being a special snowflake. Everything he did was typical of a horse excited to visit a new place. All of his attention was outward. Horses! Smells! More Horses! Grass! Other Horses!

He never thought about retreating into himself or about putting his hooves over his ears and going to his happy place. That, in its way, is also progress.

In Other News!
Since I have done a lot of body work with Rodney, I am familiar with his patterns of tightness and relaxation. I could feel how he used the muscles through his waist for balancing on the trailer.

Milton discovered that the only thing worse than going is not going.

It’s great to have a facility we can use so close to home, with such understanding management. OTOH, it does mean loading up each time we want to work a horse. I keep balancing the hassle of building and maintaining our own versus wondering how long we will need the rings before these two can work successfully at home.

‘We didn’t come here to help, We came here to mock.’

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Weekend Voyages, Milton

We used the four days of the Thanksgiving weekend to ship the horses to Stepping Stone Farm, one horse each day. It’s not everyone’s holiday, but it works for us.

Days 1 and 3 were Milton’s turn. On Thursday, we worked on our own with the long lines. On Saturday, Milton had a groundwork lesson with Coach Courtney. I rode a little each day.

A very little.

Between the time off for Nationals and time off for bad weather, Milton and I have backslid. Before Nationals I was riding in the big ring, cantering, and riding at home, although not all at once. Now, all I feel up to is riding him at a walk in the round pen. OTOH, I *wanted* to ride him at a walk in the round pen. There was a time when I was dubious about riding him at all. Once I’m on, I usually squeeze in a bit of trotting. I may have cantered a few steps as well. Still, not my boldest hour.

One of the problems issues features is that I am trying to give my driver more time with his horse. I rather monopolized Milton over the summer. So I ride less often, which is fine, but that means progress is commensurately delayed.

Milton and I are slowly going somewhere, not sure where that is yet, but somewhere.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Boosting The Signal, Book Reviewers Wanted

Want to read a book?

I have no desire to read books for review. I have more than enough to read. Nor do I wish to turn this into a review site. Plenty of other places on the Internet talk about books. However, from time to time, there are books I would like to promote. First up is a book written by a fellow horse blogger, Saddle Seeks Horse: a lifestyle blog for the everyday equestrian.

Horses Adored and Men Endured
Susan Friedland-Smith
Saddle Seeks Horse Press 2018

“When I was 10 I wanted to marry a horse. When I was in my mid-30’s I thought I would have to marry my horse. I had such a heck of a time dating for the duration of my single years. Can you relate a little? Horses Adored and Men Endured explores the age-old question of whether or not horses are God’s apology for men.” Horses Adored and Men Endured My Equestrian Memoir is Now Available!

What I Don’t Want
Negativity. If it’s that bad, we’ll all just move on with our lives.

Reviews that are a summary of the plot. Anyone can get that from the blurb.

Spoilers.

Commentary that boils down to “I liked it.”

What That Leaves
Reactions to the book, with explanation. “I liked it because …”

Personal anecdotes that the book calls up. “The same thing happened to me …”

Similar books a reader might enjoy. Other Service to Reader possibilities.

Pretty much anything that isn’t one of the above. Got an idea for an avant garde approach? Go for it. Astound & amaze me.

Rules & Regulations – or lack thereof
As I said when I talked about guest posts in general [Invitation & Rules], I’m easy on content, style, deadline, etc. Also, no $$.

I supply you with the book. You supply me with the review. Dead tree books open to US residents. Ebooks available to anywhere I can send the file. In this case, the book is available in print & ebook formats.

If this particular book doesn’t send you, but you like the idea in general, LMK. There are bound to be more books.

I’d like two to five readers. I don’t predict a stampede. If so, priority will be given to new contributors. Don’t worry, I will find something for anyone who wishes to create text that I don’t have to type.

Talk to me. Review the books. Entertain me.

Update. Should have included earlier. No inside pool. Bought the books like an ordinary muggle. Unless there was a pingback, the author may not know I am doing this. (I’ll tell her when there is actual content to report.) Why do it? Because everyone deserves a chance to follow their weird.

Thank you for reading … and reviewing,
Katherine Walcott

Rain Games in the Pasture

While I was walking the dog, the horses came over to say hello. Given my resolution to spend more non-riding time with Milton [We Interrupt], I deliberately stopped what I was doing and stood with them for as long as they were interested.

There was yawning …
… we …
… visited …
… Milton decided it was time to play the Face Game…

… this appears to be the equine version of the slap game. They put their noses together, then see who is the first to bite the other …
… Rodney preferred more active pursuits. Kicking …
… rearing. I call this ‘When wild stallions meet.’ …
… and trotting about. Eventually, trotting lead to galloping, which led to running off into the distance.

From time to time, Rodney would trot back over to me. I swear he checking that I was still watching.
‘Didja see me? Didja?’
‘Yes, Rodney, I saw you.’

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Lesson Styles, Go Big or Go Over What You Know

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

There are two philosophical approaches to my saddle seat lessons.

The Upward Trajectory. Ride the fiery steeds. Try new things. Learn from every horse. Get outside of my comfort zone. Well, a little bit. This is me. I’m not suddenly going to develop four-star nerve.

The Comfortable Shoe. Ride a sensible, familiar lesson horse. Remember what it is like to walk, trot, and canter without drama. Remind myself that I know how to ride. Work on refining the details. Have fun. I spend enough time wearing out my big girl panties dealing with the home team.

These are not mutually exclusive. Riding Sam is the latter. Learning to drive is the former.

Yesterday’s choice was a deep theory lesson on Sam. That’s when Coach Courtney and I talk about the mechanics of riding a lot and Sam stands a lot. He likes those.

Sam grazes afterwards. Once again, I got caught up in the ride and I forgot to take a mounted photo.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott