Virtual Brush Box

My problem is one of certainty rather than confidence. I can be plenty ~~arrogant~~ confident when I feel that I know what I am doing. There were moments waiting for my classes on Sunday morning at Nationals when I was not totally a hot mess [Show Report]. The problem comes when I am not sure. If I am not 100% certain, then I must be completely lost, no?

I am an either/or person. (IRL friends are rolling their eyes so hard right now.) It is no accident that my eventing colors were black & white [Best Laid Plans]. I’m not good with gray areas. Never have been.

Unfortunately, for me there will always be an element of uncertainty with saddle seat. When a ride goes sour, my instinct is to sit in the center of the saddle and put my leg on. This is not what ASBs are trained to expect. Therefore, I either get ignored or make a deteriorating situation worse.

OTOH, some people do become fluent in a second language [Nice Horses and Lesson Programs, ex-pat theory].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

#bloglikecrazy

Holiday: Rodney in Residence

What did Rodney do while Milton was gadding about the countryside [Milton on the Move]? He ate hay.

This is huge.

It’s huge because Rodney ate hay in the pasture, not in the stall. Until last weekend, we had been putting Rodney up while Milton was away. We didn’t want Rodney to spend the entire time galloping the fenceline screaming for his missing roommate.

After successive approximations and closely monitoring Rodney’s behavior, we took a deep breath and left Rodney out when we drove off with Milton. Rodney’s response? ‘Via con Dios. Don’t let the gate hit your butt on the way out.’ This means that when Milton goes to a multi-day show, we don’t have to bring Rodney (problematic) or keep him in a stall for days on end (un-ideal).

Rodney going to a show? Don’t wanna talk about it. Wanna bask in the victories we have.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

#bloglikecrazy

Holiday: Milton on the Move

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend trailering back and forth to Stepping Stone Farm to school Milton with the carriage. After Greg’s lesson, Coach Courtney was kind enough to let us park the carriage and use the ring while most people were vacationing, eating turkey, watching football, etc. Four days, four trips to the barn.

On T-day itself, we took so long making the adjustments to the carriage that our Thanksgiving meal occurred on Friday. One day, Milton was so good that we were stunned at what a nice horse we had. Another day, not so much good. It was later than usual and Milton took exception to the shadows at one end of the ring (my theory). Here are Greg’s texts to Coach Kate.

Day with Milton all planned. Then he spooks at something only he could see coming out of the the corner. 15 minutes later we changed direction. Oh no, something in the corner from the other direction! 15 more minutes circling in 2nd direction. 5 minutes for cone exercise and done for day. Oh well, the joys of green tb’s.

The first 4 times through the corner, he was spooking. The next 15 times was, ‘I bet you can’t make me go through the corner!’ and he was right. The next 10 times, he wasn’t quite as right.

Lather rinse and repeat other direction.

But, even when Milton was bad, he was bad as a driving horse. There was no why-are-we-doing-this-with-this-horse moments. It’s not how everyone would spend their holiday, but it works for us.

Did I swan about muttering that the original plan was for ME to be coming to SSF to school MY horse? Never. Well, hardly ever.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

#bloglikecrazy

Letter Art, AlphaBooks: Z is for Zecora

My Little Pony: Welcome to the Everfree Forest
Olivia London
Little Brown 2014

Zis iz a cheat, but Z leavez me with no choize. Bought from BuySomeBooks via abe.com.

MLP:FIM on RS
Macho Dresses Up As Dr. Whooves
Milton Meets My Little Pony, Guest Post
Why I Am Pinkie Pie
Labels: A Gender Rant
A Plea for Hobby Tolerance
Feliz Cinco de Mayo
~~~
This Year

[Y is for Young]
[X is for Xenophon]
[W is for Wodehouse]
[V is for von Tempski]
[U is for USDA]
[T is for Tewson]
[S is for Severin]
[R is for Rubin]
[Q is for Queen]
[P is for Pace]
[O is for O’Connor]
[N is for Newsum]
[M is for McKinley]
[L is for Lewis]
[K is for Krementz]
[J is for Journal]
[I is for Ipcar]
[H is for Hatch]
[G is for Gray]
[F is for Francis]
[E is for Endicott]
[D is for Doty]
[C is for Cooper]
[B is for Brown]
[A is for Anderson]

Past Years
[2016 Alphabet] [2015 Alphabet]

Project explanation [AlphaBooks 2017]. Open to recommendations for the remaining letters. Which books would you choose?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

#bloglikecrazy

State of the Blog: Narrative Arc

… or lack thereof.

I’m back in the headspace where I wonder why blog about a horse going nowhere. If had named my blog General Horsing Around, then I could write with impunity on any horse-hair covered topic. But, no, I had to be specific. A saga implies a narrative arc. Rodney’s story is a narrative flatline.

I won’t quit blogging [Hiatus]. I learned my lesson [I’m Baaaaaack … With Camera].

I need to put narrative to work for me [The Power of Narrative]. Finding a workable story for Dottie made a huge difference in the way I related to her [A Change in Attitude]. I need a new narrative for Rodney. Heartbreaking lawn ornament is accurate, but not helpful.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

[List of previous SotB posts]
#bloglikecrazy