New Equipment: Carriage

A new-to-us Glinkowski Marathon Carriage

Carriage in winning action with Jewel and Coach Kate

We’ve known this carriage was coming. A while back, Greg and Coach Kate found it on the used market at the same time. Instead of getting into a bidding war, they decided that Coach Kate would buy it and use it for the summer. Then, if we were still interested, we could buy it from her when we were ready for it and her new marathon carriage was ready for her.

On the way up to Indiana [Show Report], we stopped at Whip Hand Farm to load this carriage onto our truck and bring it to the show.

On the way home, Coach Kate texted us. Did we want to just go ahead straight home, and keep carriage with us? Why, yes. Yes, we did.

After four states, three days of horse show, and 90o weather, I think we were more interested in saving the hour of driving over to WHF than in whether or not were were buying a carriage.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Old Grey Mare

Recently, someone asked if my meltdown with saddle seat riding [Sine Die, Pondering] might be related to menopause. I know one reader has had this issue (waves hi), wherein doubt takes over from certainty. A legitimate question. I’m gonna say no.

I’ve always been a weenie about riding. Some days, with some horses, when the planets align, I can gallop my fool head off. After one Academy Driving class with Big [Show Photos], Miss Courtney had to remind me, ‘This is not a chariot race.’ Other days, not so much brio.

I’ve never been much of a hormone storm. Of course, I can get cranky and bitchy and unpleasant, but it tends to be in reaction to what I think rather than what is happening physically. Either I have a low hormone level or am so emotionally repressed that the hormonal response is squashed along with everything else. I’ve always lived too much in my head.

Or I could be deluded. I’ve known more than one person to say, “I am X.”, to which my unspoken response is ‘Really? Seriously? That’s how you see yourself? Yowzah.’

Or I could simply be alone too much. No deep psychological problems; rather a lack of contact with the outside world. (Which is one reason I talk to you every day.) Work at home. Horses at home. Surrounded by neighbors who see the world differently than I do. In absence of external data, my over-active brain feeds on itself.

If there is a problem, I think it is more mid-life crisis than menopause. I’m almost 55. What do I have to show for it? Even if I spot myself the first 20+ years, that’s three decades of adulthood: frantic activity, good times, but no big-ticket milestones. No one thing that I can point to and say, There, that’s what I did with my life so far.

I chose not to raise a family. My career never took off. Ditto my hobby. I don’t have an advanced degree. I have not immersed myself in art or charity. Yes, I have a long, wonderful marriage, but that speaks more to my winning the husband stakes than to my stellar qualifications as a wife. My life has been a string of amazing opportunities. My follow-through has been less impressive.

Yes, I should look forward to the next 20 years (1? 40? Who knows?) instead of looking back over the last 40. When I figure out how to do this, I’ll let you know.

What does this have to do with horses? The realization that you are not the person you though you were. You still feel as you did, but results do not support your inflated opinion of yourself.

And then, of course, the guilt [A Look Inside My Head]. Always the guilt.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Laugh or Cry

What can you do?
Ya gotta laugh or cry.

Greg hopes to compete a horse all season.
He competes a horse all season. [Driving Derby]
I hope to compete a horse all season.
The horse is leased to someone else. [Graduating From Sam]

Greg would like CDE lessons.
Greg takes CDE lessons. [Tennessee Travels]
I consider taking CDE lessons.
The horse is loaned to a handicapped riding program.

Greg wants to ship to a lesson.
He ships to a lesson. [Milton’s First Lesson]
I want to ship to a lesson.
I try and my horse goes lame for six weeks. [Rodney’s Dubious Future as a Dressage Horse]

Greg wants to put a piece of tack on Milton.
He puts a piece of tack on Milton. [Milton Meets Butt Brakes]
I want to put a piece of tack on Milton
Milton tries to run me over. [ibid]

Greg wants to go to an event.
He goes to an event. [Show Report: Indiana CDE 2017]
I want to go to an event.
The universe gives me the side-eye.

What can you do?
Ya gotta laugh or cry.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Tweets: Indiana CDE 2017

Tweet record from the Indiana CDE [Show Report]. 93 tweets, plus replies.

Day 0: Getting Ready
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
5 tweets

Day 1: Travel
Thursday, September 21
22 tweets

Second note to self: navigators/grooms are *not allowed* to walk cones, even if they will be riding on the carriage. It’s a crowd issue. Those not on the carriage don’t need to know. Grooms on the carriage are not supposed to move. They are there as ballast. So, they don’t need to know the course either. Also, drivers must walk the course in show clothes. Rules not strictly enforced below the FEI level. “Only Athletes, Chefs d’Equipe and Trainers are allowed to inspect the course on foot and they must be correctly and smartly dressed.” 973.7.1

Day 2: Dressage & Cones, CT
Friday September 22
23 tweets

… make (ya wonder) …

Day 3: Dressage & Cones, CDE
Saturday, September 23
24 tweets

Day 4: Marathon & Trip Home
Sunday, September 24
19 tweets

The interesting point of all these beer photos is that these are the only 3 beers I will drink this year.

This ended up being a photo essay as much as a tweet storm, maybe because it was our first CDE, making everything all new and shiny and interesting. Although, it is a photo essay of everything else. As soon as the competition got going, I was watching/participating instead of reporting.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Report: Indiana CDE 2017

TLDR: Greg won his first CDE!

Indiana Combined Test & Combined Driving Event
September 22 -24, 2107
Hoosier Horse Park
Edinburgh, Indiana, USA

Greg & Bliss WH in Training Single Horse
Friday
CT Dressage: 1st of 6
CT Cones: ? of 6
CT Overall: 3rd of 6
Saturday
CDE Dressage: 2nd of 8
CDE Cones: 2nd of 8
(leading going into Marathon)
Sunday
CDE Final: 1st of 8
Training Level Champion

Thank you to Kate Bushman of Whip Hand Farm for Bliss. (Yeah, I said it yesterday [Indiana CDE 2017], but I always thank the horse owner here, and it bears repeating.) Kate & Jewel won the CT Training Single Horse, had the only double-clean cones in our division both days, and were 5th in the CDE.

Thanks also to the folks of Indiana Whips and Wheels and all the volunteers for taking a weekend out of their lives so that we could play.

Achievement Unlocked
Greg has done driven dressage. He’s done cones. We’ve done obstacles in derbies. We’ve done a schooling event. This weekend was our first full CDE, with our first full-scale marathon phase. As soon as they let us trot onto the start of phase B of marathon, our weekend was a success. Whatever happened next, we got to do what we had been targeting all year.

View From The Back Seat
That was a lot of work!

The main job of a navigator is to shift weight from side-to-side, thereby keeping the wheels on the ground and making the carriage easier to steer. The level of conversation is up to the individual driver and gator.

Greg wants a constant stream of flight data. He takes it all in, then decides which bits he needs. That meant I talked for 45+ minutes straight (15 min phase A, 10 min walk phase, 21 min Phase B, plus three starts & a vet box). Fortunately, talking comes easily to me. Unfortunately, he wanted the data to be good intel: gate numbers, time to next kilometer marker, where we sat in relation to min/max times. I was looking at my stopwatch, counting gates, doing math on the fly, hanging on, reminding him to shorten his reins before each obstacle, calling out our number, making sure we passed through the start line, remembering the turns so I knew when to shift my weight, looking for the exit, saying thank you to the volunteers as we left the area. Lather, rinse, repeat for 5 obstacles.

We are honors even in remembering the course. Two small moments of uncertainty against me; one big certainty in my favor. (My blog, my scoring system.)

To keep the different levels in sync, our gate numbers 2-5 on phase B were all one physical gate. I knew this. I did not make a note of it on my sheet.

Gate 1. Gate 2. Gate 6. Wait, where did gates 3-5 go? If we miss a gate, we are eliminated. Greg was on top of it.

Fourth obstacle. Go in. Back around for A. Turn left backwards thru E (E didn’t count at our level). Keeping going left. Swing wide around the white pole. C? Wait a minute. Crap. Where was B? If we go through C without B, we will be eliminated. (In truth, those are eventing rules. As long as we corrected before we left the obstacle, we were okay. Circling, crossing your tracks, going out of order are all okay, just time-consuming.) Bottom line, there was no way to “circle the white pole” without going through B. We had to have done B. I had no memory of it. I don’t remember what I said. I can still feel the panic.

After the exit of each obstacle, there is a red sign at 30 meters to mark where any missing navigators/grooms (for teams) need to be back on the cart. Turns out some folks were letting inadvertently dismounted grooms jog to the next obstacle. They’d gotten the faults, might as well save the weight. Now there is a specific rule against this practice. The little red signs also indicate which way to go. Greg hauled out of the last obstacle, heading at warp speed for parts unknown. I whacked him on the shoulder, No, no, red sign thataway.

Where’s The Rest?
Regular readers may note that show reports are usually more comprehensive, particularly for a three-day show that was such a big deal. Reports from Academy Nationals cover several days. This weekend belonged to Greg. It’s not my story to tell. Emotionally disemboweling myself for strangers? No problem. Disemboweling others? Not so much.

Short version: he’s gonna wanna do this again.

 

Update – ICDE Posts
[Indiana CDE 2017]
[Show Tweets: Indiana CDE 2017]
[Foto Friday: One Day at a Horse Show]
[Letter Art: Indiana CDE 2017]
[Show Photo: ICDE 2017]
[Show Photos] pending

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott