State of the Blog: Pondering Twitter

TLDR
Q: Is Twitter a distraction?
A: Yes, but that’s ok.
~~~

Tweet post from most recent horse show.

A while back, a friend promised to take pictures from an event. On the way down, she (safely) texted a few ideas. We went back and forth about what would be suitable. Once she arrived, she sent a few test shots. I said great, but stop thinking about the project. Be in the moment. We’ll talk after.

Should I take my own advice?

When I Tweet from a horse show, part of me is not fully present. Instead of absorbing the sights and sounds and smells, I am analyzing my environment to through the lens of what would make a good Tweet.

It’s mild enough. My Tweet stream idles in the background. When I have a strong thought, or see a cute image, I think, ‘Hey, I’ll Tweet that.’ Unlike photography, I can Tweet and go about my day. I find when I am taking pictures, I am not looking at what is happening in front of me [Lesson Success, Photo Fail 2017].

Plus, I’m Tweeting for my own entertainment. If I miss an opportunity, oh well. If I stop Tweeting for half a day, mox nix. If I were Tweeting for a client (I assume people do this?), I would be more focused on Tweetability at the expense of the experience.

So far, I have tweeted from saddle seat shows and from Greg’s shows with Coach Kate’s horse. In both cases, there is a lot of down time when I am not riding nor in charge of horses. I’m probably missing out on some of the moment, but not enough to make a huge difference. I suspect this will change dramatically when (if) I am showing with my own horse.

Which brings on the bigger question, is blogging itself a distraction? Same answer.

I tried doing without [I’m Baaaaaack 2013]. Didn’t go so well. My situation is similar enough today that if I were to stop blogging I would expect the same result, i.e. “wallow in dark rooms, binge-eating cookie dough.” [Energy Usage 2014].

OTOH, there have been one or two moments lately, as we have been running from pillar to post, that I could see being too busy to blog. Yes, there is sad busy. I don’t know if I would post or not. I might not be able to talk about it. I might find talking a release. I hope I never find out. But I digress.

There is also happy busy. If I had a full, satisfying life in the real world, would I live in the digital world quite so much? Possibly not. This one would be nice to find out.

For now, I blog.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

[List of previous SotB posts]

Show Tweets: Nashoba Carriage Classic 2017

Tweet record from the Nashoba Carriage Classic [Show Report]. 48 tweets, plus replies.

Getting Ready
4 tweets

I crack myself up.

Day 1: Driving (car) & Driving (horse) Derby
Friday, October 20, 2017
19 tweets

It asked if I wanted to translate the Tweet from Hindi.
“Translated from Hindi by Bing
Could not translate Tweet”

This one it wanted to translate from Spanish.

Day 2: Pleasure Show
Saturday, October 21, 2017
15 tweets

Also won in 2013. Honorable mention in 2017.

He’s more about the performance. So he claims.

Day 3: Volunteering & Going Home
Sunday, October 22, 2017
10 tweets

Apologies. Didn’t see this reply until compiling. Bad Tweeter.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Report: Nashoba Carriage Classic 2017

Nashoba Carriage Classic (Facebook)
October 20-22, 2017
Germantown Charity Horse Show Showgrounds
Germantown, TN USA

Friday: Bliss, Greg & Katherine
Driving Derby, Intermediate Single Horse – 1st of 1
(Jewel & Kate, 1/1 in Preliminary)

Saturday: Bliss & Greg
Turnout – 2nd of 2
Timed Obstacles – 2nd of 2 (by 2 seconds!)
Working – 1st of 2
Reinsmanship – 2nd of 2
Single Horse Division – Reserve Champion

Gambler’s Choice – 1st of 2

Thanks to Kate Bushman for the beautiful Bliss WH and to the Nashoba Carriage Association (Facebook) for putting on the show.

Turned out that Kate and Greg were the only non-draft horses to turn up, thus making a division of two. They swapped ribbons depending on the class requirements. The fancy carriage (Kate) won the turnout class, the experienced horse (Bliss) won the working class, and so on.

Greg was a better, happier driver in the objective, jumper-style classes that featured cones and a stopwatch, than in the subjective, hunter-style classes that relied on the opinion of the judge. Color me surprised.

We will probably continue to show at pleasure shows. Opportunities to drive are limited. You take what you can get. Annoyingly, neither of the carts we have are suitable/allowed in pleasure shows. Greg will need a presentation carriage. Yes, we may be shopping for a third vehicle. How did that happen?

View From The Back Seat
In the Friday night derby, Greg entered the Intermediate level. Training goes through gates A-B-C; Prelim, A-B-C-D; Intermediate, A-B-C-D-E. Since it will be a while before he goes Intermediate for real, it was fun practicing five-gate obstacles.

I rode on the carriage for the derby class. For the Saturday classes, I stood on the sidelines & waved my pom-poms. There were Sunday classes but the horses left early as their chauffeur had to catch a flight.

2017 Season
Thus ends our CDE competition year.
AWWCC Driving Derby 2017
Middle Tennessee Carriage Club Horse Driving Trial 2017
CAA Carriage Festival 2017
MTCC Driving Derby 2017
Indiana CDE 2017
Nashoba Carriage Classic

It was awesome! Onwards to 2018!

Update
Show Tweets: Nashoba Carriage Classic 2017
Foto Friday: Hoofprints on the Road

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Tertium Quid

Third horse, yes or no?

Pros
Next Generation – Even if both horses pull their socks up tomorrow, Rodney is entering senior territory, and at best I will be sharing Milton. Time to have one in the wings.

Resources – Sufficient pasture, time, money. Thankful for these.

Third Time’s the Charm – Maybe I’ll get it right this time.

Cons
Numbers Game – A third horse would be exponentially more hassle than two. As it is now, we can each grab a horse to do whatever is needful. Three horses becomes herd management. Not impossible. People manage herds all the time. Definitely different.

Search Party – I wouldn’t know where to begin looking. The good ones sell by word of mouth before they have time to hit the classifieds. Local hunter/jumper/dressage/eventing trainers are too busy with their own clients to be interested in helping a stranger of unknown seriousness and unproven pocketbook. Jumping/all-purpose Saddlebreds exist but it would be a matter of stumbling upon one. Having utterly failed to turn Milton into an eventing star, I sense that Fairy Godmother is not an option this time.

Rider Error – Given the scrambled state of my psyche, I can’t envision a suitable horse outside of a holodeck. In a related matter, given my increased reluctance to ride new horses, I have no idea how I would try out a possible addition.

Bottom Line
So, I’m not so much horse shopping as letting the universe know that I am open to a unicorn trotting up my driveway. We’ll see how that goes.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

What I Love About The Horse World

We all have horse world horror stories that cause us to roll our eyes, gnash our teeth, and doubt human nature. Other times, it can be a great place.

Saddlebreds show with freakishly long tails. In between shows, the tails are braided and tied up to preserve as many tail hairs as possible. In the ring, the tails are combed out to float gloriously in the breeze. In between classes, tails are fastened up temporarily with hair bobbles.

At the show, I took Dottie for a walk. We were far away from our home stalls when I realized her tail had fallen out of the bobble. I detangled bobble from tail. I had trouble rebobbling, as it required two hands on the tail and one hand on the leadrope.

I walked up to the nearest trainer-shaped object, held out the green-plastic bobble and said, “Can you do these?” She said sure, introduced herself, and attended to Dottie’s tail. We chatted a bit about the horse she had in cross-ties. Dottie was done. We resumed our walk.

Where else can you ask a complete stranger for help with the assumption that you will get it, happily and with competence?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Letter Art, AlphaBooks: V is for von Tempski

Born In Paradise
Armine von Tempski
Duell, Sloan and Pearce 1940, Ox Bow 1985

Not one of her horse stories, but has horses in it. At least as far as I got. My reading has not kept up with the alphabet. Seems amusing if dated. “One of the favorite books of old Hawaii, … Von Tempski vividly depicts the lavish and wild pattern of island life in the early years of the twentieth century.” Hawaii for Visitors: The Complete Works of Armine von Tempski

Bought from Better World Books via abebooks.com, recommended by Robin Bledsoe, Bookseller.

V or T?
Googling said T (sites lost to time). Copyright page says V. I needed a V, not a T. V it is.

~~~
This Year

[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