Caveat: I found the letters as “free printables” on various Pinterest boards. Pins point back to fotki.yandex.ru. I can’t find the letters on the site, nor understand what it is saying. If I find out that I have contravened the designer’s intent, post will be removed immediately.
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.
Painted hoofprints on the road outside of the Germantown Charity Horse Show showgrounds. Did these prevent us from missing the turn on Sunday morning after two days of driving to the showgrounds? I’m not saying.
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.
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.
Virtual Brush Box 