A former client of Stepping Stone Farm dropped by for a visit. We compared pasts.
She: Riding a big-moving gaited horse Saddlebred is more fun than jumping. Didn’t I agree?
Me, standing there, blinking: I understand what each individual word means but the sentence … it … I can’t … what?
Inconceivable.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Update. My bad. Although Saddlebreds are three- or five-gaited, they are not “gaited” horses. That refers to non-trotting breeds. Too caught up in my own joke to edit correctly. I crack myself up.
Riding Milton is on hold while he is learning to drive.
Getting used to pulling appears to be the big step in teaching a driving horse. Once we have that, we will get back to the riding question.
One can never know the counterfactuals. Doing both at the same time would probably be okay. Probably. This way, if he declines to drive, it won’t be because he was confused by conflicting demands.
We’re talking several weeks, or a few months at most. We’ve waited this long.
We did not have a dressage lesson in July. Sniffle.
Mr. E. has made it clear that he wants to see Rodney in a better ring. He has a point. Our riding space is small and often slippy.
What is not clear is how we will haul Rodney to another barn. When we took him to Stepping Stone for proof of concept [Recap], he had trouble wedging his enormous self into the standard space in our slantload. We knew it would not work for long rides, say to the AEC, but we thought it would be okay to go around the corner.
Not so much.
Over was fine, once we got him stuffed in. When we got home, he was covered with sweat and had torn the side matting. The theory is that he didn’t have enough space to brace himself.
Second try. We removed the partition to give him more room. Essentially turned the space into a stock trailer. I’ve shipped dozens of horses in stock trailers. They usually prefer it to regular trailers.
Rodney, not so much.
First, he was reluctant to load. A sign of having had a bad ride previously. Once we got him on and secured, something happened. We don’t know what. He freaked, broke loose, and crashed into the butt bar. He blew up his ankle and sprained his ass.
We probably need a Warmblood-sized trailer. I don’t want to buy a trailer for a pasture ornament. He can’t become more than a pasture ornament until we have a trailer to take him places.
Not what you might think. I’ve owned the book since before my Milton was born. Because of the jumper Milton, I was concerned about keeping the name for a Canadian racehorse also named Milton. I was told not to worry. Only the old farts would remember.
Newsum on Rodney’s Saga Great Grays Posted 6 months before my Milton arrived.
~~~ This Year
HE COMPETED AT KENTUCKY HORSE PARK BEFORE I DID?!?!
In planning for the CAA Carriage Festival, there was one question on everyone’s mind. How would I handle it? In the end, the weekend didn’t turn out so bad. [Show Report, Show Photos]
Looking Back I wasn’t nostalgic because … I already held the pity party.
“The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home.” Where I stayed. New owners. Still gorgeous.
For over a decade, I would spend the week of the then-Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event running around the Kentucky Horse Park. I’ve mentioned it once or twice [Peregrinatio in Stabilitate 2012]. When I left WEG on the last day, I made a point of stopping and looking back at the arena, knowing it would be a while before I came back. It was seven years. [Kentucky Memories 2013]
I wasn’t nostalgic because … everything looked different.
I’ve seen Iron Works Pike often, but never from this angle.
The CAA Festival was in the Alltech arena, which was built for WEG in 2010. It stands off to the side behind the maintenance area. So we were on a completely different patch of turf. The trailers were parked in a section of KHP that I didn’t even know existed.
We did not go near the big arena all weekend. I only saw it in the distance. We were specifically told NOT to take the carriages down Nina Bonnie Boulevard, so that we didn’t spook the exhibitors at the Arabian show and they didn’t spook us. When I walked up to see the show, I went through the barns, something I could never do when they were fenced off as FEI stabling. Instead of a trade fair, the covered arena held classes that looked a lot like an ASB show.
Even cross-country looked different. Obviously, the white ropes and flowers were not there. Seeing unbarricaded, naked jumps was odd. Plus the jumps themselves have changed. Now it’s all portables, skinnies, and angled lines. Difficult, but not the heart-stopping impossibility of a broken bridge.
DeSha’s corner is to the left. I refuse to take a picture of the global brand that now occupies the space.
OTOH, we discovered North Lime Coffee & Donuts which produced a pastry product that tested my loyalty to Dunkin’ Donuts. We would have gone back every day had their hours been more horse show friendly.
Looking Around I wasn’t nostalgic because … I was busy.
No princessing permitted [Reign of the Swan Princess, Show Report]. If something needed to be done to the horses, one of the four of us had to do it. I loved it. IRL, I’m horrible barn help. I do good work but I’m too slow to be a professional. However, for the handful of days at a show, I am an awesome groom: perky, organized, obsessive. Everything one would want in a minion.
Sunday morning during our doughnut run, I texted Coach Courtney.
Sunday afternoon, she texted back.
Photo by Courtney Huguley
Missed ’em by that much.
Looking Forward I wasn’t nostalgic because … the carriages will be back.
Will we go to CAA next year? Depends what horse Greg is driving. On one hand, it’s hunterland in a cart. On the other hand, we do not suffer an overabundance of driving competition opportunities. Plus, half of the classes were speed classes, even if one does have to do them in fancy dress.
I wasn’t nostalgic because … the Saddlebreds will be back.
In 2018, the Junior League show is moving to KHP, in the big arena no less. I’ve read what they said publicly in the Special Junior League of Lexington Announcement. Since it is the horse world, I have to imagine an element of drama accompanied that decision. One reason given was the all-weather footing. Remember, show Saddlebreds do not consider themselves to be all-terrain vehicles.
Memories of #thelastmile, Red Mile 2017. Photos by Courtney Huguley
I wonder if I could start a movement for an Adult Leadline class.
I wasn’t nostalgic because … I’ll be back.
Would I forego an event in Georgia that was closer to me or drive right past a hunter/jumper show in Tennessee just to compete at the Kentucky Horse Park? Absolutely.
Rolex in Rodney’s Saga over the years [list of posts].
Horse
Milton is doing so well with the latest step in our NQR random walk [Sand Colic?], that we have been talking about getting him off his special snowflake food [Feed Adventures, Part 1 of 2] and weaning him from naps [Naptime, Update]. Eventually. Someday. Maybe.
That day has arrived, sooner than we thought, at least for naps.
The trip to Lexington was a long weekend. I took the opportunity to air out the stall and do repair work. By the time the stall was ready for use, Milton had missed almost a week of naps.
Well, we decided to go with it and see what happens. So far, so good. Milton now eats all meals al fresco. No naps. We have not noticed any backsliding. Reminds me of the time when the price change forced us to stop Rodney’s meds cold turkey [Zeno’s Horse Training]. Let’s hope it has the same good effect.
We are not messing with the feed, until/if/when Milton is confirmed with driving. It’s going well enough at the moment [Hitched!] that we don’t want to make any changes that might affect his attitude.
The biggest loser in this appears to be Rodney. We think he enjoyed his Milton-free quiet time.
Driver
Greg is fired up. We came home Sunday. On Tuesday, we were at Stepping Stone to use the covered ring while the barn was quiet for the 4th holiday. (We don’t really do holidays [Feed Adventures, Part 2 of 2].) Four days later, we were back for a lesson.
The same thing used to happen to me when I’d spend the week at Rolex. Unfortunately for me, my then horse was not amused. [Aftermath].
Navigator
Over the course of the CAA Festival, the four of us hitched two horses ten times in four days. On at least one occasion, Greg and I were on our own while Coach Kate was busy with her horse. I remain aware of the safety issues, but am feeling more and more confident of our ability to git ‘er done.
I know that our multi-discipline house is not a zero-sum game. Greg’s success is not my failure. I am truly happy for him. Just ask anyone who heard me yelling when he won the reinsmanship class. Still, it is hard to go from seeing him do so well back to battling the beigeness that is my life [Recap: jumping]. I’ve only ridden handful of times in June & July, I’m still grumpy about Rodney’s future as jumping horse, and my confidence in myself is eroding once again as a result, with a generous topping of guilt for feeling overwhelmed by these non-existent “problems”.
None of this negates what I said on Monday [Mind/Body Solutions] or Wednesday [Getting a Grip, or Not]. I can feel better and worse at the same time. I can plan for progress and hopelessly decide it will never come to pass.
Virtual Brush Box 