State of the Blog: A Sea of Statistics

An unexciting post put up for reference. Now I won’t have to look up/recreate these links or numbers. Scroll down for top ten. [Previous State of The Blog links]

2011
First post, December 22 [We begin. Again.]
Last post, December 31 [Fear! Fire! Foes! Nevermind.]
10 posts in 2011

2012
First post, Jan 1 [Gentlemen …]
#100 March 30 [Foto Friday: Exercises], noted the next day [Blogging Influences]
Missed Posts:
posted Dec 21 [Foto Friday: Goodbye & Hello] #366
skipped 7 days, included blog anniversary, 1 year
posted Dec 29 [Spotted in Boston]
Extra posts 0
Last post [End of the Month Commentary – By the Numbers]
359 posts in 2012 (=366+0-7), Total 369

2013
First post, Jan 1 [Not So New Resolution]
#500 [Other People’s Horses], noted earlier [The Nature of Milestones: Nearing 500]
Missed Posts:
posted Aug 21 [Hiatus]
skipped 4 days
posted Aug 26 [Breaking Radio Silence]
skipped 2 days
posted Aug 29 [More 15 Minutes]
skipped 12 days
posted September 11 [I’m Baaaaaack … With Camera]
Extra posts 0
Blog anniversary, Dec 22, 2 years [Text Art: Holiday Stickers]
[2013 In Review] posted in 2014
Last post, Dec 31 [On the Seventh Day of Christmas: 7 Mags a-Payin’]
347 posts in 2013 (=365+0-18), Total 716

2014
First post, Jan 1 [On the Eighth Day of Christmas: 8 Fences Jumping]
Missed Posts:
posted Aug 21 [Delay of Game]
skipped 3 days
posted Aug 25 [Meet Milton]
#1000, Oct 14 [I Made It!]
Extra post – 1 (so says calculations, need to find the post)
Blog anniversary, Dec 22, 3 years [Penguin Farm]
Looks like I skipped a recap for 2014
Last post, Dec 31 [On the 7th Day of Christmas: Seven Horses Showing]
363 posts in 2014 (=365+1-3), Total 1079

2015
First post, Jan 1 [On the 8th Day of Christmas: Eight Resolutions]
Blog anniversary, Dec 22, 4 years [Doctor Hooves Meets Manehattan]
Last post, Dec 31 [Looking Back at 2015]
Extra posts 0
365 posts in 2015 (=365+-0), Total 1444

2016
First post, Jan 1 [Hello 2016!]
#1600 [10 Reasons To Wear A Helmet], noted elsewhere probably b/c I was updating around then [About] About redone since then.
#1700 [Meanwhile Back at the Ranch, Sept 2016]
Extra posts 0
Blog anniversary, Dec 22, 5 years [Five Years Ago Today]
Last post, Dec 31 [Looking Back, State of the Blog 2016] #1810
366 posts in 2016 (=366+-0), Total 1810

2017
First post, Jan 1 [Letter Art: AlphaBooks 2017]
#2000, July 9, 2017 [Letter Art: MM]
Extra posts Aug 18 [Foto Friday: Delay], WordPress says another one on 3/12/17!? Could be, but I don’t usually remove extras.
#2126 [10 Tips To Help You #bloglikecrazy]
Blog anniversary, Dec 22, 6 years [Foto Friday: The Night The Animals Talked]. I get caught up in Christmas & forget about the anniversary.
Last post, Dec 31, scheduled [Letter Art: Changing the Year]
367 posts in 2017 (=365+2), Total 2177

Update 2018
First Post [Goals 2018. Not.]
Break March 16 [Getting Off the Struggle Bus], Total 2252
Interim April 30 [I am not back. This is not a post.]
Return May 26 [Bright-Eyed, Bushy-Tailed, & Back to Blogging]
#2331 [Equines of Edinburgh, Guest Post]
#2400 [So It Continues, Show Photos, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, October 2018]

Top Ten 2017 Posts
[Why I Ride by Rachel Wamble]
[Insights to Sight – Horses See Differently than Us, Guest Post]
[Show Report: NACHS 2017, Riding]
[Starting Points]
[I’d Like Your Advice on Some Horse Buying Advice]
[Show Report: AWWCC Driving Derby 2017]
[Saddle Seat Versus Dressage, In A Nutshell]
[Rodney’s Dressage Lesson]
[And We’re Back]
[Pondering the Hiatus]

If I count Top Ten 2017 Posts written in all years, [Fever Rings] 2013 comes in 3rd. I have no explanation for this.

Top Ten Posts
[Watching The Tevis] 2013
[Why I Ride by Rachel Wamble] 2017
[Fotography Friday: Texture] 2012
[Why I Ride by Katie Wood] 2015
[Fever Rings] 2013
[Help Me Name My Horse, Prize Offered] 2012
[Show Report: Mid-South Spring Premiere, Rainsville, AL] 2013
[What Happens at a Model Horse Show?] 2015
[Foto Friday: A Short Tribute to Amy Tryon] 2012
[The Naked Challenge] 2015

Top Ten stats are one year from yesterday. I don’t foresee great changes in the last 48 hours of 2017.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Foto Friday: Top Seven of 2017

The rest of the week is photos for content. This is photos for art. [About]

[Caeruleus Descending]

[Wheeler Wildlife]

[Warm Up Pro-Am 2017]

[Spotted at Oak Mountain State Park]

[One Day at a Horse Show]

Sunrise Tree

The Night The Animals Talked

By The Numbers – 52 Fridays
26 Photo posts
6 Show Photos
2 Guest Posts [Stella & Where in the World is Spotted?]

12 Instagram recaps
6 Text & otherwise non-photo posts

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Looking Back 2017, Combined Driving

Driving Thursday

Yowza!

Milton went from proof of concept [Milton’s Practice Cart] to pulling his own marathon carriage [Show Report Driving & Lessons, Milton’s First Carriage Drive].

Greg drove (& won!) his first CDE [Show Report].

I should have more to say, but I’m gobsmacked. Driving this year has been everything we could have hoped for. You don’t often get to say that about horses.

Huge thanks to Coach Courtney & Coach Kate.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Looking Back 2017, Saddle Seat

Saddle Seat Wednesday

What a weird year. I had horrid rides. I had great rides. I flaked out and didn’t ride at all. And yet, at the end of the day, I finished up in the same place as always: some blues, some reds, solidified my hold on second at Nationals. I haven’t heard the year-end results for the ASHAA, but – given the faces in the crowd – I suspect I ended up the same place there as well. I’m not sure what lesson the universe is trying to teach here.

Fortunately, my bad rides did not drag down my good rides. Unfortunately, my good rides did not elevate my bad rides. Sam & Dottie? Lovely. Everyone else? Not so much.

By the Numbers
Riding, 10 shows: 5 big, 5 little. Robert (Winter Tournament 2&3), Desi (ProAm), Snippy (Dixie Cup), Sam (MidSouth), Dottie (Alabama Charity, SSF, NACHS), Whiskey (Winter Tournament 1&2)

Driving, 7 shows: 3 big, 4 little. Alvin (Winter Tournament 3&1), Snippy (ProAm, MidSouth, Alabama Charity, NACHS), Whiskey (Winter Tournament 2)

Greg did one ASB driving show. After that, the pleasure shows with Bliss were enough fancy driving for him.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Looking Back 2017, Home Team

Rodney
What can I say that I haven’t said over and over and over? [Looking Back, Rodney 2016]

I worry that I am not the right human for him. I make him nervous; he makes me nuts. The energy that drives me to find solutions to his problems can be overwhelming to encounter. (See, “Squinching around the eyes” in [The Upside Of Negativity]) The sensitivity that helps me feel this problems renders me overly affected by setbacks. There is a good and bad side to everything.

Milton
Got the truck [Looking Forward, Milton]. Yay.
Milton is going places. Yay.
Milton is not going places with me.
Perhaps I should have been more specific.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott