Horses & Other Interests
The plan is to use the contained spaces of Stepping Stone Farm, pictured here, for progress in both riding and driving. So far, so good. Last weekend, Milton shipped over, worked well, and stood quietly while being rewrapped. He seemed to enjoy his adventure.
Onwards!
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Last week, Rodney was proud of himself for mastering an exercise [By George]. That’s the goal for all of his work. Remember the high school science demo that used air pressure to cavitate a can, UW-M Wonders of Physics: Collapsing Can? That’s how Rodney’s mind works.
Overwhelming External Pressure
When the world is too much, Rodney collapses mentally. Since he’s 1400 pounds and has feet, he runs off. Inside, he’s a heap of crumpled aluminum. [Aftermath of an Explosion, walking up hill 2011; Weekend Report, trotting in-hand 2013; Walking Along, leather halter 2016; and so on and so on]
No Pressure
No threat. No collapse. Nothing to prevent the above from repeating. This is where he is with dressage. Good but not great.
Internal Support
Not just doing, but doing with volume and projection. Throwing energy outward. I want Rodney to know he can, to feel sassy. He needs to be ready when the inevitable happens: an exciting environment, or a spooky jump, or an amateur moment on the part of his rider. I want him to have sufficient internal conviction to handle external pressure. I want him to be able to say …
Life
… ‘I got this.’
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
What is failure? Who decides?
Two-thirds of the way through, I am declaring failure of my SketchBox foray. While there could be a sudden reversal with the last two boxes, at this point I’m not holding my breath.
The original impetus for my six-month subscription was a thank you to a friend (waves Hi!). I signed myself up as well to give us an activity that we could enjoy together while separated geographically. It would, in some ineffable way, make me more artistic. I used the Sunday lettering posts as an excuse [P&P].
It started well.
Then I began to struggle. I never got this where I wanted, but at least I achieved content.
For April, I never even got that far [Wallpapering, no photos of box or attempts].
This month’s box arrived.
Watercolor didn’t sound too bad. I’d already done one. Determined to succeed, I bought extra paper and a watercolor book with inviting and clever exercises.
I have touched none of this in weeks. I make plans. I castigate myself. I make promises. I shift the pile back and forth.
Who am I kidding? One doesn’t become artistic by osmosis any more than one learns history by falling asleep on one’s textbooks.
I don’t have to. I apparently don’t “want” to [Definitions]. Why am I making myself crazy?
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
@RodneysSaga – active briefly, inactive once again.
@RodneySagaBlog – active, for now. Post alerts, except for weekends [Weekends Off].
Aside from a set of horse show tweets [Nationals], I had not Twittered since January of 2016. Then came Rolex 2017. I followed anyone who was posting on websites, Facebook, or Instagram. I even resurrected my Twitter account. 7 Rolex tweets, listed below.
What to do now that I was back in the Twitterverse? Eureka! I will post biweekly equine bon mots … and I will use the hashtag #horsewords …. and it will catch on …. and I’ll create a whole Internet movement … and I’ll gather the best ones into a book and …
Pfffffffttt.
I came up with 2 since the end of April.
You’d think I could do words. I do words here. I can post. I post Instagram. Ah-ha. cute cat photo op.
Snap. Post. Done. Does Twitter work this way for me? Alas no. Twitter continues to elude me. Dunno why.
Any advice to improve my appreciation of Twitter?
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Previous state of the blog [posts].
Tweet Storage for April and May 2017
12 tweets & retweets
https://twitter.com/Rubiks_Cube_74/status/857683492389441537
I retweeted her retweet of
https://twitter.com/InspowerMinds/status/857683313691168769
Previous Tweet Storage
Show, October 2016 [Show Tweets, NACHS 2016]
Kitten addendum [SSF Kitten Tweets]
End [Tweet Storage as of April 2016]
No photos, more photo discussion [last week, Distance Problems].
A while back [Self-Improvement], I resolved to have more visuals. What should I do if I didn’t take a photo at the time? For example, yesterday’s post could’ve used a picture of Mr. Whizbang [Driving].
Reenaact
If it’s at home, I can recreate the event [Bratitude]. Even if it doesn’t come out quite right [By George], I still get something. If it was a show, travelling, or even at SSF, this is not an option.
Plan Ahead
Part of the problem is that, generally, I don’t know I will be talking about a specific saddle seat lesson until after. I could take one each time on the off chance. This would get annoying for me, for the horse, and for Ms. Courtney. I know I will be talking about Rodney’s lessons, but I am not in a headspace to cope with photos before dressage. Plus, photos before lessons would be a distraction at a time when I should be thinking about riding rather than writing.
Reuse
Reusing old photos feels like cheating, unless I am making a specific point about the year before [Show Report: Security Blanket], or it’s a pretty picture and I really want to [Greg and the Ladies]. For yesterday, I could have used the between-the-shafts picture from an earlier driving lesson.
It’s cute enough to bear repeating at least once. OTOH, you and I are both gonna get tired of the same pics over and over.
Draw
Thoughtful Equestrian uses illustrations, Nekkid, that I assume are hers. I’ve used lettering [Self] and signs [It Takes A Village]. Art is not my forte.
If you blog, how do you get your visuals?
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Mr Whizbang and I are not as good as Alvin and I were last year. Alvin’s not only a great horse, he’s an easy-going one. He’ll reward you for being close enough. Mr. Whizbang, not so much. I have the feeling that there is a very specific way that Mr. Whizbang wants to be driven. Only, he’s not going to tell me what it is. It’s on me to find out.
In our most recent lesson, we had a few steps of stellar, dirt-flinging extended trot. When I asked in – what felt to me – exactly same way, he cantered. Repeatedly.
Corners are similar. If I let him go, he canters. If I support as I did with Big, he slows down and we have to recreate the extended trot for each long side. Somewhere in there is the right amount of whoa and go. We had it for one turn around the bottom of the ring.
Mr. Whizbang is not being mean. If I get it right, he’s happy to cooperate. If I don’t get it right, meh. He sees no reason to do my job for me.
Talent and willingness are separate attributes. A talented horse might be hell on wheels, or a joy to work with. Ditto horses on the other end of the scale. Nor are these attributes absolute. Depends who’s asking. The blogger Bad Eventer bought a horse to move up the levels.
It turned out, anything with a ditch involved was a deal breaker as far as she was concerned.
Click over for the, um, illuminating photos. The mare has her good points …
As long as you stay below Novice and don’t point her at anything with a ditch underneath it she’s an absolute rock star.
… and is adored by new owner.
“I’m so grateful to have such a beauty in my life. Thank you to everyone who helped me have this moment and so many more with this mare I love.”
Bad Eventer: Where are They Now? Part Two
Mr. Whizbang is waiting for me to be the driver he deserves.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
I had another long ponderment planned to build on last week’s discussion of my deteriorating saddle seat position [Back To Kindergarten]. I find myself without enthusiasm for the thinking. Short version.
1) The position is unfamiliar, which makes me insecure.
When things go well, I can cope. When things do not go well, I revert. I do not revert to hunter/jumper. I do not revert to bad saddle seat. I pick a third option. I revert to bad hunter/jumper. That looks all kinds of lovely in a saddle seat show ring.
2) I don’t like being in a car without steering and brakes.
Alvin canters off. Big refuses to come back from the extended trot. Sam bolts. Or rears. Or spooks. Robert hops into the air to protest too much leg.
Oh well.
In these cases, the horse and I are still connected. The horse is saying No!, but we are still conversing, after a fashion.
What I don’t handle is a horse – or the possibility of a horse – not in touch with reality. By this, I mean a horse so scared, or so mad, that they no longer know where they are, nor care where they are going. (Bill Walsh on the subject of ‘they’ as a gender-neutral third-person singular, scroll down. But I digress.) If I even think the horse is going to lose their shit, my cute equitation position is the first thing to go.
The latter is not uncommon. Folks who spend their lives schooling green horses, retraining problem horses, or tuning up client horses adopt positions that prioritize safety over style. My reaction is technically valid, just hypersensitive and extreme. Moi?
Both tendencies have been present as long as I have been riding saddle seat. Lately, they have been exacerbated by my New Tank Syndrome, i.e. riding saddle seat while reestablishing dressage/hunter/jumper [Kindergarten].
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 