Virtual Brush Box

Foto Friday: What Is It?

what-is-oct-2016

What is it? [Reveal]

Idea Source
Stuck In A Rut? Try These Fun Photography Games: Guess What’s In The Photo

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

New adventure last weekend. Greg and I had a driving lesson together. Recently, driving lessons have used the combined driving toys; letters [Driven Dressage], obstacles [Big Green], or cones [Show Report]. These lessons are done one driver at a time. However, both of us needed a refresher on proper pleasure driving. These can be done two at a time.

We hitched up Iggy for Greg, Alvin for me, and away we went. We had to both drive and watch out for the other person, giving us a chance to practice having other folks in the ring. It was fun to be sharing the ring with my husband. At a show, I’m much more about stomping him into the dust beneath my wheels. Or trying to.

I’d say we are about equal in driving ability at the moment. Greg has the edge in Combined Driving. I’ve proven that I can’t steer worth a d*mn [Fun Show 1, Fun Show 3]. OTOH, I’m better with the saddle seat paradigm of Drive Fast, Look Snappy [Team Awesome, MSSP 2016].

The family that drives together … thrives together?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Pretty Ribbon, Costume Version

Saddle Seat Wednesday

costume-ribbon-2016

To reward the work that goes into a costume class entry, SSF gave every participant one of these lovelies. [Macho Dresses Up]

On the SSF Facebook page, the video labeled “Because I’m biased …” shows all of the entries, In the background, you can see Macho enter the ring and spin around in concern. The airplane was the winner.

Previous Pretties
Pretty Ribbon
Fancy Ribbon

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Thereby Hangs a Tail

milton-tail-oct-16

Milton was soliciting attention, so I grabbed the Cowboy Magic and detangled his tail. They both love this. To preserve the hairs, I use my fingers rather than brushes or combs. Grab a hunk of tail. Separate out hairs one by one. Grab a new hunk. Keep going until tail is free of snarls. Doesn’t take as long as you might think.

Milton dropped his head and completely zoned out. Rodney is the same way. Fingercombing the tail seems to be a soothing activity for them.

Does anyone else’s horses like having their tails fussed with?

And Now For All The Other Parts Of My Life

We had a plan.

It was a good plan.

When I committed to Nationals back in August [Madness], there were eleven weeks until we left for the show. For four of those weeks, lessons would be unavailable or restricted. NBD. I’d up the lesson rate a bit when coach Courtney was around. No reason to get crazy.

Then life happened. Some of it was good. I played Annoying Competitor in a group lesson as show practice 🙂 . Some of it was bad. The week with two funerals 😦 . What with one thing and another, I went three weeks without a formal lesson.

Cue the crazy. [Sentiment]

One or two lessons a day for the last two weeks. Now we are done. The barn has all but shut down as the majority of the show & academy horses head up to Alabama Charity Championship Horse Show for the week. I will have one or two more rides before we leave for Nationals. Of necessity, they will be reminder lessons. We have reached the Que Sera, Sera portion of the program.

Time to pick up the threads of my life. Time to exercise. Time to scale the mountain of unwashed dishes. Time to make the progress that I feel is in the air, or find out if I was just blowing hot ~~air~~ electrons [Turning Point?].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Letter Art: V is for Vest, Again

2016-letter-v

New Year. New Vest. Let’s hope I get some wear out of this one.

Looking Back
Yellow vest [At The Horse Show]. Borrowed for first shows in 2013.
Blue vest [Show Photos SE Charity]. Bought in 2013 [Show Report, It Takes a Village]. Worn with salmon plaid shirt.
Purple vest [Show Photos Nat 2014]. Bought at Nationals in 2014 to liven me up [Show Report NACHS 2014 1]. Worn through most of 2015.
Blue vest revisited [Show Photos GA Fall 2015]. The purple was deemed too lively at Nationals 2015. Switched back to blue with blue striped shirt that I had brought as an extra for Nationals 2014 and never used. Worn through first half of 2016. Used for last year’s alphabet [V & below].
Light purple vest [Show Photos NE GA]. Bought in 2016 [New Clothes].