Virtual Brush Box

Sensitive Fellow

Milton still hates to be brushed. He doesn’t even like to be rubbed with a towel. All horses like towel.

I’ve had sensitive horses before, usually evident in the summer. My first horse was groomed with a towel in summer. Previous Horse was groomed with a hose when it was hot.

This is different. Milton doesn’t flinch away. Instead, when I bring any grooming tool near him, especially to his neck and back on the right side, he tightens the neck and back, throws his head up, gets that ugly bulgy underneck, and pins his ears. ‘I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!’ Then, once I brush him, he relaxes and chews and yawns and sighs.

The fact that he does it on the approach makes me wonder if the problem is mental, if he is anticipating.

Physically, we’ve checked for underlying skin issues. He has a gorgeously smooth sleek coat, particularly for a pasture horse. He’s shiny enough that dirt slides off. Yes, he is itchier that most horses. He adores being scratched. However, there is no evidence of hives or other skin conditions. I know perfectly healthy people who are simply itchy. You’d think this would make Milton a fan of grooming. But no.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Letter Art: S is for Swim

2016-letter-s

Current exercise regimen is swimming on days that I do not lesson. Two people have recently extolled to me how much exercise has energized their lives. Mostly, I feel tired and out of time. Endorphins are a myth.
~~~
2016 Alphabet

R is for Reins
Q is for Quote
P is for Polo Wraps
O is for Opinion
N is for Nature
M is for My Missing Motivation
L is for Leadline
K is for Knabstrupper
J is for Jenny’s Jodhpurs
I is for I Love You
H is for Halter
G is for Ghost Gallery
F is for Fence
E is for Eventing
D is for Do
C is for Carrot
B is for Brush
A is for Apple

2015 Alphabet

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Ride PHAT for International Helmet Awareness Day

PHAT

Taken by the Roaming Reader at the welcome station in Fair Haven VT.

PHAT (Protect your Head at All Times) is a non-profit program that promotes the use of helmets in all sports where head injury is a serious risk. Its work is based on recent medical literature proving helmets work in preventing head injuries – from concussions to Traumatic Brain Injuries – that can have devastating physical, emotional and financial impacts on the injured and their loved ones. About PHAT

Downloads available, above link, scroll down.

ridephat_plate

The campaign targets ski & snowboard, bike, ATV, & longboarding. Their goal is to make helmets cool.

Helmet Advocacy Links
International Helmet Awareness Day
Riders 4 Helmets
Helmet Tough
Fallon Taylor

Previous RS Posts
2015 Networking Like A Boss, scroll down
2014 #IHAD

Roaming Reader posts
Antique Horse Toys, with list

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Alvin’s Big Green Obstacle

One-quarter of our combined driving obstacle

Alas, no group shots, nor action shots from lesson or show [Report]. Maybe next time.

How It’s Made

Raw materials: a pile of out-dated signs

Plus self-stick hook & loop tape, paint, brushes, screws, & screwdriver.

Three of the four loaded up for transport to SSF.

For the show, we had 24 panels in the back of the Fiat.
~~~
Can’t have a photo project without a feline photo bomb.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Report II: DRIVING, Fun Show 2016 #3, B&W Stables

Driving Thursday

I went off course. I won.

ASHAA Fun Show
B & W Stables
Hartselle AL, USA
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Academy Driving. Alvin & Katherine, 1st; Alvin & Greg, 2nd.
Thank you to the Wamble family.

To accommodate two drivers with one horse, Greg and I have been doing combined driving patterns at the smaller saddle seat shows, either a single pair of cones [Winter 2016 #1], or a course [Winter 2016 #3, Fun Show 2016 #1]. This time, we set up a portable marathon obstacle. We had a start/finish line, a timer, a four-element obstacle, and a outlying derby cone with ball.

Greg went for the tight, inside turns. His time was 1:06.68.

I opted for wider turns with less risk of stalling out. I’d take a longer line but run faster. It was going great, until I took the sweeping right to swing around from B back to C. Heavy on sweeping; short on turning. I found myself facing B again.

Damn.

I decided to plow ahead. Went thru B. Turned back to D. Skipped C entirely. My time: 1:07-something. I didn’t keep track. I figured I was automatically second.

We gave the judge the option to judge on time & faults, or on style & reinsmanship, or on a combination thereof. I don’t think the judge realize that I was off-course, therefore technically eliminated. To me, the plan of a marathon obstacle is easy to understand. It’s like a jumper course with letters instead of numbers. However, to saddle seat folks, “It’s like a jumper course” is not a useful simile.

Style carried the day.

I’m not sure what the rest of the folks thought of the sudden eruption of combined driving into the middle of their saddle seat show. We designed a fast set-up/take-down to avoid delay. The entire operation took approximately the same time as a regular class. They shouldn’t have had much to complain about. I hope they were amused. We certainly were.

Alvin, of course, was a star about the whole thing. We brought the obstacle to Stepping Stone earlier in the week. By the end of one lesson, Alvin was turnin’ and burnin’ as if he had been doing it all of his life. Wonderful horse!

Tomorrow: obstacle photos.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Update: Coach Kate tells me that, under combined driving rules, we were all eliminated. One is not allowed to go thru D on the way to A, B, or C. I knew this going forwards, but not backwards. As set, the course is not possible to drive legally. Oops. OTOH, once you’ve been through a gate, it’s fair game, i.e. my going thru B a second time did not automatically disqualify me, just added time. I would have been fine had I gone back and picked up C. Had I not eliminated myself going backwards thru D.

Update on the update: Turns out it depends on how one goes out of order. Going backwards thru a later gate is elimination. Going forwards thru a later gate, i.e. A, C, then B, C, D – one of the few mistakes we did NOT make here – is 20 penalty points. Making a mistake and not correcting your course – what I did – is the big E. Coach Kate says double elimination is not a thing, despite my best efforts.

Show Report I: RIDING, Fun Show 2016 #3, B&W Stables

Saddle Seat Wednesday

I lost. Then I won.

ASHAA Fun Show
B & W Stables
Hartselle AL, USA
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Academy Showmanship WTC Adult with Sultan’s Miracle Man, 3rd of 3
Academy Equitation WTC Adult with Sultan’s Miracle Man, 1st of 3
Thank you to Courtney Huguley for the marvelous Sam.

Error One: Gravitational Vortex
I adore Sam, but he’s not one to do more work than required. I’ve known this from day one [Sam I Am]. He gradually relaxes his frame, pulling the rider forward as he goes. He gradually slows down, pulling the rider into expending more and more effort. He’s sneaky about it, so one must be vigilant.

At the show, we warmed up full of vim & vigor. Inside. In the shade. When we went out in the sun for our first class, Sam eased down a gear. I got sucked in. The ringside advisory committee reminded me to sit back. When I tried to pull us out of the downward spiral, Sam knew that my responses were limited while we were within the show ring. We discussed the situation in the break between classes.

Me: Excuse me, Sir, I politely request that you shoulder your half of the load.
Sam: Well, if you put it that way.

We went back in and sparkled.

Error Two: Sartorial Choices
I wore the wrong shirt. When Greg started driving, I bought coordinating short-sleeved shirts for us to wear. Mine is hot pink. His is green. I forgot this. Cast ‘locate shirt.’ It is a driving shirt? Check. The extra material luffed in the breeze, looking unkempt and rounding the shoulders I was trying so hard to hold back.

Also, I put on the wrong top undergarment; one for daily wear and lessons, not my special show undergarment [Ladies Only, Thank You].This was not a visually suitable choice. Apparently.

Clearly, a good shirt (and bra) will not cover up bad riding. But since I am strong on technical but weak on artistic merit [Boot Camp 2015,2], a sloppy outfit does not help the elegant, effortless image I am supposed to be projecting.

As I said in the report for this show last year,

Energetic? Dynamic? Entertaining? All day long.
Still? Pleasant? Harmonious? Never in my life.
[Show Report B&W 2015 #2]

In Sum
I win. I lose. I don’t know why.

All of the above is hindsight. At the time, I thought I was knocking it out of the park. I can’t fix what I can’t sense. Well, I might not be able to fix it anyway, but sensing errors in real-time is the first step. Yes, I have had success [ProAm 2016], but I lack consistency. I can go from winning all classes one day, to no ribbon 24 hours later [NEGA 2016].

It’s possible that I do not possess the ineffable quality necessary for equitation stardom, particulary Southern equitation stardom. Either I never had it or I lost it along the way. [Three Reasons I Suck At Equitation]

Or I am impatient. Not from a sense of entitlement. I operate from a sense that if I was working harder/wasn’t screwing up so badly, I’d have it by now. For any given value of “it.” But, that is too big a topic for the end of a post.

Oh well, I shall see what I can do with what I have and where it gets me. For now, if I want to show, I must equitate.

Bring on the next class!

Tomorrow: Driving.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Widdling Thoughts

In Thoughtful Equestrian: Plan Your Pee, a blogger discusses her horse’s weird urination habits. So, it got me thinking about urination habits around here.

Milton hates to pee in his stall. If he’s in for an hour, if he’s in for three hours, the first thing he does upon exiting is to park out. As the person who cleans up after him, I am pleased with this quirk.

OTOH, Rodney is a proponent of contained urination. He loves the stall. He thinks of it as his. If I give in to his demands to let him in for a few minutes, he checks out the feed bucket, has a big drink (carried water in a bucket tastes so much better than trough water), and pees. He also stomps around the stall, mixing the poop into powder. Rodney is not the chambermaid’s favorite.

Or perhaps he likes padded piddling. If the stall is not available, he has been know to pee on his hay. This does not slow down his consumption of said hay. Perhaps he dislikes splashing?

Recently, once or twice, Rodney has peed after leaving the stall. Is he learning from Milton?

I’ve said all of this before [Daily Routine: Housecleaning, Let Me In]. but not as its own post. Yes, these are the sorts of things, one thinks about when minding horses. In fact, we have added the ability to take a good solid stance to our list of horse evaluation tools.

Speaking of peeing. Have you even noticed that before a class you always have to pee, even if you just came from the rest room? Then, after the class, you’re good to go. You don’t have to pee for the rest of the day. At least, that’s what happens to me.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott