Milton’s Contract

C is for contract. If you are joining me from Blogging A To Z, welcome! Since the blog is already daily, with topics for each day [About: Schedule], there is no specific A To Z theme. I may even skip a few letters. Gasp. Clutch the pearls. The goal for this year is less crazy, more visiting. [Ze State of Ze Blog 2014]

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We have done – if I may say so – an outstanding job acclimatizing Milton to harness. He accepts pressure on the breastcollar, the crupper under his tail, the shafts bagging on his sides, all of it.

However.

The time has come to readdress the horse underneath. I don’t want to imagine Milton having a snit fit [Hitched], with Greg sitting in the cart. A little more broke, if you please. (I know broke isn’t the PC term, but you know what I mean.) Less ground-driving at a walk and trot in harness, more trotting and cantering with a saddle on the lunge.

Greg will be doing most of the lunging work. I don’t have the level-headedness for it. I figure, Well, they’ll stop galloping about eventually. Plus, he did all the lunge work with Previous Horse and that worked out, at least as far as installing a ridable WTC. Whatever else we may or may not have done after was between me and Caesar [Defense].

After the first work session under the new paradigm, Milton stood in the barn wondering how his contract had gotten unilaterally renegotiated.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Rodney Channels His Inner Brat

B is for Brat. If you are joining me from Blogging A To Z, welcome! Since the blog is already daily, with topics for each day [About: Schedule], there is no specific A To Z theme. I may even skip a few letters. Gasp. Clutch the pearls. The goal for this year is less crazy, more visiting. [Ze State of Ze Blog 2014]

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To reward Rodney for being good the previous day (we recreated a tiny bit of our lesson [Dressage]. Yay!), I decided to have him stand at the side of the ring while Milton worked, We’ve done this before. It counts as saddle time, but is not mentally taxing.

Rodney was awful.

He was being driven mad, mad it tell you, by a few early spring flies. I don’t think he had all four feet on the ground for a minute straight. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. In between, he wiggled. He shifted. Stomp. Stomp. He tried to drift back to the barn. Wiggle. Shift. Stomp. Drift.

And yet, he did all of this without an ounce of tension. No head flinging. No teeth grinding. He didn’t get nervous. He didn’t tune me out. He knew exactly what I was asking. He responded with Don’t wannnnnnna. Ain’t gonnnnnna.

I have never been so simultaneously annoyed at and pleased with a horse in my life.

The next morning, Rodney barged past me into the stall just under Milton’s nose [Daily Routine]. I had to yell loudly to stop Milton from following. (Loudly enough that Greg heard me from the house.) If those two were to get in the stall at the same time, it would be frogs in a blender.

I tied Milton up, went in the stall, and chased Rodney out with prejudice. I wanted to be crystal clear that he was not to behave this way again. He did not run out of the stall screaming that the sky was falling. Instead, he sashayed out with a look that said, Well, ya can’t blame a horse for trying.

Who is this horse?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Awards Weekend

A is for Awards. If you are joining me from Blogging A To Z, welcome! Since the blog is already daily, with topics for each day [About: Schedule], there is no specific A To Z theme. I may even skip a few letters. Gasp. Clutch the pearls. The goal for this year is less crazy, more visiting. [Ze State of Ze Blog 2014]

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Tomorrow is the Alabama Winter Tournament Banquet. No idea what I will come home with. My ribbons in the riding divisions were all over the place:

Advance Horsemanship WTC Adult, with Robert: 6+2+6
Advanced Equitation WTC Adult (Pattern), with Sam & Robert: 6+1+5
Pleasure Horse or Pony WTC Adult, with Robert: 1+4+2

If I stand on my tiptoes, I might reach a Reserve Champion or two. Realistically, I look to be solidly in the yellow and white zone.

OTOH, after two years of Reserve, I will finally win the driving division, by dint of everyone else staying home.

Academy Driving, with Alvin: 1+1

Finally, I suspect my results were erratic enough to smother the advantage of extra classes. My streak of Hi-Point Adult for SSF has most probably come to an end.

2017 shows [#1&#2, #3]
[List of Winter Tournament posts]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Concerning Conflicts

Driving Thursday

In Which My Magnanimous Gesture Turns Out To Be An Empty One

Snippy & Me
Photo by Courtney Huguley

Phase 1: We first discuss Greg’s driving schedule. NO conflicts. I send Coach Courtney, Stepping Stone Farm, a celebratory text.

3 organizations. 3 show schedules. No conflicts. #signfromtheuniverse

The three organizations were the two driving groups, AWWCC and MTCC, & the saddle seat folks.

Phase 2: Coach Kate, Whip Hand Farm, decides our plans have been a wee bit ambitious. We pull back to more local/regional activities. Dates collide. I write my Selfless Wife post saying that it is Greg’s turn and I won’t show for three months [Conflicts].

Phase 3: Life-related logistics conspire against the various combined driving activities.

Result …

I’m going to a horse show! Since I have a truck now!! I can bring the second cart, meaning I can show both driving and riding. Snippy will be my chauffeur (or I will be his?). While Snippy is marvelous to drive, he doesn’t have Alvin’s auto-pilot. We have been doubling up on lessons to get acquainted.

Between the Shafts

Horse Show! Horse Show!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

What Makes You, You? A Blog Hop.

Saddle Seat Wednesday

Thoughtful Equestrian posed the question What makes someone at the barn (or your trainer) think of you immediately? Since I have no one to ask around here, I turned to Coach Courtney at SSF.

Response:
“Whenever I see blue duct tape, I think of you.”
I bring my own halter, brushes, etc. Every item is marked.

 

(The stool is for bodywork and to keep my brush box above the reach of marking dogs. I decorated it with names of the SSF horses I have ridden.)

“Whenever I open my email, I think of you.”
I send her a lot of email. Sadly, this does not even include the ones I write and delete.
[This Is Not News]

“When ever we win cool stuff, I think of you.”
I love me some useful loot.

Duffel bag.

[Show Photos: UPHA Chapter 8, Cleveland, TN] 2013

Saddlepad.

[Sportin’ the Bling] 2014

Coatbag & backpack

[Banquet Photos] 2015

Technical Shirt

[ASHAG Awards 2015] 2016

Jacket

[Loving The Loot] 2016

Wooden Grooming Box

[ASHAA Banquet 2017]

I tell you, saddle seat is awesome about awards!

I would have expected:
Noise. Even Saddlebred people think I am loud. However, Reagan [Barnshine] says she can hear me when she’s in the ring. That’s good enough for me. People can turn around and stare at me all they want. I’ll keep cheering for my team.

A Pony-Club level of obsession with stable management.

Helmets.

So, what makes you, you?

Update: Another entry. Ambitious: Thoughtful Equestrian Blog Hop: What makes you, you? Color, photography, & sounds.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott