Grooming 🙂 😦
Ground ties. Stands like a rock. Shifts weight to put down the hind foot when I work on that side. Rodney is so good about grooming that I get surprised – and yes, frustrated – when he suddenly flings his head up in the air. He remains intermittently head-shy about brushes near his face [Head Games]. Towels are fine. Seems silly to me, but I don’t get to make that decision.
Hills 🙂
Coping well with walks & hills [Hillwork]. Very well. During our last hill set, Rodney expressed himself in a NSFW manner. He has a habit of displaying his Happy Meter [Taste Vs. Authenticity]. He often does so during grooming. He LOVES his weave poles, even when he’s not hitting on me [Speciesism]. This is the first time he has done this during something he considers work. There was a time when hills were a source of hysteria [Explosion].
Rodneywork 🙂
Coach Kate [Lesson, photo] suggested ground driving close enough to touch the horse. She meant the occasional pat or tap with a stick, as one would with a normal horse. I have modified this to something between ground driving and body work. I’ll drive Rodney with my outside hand – no glove – resting on his butt. If he cuts in, I’ll reach out to shove him over. The contact from my hands seems to address Rodney’s bottomless need for reassurance.
Riding, or Not 😦
We had one brilliant, calm, relaxed ride [View from the Top]. Then he went back to having issues. Okay, but edgy. I tried several more times. I fiddled with tack [Headgear Adventures]. I stopped. So, I have not been riding, or even sitting on him. I’m waiting for winter to stop faffing about and finally go away. Rodney does better in the warm.
Previous progress report was in February. [Rodney’s Progress]
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Gratuitous Prize Idea
A local dog show had color-coded towels as prizes. What a great idea. For a schooling show perhaps? Back in the mists of time, I saw an Appaloosa show do this with plastic cups. Would also work with mugs.
Rodney’s Saga is a personal experience blog about horseback riding and taking care of horses. I expand that to include guest posts, things I have published, and LEGO builds.
(hands flyer with blog address)
When someone asks about my blog I usually draw a blank, blurt out “Horses” or “My horses,” and then watch their eyes glaze over. So, I have been working on a brief, memorable description. One that I can remember and that will make me memorable.
The name ‘elevator pitch’ reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes. Wiki
What do you think?
Goal
To explain myself, “a simple and engaging speech to explain what you do.” As a bonus, to be sufficiently entertaining that the person addressed will be moved to check out the blog. Crafting an Elevator Pitch
Word Choice
Personal experience – One POV rather than reporting on the horse world.
Horseback – In speech, “riding” and “writing” sound similar. Since we would be talking about blogs, the listener would be conditioned to hear the word “writing.” By using “horseback” as a modifier, I avoid the riDing versus wriTing conversation than I have had way too many times.
Guest posts – wanna do one?
Things I have published – I would rather say “writing clips,” but see above. Sends the subliminal message that I are a professional. Hire me.
LEGO builds. – Establishes my geek cred. Ends on an unexpected note.
This is short, one or two floors at best, which means I have room to add. OTOH, this is a good length for my memory circuits.
Rodney’s SagaRodney’s Saga and The Tale of Milton The PayPal Pony
Translation software by Loren Sherman at Sherman’s Planet.
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BTW, if you notice a disceprancy, I fiddled with the subtitle after my super IT staff generated the image. [Subtitle History: 6]
This is why I don’t wear fleece to the barn. I only went out to check. They talked me into the extra hay serving. Yes, I am wearing my award jacket [Loot] around the house as a sweatshirt. Have I mentioned that I am 12 years old, or possibly 6?
Huh? We were standing in the permanent stabling, next to the covered walkway, leading to the indoor ring, watching the pouring rain. My feet were dry. My feet were likely to stay dry. I remarked that, at this moment, I did not miss eventing. (Eventing = charging around outside in all weathers. In England, if it doesn’t rain, they cancel the event. But I digress.) I got the response above. Self-identity is a funny thing. I consider myself a jumper rider, although I haven’t jumped in years. I consider myself an event rider, although I haven’t evented in decades. I consider myself a person who takes lessons & shows saddle seat. But a “saddle seat rider”? Not me.
Still, whatever I call myself, the natives have welcomed me into their midst. (Far nicer, I’m sorry to say, than a saddle seat rider going the other way. Again, I digress.) One of the families at the barn runs a t-shirt shop, The Sassy Equestrian [Etsy, Facebook]. At Pro-Am, we were all given Stepping Stone Farm Show Squad 2016 shirts. Friday was the designated shirt day. I got the feels looking at all of us in our Team Awesome shirts.
Taken by a helpful member of Team Awesome.
An important part of Team Awesome is the horses. Alvin Ailey (Alvin) was my driving partner. Sultan’s Miracle Man (Sam) took me into the riding classes.
The driving class had one other entrant, but the horse was fancy. My only chance was to outshow them. I resolved to stay off the rail, hit lane 2 [Boot Camp Bucks], and press the gas. Alvin was all over it. I asked him for a charging regular trot. He delivered. I asked him for as much extended trot as we could without cantering. He delivered. I asked him to work his corners. He did. Although I was finally a driver instead of a passenger, all credit still goes to Alvin. He was like a teacher hearing my lessons. ‘Yes, that is how you ask for a proper trot. Very good.’ Second Class. Don’t rest on my laurels. Don’t give the judge a chance to share the love. If dirt wasn’t hitting me in the face, we weren’t going fast enough. Between the inside lines and the speed, we got some Tokyo Drift going in the corners. Alvin was loving it.
Sam, on the other hand, was in a mood. He was not loving it. He was not loving me. We spent the first few passes carping at each other. Down the backstretch, he tossed his head down in what would have been, in a less dignified horse, a bucking fit. Sigh. Only two riders in the class. Unlikely that the judge was not watching. While cantering in the second direction (Sam & I canter beautifully. Unfortunately saddle seat is all about the trot. Digress.), we passed the other horse. Trotting. Well, then. Certainly, I do not wish bad luck to my competition. I want them to have wonderful rides – as they eat my dust. However, if they are going to have a bad day, I appreciate that they do so when I am also having a bad day. We won, but it was a best-of-the-worst situation. Sam pulled his socks up for the second class but still not ideal. I didn’t see much of the other horse, but I heard enough trainer noise coming from outside the ring that I assumed other horse did not do as well in the sock-pulling department. Improvement and the win.
Then we waited for the championship class. I tried to find something that would make Sam a happy horse. I tried standing. I tried having someone love on him. I tried walking. Trotting seemed to give him the least time to fuss. So we trotted. I stopped trying to fix it. I sat too far back, lifted my hands to my eyebrows, and started trying to fix it like a saddle seat rider. Sam is never happy with my ersatz hunter moves. For whatever reason, we got to a place where I could do a bit of styling during the class. It’s hard for an adult to beat the kids. I pulled into the line-up thinking, ‘At least I didn’t give it away.’ We won! Cue the goofy grin.
Photo by Courtney Huguley
Yes, I went 5 for 5. It. Was. Awesome. I’m proud of the beginning and end classes. I drove/rode well. I can be my own worst critic, so you know it was a good day when I am willing to praise myself in public. On the other hand, the middle classes were examples of my horse show bread landing butter side up.
On the way out, the folks from Richfield Video interviewed the winners. I talked five times to the poor man holding the microphone. I managed a usable soundbite once. The rest were the same ‘It was great. The horse was great.’ drivel that I used to get when I covered horse shows.
122 – Aca Showmanship Driving, Alvin Ailey, 1st of 2
123 – Aca Reinsmanship Driving, Alvin Ailey, 1st of 2
134 – Aca Equitation WTC Adult, Sultan’s Miracle Man, 1st of 2
135 – Aca Showmanship WTC Adult, Sultan’s Miracle Man, 1st of 2
138 – Aca WTC Championship, Sultan’s Miracle Man, 1st of 6
Thank you to the Wamble family and Courtney Huguley for the awesome horses. Thank you to Alvin and Sam for being awesome, eventually.
Show Photographer Doug Shiflet. In the first four classes, I am the one with the helmet. In the fifth class, I am the one with the blue vest & big fluffy ribbon. My photo download rant, including a link to message by Mr. Shiflet.
Virtual Brush Box 