I have contributed my mite to another horse-related crowd funding project. A Big Name Rider is looking for support to get the next Big Time horse. As with my previous project support [RallyWe], I am not giving the name of the individual involved. OTOH, not many international riders are trying to buy a $500,000 horse from contributors pennies, so it wouldn’t be hard to discover. Still, I don’t want you to think I am shilling for him/her. I know nothing about the dude (I’m tired of the pronoun game). I recognize his name & haven’t heard anything horrid about him, but then, I haven’t really been paying to the international scene lately.
As before, my goal is to follow the process. Therefore, my first – of undoubtedly many – tackbox quarterback comments:
The projects have varying levels of thank you for varying levels of funding and varying durations of updates for ditto. Why? If I had any form of crowdsource project, I would send a personalized thank you by return email. I would then keep you updated on the project in specific and my business in general until you asked me to stop. Ninety-nine plus percent of the effort would be wasted. However, one person might say, ‘Oh, this is kinda fun. Why don’t I take a lesson, attend a clinic, buy him/her a horse.’ John Wanamaker is attributed with saying
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” [The Quotations Page]
I would think one would want to spread the word even more so these days now that communication is so comparatively simple: no cumbersome collating, no stamps, no address databases. Just type, click, & go. Granted, I’m a writer, so this would come easily to me. However:
a) Keeping the owner(s) happy is part of being paid to ride.
b) If the rider is not comfortable with the written word, surely there is a student, owner, employee, family member who would be willing to trade PR flack duties for love or lessons.
Personal Note
32 years ago I made the decision to keep my riding as a hobby. I have yet to see anything that makes me regret that decision.
Between deliberate time off [They Said], horse care [Back: updates], holidays, and the joys of winter [Post Called]. I’ve ridden 6 times in the three months since the Nationals at the beginning of November [Day 3+3]. That’s five lessons and one schooling show. Extra points for the show; minus points for missing the first show. Furthermore, the forecast does not appear to be done screwing with our heads.
This is not good for my psyche. It is undoubtedly worse for those what have to live with me.
Addendum 1) I am overlooking the fact that my riding life has devolved to weekly lessons. We’ll leave those worms canned for now.
Addendum 2) Yes, yes. Petty problem. The sad bourgeoisie can’t ride her horsie. Granted, my roll in the craps game of life has provided me with security in body & spirit (so far, she adds superstitiously). Is that it? Should I be content to potter through life? Shouldn’t I be racking up substantial achievements given substantial advantages? Yes, yes. Wanting to follow Mother Teresa is more admirable than wanting to make an Olympic team. Either is more admirable than being a couch potato. But I digress.
Addendum 3) An infusion of acetate eases the strain.
[End of the month, State of the Blog for January 2014. List of previous SotB posts.]
Hello Horse Collaborative!
Earlier this month, I posted for the first time on Horse Collaborative [main page, my page, first HC blog post]. Instead of having cross-posts every day, the web editor would like weekly posts, give or take. The plan is to let me know which ones to repost over there. I assume he doesn’t want daily doses of Rodney’s Saga swamping his feed. This works for me. I get to meet a new audience, but still offer value for coming over to my main site.
When we discussed this, my first response was ‘Yipppee! Happy Dance! People want to read my writing!’ My second response was, ‘I wonder how I should write for HC.’ I could feel the blog bending to meet new expectations. Some amount of judgment is inherent in the system. The nice man (waves hi) will be selecting posts. I will wonder why this one and not that one. If I write this way, will more posts get chosen? If I write that way, will everyone at HC hate it? Was this whole thing a mistake? It is over? Should I go eat worms?
Ahem.
Part of this attitude comes from being a pathologic people pleaser. I want everyone, everywhere to think I am wonderful and to remind me so on a regular basis. Part of this, believe it or not, is professional. The writing required for editing a medical paper is different than the writing required for reviewing adult videos. If an editor asks for 1000 words on the history of dressage in the US, she does not want a 2000-word, amusingly-crafted essay on My First Dressage Test. Write to order. It’s what I did.
After 3 & 1/2 years, I have finally – almost – convinced myself that this approach does not work for blogging. To quote myself, “I have come to decide that writing a blog is closer in method to writing fiction. You write the story you have to tell, then you look for an audience.” [Check]
So this is my promise to Horse Collaborative. I will not change for you. I will continue to say what I have to say about my horses. I will attempt to adhere to the manifesto (manifestoes? manifesti?) at which I arrived after my most recent meltdown [Baack]. If our tastes mesh, that’s great. If they don’t, that’s okay too. We will shake hands, part friends, and wander our merry ways. If the arrangement does not work out, I am a not a terrible writer who should never be trusted near a keyboard ever again, nor is Horse Collaborative a hive of scum and villainy.
That’s the plan.
One thing HC requested was a recap for new readers. A sensible enough request to fulfill without immediately violating the above.
Rodney was bought to be my mid-life crisis horse for eventing, hunter, jumper, dressage, all of it. After a year of diligent searching, I had found a horse who embodied every virtue for which I was looking. I brought him home, rode him for a month, and stopped. He now canters happily around my backyard. As to how I got myself in this position, I refer you to the rest of the blog. Despite a compost-pile worth of words on the subject, I still do not have a concise explanation.
Mathilda is our retired, geriatric husband horse. At least, she is geriatric in years; in body & spirit, not so much.
With two horses to care for and nothing to ride, I took a saddleseat lesson [Random] and fell down the rabbit hole. Between lessons, showing, and the novelty thereof, much of last year was about the American Saddlebred. This year looks to be similar.
Recap for Format
As a freelance writer, I was on a constant mission to monetize my life. Toward the end of my horse shopping, I offered to chronicle my experiences in a monthly column. When the main subject declined to embrace a competitive career, the column staggered on for a few months and finally cavitated. I continued monthly on my own for reasons that now escape me. I switched to daily for a year as a writing exercise. After that, I continued with the daily posts because I discovered I enjoy yapping about myself. And here we are.
My current favorite post is A Horse Show In 86 Tweets, both because it was a new format for me [Toy], and for reasons that will become obvious when you read the post.
Let’s hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, only without the adultery, heartbreak, & Nazis.
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Gratuitous Cat Picture How is this comfortable?
I had planned to write something useful for today but my area got hit with an unexpected 2+ inches of snow & was totally unable to cope. Roads were parking lots. Anyone who lives north of me can’t believe 2 inches qualifies as a snowpocalypse.
It’s not the snow as much as the lack of plows, lack of sand/salt, lack of snow tires, lack of sense. We were supposed to get a dusting so everyone went to work & the kids went to school. When the snow turned serious, everyone tried to get home at once. Schools released the kids at noon, right as the snow picked up. Buses stuck on roads. Kids stuck on buses. My county – for some unknowable reason – does not use school buses, so all those parents went out at the same time & all got stuck in the snow.
As of this writing (Tuesday evening), I’m fine. The horses are fine. My husband is camping out and will be fine. I was home all day with nothing to do. Did I get lots of writing done? Of course not. Watched weather porn & Doctor Who DVDs. The biggest problem at the farm was Mathilda objecting to my taking snow pictures.
Bless cell phones. BTW, husband reports that my little car did great. Yay!
Update, 2/3/14. Local story with pictures.
Grass Stains: #Snowpocalypse2014, Day 1
BTW, snow gone by Friday & 60o on Saturday.
Virtual Brush Box 