Saddle Seat Celebrity

A few weeks ago, Gayle Lampe gave a saddle seat clinic in my area. She was kind enough to come talk at Stepping Stone for a few minutes. I totally geeked out.

Right, Gayle Lampe, Professor Emeritus, Equestrian Science, Saddle Seat, William Woods University. Left, me. Photo by Courtney Huguley.
Right, Gayle Lampe, Professor Emeritus, Equestrian Science, Saddle Seat, William Woods University. Left, me. Photo by Courtney Huguley.

As she was talking, I kept looking at her and thinking, ‘Wow. This woman is a NAME in saddle seat. Instructor, author, rider. I would LOVE to interview her.’ Then, she asked for questions. Questions? Questions! Sure, I got questions!

1996
1996
Brain: um, sorry, i can’t think of any.

Me: What do mean no questions? This is what you DO.

Brain: well, mathilda got hurt last week. you’ve been bathing me in corticosteroids for five days. it’s sludge in here.

Me: Think, dammit.

Brain: hmmm …

… Jeopardy music …

Brain: okay, maybe i can adapt from the usdf interviews.

revised 2013
revised 2013
So I asked, If you could give one piece of advice to every saddle seat rider, what would it be?

Lampe: “Enjoy each ride.”

Good advice for all riding styles.

To adult riders, particularly adult beginners: You are not learning to be horse trainers. Keep it fun. Share any physical limitations with your instructor.

To show moms: Stay out of the way. Be supportive of your child. Let the instructor tell the rider when it’s going badly.

After her talk, she had a tour of the barn to greet our furry faces. After meeting, I must assume, thousands of horses, Lampe was still deeply interested in all the horses, wanting to know what they did, their breeding, and where they came from.

Partial Progresses

horse bootsRodney
We’ve started a new episode of ground work, hence the new booties. We’ve even had glimmers of success. However, there have been many false starts over the years. Too often, my grand plans fail because I run out of steam or Rodney has an overabundance of steam. Or both. Therefore, I am holding off on belaboring you with details until I have progress to report. Meanwhile, know that we are nibbling at our issues.

cov CrabtreeKatherine
While sitting about for tooth rehab/mare care, I stomped through Saddle Seat Equitation by Helen Crabtree [Western 1970, rev 1982, reprint 1999]. This was half of my reading goals for the winter [Days].

Meh. I remain unconvinced on the value of theory. I interviewed one fellow on the particular type of saddle he liked. He didn’t know why it worked. He didn’t care why it worked. He rode in that saddle. His horses won. End of story. In my case, theory can get in my way by keeping me too much in my head instead of reacting instinctively.

Still, I said I would and I did. So, checkmark.

Twitter Storage 1 of 4

Reposting old, non-show tweets as an archive. Because if I don’t, data might be lost, and then … data might be lost! When I began, there were 317 tweets, minus the ones already posted from shows. I also skipped the tweets that are notifications of blog posts. Even I’m not that tight.

Feb – March 2013, 8 tweets

Well, that was easy. Most of my first foray into Twitter was using it as an ersatz RSS feed.
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Gratuitous scenery
grat scenery March 2014

The barn lights from the far corner of the field at twilight.

Foto Friday: Gratuitous Sunset

From the pasture:

sunset March 13 2014
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Tooth implant socket today. Bleh. Yes, this is the same tooth/tooth space that was fussing me back in the beginning of 2013 [Hi/Safe:Monday/Regular:Dentist]. This is our fourth attempt at an appointment. I can’t decide if good luck means keeping the appointment or having it put off yet again.

HA!

Appointment was changed to Wednesday. I found out late Tuesday. However, the posts were already written as is. I was too busy with sudden onset dental stress to redo them. If all went to plan, I am now moping around the house, feeling pitiful, and halfway to being bionic.