My Go Mighty 10

Over on Go Mighty, folks post their life lists and other folks sponsor them. I have no idea why a corporation would want to give me money. However, should the question come up, I want to be ready. Here goes, 10 Goals, in no particular order.

(Of course, my first tasks would be to pray for world peace and volunteer for a month for Doctors Without Borders. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

+ Attend a fancy, evening performance of the Spanish Riding School at their Winter Riding School in Vienna. Funding would have to cover airfare, accommodations, and a dress. I’ll buy the Sacher-Torte.

+ Be a VIP guest at the Quarter Horse Congress, or Louisville, or any big show really. See how the other half rolls. I’d probably need new clothes for this one as well. The idea came from the Victory Pass Raffle held by American Saddlebred Museum in Lexington KY.

Win an all-expense paid week at the 2013 World’s Championship Horse Show!
A week’s stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Louisville
$500 Food Voucher for the Crowne Plaza Restaurant
4 Lower Level Box Seats for every performance
A VIP Parking Pass for the week

+ Present ribbons at all three Fall Indoor shows in one year.

+ Tour a ribbon-making factory (are you sensing a theme? I heart me some ribbons.)

+ Take a mule trek down the Grand Canyon. When one combines American and equine, this is as iconic as it gets.

+ Attend a USEA event in Hawaii and in Alaska, Areas VI and VII respectively. Eventing is so land and resource dependent, it would be interesting to see how the land use varies and how such isolated places cope with horse ownership & competition. A schooling show for the Alaska Dressage Association was “Cancelled due to lingering winter“. One can only imagine.

Takhi
Takhi
+ Decide on a charity to get behind the way Fat Cyclist does with World Bicycle Relief. See, Just Look at What You’ve Done. There are blogs & sites that support equine rescues. People are doing wonderful work for animal welfare. My office visitor, right, is the result of a donation to either Friends of the Wild Horse or WWF. As yet, I haven’t found the one that grabs me and makes me say, Yes, this one. This is the one to yap on about.

+ Take dressage lesson in Germany. I maintain that German dressage riders have an advantage over American dressage riders because Germany has lesson horses schooled to Second Level. Whereas in the US, people with their own horse and private lessons might never get out of First. (Waves hand). I should go see what I am talking about.

+ Provide transportation and accommodations to guests and speakers for a Rodney’s Saga meet-up at a major horse happening in North America. Then have another one in Europe.

+ ??? That interesting idea of which I haven’t even thought. The world is far vaster and weirder than I can conceive. All I need are cash, instructions, and the injunction to Go Have Fun.

You many notice a lack of reference to Rolex. I have attended. I have volunteered. The only thing left is to ride. That is long past wishlist & solidly into holodeck, fantasy territory. Ditto WEG and the Olympics.

Where would you Go Mighty? If you need help with your list, see the Life List Tutorial, particularly:

2. Relax.
Don’t get hung up on what your list says about you. This isn’t about how intellectual, or sexy, or morally fit you are. It’s about listing some stuff that would make you happier. Just admit you want to be a backup dancer for Lady Gaga. Who cares? Lady Gaga is rad, and pants are overrated. If you put too much weight on what other people think, you’re doing a different exercise. An exercise you should consider doing with an expensive therapist instead.

Related posts Bucket List & Bucket List – Accomplished

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VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE
Accessing Jedi mind control.
Go here: Haynet. (No need to join to vote but you might wish to consider. Nice place)
Click this icon on the sidebar:
BloggeroftheYear2013_zps22312934Vote. (In the interest of fairness, nominees listed here. If you vote from there, use the “HERE” link not the “VOTE” link lower down.)
OR use this link directly: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Releasing Jedi mind control.

Nominated! Please Vote.

Remember how I promised to be all grown-up and mature about my blog metrics [Back]? Pffffffft!

Happy dance!! Kermit arms!!

… ahem …

Rodney’s Saga is one of 10 nominated for:

BloggeroftheYear2013_zps22312934

Prizes are both physical and digital:
“The winner will receive some Haynet goodies and a link to their blog or profile on the front page of Haynet for a whole year.”

I’m happy just to be nominated. I want to thank the Academy …
Me. Me. Me. Pick Meeeeeeee!!

… ahem …

Haynet’s main site.
Announcement with links to nominees.

If you are not a member of Haynet, you will need to join to vote, I believe, and have the membership approved (Nope, see below). If you’ve gotten this far, I figure you like horse blogs, so think of it as a perk for voting rather than a hoop through which you must jump.

Thank you.
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Update from Haynet:

“There has been a change in the link for the voting as this will only allow you to vote only once from a PC, tablet or phone to make sure that this is fairer! Please use this link and apologies for any inconvenience:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9JTZCD

Previous voting will though be taken into account. So may the best blogger win!”
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Update the Second:

TPTB at Haynet say you don’t have to join to vote, but welcome if you do decide to join.

What is Progress?

Exercise: Asking Rodney to trot in hand.

Result: Hopping, fussing, and bouncing sideways at the strike-off. Noticeable but less than previously [Weekend]. Afterwards, we were able to keep going and develop a decent jog for a respectable distance.

Theory A: This is progress. While not calm, he is definitely calmER. The performance was better. By definition, a better performance is progress.

Theory B: This is not progress. We are no closer to understanding why he objects so strongly to such a simple question. If we are not addressing the central issue, we are simply arranging deckchairs on the Titanic.

Our house is divided. How do you vote?
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I have written a new Off Topic post, Why I Drove a Beat-up Jeep to My Senior Prom, over here. Telling tales on my father. This is where I get it from.

A Horse Show In 86 Tweets

Show Report: NACHS, Part III

NACHS

Day 3, continued
Adult WT Equitation National Finals – 2nd
When we discussed my previous class, I tried to accrue what credit I could, “At least I diamonded.” Well yes, but apparently I leaned forward while doing so. Note to self, do not pitch forward into turns. Stay back. Not behind the motion but not flopping over the neck either. I did this thing.

A young horse is a more difficult equitation mount than a veteran. Sam or Alvin or Willie are so steady that I can leave them to their jobs while I flounce about on top. Trump, being young, is less consistent in his motion. As a result, I tend to luff like a badly-managed sail. When I asked what to do when I threatened to lose my balance, I was told to dig my knees into the saddle. When done right, the result is not stiffness. Knees-in becomes a short-hand for getting the butt properly balanced and using the upper leg. As I warmed-up for the second class, I realized that I had indeed been riding correctly. There was a small muscle in my right, inner thigh that was most displeased with this fact. A difficult area of the body to massage while in a warm-up arena. I told the muscle to get over itself and dug in. I would be quite lame by the end of the day.

As before, I rode with as much brio as I could muster and diamonded furiously. I recall locking onto one of the signs on the wall at the top of the ring and aiming for it as if I was a heat-seeking missile. Plus, I sat up and pushed Trump around the turns. I was quite chuffed about my ride.

I did make mistakes. I got caught behind the same slow horse twice. My bad. I should have seen the problem ahead of time and made a better job of going around. As it was, the speed differential was too great for me to pull back and go around. Nor did I quite have room to pass her on the rail. We sort of waddled along behind and to the outside while I tried to keep Trump from breaking down to a walk. We did miss her on the third go.

There is a proper procedure for trotting to the line-up [Ringmanship]. I am supposed to keep in the direction I am going, circle around, and pull in as close to the ringmaster as possible. It quickly becomes a poly-variable equation calculating my speed and position and the location of the ringmaster, to be solved for the intersection of the above while avoiding the center ring island and giving the judge a final look at my elegant self. I get it right about 50% of the time. Other times. I wander around the arena, thinking ‘Oh shit, how do I get over there?’ or, as in this class, ‘Holy cow, what piece of thin air did that oncoming horse and rider just appear out of?’

When my instructor came in to be my header in the lineup, I was expecting smiles and balloons. I did not get them. She was not optimistic. I had spent too much time covered up and hadn’t been seen. At least I sat up? Yes, but I was still waving my body parts about like an overly-exuberant orchestra conductor. Sadness.

We have not had time to debrief the show, but I gather that my instructor was surprised by the result. I dunno why. I simply took what she told me to do and sold it. OTOH, this is not the first time I have startled a riding teacher by pulling a rabbit out of a show hat. I had a plan. I executed the plan. It could have gone either way, but it went my way. Result, I look like a hero. Never underestimate the ability of an Ivy League liberal arts major to assess a situation and then layer on the bullshit.

I have now shown Trump at two big shows [Report]. Both times, we have been awarded a neck ribbon and the opportunity to ride a victory pass. What a horse.

I did not win a class.

ribbons NACHS
I think I’ll survive.

My Photos
Not many from the show. None with my camera. A few with the cell phone for Tweets, see sidebar or recap in Saturday’s upcoming post. The Tweet project [Toy] was partly responsible for the lack of camera photos, but mainly I was in princess mode entire time.

At most shows, I ride in one session – usually Saturday afternoon – and then mooch about trying to be helpful for whatever of the show I can stay to watch – usually Friday and Saturday evenings. These are the times I take pictures. Once the make-up goes on and the hair-spray is applied, I’m thinking about my ride, not photos. So, all sessions, no photos. Plus, it’s hard to handle a camera when one’s gloves are taped to one’s wrists. Seriously. It smooths out the line and prevents gaps.

Photos by Sandra Hall
National Academy Championship Horse Show. Chestnut horse, light blue vest, only helmet.
Friday Morning > 014 – WT Pleasure Adult
Friday Evening > 021 – WT Equit Adult
Saturday Morning > 039 – WT Equit Adult Champ
Saturday Evening > 053 – WT Pleasure Adult Champ (last class of the flippin’ day …
Sunday Morning > 054 – Adult WT Pleasure NF (… and the first class the next morning!)
& 062 – Adult WT Equit NF. I ordered NAF13-062-029. I usually wait for advice on which one looks best for horse & rider. This time, I wanted the victory pass, complete with ribbon blowing in the breeze. In the pic, Trump is pulling a trifle. My instructor is at the end of the ring tossing dirt to attract his ears. Trump is making a beeline for her. I am letting him rock & roll. I seem to have trouble keeping the lid on during victory passes. The following shot, NAF13-062-030, is a close up of me. It is not as good of the horse, so I did not order it. However, take a look if you want to see what it feels like to achieve a year-long goal.

POB – Parade Of Barns:
Stepping Stone Farm, NAF13-POB-023 – NAF13-POB-027, including greeting my adoring public, NAF13-POB-026. Still shot NAF13-POB-097.

Trump & his owner are in four classes of WTC 13 and 14, B section, Friday & Saturday mornings. Light tan pants, pink vest, dark pink (?) tie.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, was my show weekend in Murfreesboro, TN. Next time, we canter. On purpose.