The Envelope, Please …

2013-seminar-logoLast Saturday, the same day that I was flailing around at the horse show [Show Report], the winners were announced for the 2013 AHP Annual Awards Contest. [nomination notice, photo]. Here’s what the judges had to say:

Personal Single Column
Circulation over 20,000 (Print)
Honorable Mention

Katherine Walcott
“Finding Safe Harbor”
May 2012
Published in Horse Illustrated
Reader’s interest is piqued right away by the height disparity between the rider and her mount. It’s a well‐written account of a horse being ridden into a new mindset. [Awards Program].

Given the size of the class, the judges awarded 1st, 2nd & 3rd place, with two Honorable Mentions. I was essentially tied for 4th out of 18. The winning topics were more serious and of broader reach: the importance of a correct diagnosis, the value of getting fit to ride, and convincing people to wear helmets.

Since I did not go to the meeting, I was not able to swan about with a “Finalist” ribbon on my name tag either. Guess it wasn’t my weekend. Yeah, yeah, the previous weekend I won big [Show Report]. We wants them all, my Precious.

Here We Stand

This weekend, Rodney had a stand lesson. Not practicing the halt under saddle. Not waiting while other horses pass by. Just standing for several minutes, wearing a halter, in his own field, 10 feet from the barn.

For groundwork and eventual liberty work, I had bought Rodney a nice leather halter [Theory]. He objected to it vehemently [Slow Lane]. Since then, our lessons have been all about making peace with what most horses accept as a matter of course.

I had been putting the halter on and walking him about the pen making circles of various sizes, roll-backs, turns on the forehand, etc. Our big adventure was to put on the halter and walk out of the barn. I have no idea what he expected but I could see him radiating tension.

So we stood. I talked to him. I scratched his nose. Although he still looked at me as if I was practicing hojojutsu [formalized, decorative binding of a prisoner, Wiki], he was willing to concede that I had not sprouted fangs and attacked. Yet.

A stand lesson. We make progress at the speed of an advancing ice age.

Ringmanship

It’s a bad sign when the judge comes over to tell you the rules.

In the saddleseat ring, they like a rider in the center of the ring to go all the way out to the rail and make a gradual sweeping turn, lets say to set up for a pattern or for a victory pass. Two weekends ago, when the time came to line up, I was planning just such a maneuver in a vastly big ring only to hear the voice-of-god, aka my instructor, yelling “Turn, Turn now.” This got stored in my head as Don’t waste time – get to the line-up as fast as possible.

Last weekend, when the line-up was called, I was at the completely wrong end of the ring. The other rider was already in place. I would need to trot three-quarters of the way around the ring to pull in next to her. This seemed excessive. Remembering that I needed to get to the line-up as fast as possible, I cut across the ring. I was aiming for a diagonal but ended up with more of a serpentine. Saddlebreds perform in a set pattern. They aren’t big on spontaneous maneuvers. I knew I was in trouble when Trump pinned his ears and informed me that he had not signed up for a Handy Hunter Class, thank you very much.

As we stood in the center, the judge came over to explain that I should have stayed in the direction I was headed. There is even a rule to that effect. Apparently, there have been collisions when riders are let loose to freestyle into the line-up.

Show Report: ASHAA Summer Fun Show, Chelsea AL

Same Time, Next Year
One of my first posts from Stepping Stone Farm was their summer show last year [Showing in the Sun]. This weekend, I rode in the same show. How was it from the inside and a year on? Still hot, quick, & friendly. Helmets are still not an accessory of choice. Ironic, since the show took place on International Helmet Awareness Day.

My Life as a Ring Monkey
The girls were in the barn getting horses ready (including mine – thank you!). The trainers where getting riders organized and into the ring. That left no warm bodies to work the ring. Since chronic volunteers abhor a vacuum, I got sucked into the combined job of ringmaster, runner, and gatekeeper for the morning. It was a small fun show, so it was easy enough to line the horses up, pick up the judges card, and open the gate on my way out. I realized the flaw in this plan at the beginning of one class when I had to close the gate and cross back into the center of the ring while six trotting saddlebreds tried to occupy the same space.

My Classes
My first-second tradition continues, although in this case, first and last would be more appropriate. The good news is that I won all the classes in which I rode. The bad news is that I only rode in the second class. In the first class, I simply sat on the horse with devastating lack of effect.

Resident horses often do worse at home shows. ‘Who are all these strangers and what are they doing in my living room?’ For a youthful five-year-old, Trump was a star. He came out of the barn, thought, ‘Hmm. People. Interesting.’, and then stood like a champ waiting for our class.

When we got in the ring, he took a bit more of a look. Well, duh, we were trotting. Things looked different at speed. He wasn’t bad, not even a half a bubble off plumb. Instead of reacting to the horse I had on the day, I flipped frantically through my mental files trying to remember what I had done last weekend that had worked so well. Lacking any guidance from his rider, Trump rolled on down the highway. Lapping the competition is not a good sign in a pleasure class.

Nor was my equitation any better. When I think too much on horseback, I lean forward, round my shoulders, and look down at the horse. This gets blamed on my hunter/jumper background. In truth, riding like Ichabod Crane is no more correct in hunt seat equitation than it is in saddleseat equitation.

I am human. I accept – grudgingly – that I will make mistakes. Do I have to keep making the same one? Isn’t it time to move on to better, different, more interesting mistakes?

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Previous saddleseat posts

Spectators as Riders

In a recent post, Librarian_Meets_Horse discusses his fence judge debut. While Mr. H is a newly-minted rider, from what I have read, folks in the UK will fence judge as a hobby without any interest in climbing aboard a horse. Ditto spectators.

This matches with a conversation fragment I overheard at Rolex one year. I was walking back from some briefing or another behind two big-noise officials. British Official asked what percent of the spectators were riders. American Official said almost all, most of them eventers. I would have added a few non-riding Lexington locals, but otherwise yes. This appeared to come as astounding surprise to British Official.

Two questions for Brits or British residents:
Is Eventing more of spectator sport in the UK than in the US?
What was the little yellow timer for?

Liebster Award

Warm fuzzy digital hugs to Life at the Manor for nominating Rodney’s Saga.

The Liebster Blog Award is a way to recognize blogs who have less than 200 followers.  Liebster is a German word that means beloved and valued.

See RS About comment section for the nomination, LatM post for rules and other recommended equine blogs.

Unfortunately, I don’t read enough horse-related blogs to have 11 to nominate. I certainly cruise the equine section of the blogosphere.
I’ve found cool individual posts, see my post tomorrow. However, I don’t research the area sufficiently to speak with authority on the subject. (Ask me about science fiction/fantasy books, and I will authority your a$$ off. But I digress.) For routine maintenance, I read my friends, e.g. Writing From the Right Side of the Stall, and folks I have met thru blogging, e.g. Tails from Provence. After that I am more likely to turn to blogs that concern things about which I know nothing, e.g. life as a best-selling science fiction writer on Whatever.

The same holds true for books. I’ve read Dick Francis – who hasn’t? I have a huge collection of horse books [Retail] and a good intentions stack filled with information to help my horses &/or my riding. When it comes time to actually open a book, I’m more likely to read about wild mushrooms [quoted for Inspiration], or a graphic novel about primate research [excerpt here].

The same holds true for LEGO sets. I don’t feel compelled to buy the horse farms or firetrucks. If I want to fuss with either, I stick with the full-scale versions.

At least I’m consistent.

Do you read horse blogs/books more than other subjects?
What equine blogs am I missing out on?

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Other nominations:
One Lovely Blog Award: And the Winner Might Be
The Versatile Blogger: My Second Blog Award
Haynet Blog of the Day