Future Planning

This post is by way of a time capsule to compare how I feel now with what transpires in 1, 2, 5 years.

Through 2015
The final 2013-2014 Winter Tournament show was a week ago. The banquet is this weekend. My prediction is that I have one more Winter Tournament in me. I plan to show this season and next in Academy walk-trot-canter. Not as many shows as last year, but a goodly number. Go to Nationals at least once for WTC, perhaps twice depending on the results over the summer. Two years of cantering classes will make three years of Academy total. If I’m not riding a horse of my own – TB jumper, ASB eventer, whatever – by the end of that, I’m taking up Tiddlywinks.

Not really, but it will be time for major change. The natural evolution would be to move out of Academy into performance classes. While suit classes would be a hoot, I don’t see myself making the fulltime commitment to saddleseat that would be necessary [Suiting Up].

At some point, one must stop hitting one’s head and admit that the wall has won.

Through 2014
Along those lines, I don’t know where the blog would have been without saddleseat and the shows to write about. This year, I can compare & contrast with last year. But that’s it. If I’m not doing something new/different/exciting – see above – by the end of this year, the blog will run out of steam. If my life looks exactly the same at this time next year, I will certainly enjoy my third (if all goes as planned) year in Academy, but I don’t see the narrative potential.

This is not a prelude to a hysterical meltdown over the blog, although I am certainly capable of those [Where, Baack]. It’s more about diminishing material. If I don’t add new data to the system, three years of daily blogging will have sucked dry everything I have to say on the subject.

At some point, I will run out of archive photos to fall back on [Happy Halloween]. If I have a new face, or an old face pulls his socks up and does something new, then by all means, I will blather away.

In Sum
Many things can happen between now and then, both good and bad. However, given an extrapolation of the current starting conditions, this is how I envision the future arranging itself.

We shall see.
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Gratuitous Cat Picture
R&R Jan 07 14

Pasture Astronomy

Another winter storm & cabin fever have leached me of all inspiration. Counting down to daylight savings time (March 9, 22 days) and Spring (March 20, 33 days). Given the celestial nature of these thoughts, here is sunset & moonrise Thursday evening from the pasture and backyard.

sun feb 13 14

moon Feb 13 14

Since walking a Bassett Hound lends itself neither to artistry nor to contemplation, I had swapped my camera for my cell and was listening to Audible (The Androids’s Dream by John Scalzi [Tor 2006], narrated by Wil Wheaton, chapter 1). Took these with the camera app. Not bad for a cell phone camera.

Spring countdowns
Timeanddate.com – Countdown till Spring 2014
mycountdown.org – Spring

Duration calculators
Timeanddate.com – Date to Date Calc
daycalc.appspot.com

The Spring countdowns do not match. Go figure. Despite the digital toys, I double-checked the numbers old-school by plonking my finger along a paper calendar.

Poll Results

Survey says:
poll results b

The people have spoken. Unanimously. It’s okay for me to wander about, narratively speaking. [For those who missed last week, I posted on a completely non-equine topic, Seven Life Lessons Learned From Candy Crush, and then asked for opinions on doing so, Off Topic: Yay or Nay?]

I received two further pieces of advice:

+Go with Off Topic posts but not too often. Given the 3-month time-lag between posts over on my Off Topic blog, this should not be a problem.

+Keep the Off Topic posts but add an explanatory paragraph. Done. The Candy Crush post has been updated. A similar intro will be included with other OT posts.

Thanks.
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Gratuitous Cat Pic

Brother from another mother.
Brother from another mother.

Show Tweets: Winter Tournament 3, Leeds AL

Last year, I showed late in the afternoon. This year, I rode first thing in the morning. I was finished within an hour of the show starting. Therefore, my stress level during the lunch break was way different.

This should have been attached:
H'more rings crop
Not a stellar picture, but the tweet would have made more sense.

Show Report: Winter Tournament 3, Leeds AL

H'More sign Feb 2014 cWell, that was a struggle. Not the show. My rides were standard horse show classes. The day itself was a struggle.

Friday
My car is in the shop. Ironic, given yesterday’s repost suggesting a car for a trouble-free existence. Anyway. Last week, I was in a pissy mood. This was attributed to my being stuck out in the boonies sans transport. By Friday, it was clear that part of my attitude came from a bug in the system. No obvious ailment, but I spent the day huddled in bed trying to stay warm.

Previously, I had arranged to drive to the barn Saturday morning, travel with the horses, and stay the day at the show. On Friday, I decided to meet at the show, ride, & come right home. If I am willing to cut short a horse show, I must be sick. Oh, I was still planning to ride, I wasn’t that sick.

This may have been one reason I wasn’t stressing.

Saturday
Woke up feeling much better. Decided to stay with the plan to drive in case I changed my mind. Started the packing for which I didn’t have the energy the day before. Only to have Mathilda spike a mild fever and refuse treats. Haven’t we been here before [Back: updates]?

Her chief minion tempted her with grazing. I ran to the store to stock up on carrots. Some grass. No dice on carrots. Never a good sign from her. She was clammy either from sweat or from lying down. Remembering my day under the covers, I heated two of Rodney’s back pads to cover her with warmth and wool. We also discovered that she had scrapped her fetlock in getting up. Mild, but it had to sting. We put on suitable goo. After about 45 minutes – whether from coincidence or supportive care – her fever had edged down & she was lipping hay. I left for the show, promising to return ASAP.

Driving to the show, I had to wonder if the universe was trying to send me a message. Every one of the three Winter Tournament shows has been a struggle to get to. Or not get to.

To finish this thread. As soon as I got done with the classes, I checked my phone. Mathilda was eating hay and leaving nose prints in her grain, if not eating any. Nothing much for me to do. I stayed at the show until my sense of guilt outweighed my sense of usefulness. When I came up the driveway, it was to hear that she was eating her lunch.

Whew.WT number 2014
Advanced Horsemanship WTC Adult – 5th out of 5
New horse for me to show & a mare at that. Maggie was a star.

Finished lower than the last show [Report] but rode better. I remembered to use my outside rein for the canter transitions, got both my leads, and I finished my passes. We haven’t debriefed at a lesson yet, but I don’t think I would have ridden much differently if I had been able to make it out to the barn in the intervening weeks. I still have lots to learn/adjust/adapt, but I didn’t backslide into hunt seat as much as I might have.

OTOH, if I had been riding regularly, I’d have been less sore afterward. Ouch.

Also on the plus side, my instructor thought the judge could have placed me higher without interrupting the time-space continuum & I was the only Academy rider. All in all, I feel better about coming in last than I probably should.
pink rosette
Advanced Equitation WTC Adult (Pattern) – 1st, or last, out of 1
Stayed on Maggie instead of switching to Sam, the SSF pattern horse. As the only rider, I wasn’t trying to beat anyone, just survive the class. Maggie got a little strong on the second canter. Galloping about was kinda fun, but since I was trying to look pretty rather than reach escape velocity, I elected to stop as soon as asked. No extra passes here.

For the pattern, she was as attentive as I could ask for. I got all of the pieces in the right order AND managed to be sufficiently organized to prepare for each piece. Go me. Granted, it wasn’t the most elegant ride possible. Smoothness was not optimal. While saddleseat allows for voice cues, I don’t think that means yelling HO! to obtain the middle halt. Ah well, first ya gotta do, then you do it fancy.

Ironically, it was a better than many of my dressage tests, as I was riding a well-schooled lesson horse rather than a mildly-trained, recalcitrant OTTB. When I got it right, the horse got it right. Immediate positive reinforcement.
blue rosette
Judge’s Opinion
When I lined up for the second class, the judge came over to tell me that I had, “The most beautiful riding legs.” To which the correct response was “Thank you.” rather than “So, last place? WTF?”

If my leg is technically correct, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, that leaves me with two questions:

1) What sort of disaster zone is my upper body?

2) I’ve always liked my legs. They’ve always done what I want. Do I like them because they do what I want or do they do what I want because I like them?

Photo
No pictures of us. Maggie in her driving togs at an earlier show. Photo originally appeared in Been There, Done That: Still more Winter Tournament. L to R, Courtney Huguley, Kathie Mautner, Maggie.

maggie driving