Foto Friday: A Short Tribute to Amy Tryon

Rolex 2008.

A course walk with Ms. Tryon was always intimidating. She’d wave her hand at some enormous pile of wood and say, “Oh, just kick over this.”

I interviewed her three times: on fireproofing barns [The Horse], winter exercises [Eventing USA], and time management [Eventing USA]. That ties her with Michael Poulin for the person I have written about most often. She was always well-spoken, thoughtful, informative, and gracious about making time for an an interview.

Amy Tryon is the reason I am a firefighter.

Help Me Name My Horse, Prize Offered


Update February 4, 2013: Winner declared.

Rodney is looking for his new show name.

I am terrible at names. Our 16 (?) year-old, roadside-adopted black Lab still goes by the name of Puppy, among other things. As a writer, the mot juste is of utmost importance to me. The responsibility of selected the perfect, appropriate, clever, long-wearing, easy to say/spell name paralyzes me into inaction. So, I am cloud-sourcing this. From what you know of or have read of Rodney, suggest a show name.

Seriously. He has to get his spring shots & the vet is going to ask what name to put on the Coggin’s. I need your help. Here’s what I’ve gone through so far.

Just Roscoe – He came with the name Roscoe and no show name, just Roscoe. Plus I had recently finished an essay in honor of a horse I used to ride with the show name Just George and I was feeling nostalgic. [George’s essay appeared in Horse Illustrated, Feb 2011]

Perpetual Motion – In a spirit of reinvention, we changed show and stable name. Rodney is staying as a stable name. We’ve been calling him that for too long to change now. [Square One]

Start Your Engine – Once we finally sorted out his meds, he calmed down – for a relative, Thoroughbred definition of calm – so PM was out. I’ve always liked SYE as a name but he’s not a racecar, more a high-performance, luxury sedan. [Gentlemen … ]

Joie De Vivre – This sentiment is more him, but a) he’s not Selle Francais, and b) can you imagine how this could be mangled over a loudspeaker?

Rodney’s Saga – Great free publicity but current plan is for blog life to be shorter than show career.

Please spread the word to anyone who might be good at pondering pet names. This is not a requirement, just a request.

The Fine Print
Winner: In the event of ties or similar entries, the winner will be the first to cross my eyeballs (or eardrums for the low-tech among us), regardless of any order or date on comments, messages etc. Some days you’re the windshield. Some days you’re the bug. If none of the entries tickle my fancy, the prize will not be awarded.

Deadline: The contest will be over when the vet draws blood and asks me what name to put on the test tube, most likely sometime this month, April 2012. (Update 4/20: Looks as if vet appt & therefore deadline won’t be until early May 2012.) (5/18: Make that at least JUNE 2012. Good thing we don’t have any shows planned.)(November 2012: No vet appt. No name yet. Fire away. At some point, I will have to pick a name, I will award the prize. Eventually.)

Prize: $25 gift certificate on Amazon.com.
OR
The same from the independent book dealer of your choice, provided I can reach their store online.
OR
Perhaps simply my undying gratitude, if the offer of money turns out to be a can of worms.

Rules: Rules will be added to, amended, or arbitrated at the sole discretion of the judge – me.

Entries: LMK. Blog comment, email, Facebook, phone, smoke signals. Of a preference, it would be nice to keep all the ideas together as comments on this post, but that’s not a requirement either, just me being OCD.

Caveat: Void where prohibited. Plus, I reserve the right to ditch the contest without notice if it turns out I have done something stupid &/or illegal.

Final note: If you help me find a brilliant show name, I have every intention of honoring my promise. The blather is CYA in case folks with briefcases start sending Cease & Desist letters.

Another Day, Another Set of Poles

Work: reverse poles, hither & yon, as Saturday.

Report: workmanlike & unexciting, which is the point. Although I was tempted to go for the third & farthest set of poles, I am learning from past mistakes [Doom, Nevermind]. The plan is to solidify what works before moving on [Boredom].

Ramblings for the Day: I’m not going to stop grooming. I’m going to stop yapping about it. Mainly because it ceases to be grooming after the first few minutes. He’s so fat and shiny that the dust just slides off. The rest of the time I am currying, brushing, toweling an already clean horse in an ongoing attempt to fill his bottomless need for affection. Let’s skip listing the grooming sessions from here on. Just assume massive amounts of attention are being being showered on the horse unless otherwise noted.

What is your horse’s favorite part of being groomed?

Retail Therapy

Work: PM1 groom & walk, 3 short loops with off-side leading for variety & the dog for distraction/PM2 groom.
Report: An easy day as a break from having to concentrate (him) & having to be patient (me). Given that, he was pushier than required. Pass but no star. The dog’s temporary barn reinstatement is hereby revoked.

Ramblings for the Day: I’ve never been one for shopping as a cure for what ails. I wait in the parking lot while hubby goes into the grocery store. If poke my nose inside, the checkout total goes up by $25 for snacks. (Yes, he cooks. Yes, I’m lucky. Very.) Clothes shopping is agony. I have friends who act as personal shoppers when I absolutely have to buy new clothes. Before the LEGO store opened, I’d go to the mega-mall once a year, maybe. Even tack stores aren’t a money sink. I’ll buy what I need, but don’t usually stray off-list. I’m talking about shopping for things when you already have way more than you could ever use. Shopping itself as a soothing activity. Nope. Not me. Can’t see it. Except for ….

I do NOT need more horse books

Books. I spend hours in bookstores. I buy books even though my to-read pile threatens to take over the house. More than one bookstore cashier knows me by sight. In any new town, I will head for the local bookstore. New project? New trip? Buy a book. While the ebook will never replace the codex in my heart. they do allow me to indulge in buying books NOW!

This year I gave up buying LEGO & books, specifically books as therapy, for Lent. This is the second year I have chosen a money-related Lenten discipline. One result is learning about my needs and weaknesses. The other result is that Easter Monday resembles a combination of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Today’s post-Lenten splurge was on books for Rodney: horse agility, trick training, liberty work, Western trail. Anything to keep us occupied and entertained. If nothing else, a large stack of books will project a comforting illusion of progress.

Previous post on groundwork philosophy [SIT[uation]REP[ort] II],

What is your favorite horse how-to book?

Somewhat Happy Kid With a Kinda Happy Pony

Work: as yesterday, with 2 sets of weave cones.
Report: some binky (leadrope) chewing but overall pulled his socks up and went to work.

Ramblings for the Day: I had planned to complain. Even though we are making progress this spring, it is so far from what I had hoped to be doing that progress itself is often a source of despair. I even had a pun about me being a whine for all seasons.

I can’t. He did so well today. Simple, yes, but hard for him. After a good solid grooming to settle him down, I doused him thoroughly with fly spray & went out to the weave cones near the barn. We did it 4 times: starting left, starting right, swap ends and repeat. He managed to avoid both cones and fire ant hills, which put him one up on me.

Then we went way out past the far end of the ring to the second set of weave cones. I compromised and went around the ring instead of through it to avoid his reluctance to enter the ring. An issue for another day. We did another full set of weaves. A few longing gazes in the direction of the barn and one knocked-over cone but otherwise he listened and wove. I walk backwards and steer with his nose and neck as much as with his leadrope. Physical contact helps anchor him in this universe.

We only did one iteration instead of the two yesterday because a) the weave cones themselves take more concentration than the reverse poles and b) the second set are about twice as far from the barn. When we came back to the barn to repeat the first set of cones, they went so much more easily that I could feel how much more relaxed he was in this location versus working off in the far, far distance. (Okay, when I went to catch him, he was grazing even farther away. I believe that is termed Not a productive line of inquiry.)

I want to get upset and rage about all the shows we could be doing, but he tried so hard and he listened so well today. If I slow down and see things from his point of view, I can see the effort he puts into trying to understand and trying to do it right. How can I get mad at that?

What are your spring plans?

Going To The Dogs

Work: PM1 grooming, exercise [reverse poles – hither & yon]/PM2 grooming.
Report: one set of poles near the barn, another set in the middle of the field. The only variable was the distance from the barn. It was subtle but I think he walked more confidently the second time we headed out.

Ramblings for the Day: In an effort to find Basset Hound breeders in our area, we hauled ourselves out of bed this am in time make the first class of the day. Unfortunately, two Bassets were entered but none showed up. Before anyone asks, yes we have tried Basset Rescue. In two states. Many of the dogs are senior. Abby lived to be 17. We were hoping to put off replaying the special joys of a seriously senior dog for a few years. Another situation felt morally correct but legally dicey. We even offered to adopted a bonded pair. The sister was cool but the brother need a quiet, stress-free household. So not us.

Revved up animals. People in show clothes. Traffic jams at the ingate. Grooming areas that smell of shampoo. Announcers over the loudspeaker. Ring stewards looking for entries. Judges. Ribbons. Vendors. A dog show feels a lot like a horse show.

We are short of our arbitrarily imposed pet limits by one dog, two cats, and one horse. Stray cats have stopped coming up our driveway. I don’t begin to know how to start shopping for a third horse. And now we can’t even look at Bassets much less find one to adopt. Although I am an advertised cat person [Barn Dogs], I hoped that bringing in a dog might uncork whatever karmic blockage is keeping us from filling our household vacancies.

Do you speak cat &/or dog &/or horse?