ISO Wheels For Milton

Awareness of the outside world. The Archaeologist: This incredibly preserved 4,000 year old wagon made of just made of just oakwood, unearthed in Armenia. 2022.

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Milton is recovering well from his cart incident. A small bump remains on the outside of the offending leg, but minor swelling is gone. Rehab helped along by excellent bodywork from Anita Miller of Robin Hood Therapy, LLC. [Delay Of Game] & [A Bout of Bodywork]

The cart, on the other hand, does not self repair. We are using this time to get a vehicle more suited to Milton.

The easiest thing would be to buy another jog cart. Light, inexpensive, easy to find. Unfortunately, Milton prefers to have as little weight as possible on his back. Hence driving over riding. Since a jog cart has two wheels, the shafts balance on the horse’s back. Also, it tends to bounce around since our backyard has more variable terrain than one would find in a ring.

Our marathon cart has four wheels, so it supports its own weight and thereby takes the weight off his back, but he thinks it’s heavy. He’s not wrong. [New Equipment: Carriage]

The ideal conveyance would have …

The lightness of a jog cart,

The four wheels of carriage,

But not the price tag of a fine harness buggy.

Onwards!
Katherine

Loot By Loot, Virtual Tevis 2024

Awareness of the outside world. “we really living in the the most difficult section of someone’s AP gov exam in 2053” @peachyblackg0rl Jul 21 2024. Hat tip to M.

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Virtual Tevis Prizes

Our loot for this year. Two shirts, medal, & sticker.

IRL Tevis Breed Report

The 2024 Western States Trail Ride was this past Saturday & Sunday. The Tevis Cup: Preliminary Entrant List

No Thoroughbreds this year.

Three & 1/2 Saddlebreds. Socks & Kathleen Daley got as far as Last Chance, 50 miles. Brave & Natalie Law and Coco & Layla Law got as far as Foresthill, 68 miles. Tevis Cup: Standings

All three are CH-SH, i.e. champion sport horse, which I guess you’d just about have to be by the time you qualify for Tevis. ASHBA: CH, CH-EQ, CH-SH and CH-HS

Sheba is listed in the Standings page as Arabian X and on The Prelim Entrant List as National Show Horse (Arab x ASB). Sheba & Charisse Glenn got to Last Chance, 50 miles.

No Standardbreds on any of the official forms. Ranger is listed as a Kentucky Mtn Horse. Facebook comment said Ranger is a Standardbred cross. Ranger & Annette Phillips got as afar as Michigan Bluff, 62.5 miles.

Much more happened, both good & bad. I’m going with this since it is my area of interest.

Winning story [will post when I find coverage]

From 2021 when one of these ASBs finished, ASHBA: CH-SH Mo’ Motion Jack Finishes 37th in the 2021 Tevis Cup 100 Mile One Day Ride.

Virtual Tevis Results Recap (repeated for consistency)

Virtual Tevis Cup 2024, 100 Miles in 100 Days, 10 April to 21 July.

Rodney, 100 Miles, 10 April to 24 June.

Milton, 100 Miles, 10 April to 1 July.

Virtual Tevis Posts [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Alfalfa Strike

Awareness of the outside world. CDC, National Wastewater System: State and Territory Trends. Hat tip Your Local Epidemiologist: A Summer Covid-19 Wave, Jetelina, Jul 18. 2024

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Both horses have turned their noses up at the current load of 80/20 alfalfa/timothy hay. Yes, you read that right. 80% alfalfa and it’s not good enough for them. (We don’t feed straight alfalfa because $$ and it’s too hard to handle.)

Anyway.

It’s perfectly nice hay, recently purchased. They’ve been on this meal plan since early 2023. It’s not the idea. It’s this particular load. We’ve tried several servings from the same semi. It’s the back bales in the recent hay photo.

[Hay Stall Redo]

Nice looking hay, right? The front bales are 20/80 alfalfa/timothy. We mix & match as we go. Or, at least, we used to.

Milton will eat the 80/20. Eventually. Under protest. Rodney doesn’t so much as disturb squareness of the flake.

Massive eyeroll. 🙄

Gourmet chocolate is nice, but we don’t feel that this batch is quite up to our standards.

However.

We are reluctant to play chicken with their diet. Milton because of his tum. Rodney because he’s a skinny senior citizen.

So, we are waiting for the new load to come in.

🙄 🙄 🙄

Update [Hay Update]

Onwards!
Katherine

The Covered Ring and the Case of the Mysterious Malady

Awareness of the horse world. Show conflict. Two local shows this weekend, one ASB, one H/J, both of which I have attended in the past. Neither of which I am at this year. I expect to be a joy and delight all day.

Awareness of the horse world, for people who are not me, nor have to be around me. TODAY. Tevis Cup: Ride Day Links.

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A while back I was sick. Ridiculously, down-for-the-count, crawl-under-the-covers sick.

I was coughing, so of course I thought I had Covid.

My innards were objecting, so of course I thought I was having another diverticulitis attack.

No other symptoms. Nothing gross spewing out of my body. The cough was dry. The innards were registering a complaint but not ejecting ballast.

No aches.

No blood, no bruising, no other odd changes of color.

No fever.

With those symptoms, or lack thereof, the ER was not interested in seeing me.

So, I slept all of Saturday. Felt somewhat more human on Sunday. Better by Monday. The weekend was a write-off.

A few weeks later, same thing, but milder.

Which was when I figured out what it was.

On the Friday before the first bout, I got roped into leading beginner lessons at Stepping Stone Farm. Around and around in the covered ring. Three sets.

On the Friday before the second bout, I got talked into it again, but only one set.

The culprit?

Dust.

Years and years of dry dust and pulverized horse poop. Atomized by generations of hooves.

I was coughing, because I had inhaled so much dust.

My innards were annoyed because I had swallowed so much dust.

The second bout was not as bad because less dust.

As soon as I had an explanation, I felt better. I also drank large amounts of Gatorade and took a solemn vow never to do THAT again.

I have ridden in that ring for years. However, when one is on a horse, one is up in the air, above the half wall. When one is leading, one is down below the wall, trapped in the bowl with the dust, mired in dust, surrounded by dust being kicked up fore and aft.

Does this mean I am a ridiculously delicate cupcake princess with the resilience of a daffodil? No argument from me. I’m still not doing that again. Not a weekend I want to repeat.

Onwards!
Katherine

Additional Requirement For My Theoretical New Horse

Horses of the outside world. Iron Dames Equestrian.

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Remember I talked about getting a sport Saddlebred? [Finding A Horse To Match The Hat] & [Squad Goals, Another Class For My Imaginary Horse]

Short version. A horse who can run & jump, plus being a registered Saddlebred so I can do performance divisions at local ASB shows.

After spending the week watching virtual Lexington, no surprise, I wanna goooo! [It’s That Time of Year Again, Vicarious Lexington]

So, now my holodeck horse needs to be juuust nice enough of a Saddlebred to take me to Lexington Junior League horse show without embarrassing me or my barn. I don’t require making a habit of it, but riding into the Rolex arena just once would be nice.

Okay, it looks like the eventers get to jump in the big ring. AEC: Schedule of Events. I’ll take that. How about both?

Been There, Done That refers to these as, “opportunities to dance in the dust of the Caesars.” More Blackpool [Louisville 2016]

Onwards!
Katherine