In the last day, I’ve developed some kind of cold/allergy/flu thing, which certainly bodes well for closing hunt tomorrow. To make matters worse, I think I accidentally took the nighttime Theraflu this morning. Keep your fingers crossed it wears off before I braid Gina this afternoon….Anyway, here’s what was on my radar before I started coughing and sneezing nonstop:
ONE Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories
This was a pretty interesting article; it makes the argument that British children’s stories are better and more appealing because the culture is rooted in mythology and folklore. American literature tends to be defined by its moral lessons, leaving less opportunity for imaginative thinking on the part of the reader. I don’t think it’s a completely accurate assessment, but it’s an interesting point of view.
TWO Exercises to Develop Your Horse’s Straightness and Collection
Gina has beautiful auto-changes. If you’re cantering and you even think about changing directions, she switches leads. This is fun to play with and probably great for the hunter ring, but it’s terrible for our dressage tests. First Level has the canter to trot transitions on a diagonal, which Gina interprets as flying change time. (Simple changes are for less majestical horses.) First-3 also includes a shallow loop at the canter, which also equals flying change in Gina’s brain. Lately, I’ve been working on reassuring her that the counter canter is not the source of all evil; it’s slow going, but these exercises from Dressage Today are helping.
THREE Sport of Kings Challenge series
The Sport of Kings Challenge is an annual event held in Oklahoma City for OTTBs that benefits Thoroughbred Athletes, a local racehorse re-homing organization. This year, they’ve expanded to a three show series. I’m entertaining the idea of competing Moe in their jumper division at a couple shows; he is a good jumper and the classes are only $20! I haven’t been to a jumper show since, uh, 2006 or so, so you’ll all have to help me remember how they work.
FOUR Woodford Reserve’s 2016 Kentucky Derby bottle
While I’m not totally certain I’ll be hosting my own Derby party this year (because I might be working at a show), I probably ought to pick up one of these bottles anyway!
FIVE SprinklerBandit’s #Fail Contest results
If this isn’t the best way to start the weekend, I don’t know what is!
Happy Friday, y’all!
Sounds like a fun show!!!
Oooo that bottle is beautiful!
Definitely go do that with Mow! Jumper shows are just like your stadium portion of evening. Wait for the whistle, just fast and clean. Wait for the second whistle, do your jump off. Easy peasy!
Hope you’re feeling better asap, I want you to go hunting!
I am kind of jealous that OTTB get such cool show series. You should totally do it!
Aw man I LOVE Woodford! I’m even a member of their Woodford club. Have you seen 14 Hands’ Kentucky Derby edition? http://udiga.com/kentucky-derby-red/
Ooh interesting articles! Also def take Moe to the show, sounds like a blast haha. Hope you are feeling better for the hunt today!!
You should definitely do the Sport of Kings Challenge! I’d come watch ya! I was just looking at their show bill (ahem, I mean “prize list”) on facebook! I saw they’re doing an all breed show, which is pretty cool. I was secretly hoping they’d expand to western events, but alas, they have not. Too bad, really, because so many ex-racehorses are used in the western arena.
Counter canter is such a pain when your horse is the master of the auto change. We struggled with that a lot, but learning to counter canter was a huge breakthrough for our dressage training, and made working on collection SO much easier. Good luck. 🙂