Nov
5
Wordless Wednesday
Oct
24
I’m looking forward to heading home this weekend and seeing all three of these awkward fellows.
Bradley trying to regain composure while heaving himself up after a roll.
This is kind of Olio’s smile. I say “kind of” because he was faking it. You can sort of see one corner of his mouth all wrinkled up. That’s how he smiles, and sometimes he smiles because he knows that what I want him to do and not because he’s actually happy.
Santana doing… something.
Oct
23
Anticipation
Filed Under horse shows, horses, tennessee walkers | 1 Comment
This sums up one of the most prevalent horse show emotions: anticipation.
I shot this picture (discreetly, hence the large metal railing pole in the way) right after they’d closed the ingate to a big class. Everyone — trainers, friends, family, workers — at the ingate stops what they’re doing to peek over and see how the class is running, how their favorite is doing and how it will be tied.
Oct
20
Horse Show Office 101
Filed Under horse shows, horses, tennessee walkers | Leave a Comment
The horse show was a fantastic time, but man alive did it take it out of me!
I worked in the office for the whole show, which seems rather bizarre to many people because, after all, how much office work can there be in order to get a bunch of horses into a show ring?
The answer to that: A Whole Freakin’ Bunch
Trainers and owners come in and enter their horses in classes. They have a separate sheet for each horse that lists the horse’s name, registration number, Coggins # (a test for highly a highly infectious horse disease called EIA - in order to transport a horse across state lines you must have a negative test result that’s current within 6 months, and most shows require them for ALL horses for liability purposes), exhibitor number, the name/addresses of owners and the name/addresses of trainers. Then they list every class into which they want to enter that horse and who will be riding it in each class (along with appropriate trainer/amateur numbers).
Each class also has a separate sheet. We office workers must take the entry sheets and transfer the exhibitor number, horse’s name, registration number, rider’s name, owner’s name and the town/state where the owner is from onto each class sheet for every class into which the horse is entered. This just puts all of the necessary information the announcer to announce and for knowing how many/which horses are in each class all in one spot.
Class sheets have a few carbon copies, with copies going to the inspection area, the gate announcer (so he knows if all horses that are in the class have entered the gate and it can be closed), and center ring where the announcer uses it to announce and the secretary marks placements on it.
At this show there are paybacks, which means that for first through fifth place you get money back. To make it even MORE complicated, many of the classes qualify you for a stake (championship) class, and first through third places MUST show back in the stake class in order to receive prize money for their qualifying class.
So after the placements are marked on the class sheet, an office worker must go out to center ring and collect them and take them back to the office, where we go BACK to the entry sheets and mark how the horse placed in its class, the payback they receive and check to see if it’s a class require they show back in the stake, in which case that must be marked.
That’s the tip of the iceberg, at least. I won’t even get into charging entry fees, stall fees, etc. But as you can imagine, in a show with over 100 classes, this is rather labor intensive.
Despite it all, it’s a lot of fun. Being around horse people (specifically Tennessee Walking Horse people, who are amongst the nicest horse show people you will ever meet), being around horses, being around the whole show atmosphere is great.
But MAN, does it tucker you out!
Oct
16
Good Times!
Filed Under horse shows, horses, tennessee walkers | Leave a Comment
MAN, I love horse shows!
Oct
12
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Filed Under horses, tennessee walkers | 1 Comment
This past Thursday through Sunday was my midterm break, which explains my absence from all things bloggy.
I had a great break overall. Very relaxing. I went out to visit Santana a few times, which is always fun. I took him out of his stall and put him in the outdoor roundpen and watched him run around like a fool.
On Friday I was all ready to go out with April and Lil when I stopped by, so I decided to try to snap a picture of myself and the pony, since I was not wearing my camo baseball hat and wanted photographic evidence of such.
This first picture was rejected for multiple reasons. Santana was blinking, I was squinty, and I had a weird black thing on my forehead. Thank goodness for digital cameras! They’re almost better than mirrors. I brushed off my forehead and begged Santana to keep his eyes open.
This one turned out OK, so I was happy enough with it. I try not to push my luck with this kind of stuff.
I put Santana away in his stall and brushed off my forehead again… And again. It was a little itchy, and I wondered to myself if I’d gotten bitten by one of the plethora of mosquitoes that were swarming around.
I jumped into the car to go home and glanced in the rear view mirror. I knew immediately that I had to take a picture of this because it was so ridiculous:
I am sad in this picture and I promise you it is not because I’m a Klingon. That’s the Mosquito Bite from Hell, right between my eyes.
I’m not usually one to put pictures of my pores up on the internet, but feast your eyes on this bad boy! Speaking of eyes, doesn’t it look like it’s BIGGER than my EYE? I hope it’s not filled with West Nile Virus. (The mosquito bite, not my eye. My eye is filled with anguish, this much I know to be true.)
I’m going back next Sunday. I’m going to print out the first picture and find the mosquito that bit me. I’m going to find it and I’m going to SQUISH it. That is, if Santana has not first killed it on my behalf (I told him to look for the mosquito with six legs. “Hello. My name is Santana. You bit my owner. Prepare to die!”)
Sep
25
Hello, old friends!
Filed Under aggie stuff, horses | 1 Comment
I enjoyed reading The Cotton Wife’s recent post about their soybean fields.
Because, first of all, does anyone remember how much I love soybeans?
But it also reminded me of pictures I took this past weekend.
Pseudo Fall is gone and Real Fall is here. In the background of this picture, you can see the bright gold soybean field and in the distance is… anyone? Anyone have any guesses? Yes! Corn.
Ah, soybeans. And corn, of course.
They’re getting pretty dang near ready to harvest.
I don’t only take pictures of soybeans, of course. “Don’t rest on your laurels,” that’s what I always say. You’ve got to mix it up… keep it fresh!
I bet you weren’t expecting this twist, eh? Kalin taking pictures of horses? Unheard of! It’s my goal to keep you on your toes.
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Kalin is twenty-two years old.
Contrary to popular belief, she's not bilingual (though after 4.5 years of Spanish you'd think she'd know more than she does).
She loves Herefords and Tennessee Walkers. . . [READ MORE] -
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