The Rider And Driver, 1893

Harness Racing has begun at Prairie Meadows here in Iowa.  Coupled with the waning colors of fall, I always find myself reminiscent.  Usually this sends me straight to the NY Times Archives, but, ho, I found another source of bygone relevancy today.  Thank you, accidental sagacity!

The Rider and Driver, copyright 1983, courtesy of the Stanhope Libraries is a treasure trove.  An article on the coaching revival, various viewpoints on what constitutes a True Saddle Horse for promotion in the Chicago World's Fair and predictions about the participation of draft horses at said fair, scuttlebutt about the metamorphosis of harness racing with the introduction of the bicycle sulky, and much more all promise to keep me in bedtime reading for awhile.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I:
http://books.google.com/books?id=eAfc5oJJjZoC&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

The Mermaid's Dad

As Beautifully As I Can

When I was a tween, my mother made me join the town swimming team.  There were a number of reasons why swim team was a complete torture for me.  Firstly, it took time away from riding horses.  Secondly, I have many confirmation faults that can not be disguised by a Speedo.  Standing next to the other lithe, long legged little mermaids on swim team, I felt like a troll with my high waist and thick thighs.  Lastly, while I can swim, I am not a fast swimmer.  Coupled with my fierce competitiveness, I felt like a failure of a troll.  My coach helped [unwittingly] heap insult to injury by assigning me to be the anchor of the B Team's Medley Race.

At every meet, after the beautiful, bronzed dolphin swimmers had completed the race, I stood at the edge of the pool, while my fellow troll teammate floundered through her laps of the butterfly stroke, before I dove in and swam my lengths.  All alone.  When I finished, I drug my rubber limbs from the pool and dove into the anonymity of my beach towel.

"Everyone went to the concession stand," I told myself.  "No one was watching."  Dripping hair about my face disguised the tears of humiliation.

After one particularly gruesome home swimming meet, I was trudging in flip flops, robed in beach towel back to the car, to get the You'll Just Have To Try Harder Lecture when one of the Mermaid's Dads stopped me.  "I just wanted to tell you that my favorite part of these swim meets is watching you in the Medley Relay.  You swim so beautifully."  I hope I remembered to thank him despite my tween stupor at his compliment.

When I climbed into the car, I burst into uncontrollable, convulsive sobs, so moved was I by this man's kindness.  Misunderstanding, my mother said, "Well, if you feel this strongly about it, I guess you don't have to go to swim team anymore."

"No!" I shrieked and those sobs choked out any form of explanation.  She let out one of her characteristic I'll Never Understand You Child Sighs and drove me home.

I finished the season in swim team, trying to swim as beautifully as I could in the medley relay for the Mermaid's Dad. The Troll Team never came close to winning a race, but we came third once.  As I climbed out of the pool, I heard cheering, lead by none other than The Mermaid's Dad.

He died too few years afterwards.  At his funeral, I promised him I would spend the rest of my life trying to do everything I could not do as well as others as beautifully as I could.

For the most part, I have kept my promise.  I try to walk and breathe as beautifully as I can.  I try to ride and drive horses as beautifully as I can.  Whether I can win or not, I try to compete as beautifully as I can.  And whenever I can, I give an awkward little girl a compliment from my heart: as the legacy of the Mermaid's Dad.

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

In the Box Seat With Boyd Exell

Our dear friend and ace film maker, Tim Maloy of Cavewood Productions has produced a brilliant series of film shorts with Boyd Exell driving obstacles at Sandringham. I can watch them repeatedly and see different angles and something I missed on the previous view.  These film shorts are stupendous from the advantage that you and I can witnness how the current World Champion drives: what he does and the standout things that he does not do.

I am not going to spoil these films by babbling.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Once again: All Hail, Tim Maloy!  And sincere thanks to Boyd Excell for sharing his seat with us.


Boyd Exell - Sandringham Obstacles 1 and 2 from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.



Boyd Exell - Sandringham Obstacles 3 and 4 from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.



Boyd Exell - Sandringham Obstacles 5 and 6 from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.



Boyd Exell - Sandringham Obstacles 7 and 8 from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.


Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation Company.

Morning Dew Musings

My dew laced weather vane

A low mist hung in the corn under a lilac and rose pink sky this morning before the sun dawned.  The birds and the crickets were singing as I sipped a cup of Mocha Java, contemplating the day.  "Iowa," I mused.  "You can be so bewitching...Ouch!  Bloody Hell!"  Mosquitoes were biting chunks out of me.  That is how it goes: get too sentimental about Iowa and it bites you in the ass.  Literally.

Dawn is starting to sleep in as the kids go back to school.  Heavy dew drips from the corn and the infernal heat of summer is only an ember most days.  All the signs that Villa Louis Carriage Classic is right around the corner.

With the strength and conditioning phase of training over, Don Pecos and I are working on elasticity and form.  This is the most difficult part of the training curriculum, but also the most rewarding. I must convince the horse to repackage his strength from stamina into performance.  While Don Pecos never complains, he just 'pretends' that he doesn't 'get' it, perhaps with the hope that I will give up or the season will end.  But I know he has it inside.  I just have to get it out in two weeks for the show.  And before winter wraps us in her long, cold embrace.

Oh, Iowa...

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Worth 1000 Words

Theresa Burns and her four in hand in front of the Villa Louis.  Photo: Lori Schoenhard

 As preparations for Villa Louis Carriage Classic come quickly, thinking about organizing photographs of your turnout are probably not on the list.  This year, I am having Lori Schoenhard concentrate on my turnout.  Her photos are really lovely and her perspective differs from the established horse show photographers in that she looks for the picture to tell a story, rather than an overview of the turnout.  It is just nice to have a different angle.

The Picnic Class at Villa Louis Carriage Classic.  Photo by Lori Schoenhard

 Lori grew up in Prairie du Chien and worked summers at the Villa Louis.  For the last few years she has attended the show with her camera and taken some really memorable shots.  "It would be nice to actually get to meet the people I'm photographing," she told me recently.

Lucy, Don Pecos and I in the workout section of the Picnic Class at Villa Louis Carriage Classic.  Photo by Lori Schoenhard

 So, here is your chance to have a personal photographer 'follow' your turnout at the show.  Lori can be reached through her website: http://lorischoenhardphotography.com/ Or view more of her Villa Louis Carriage Classic photos at: http://lorischoenhard.zenfolio.com/villa-louis-carriage-classic-2010

Blanket for Two: the Picnic Class at Villa Louis Carriage Classic.  Photo by Lori Schoenhard

Looking forward to seeing all our friends at the Villa Louis Carriage Classic, September 9,10,11th, 2011!

Kind Regards, Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company

On The Fly: A Brief on Bugs

With summer in full swing, and fly season entering its third month here in Iowa, I thought I'd share some of the tricks that have been working for my horses thus far.  The Morgans suffer from fly bites so horrifically they rub themselves raw.  All but one of them refuse to leave on fly masks and fly sheets are shredded within hours.  So, I have to treat the symptoms.  I have tried garlic, vinegar in the water, feed through fly control, fly predators, composting manure, timed fly spray misters in the stalls, Cortizone injections and a bevy of fly spray recipes ranging from costly essential oil mixtures to my own mad scientist versions [see How Does Turquoise Smell? http://hossbiz.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-does-turquoise-smell.html ] as my horses break out in enormous hives if I use fly spray with petroleum distillates: which is the only fly spray that actually works for any length of time.

This year, I had a gallon of Bronco fly spray on hand, so I decided to add some vinegar, and Dawn dish washing liquid.  The vinegar cuts the petroleum distillates to manageable levels and the Dawn helps it stick.  Or so I believe.  This worked fairly well, until it got hot and the bites were all over all the horses, not just in the usual spots.  The horses were crazy with itching, so I got out a bottle of Betadine Surgical Scrub added it to some water and gave them all sponge baths.  Which, of course, they all complained about vociferously.

But...aha..itching subsided, as did the incidence of new bite sites.  I have continued the sponge baths a couple of times a week and now my mare comes up and whinnies at me when I am bathing one of the boys, lest I forget her.  She stands stoically for her sudsing, as she has never stood for one second in her lifetime of baths.

"If this is so good as a sponge bath," I reckoned, "Maybe I should put some In The Fly Spray."  I will say with confidence, this is the first time in 14 years of treating this problem that I have felt I was at least keeping up with it, rather than continually losing the battle until October.  I put about a 2-3 table spoons of the Betadine Surgical Scrub in the fly mix of Bronco/ Vinegar/Dawn to make a half gallon of potion.

The Morgans can come and go as they please, inside or out, so they manage their own grazing. I spray them twice a day [more if it's beastly hot & humid] with my homemade hooch fly spray.  This system is working quite well, but when I leave for five days for a show, I return to find them insect bitten mad horses.  After a couple of days of sponge baths, we are back to a manageable bug tolerance level.  Sponge bathing 4 horses isn't as time consuming as it sounds, you really only have to scrub the suds into their coats, not dowse them with it.

This is not a cure, don't get me wrong, but it is a vast improvement for my herd.  It is cheap enough, with results in a short period of time.  Let me know if it works for you.

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation Company.

Introduction to Vehicle Performance

The Whip's Retort has published a very interesting article on center of mass in marathon carriages.  While this may sound like more than you need to know, I found it quite enlightening:
http://drivingnews.us/whipsretort/

Driving a gig, which has a very high center of mass, I have learned from experience that I can't take turns too fast.  People always remark that driving a gig takes a lot of bravery, but mostly it is a case of respecting the vehicle and understanding its limitations.  I know I'm not going to be the fastest through cones, so I adjust my strategy and try to find the best route for the gig.  This usually involves taking turns slower and tighter.

However, in the marathon carriage, there just might be a false sense of security for some folks.  Having the experience with the gig, I naturally drive slower and look for angles.  This article made me stop to consider a few things.  Of course, there are very many variables involved in any equation and when people and animals are added the results are bound to be incalculable.  However, I think this article has value and I hope you find it useful.

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com