Search and rescue

When I was a teenager, I spent four summers working on the horse staff of a local day camp.

Instead of owning property, the camp was based at Hahamongna Watershed Park.

Formerly known as Oak Grove Park, this park spans approximately 1,300 acres between Devil's Gate Dam and the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.

It's a vast, wild space with interconnected, multi-use trails, a creek and, sometimes, quicksand.

A person could get lost in there.

A camper could get lost in there.

During my third summer, the powers that be arranged a lost camper drill. One of the older kids was hidden somewhere in the arroyo, and the entire camp went into lockdown (campers and counselors) and search (non-counselor staff) mode. As part of horse staff, I was on the search team. We were each given a part of the park to search. Then we mounted up and headed out. 

I chose to ride Cinnamon, that good pony who'd brought to the camp.

We knew this was a drill, so I wasn't feeling any urgency. Instead, I was enjoying a rare solo ride on one of my favorite horses. 

We made our way to the dam, trotting and cantering as the trail allowed.

Every now and then, I'd remember to call out the missing child's name. Imagine my surprise when one of those calls received an answer!

After ascertaining that he was okay, I asked if he wanted to walk or ride back to camp. He said ride, so I pulled him up behind me, and we rode back to the logs, where the rest of the camp was assembled.

riding double - or triple - was a common occurance at this camp in the 1980's

There we received a hero's welcome. Even though I knew it wasn't real - or even deserved - that felt really good.

That's my one real-life search and rescue experience. It was really fake and really fun.

Dog and Pony prep, part seven

It's called Ridiculous Performance, but that doesn't actually mean all the entries need to be ridiculous.

Some can be completely conventional. For example, class ten - Where's Timmy? - sounds a lot like Search and Rescue to me.

Which is convenient because I just happen to have this old search and rescue saddle blanket in my stash.

When I say old, I mean old. This was one of my first cross stitch projects ever, and boy, does it show. I ran out of floss partway through and finished with almost - but not quite - the same color. Even worse, there were significant measuring errors. The blanket is long and narrow and doesn't work with any of my English or Western saddles.

Thankfully, I have other options.

With an assist from my friend, Anne, I bought this beautiful Australian saddle by Steff Honrath back in 2020. I've never shown it.

October 25 will be the day.

Once that was sorted, I moved on to the most important part of the entry: Big Dog.

Or more precisely, Big Dog's search and rescue harness.

A quick Google search showed me that canine search and rescue harnesses come in all sorts of styles, most of which are red. This one is kind of a mish mosh, and it's blue to match the saddle blanket.

The signage - such as it is - was designed on my laptop, printed on printer paper and glued into place. Simple and cheap, my favorite!

The pieces of this entry span over twenty five years of my tackmaking career. It's very satisfying to see them together like this.

As much as I love ridiculous performance, I'm glad there are opportunities for more conventional set-ups, too. I am really enjoying the flexibility of this class list!

Dog and Pony prep, part six

After more than two decades of almost continuous, multiple dog life, we are now a single dog household.

Or perhaps I should say, we are a single, full scale dog household.

Small scale is a different story.

I have so many model dogs.

You've seen them.

It's clear I have a problem.

I also have an enabler.

More than a few of my dogs are Alexey's thrift shop finds.

Take that big dog in the red shirt for example. Here's how she found her way to my house.

She's been standing on my shelf for almost a year, quietly minding her own business. This state of affairs might have continued indefinitely, but than I decided I need a big dog for one of my Dog and Pony Show performance entries.

Specifically, I needed Big Dog.

I picked her up, dusted her off and realized that Big Dog was a little worse for the wear.

She had a lot of missing paint, plus some fake snow affixed to her ear and coat.

Clearly, she needed a makeover.

Here's how she looks now.

I touched up her paintwork, painted her toenails and added some black to her tail.

Ready for the showring!

Don't worry. The sweater will be back, as will some of the many other tack items Big Dog now owns.

For the first time ever, my main performance model is a dog. A Big Dog.

Go-with dog

Not every year, but more years than not, Seth and I set aside a day in September to visit the Colorado high country and take in some fall color.

We always bring a furry friend with us.

For the first six years or so, Emma was our go-to dog.

She liked riding in the car...

and going for little hikes in the mountains, 

but she did not enjoy walking around mountain towns or eating at restaurants.

"Just leave me in the car, Mom. I'm good."

She became more social with time - and Prozac - but really, this was never her favorite thing.

By the time Piper arrived on the scene, Emma was happy to retire from traveling.

Oh, my sweet girl. 

I miss her so.

Seth and I have maintained a two dog household almost continuously since 2003.

After Emma died, I said I wasn't ready for another dog, but I assumed that was a temporary feeling. Nearly three months later, I'm not so sure. More than any dog since the first dog, Piper feels like enough.

This little dog is good at everything.

She's good at home.

She's good in the car.

She's good at wilderness adventures.

She's good at urban adventures.

She gets along with other dogs.

She could be friendlier with people, but I don't hold that against her.

She doesn't really like horses either. 

Nobody's perfect, but truly, this dog comes pretty close.

As Seth and I were driving to Cripple Creek, we remembered all the places Piper has gone with one or both us.

"Which do you think is her favorite?" I asked.

Then we spent some time discussing the canine merits of mountains and canyons,

oceans and lakes...

and zoos and shopping malls.

Eventually, Seth said, "I don't think her favorite is a place. She just wants to go with us. She is our go-with dog."

He's right, of course. Piper is our one dog that does it all. Our go-with, be-with dog.