Oh...duh! I was about to close up my laptop and then realized I did a semi-horsey thing today. My dad, brother and I teamed up to run the Race for the Rescue 5k at Gentle Giants. I hadn't run for like two weeks since it was icky outside and I was getting over a cold (notice that it didn't stop me from riding, ha), but I was able to run the whole way and even sprint to the finish.
Lol, I'm swimming in that shirt but I think I'll end up wearing it a lot. Thanks Chris L. for the picture.
I'm nowhere near as fast as my former-triathlete dad and my 18-year-old soccer-playing brother though. They both got firsts in their age groups!
It was a great course going around the perimeter of the farm--I got that feeling of "big open field...must gallop!" which, along with All Day by Girl Talk, motivated me to keep my pace up. I hope they do it again next year. Here are a couple pictures I snapped while I ran.
The Percheron and Belgian welcome wagon
My dad leaving me in the dust
They even mowed for us!
Over the river and through the woods...literally
Post-race snacks
So after that I had a HUGE lunch for a family friend's First Communion celebration (5 course lunch?!) and now I am home and very sleepy. Tomorrow in addition to the dressage lesson I'm going to get out to the tack store and take advantage of the Charles Owen return policy...because I am not going to the schooling show or the clinic with that blue thing on my head, even with a helmet cover.
Didn't want to post this online before everything was all settled and done, but I've stopped teaching lessons at the rescue. Today was my last (windy, blustery, slipping-on-ice-with-my-bad-choice-of-footwear-y) day teaching. It actually worked out great because the original instructor wanted to come back from her maternity leave for the new year.
I haven't really posted much about the lessons (aside from the crashes) since I thought it would be kind of weird to talk about how they were going when my students could easily look it up and read it. And I did enjoy teaching--but it's definitely not all fun. It was a job, which I think I took a little too lightly going into it, especially since I was getting flipped around between different groups so much at my "real" (and also fairly new) job, which basically meant a lot of change and learning and transitions every couple weeks. And I am not a person who thrives on change.
Anyway, it just amounted to that working 6 days a week just wasn't working for me. I was exhausted on Mondays. I stopped wanting to go to the rescue and exercise the schoolies. I stopped even wanting to ride at all, which you may have picked up on with my sporadic posting this fall and my reports of "meh" rides. All I really wanted to do was stay inside and read. So I guess that settles a question I was debating months ago--at least at this juncture of my life, having a horsey job actually made riding into work.
Another issue was just interpersonal stuff. Now, I'm not really talking about barn drama per se--more that dealing with people is just hard, and I'd prefer not to do it at the barn. Sure, I can be polite and professional, but the idea that I wasn't qualified, I didn't know what I was doing, and that other people knew it and were judging me for it kept picking away at my confidence, whether it was a reasonable assumption or not.When things went wrong, I would obsess and worry over them for days. I just do not have the personality for it, I think.
Also...the more I ride and deal with draft horses...the more I realize I don't really like them unless they are very athletic and don't act like draft horses. Blasphemy, I know.
Anyway, those aspects of teaching sucked. Here's what I did enjoy:
helping a student bring Remy back from a rough period where he was freaking out anytime he felt rein contact to being consistently balanced and relaxed at the walk, and much more adjustable and relaxed in the trot. "Supertrot" is not the automatic pace anymore; it kind of depends if he's feeling up or not. Cantering and jumping are still works in progress, but the every week they're making great strides forward (pun intended). That has been very gratifying to see. Can you tell I like having a project horse, especially when I don't have to ride it?
planning out interesting jump exercises for my students who jumped
the learning aspect: Possibly because I was afraid I was doing things terribly wrong, I read a lot over these past few months, listened to webinars, absorbed everything my own instructors told me, and tried to turn it around and pass useful tricks along to my students. Teaching really is the best way to learn.
nerding out with other horse-crazed people. Don't get me wrong, bloggers, I love you too, but it was good to develop some real-life horsey friendships.
bringing along students who had not been on a horse in years to the point where they were comfortable and happy learning to post the trot.
our FAUX-SHOW! Which it appears that I neglected to post about. Oops. Well, remember the show I was planning on this fall? We were all set to go...and then got rained out since the host farm has only outdoor arenas. So we had our own show, with WT, WTC, command classes, and switching of horses. Everyone got ribbons, too, since GG has done some fundraiser shows in the past. I surprised myself since I didn't think Command would be my thing, but it was actually my favorite part.
riding outside with the students
watching students new to riding creating some really sweet memories. When I would see them snuggling the horses or just quietly walking them back to the field, I was reminded of why we ride in the first place.
Here's a picture from our faux-show (couldn't get it to go in the bulleted list). Levi is the blurry gray on the left flinging his head up and down.
So--all told, I think the transition is going through smoothly. Teaching just wasn't right for me, and now I can focus on my "real" job and on my goal of horse ownership.
What about: Let's take all the students and pass on the no-stirrups work our trainers inflicted on us to the next generation? Not as catchy. via
Teehee.
So the first two lessons I taught today were 30-minute private lessons.
The first was for a re-rider who began riding at age 4, but took a long hiatus and now has some confidence issues, especially when her horse's attention starts to wander. She has just started to canter again on a big Percheron mare named Bella.
That lesson went very well so I taught another before heading home for
some Father's Day celebration. This student was a teenager who also
lessons at another farm. She has just started to canter regularly as
well with a sporty Percheron/TB named Levi. I adapted the below lesson
plan for both of these riders, so I just included everything that came up as an issue.
Setup: Four cones in a diamond shape at one end of the ring for teaching precise circles.
Walk:
Forward: Start with a nice, swingy walk. Feel the movement in your seat and alternate inside and outside leg pressure with the swinging of the horse's barrel.
Calm: Follow with seat and hands.
Straight: Pretend your hips have laser beams coming out of them (it sounds weird but that is how I like to think of it). Keep them straight and look ahead. If your horse tries to cut in, correct her with inside leg and opening inside rein. If that doesn't work, strengthen the inside leg and inside rein (without dropping the outside rein) until it does, then release and continue with your hips straight.
Two-point for one lap: Don't worry about looking like a jumper with your upper body. Feel your heels sink down and your calves connect with your horse's sides. This is the leg position to strive for. If you find your leg swinging, a little bit of (correct) two-point will help to stabilize it.
Bend in corners: Inside leg, opening inside rein, supporting outside rein. Keep the swingy, forward, following walk on the straightaway.
Circles: Ride a straight line from one cone to the next, and bend around each cone (inside leg, opening rein, then outside leg to straighten again to the next cone).
Trot:
Straight
Bend in corners
Change direction across the ring
Sit the trot without stirrups (Did this for the second rider. Levi kept cutting in at the canter and she felt that her leg just wasn't there to move him over. Believe me...I can emphathize)
Circles: (same as above)
Canter:
Canter setup: Sit the trot. Inside leg, opening rein, outside leg. Both horses cut in/were lazy so I told the students to look forward, keep their hips straight, and sort of swivel with an inside rein and leg combination. We were moderately successful but I am sure better straightness and obedience (from the horses. The students were very obedient.) will come with practice.
Feel free to critique or make suggestions! It's only going to help.
So since I know many of my readers are people I know in real life, I figured my blog is as good a place as any to update everyone on my first week of work. Total strangers, don't worry, I have horsey news too.
There are some things I really like about my office, such as
free bagel day and the fact that their kitchen really reminds me of Veridian Dynamic's kitchen. However, I received a chilly welcome to office life--not from the people, but from the building itself. I lucked out and got a cubicle by a window (where I hung my Most Spectactular Creative Dismounts award with pride), but there is an air vent that blows right down on my head. Seriously, the only day I was warm was Casual Friday, when I wore a tank top, a polo shirt, a cardigan, and a blazer. I'm tempted to invest in a pair of these and risk the taunting of my fellow cubemates:
So my job is editing, fact-checking, and formatting newsletters of stocks advice. It makes me feel very journalist-y because unlike the papers I wrote for my major, they actually have to be based in reality! The downside is that I know NOTHING about stocks. It makes me feel very lucky that my coworkers are so patient about explaining things, and that Investopedia exists. One of my assignments so far is to read the back issues of the newsletters I will be editing, and although I have to look up a lot of the financial lingo, I am picking up on the differences in each stock advisor's style. There is one I particularly enjoy because he likes to go off on tangents. So far I've found out that he hates Bush, Obama, and
"doing business with untrustworthy Muslim countries" almost as much as he loves investing in
Swedish stuff and riding his Harley.
I've also been working on fact-checking (very
time-consuming for me since investorspeak is like another language and I have to do MATH),
proofreading (piece of cake), and fiddling around with Dreamweaver and InDesign. So there is a lot to learn but there are also some things I already know, so I don't feel like a total noob.
African Violet for my office from my little brother <3
This week was also the "interview" for what might become my second job two days a week. The Gentle Giants riding instructor is pregnant and does not want to keep working outside during a Maryland summer (ie. a muggy, suffocating heat wave in which riding instructors must breathe kicked-up arena dust all day), and the Barn Manager asked me if I'd be interested in being a substitute instructor.
Let's pause here for a minute. I am in no way qualified to be a riding instructor. My own riding education has had no real rhyme or reason to it (unlike a Pony Club or Equine Studies curriculum) ; I've mostly shown at low-level fun day shows; and I don't even have my own horse. But I am still SUPER excited. And when I'm excited about something, I research and make lists, or in this case, lesson plans. So I will be posting those here for your critique and suggestions as I keep teaching.
The majority of the students are re-riders at the beginner or intermediate level. There is also a handful of teenagers of varying levels, but it seems like everyone just wants to learn the basics of safety and pleasure riding, which I think I can do. The one thing I'm nervous about is that many of the GG horses are fairly green, and I'm afraid that since most of them do not get ridden much, there will be some horrible disaster and I won't think quickly enough to coach someone through it. Just today, one of the students tried to show Sailor to a potential adopter and he took off in a bucking fit (I am pretty sure they are going to send him to the trainer's now).
So...I'm going to do my best to teach people how to be safe and to improve their horse-human communication. I already have a lot of torture surprises for the students in my toolbox: no stirrups, two-point, spiral in/out, leg yields...but hey, all of those exercises have done me a lot of good so even though there will be some aching legs in the short-term, (hopefully) there will be fewer spills and thrills in the long-term.
Hello adoring fans,
I know you've been on the edge of your seat since I first posted my suspenseful description of Sailor ("suspenseful description" meaning "a sentence I forgot to finish about Sailor." It's fixed now, thanks to a tip from analise). I finally got around to working with him yesterday, and...he was a total pain in the rear. A pain to catch, a pain to bridle, and a pain to keep focused (who am I kidding, he didn't pay attention to anything for more than 5 seconds because EVERYTHING was out to get him).
I still haven't ridden him yet. Yesterday was the first really hot day that I've gone to the barn, and that's always tough. Add the fact that it took a very frustrating two hours to catch, groom, and tack Sailor, and you've got a recipe for longe work only. We didn't make much progress, unfortunately. I tried the same trick I did with Levi (setting irregular ground poles on the longe circle) to get him to pay attention, but no dice. I just got a freaked-out horse who wasn't even looking where he was going, and thus was knocking his feet on the poles left and right.
So I tried regular longeing on the flat. It was difficult to get him to walk on the longe instead of halting and walking towards me, but I made the circle smaller and walked with him instead of just pivoting in the middle of the circle. Eventually I did get a walk, but his brain was definitely in another place. We tried the obstacle course again at the trot, and no improvement...so I changed my goal to getting him to walk over the ground poles. We did achieve that, but at that point we were both hot, sweaty, and tired. Next weekend the rescue owner is going to show me what she does to get him to focus, which will be wonderful because I really couldn't figure him out.
In other news, my job starts tomorrow! It feels like the night before the first day of school--I've got my outfit picked out, my lunch packed, and the only thing left to do is to hurry up and wait. I woke up suuuper late this morning (er, afternoon) so hopefully I will actually get to bed at a reasonable hour. I've got at least an hour-long commute to look forward to...but at least my car is finally in working order again (*crosses fingers that its transmission sadness is over for good*).
Well, until bed I'm going to watch my favorite Youtube vloggers. This is yet another tangent from my overall horsey theme, but I think you'll enjoy this small sampling. They're better than TV.
My Drunk Kitchen :This is a young lady who likes to get drunk, make puns, and attempt to cook. It is hilarious.
Jenna Marbles: I always get the urge to narrate my life in the voice that she uses to
talk to her dogs. You'll see what I mean at the end of each video.
Community Channel: This is an Australian girl who likes to comment on the weird things of
life and play multiple parts in the little scenes she thinks up to
illustrate those weird things.
I rode at Gentle Giants the day after I graduated, ready to work with Sailor and Levi. I didn't get around to Sailor that first day, but more on that later. Levi was fairly nervous while grooming, but he didn't actually do anything bad. Once I put him to work in the ring, though (short longe over irregularly spaced ground poles, like before), his brain turned on so I mounted up.
He has such a wonderful, swingy, energetic walk. I think the issue he was having in lessons must have been that students were direct reining or over-relying on their reins in some other way, perhaps clinging on his mouth during his (admittedly very big) trot. Levi does get a bit forward at the trot when he's warming up, but he'll
come right back to a less ground-covering stride if you give him a
half-halt with each stride after he's had a chance to warm up. He can take some contact--but only AFTER he gets a good rhythm going. He also responds much better to steering with leg, then opening inside rein, and a supporting outside rein. I think most of the drafts at GG are not at that level in their training yet, so perhaps the students aren't used to riding that way. It is actually probably a plus for them to get some experience on Levi, since learning to rely on your leg and seat before using your hands is a good lesson to learn. My instructor said once, "If you think you need more rein, double your leg," which is a very easy way to remember.
The funny thing about him is that he can't seem to get the right canter lead on the circle, but he gets it every time on the straightaway (tried both ways in both directions). So weird. I think it might have something to do with the fact that he will overbend on the circle if you don't keep him straight with the outside rein--not sure. Anyone have any ideas? I might try to video it sometime to diagnose the problem.
Anyway, I had such a great time with Levi that I completely forgot about my joblessness anxiety. Dapple grays just make my heart go pitter-patter, leaving no room for the insecurity that comes with being yet another jobless English major. I gave him a bath and let him graze while I pulled his mane to a respectable length, and generally fussed over what a good boy he was. When I put him back in his field, I saw that my phone had a missed call and a voicemail asking me to call back one of the companies I applied to.
Keep in mind--I had been checking my phone OBSESSIVELY for an email or call from this company for the entire weekend. I interviewed with them the Thursday before I graduated, and they said, "If we don't get back to you before you graduate on Monday, have a wonderful graduation!" I was both thrilled that they might get back to me so soon and terrified that I might have to face bad news on my big day. I called them back, and got voicemail since it was around lunchtime. I left a message, stuck my phone in the waistband of my breeches (First-world problem: iPhones don't fit in any pockets), and set myself to work putting away the ground poles and sweeping the aisleway.
About 30 minutes after I received an unrelated call (which scared the pants off me, I was so anxious) I received a call. THE call. That's right...the call offering me, the English major, a job as an Editorial Assistant one day after graduation. We chit-chatted about the particulars, I told them I was interested, and after I hung up, I shared the good news with the barn manager and then went back to sweeping clods of dirt and the shavings soaking up where Levi peed. My cheeks were burning with excitement. I'm actually glad I had to finish up sweeping (a relatively low-brainpower task) because if I had left the barn then, I probably would have gotten in an accident. There was no way I could think straight enough to ride Sailor--I left that for another day.
It was such a relief to know that I was on the road to independence. My dad took me out for crabs yesterday (parents are divorced--hence, separate graduation celebrations) and he said that me getting a job so soon after graduation made the whole English major thing seem worth it to him. In the past year or two I have grown more and more skeptical of the major since I let the tedious literature course requirements pile up on me all at once. I much preferred classes that had a clear benefit, like Copyediting, Concepts of Grammar, and Visual Rhetoric to classes where I simply repeated the read-analyze-discuss-read-analyze-discuss formula again and again. My most painful class was one where I had to read all 3 versions of Hamlet and both versions of King Lear (bet you didn't know that there are multiple Quarto and Folio versions of most of Shakespeare's works floating around out there) and compare them line-by-line, trying to create some significance out of one-word differences in versions of Shakespeare that most people will never read or see performed. Close reading is definitely useful to improve your detail-orientedness, but once you can do it, I don't really see the point in using it to meticulously obscure the meaning of passages that the author probably didn't give a second thought to. I guess what I'm saying is that maybe I should have studied journalism.
But, no matter. I have a job, and in the real world I have a feeling that results are more important than grades or majors. I've cleared the first obstacle, and now it's on to the next challenge...moving out. Eek.
So considering that the whole point of this blog is to tell you all about how I've been able to ride on the cheap in college, I figured it was high time to tell you the story of a 14hh Haflinger named Howard County Chopper. Affectionately known as Chopper, Chops, or the Chopster, she is my favorite pony of all time, and a rescue project horse that I trained for a winter.
She earned her name on Dec 28, 2010, when I attended my first auction ever at New Holland. From what I had heard, it was one of the worst kill auctions on the East Coast, although it had cleaned up its act in recent years. We Gentle Giants volunteers were on the lookout for drafts at risk of the meat man. It wasn't as dismal as I thought it would be--the horses were tied up in two rows facing the walls where they had water and hay available, but it was definitely not a happy environment. Some of the horses were in bad shape, especially hard keepers like the OTTBs, who were underweight and nervous with all the commotion and unfamiliar horses. I knew this was the last stop before Mexico or Canada for the horses who were not lucky enough to be purchased by private owners or rescues, and it broke my heart that we couldn't help them all.
Chopper caught the Gentle Giants riding instructor's eye when another person at the auction tried to pet her. The appeal was undeniable--she was a ball of winter pony fluff, except for her ears which someone had shaved bald to show that she clipped (not exactly humane in freezing weather...). Chopper lashed out at her would-be admirer, practically taking a chunk out of her arm.
When the instructor went up to check her out, Chops was all lovey dovey. She knew a good home when she saw it. I promised Christine, the owner of Gentle Giants, that I would put some miles on her over my winter break from school. She was ours for $350.
She was once used to pull firewood, but someone must have hopped on her a couple times, since she knew the cues for forward and whoa. Her steering was seeeerrriously rusty though. Here's a video of her second ride. She looks so strung out and small. I remember she would just rocket around at a supertrot until you "ran out of quarters."
I worked with her all that winter, and she soon settled into life at the rescue. When Spring Break rolled around, she had transformed into the Barbie pony I spent my childhood dreaming of.
Even I, as a HJ girl, was not going to pull that gorgeous blonde mane so I braided her up most days.
I knew that I was too tall and that I looked rather silly on her. But I adored her. She had a wonderful temperament, loved attention, and was very willing but also smart enough to make you work for it. Though she improved tremendously with steering, sometimes those issues mysteriously resurfaced when she decided to be done for the day...
Right now Chops is either in a foster home or back at Gentle Giants (can't remember)--she was adopted out on trial, but developed lameness issues during the trial period so it was a no go. I hope she does find a little girl to love her, to kiss her sweet little nose, and to get her prettied up for occasional leadline classes. She is such a special horse, and so easy to love. Even if she isn't as sound as she once was, I think she proves that rescued horses have just as much to give as others.
And funnily enough, she hasn't bitten anyone since the day we rescued her.
Go Chops Go!
EDIT 6/7/2012: Chops is at Gentle Giants with persistent lameness...so although leadline classes are probably not in her future, she does have an early retirement and a safe home, which is just as good.
Ok, so I'm going to do things a bit differently than I originally planned.
It's taking me a while to get through each horse, and what with homework and job applications, it's rather daunting to have all three horses prepared at once. So I'll do longer, more in-depth conformation assessments on each horse using Conformation and Performance by Nancy S. Loving, DVM, then line them up from one to three, based on which horse is best suited to his job. I also took Julie Winkel's Conformation Clinics in Practical Horseman as a guide, but since she mostly judges lighter hunter horses, not all of her preferences are going to be relevant for my purposes. However, I think her general guideline is universal:
"A horse who "fits in a box" will have a body made up of one-third
shoulder, one-third back and one-third hindquarters. I like to see the
withers and point of croup at the same level. The horse's stance, from
the point of shoulder to the buttocks, should equal the distance from
the height of the withers to the ground."
First up is Caladhin, a school/trail horse (for no particular reason--I have not judged all three yet).
The good news is that he is very suited to his job as a putzing-around kind of horse. The bad news is that he does have some faults and he is not likely to be a dressage champion. Sorry, buddy. (I think he prefers it this way anyhow.)
Here's a horse anatomy chart for reference (I admit, I had to figure out exactly where the croup was):
Head and Neck: Cal has a wide throatlatch, which was once thought to impede flexibility, but that turns out to not be true. He also has a long neck (it is about as long as his body, though of course since it's slightly curved I had to approximate), which makes him a bit front-heavy. Since horses use their head to counterbalance their bodies, it would be very difficult for him to compete in a sport like jumping or cutting that requires quick changes in direction. He's best suited to sports that require a lot of straight lines, like trail or pleasure riding.
Body: He is "square" according to Jane Winkel's definition. His body is about as tall as it is long, and he divides up approximately into thirds though his hind end is a bit shorter, most likely because he has a short croup. For comparison, see how much of a gentle slope the Trakehner's croup has, above. Caladhin's, like many drafts, has much more of a slant, and thus he is not naturally good at collection--but as a beginner/intermediate school horse, this isn't really an issue. One big thing I saw with Caladhin's general body type is that it is very important for him to have a well-fitted saddle. Because he has a hollow behind his withers (lack of muscling) and his withers are higher than his croup, the saddle may slide back, making his lower back and loins sore. It's best to limit his riding to flat ground for this reason as well.
Shoulder and Front Legs: The red line from the withers to the point of the shoulder shows that Caladhin has a nice, sloping shoulder which allows for efficient strides. Unfortunately...from personal experience, I know he is pretty short-strided (and his lazy-daisy ways don't help with that either). So why is that? He has a short humerus (that's the second, shorter red line making an angle of slightly less than 90 degrees). A short humerus makes a short strided, forehand-heavy horse that experiences increased concussion on the front legs and increased possibility for injury. His big, heavy head and neck only exacerbate the on-the-forehand-ness, but I don't think he's ever really had lameness problems--his heavy draft legs protect him. As for the green line that is supposed to go through his knee and elbow but doesn't...I think I'm going to ignore it because it looks like he's just standing with that leg a little too far back.
Motor (AKA his big behind): Caladhin has short hindquarters, and thus, a smaller engine--you can see that from the red diagonal line going from the croup to the buttock. Hindquarters are considered short if they are less than 30% of the horse's body length, and I'd estimate that his are only about 20%. Again, this would be more of an issue for a performance horse that would need to really engage the hindquarters, but some exercises to improve the strength of these muscles include hill climbing (if he has a saddle that won't slip) and lateral exercises like leg yield and half-pass.
I hope that was enjoyable and educational! More to come.
PS-Thank you Gentle Giants for access to so many Percherons! Sorry for the delay in posting.
Several months ago I went to Gentle Giants specifically to get the horses all pretty and take pictures for a Conformation Clinic-type post. Guess what? It's really hard to take conformation pictures without someone else holding the horse for you! D'oh. I did manage it though, because I know you were all waiting on the edge of your seats.
Percherons, if you haven't heard of them, are a breed of French draft horse. As far as temperament goes, they're kind of the Thoroughbreds of the draft world. They can tend to be...how shall we put it...sensitive? Of course, we are talking about draft horses here so on a scale of hot to cold, they're probably a lukewarm where a Thoroughbred would be boiling. Not to say that ALL TBs are boiling or that ALL drafts are pokey. Is this making any sense?
Here are the horses in no particular order. I'll put up the ranking later with explanations of their strengths/weaknesses for riding and driving. (Disclaimer: This is the first time I've done conformational analysis...bear with me, people! As always, if I'm dead wrong about something, feel free to shine the light of knowledge in the comments section.)
Chase was a champ at posing himself!
Martini, not so much. Had to tie her to keep her from following me.
Caladhin, steady-eddy as always.
Chase
- 7 y/o Percheron cross gelding
-Dressage prospect if he stops being a nutcase
Martini
-15 y/o Percheron mare
- Trail Riding Queen
Caladhin
-Older Percheron gelding
-Schoolmaster, Confidence-Builder, and Gentle Giants PR at fundraising events.
I don't know how I can be so tired after only two days of break--oh wait, yes I do. I crepe-d it up with a friend at Crepes-a-Go-Go, went to a horse birthday party, and finally made it to my parents' so I could do some copyediting work for Stylus and other computery stuff. Keep in mind that all of these stops are 30-60 minutes apart from each other...whine! Driving and sitting in front of a computer for too long are both things I really dislike but am also really bad at managing. I just feel like a blob when I sit all day.
On the bright side...here are some cute pictures of the birthday boy (turned 11) and girl (turned 8) to boost my pageviews, which have been pathetically low of late:
That's me riding her on her adoption page :) It's nice to see that my super-annoying, back-of-the-knee-pinching Ariat boots actually make my legs look fancy and dressagey with their Spanish tops. Not so nice to see that I'm hunching my shoulders in all the pictures.
Chancey Pants's birthday hat was definitely going to eat him so he settled for some Mardi Gras bling. Sacre bleu!
If you're wondering why Chance's fur looks weird--he just had a bath.
Hum...one more thing to do before I go to bed. Then it's waking up early(ish) to help feed and potentially move horses over to the brand-spankin'-new Gentle Giants facility. Exciting!
Moral: The older you get, the more you appreciate the single-digit times of day.
...just realized that after midnight that actually says the opposite of what I meant. Blech. Tired!
First day of Spring Break! What does that mean? More horsey time :) Tomorrow should be really fun because now that I'm home and close enough to drive to Gentle Giants, I'll be attending a rescue horse birthday party. Then I'll make the most of the rest of the week by volunteering on the days I don't have "real" work. Should be a great chance to see if my lessons are translating to more confidence riding the rescued greenies. I have like three jobs I want to apply to as well, plus homework...so it's not exactly a break, but at least I will get a lot more time outside.
Until then, I'm trawling through the internet for my guilty pleasure--spills and thrills. I don't know why I find so much pleasure in seeing other people fail, but I LOVE the Bad_Riding group blog on Livejournal. Sometimes the commenters can be ruthless on riders who were maybe just having a bad day, but there is still a lot of fail out there.
Here is one of the nicer videos that is clearly just showing mistakes. The last couple seconds of the video really make it--I think we can all relate to that "Really? Did you have to?" feeling.
I am so excited to see the rescue where I volunteer, Gentle Giants, being featured on the Snarky Rider blog...not least because the director of the rescue, Christine, is very entertaining with her guest posts.
Her post about Chase went along with a theme I'm seeing in a lot of other horsey blogs in the past week: suitability. As is usually the case at the rescue, the most handsome horses get a ton of calls from potential adopters, regardless of their ability and whether the horse is advertised as a bloodthirsty brain-smashing bronc. Chase isn't quite that, but he needs a very special adopter. Someone who can put a lot of time into building his confidence and handling his trust issues. Someone who doesn't mind playing lawn darts every so often when things like this happen:
Image from Chase's adoption page. I guess GG figures that a picture is worth 1000 words.
I was not that person. Christine asked me if I would be willing to ride Chase-- a horse with severe fear issues when mounting-- in exchange for a little cash this summer. I thought about it. I figured that I could follow the OCD-specific pattern that Chase required in order to not bolt when I mounted him. I'd never any problem mounting smoothly, and what's more, I'd never been paid to ride before. I said yes.
I was slightly dismayed that I had to ride Western, since I never feel quite as secure in a Western saddle, but I soon realized why it was necessary. Chase totally lost his marbles in that instant when a rider disappeared from his sight as he or she moved from the ground to the saddle. I'm not sure why he hasn't figured out that people don't magically teleport from the ground to his back after months of expensive training, but funnily enough, horses don't seem to register things like the ratio of money to expected results.
So in order to mount, I had to crank his head around as far as possible so he could see me the whole time, loop the rein around the horn for leverage, and then use the horn to pull myself up from the ground...all with those too-long Western stirrups. Now, I'm 5'4." Chase is 16 hands. It wasn't that I couldn't mount up from the ground on a horse that height--I did it all the time in high school, with my 17-hand Thoroughbred Spur--but Spur wasn't trying to BOLT as I pulled myself up.
I bounced up into the stirrup with one leg. He scooted his hind end away from me. I repeated this until I got up the guts to just swing my other leg over. And then I heard my helmet ping against the round pen and I was sitting on the ground, trying to catch my breath. According to the people watching, I flipped over his head, thwacked against the wall, and fell into a pile of manure. Wish I could have seen it myself.
I'm trying to get to the idea that suitability goes to the core of true horsemanship, and sometimes the factors are out of your control. I'm never going to be taller than 5'4," and I'll never be suited to mounting a tall horse from the ground. Especially one with some "quirks." Personally, I think Chase would do best with a guy riding him--someone with the height to mount up easily and the strength to keep him from bolting (which he has now in the form of a brave volunteer). Maybe I could have learned to ride Chase--but we're not suited to each other as regular partners.
But so many people overhorse themselves-- or worse, their kids. Poor little guy--even in the thumbnails you can see how terrified he is of his horse. His position is weak; he gets left behind or jumped out of the tack, and he's dealing with his fear by YANKING on the reins, only making the problem worse. They are not a happy pair. (You'll have to click the link for photos. It's a professional photographer and I don't want to step on anyone's toes.)
Another unhappy pair:
If you're jumping higher out of the tack than your horse is jumping the fence...it's not a match. Not to gloss over the death grip this rider has on his horse's face, but I just looove how the horse gets smacked for refusing around 3:07...when it's clearly the rider's fault since he was laying on the horse's neck, making it physically impossible for the horse to lift up his front end! (video found via Snarky Rider)
A guest blogger for FHOTD had some great tips for determining suitability when you're buying a horse. I think it applies to just trying a horse that you're going to ride regularly as well.
Moral of the story: The Extended Version
I'll put my responses (coming from the perspective of someone trying to ride cheaply) after the basic guidelines from FHOTD.
FHOTD says: Well, start off by being realistic; don’t try to buy a $50,000 horse if you cannot afford it. I say: Find a way to take lessons on performance horses, then use those skills to make yourself a great asset to any barn that needs horses exercised.
FHOTD says: Be serious about buying a horse. I say: Definitely, though in our case it's leasing or free-leasing. You have to really think--Do I have time to ride this horse regularly? Do I have the money for whatever costs there are, like gas money, farrier money, whatever? Right now, since I've kind of been advertising that I'm looking for a horse to ride at school and work, I think I actually have to narrow it down. There are not enough hours in the day to do homework, work, tack up and ride 4 different horses living in 4 different directions.
FHOTD says: Don’t buy a horse that doesn’t meet your discipline needs. I say: Depends. Right now I am riding a dressage horse and I've only taken one dressage lesson in my entire life. He's teaching me to be a lot quieter with my upper body so I think cross-training can actually be quite helpful. I think this rule applies more exclusively to buying.
FHOTD says: If you have a trainer, BRING THEM WITH YOU!!! I say: Not really necessary for a free lease or just a random horse you're going to ride a couple times a week.
FHOTD says: Don’t lie about your riding ability. I say: Amen. Colossal waste of everyone's time. But that isn't to say that if you're a showjumper, you can't ride dressage or vice versa. To take Joey, the horse I'm riding now, for example--his advertisement said "goes best in a dressage training level frame." Do I actually really know what a training level frame is? No. But I did know how to get a horse to stretch down and use his back, and after some Googling I figured we might be a good match. A beginner might have to look a little harder or take a few more lessons before he or she is able to find a horse to ride regularly that will be safe and appropriate, but there are older horses or horses with soundness issues who would benefit from some walking and trotting once in a while.
FHOTD says: Be prepared, be honest and be communicative. And most of all don’t come out with the intention of wasting someone’s time. I say: Great note to end on.
Even if your parents were indulgent enough to invest their money in years of riding lessons in exchange for the baffling happiness you found in playing with large, dangerous animals, the investment doesn't end there. Like a drug habit, horses are an infinite pit that can swallow as much money and time as you throw at them (Funnily enough, when horses try drugs, they learn to say no).
(From Amazon.com)
Since riding is an expensive hobby, I had to come up with some creative ways to get my horse fix once I started college and the free-flowing babbling brook of cash slowed to a trickle that didn't babble cheerily anymore, but rather said, "Get a job." The startup cost to begin riding is high, but I was lucky that I already had the stuff I needed--boots, breeches, a helmet, and even some nonessentials like show clothes, a groom kit, and a bareback pad for the old Thoroughbred I free-leased in high school while his owner was away at school herself.
However, the problem still remained. How was I going to ride in college? Here's what I came up with.
Go to a college with an on-campus stable: I figured this would be the easiest solution, and it was one of the biggest factors in my college search. Unfortunately, I ended up not being terribly comfortable with my college's equestrian club (not IHSA). Four of their eight horses were lame during the entire first (and only) semester I was a member of the club, so each lesson was comprised of two horses and four students. We had to switch in the middle, which put a damper on each lesson because that wasn't what I signed up for. And although I wasn't sure if it preventable, something just didn't feel right to me about half of their horses being lame. The club had a barn management system so that several people shared responsibility for various aspects, which sounds good on paper but I think there were cracks in the system. I have never seen any other farm of eight horses that had multiple barn managers, and there must be a reason for that.
Maybe riding on campus can work at colleges that have the right facilities and management--mine didn't. On-campus equestrian clubs are cheaper than taking regular lessons or leasing, but they can come with other costs and you do have to do your homework.
Unfortunately, all of my other options require the use of a car or the use of a horsey friend with a car. If you know of one, put it in the comments, but I'm sure the farms that are reachable by public transport are few and far between.
Volunteer: I lived close to home so I could borrow the car and head up to a local horse rescue on weekends and breaks-- Gentle Giants. It has grown a lot (from 30ish horses to 2009 to 60ish spread across two farms today), and making relationships at a small farm is always a better way to get riding opportunities than a big one (more on that later). Plus volunteering makes you feel good!
I was lucky that I had worked with green (and spoiled--that's an entire post right there) horses before, so after helping with the imperative stuff like feeding and daily chores, I had plenty of opportunity to ride and train horses for their future adopters.
This is where the seven years of lessons really paid off--I had developed enough of what I like to call "a sense of adventure" (others might call "a death wish," but hey, that's their prerogative) that I am now the proud recipient of Gentle Giants' inaugural Most Creative Spectacular Dismounts volunteer award. I was just happy to ride anything, whether it was an ex-racehorse or a Haflinger with iffy steering (that would be Chopper, who became one of my favorites and is in my profile picture).
However, if you aren't yet at a level where you can help polish a green-broke horse:
Take lessons: I realize this goes slightly against my original idea of "riding on the cheap" but hear me out. Green+ green= black and blue, and no matter how badly you want to ride, it's not worth misrepresenting your actual ability to a rescue. First of all, you'll look like an idiot because you can't really fake knowing how to ride well. We've seen some attempts at the rescue...from an entire family showing up in shiny, obviously unused Western gear to a prospective adopter who couldn't halter a horse any better than he could a handsaw. Secondly, getting hurt is bad and could keep you from riding ever.
So get a part-time job, save up some money, and take lessons with a good trainer for as long as you can afford to. I think the key is to take lessons at a SMALL BARN. 20 horses or fewer. A large barn is less personal, you won't learn as much, and you will probably actually have fewer opportunities to ride, which leads me to my next point...
Put in some hours mucking and cleaning: Once you have established a relationship with your instructor and maybe even some boarders at the farm, start offering your services. You might be able to work out a deal where you can work off an extra ride a week or even a lesson by doing barn chores, and I've found that this is a much more common agreement at small barns where everyone knows each other. Being nice and introducing yourself to everyone helps too--no one will know you're looking for more opportunities to ride if you don't tell them. Also, talk to boarders who travel for business or go on vacation--they might want someone to exercise their horse(s) while they are away.
Free lease: There are a lot of horse owners who need someone to keep their husband horse in shape, who overhorsed themselves and need help, or who want someone to ride their kid's horse while he or she is away at school. Try to find these people on craigslist, DreamHorse, equine.com, or your local equine publication if your area has one (The Equiery is good for the MD/PA/VA area). If you've made some friends at that barn where you were taking lessons or you have a trainer who will come with you, it's always best to hunt in a pack when horse shopping.
So there's my first stab at this huge topic. I figured I'd start with general ideas and see where that leads us. As always--comments and ideas for future posts are welcome.
I know it's looking pretty sparse around here right now but I am hoping to turn this blog into a place to share ideas about "riding on the cheap" which, admittedly, is impossible to some degree. I believe that lessons are absolutely imperative for safety and that isn't exactly pocket change, but there are some things I have found that do lessen the cost and I'd love to hear your ideas too.
Hence the name: the Collegial Equestrian. (Plus it has that association of "college" even though that's not actually what it means)
Some ideas I have for future posts are:
Conformation clinics for Gentle Giants
An investigation of the good, the bad, the Parelli
A response to a This American Life episode I listened to called "Adventures in the Simple Life." It was about a bunch of non-equestrians who decided to up and travel across the country on horseback...which I found completely irritating for several reasons, namely because traveling with horses IS NOT SIMPLE.
A multimedia post of helmet cams! I love helmet cams!!!
Maybe some exciting stories of falls and crashes.
Whatever sounds like a good idea in the comments (hint hint!).
So...again, welcome, and thanks for stopping by as I'm just getting this whole thing started!
