Howard County Chopper

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.

 "My" first pony! photo via GG/Wayback Machine

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.

All photos from previous versions of the GG website on the Wayback Machine.

Challenging Myself

So since Joey decided he was more interested in galloping home to his buddies than you know, caring whether I stay on or not, I've been very hesitant to try riding him outside of the ring. I still haven't done it, and although his owner came out several times to hack him and found no problem, I always came up with an excuse to not try again--it's too windy; it's too muddy; he's (conveniently) lame. That lameness  meant that I was riding other horses last week, one of whom is an awesomely stubborn, giraffe-necked Arabian named Eclipse:

He's a good boy, but he has his own ideas on how things should be done.

Specifically his problem is that he won't go on contact unless you really push him into the bridle with your leg. I'm still working on this--I can usually get him to do this in the first few minutes of trotting, but then we lose it. Still getting used to his quirks. The good thing is that he's very focused, while Joey is more tempted to pay attention to his buddies or random people walking around, etc.

So on Thursday I decided the time had come for me to stop being silly. Sometimes I sense disturbing similarities with my own mindset and with a horse's--if I have too much time to think, I get nervous, but if I put myself to work, I just get the job done. I love to hack out, and I have many fond memories of tearing around chasing deer with my ex-foxhunter in high school. Riding outside is not something I want to give myself any more time to rattle around in my brain as an evil monster.

It was so worth it.

A few years ago, a big open field like this would have made me think GALLOP!!!! I want to build myself back up to that level of confidence. So much of riding is just that--confidence-building, in a kind of twisted way. If you're afraid something horrible will happen, it will, just because you're nervous and that transmits loud and clear to a flight animal. Riding is basically BE CONFIDENT OR ELSE. I don't know why that works for me, but it does. I think it's why I've always loved jumping--the risk is there, but there's so much to plan and regulate that I just do what I have to do instead of overanalyzing it.

On the road again...check out those perky ears!

The ride was uneventful enough that I bridged my reins and snapped a few photos along the way. We only had one minor spook trotting uphill when a bird flew up suddenly and he skittered away. I circled him and then he was totally fine, no big deal. We walked for a while after that while I tried to get my leg to stop trembling--it was more of my spook than his. After a few rounds of singing the ABCs, breathing deeply, and putting my weight in my heels, I felt OK enough to pick up a trot again.

The farm was long out of sight--it was just me and Eclipse tracing the perimeter of the corn and grass fields. We even cantered for short stretches--Eclipse was ready to GO!  Thankfully he is very easy to rate and we kept it at a canter rather than a full-out gallop. He was definitely not thrilled to come back to the walk--I think the best way to describe it is rangey. He was covering almost as much ground as a trot (which, by the way, was suuuper smooth)!

I was very happy with the ride, even if Eclipse was a bit peeved at the pace. Easy does it...and maybe I'll be trying this again in the near future with Joey. The approaching warm weather is on my side.