How to get a free ride Part VII: Run an ad!

Let’s see, where did I leave off?  I just told you about how I got rides on Justin.  I really should dig up some pictures of us.  Blogs without pictures tend to be a bit bland.  I’ll see what I can do.

Anyway, after Justin and school and a marriage and a divorce (or two), and after teaching kids in the evenings after my full time job (or jobs) for about 25 years, I finally got to the point where I wanted to pursue my own goals.  I quit teaching, got my amateur status back and set about getting a horse under my butt. 

It should not go unmentioned that the absolute best rides you can possibly score are the ones that friends hook you up with.  I find that after living in this area for over 30 years, I am in no shortage of friends, which means I am in no shortage of rides.  But every now and then, my friends don’t have opportunities they can hook me up with and I am left to go out and find my own. 

While I do love the hook ups from friends, I have enjoyed the method of running an ad on our local horse-related website, www.virginiaequestrian.com.  What a score that thing is for me.  Love that site.  Not once, but twice, I have run ads on that site and it is so fun to see all the emails just load up in your inbox!  It’s like fish in a barrel!  But I don’t write just any ad like:

Experienced rider looking to exercise your horse.

Lame!  You have to write something that is going to catch someone’s eye, hold their attention, and make them want to give you a ride!

So, my ad was entitled “You Don’t Have Time to Ride Your Horse”.  How true is that statement?  I don’t know a soul that can get out to the barn every single day to ride their horse and I certainly know when I had one, I couldn’t.  Anyway, the title caught people’s eyes and the opportunities came pouring in. 

The rest of it read something like this:

Highly organized reliable, dependable rider with nearly 40 years practical experience with horses and over 25 years of professional experience with training horses and riders is seeking rides.

I am an amateur so I cannot be paid and I cannot pay you. (I figured I should get that right out in the open.  It wasn’t really that I couldn’t pay, it’s just that I never have and there really are too many free rides to be had out there.  So why pay?)

Prefer a horse that needs to be schooled over fences.  Excellent opportunity for prepping sale horses or for the busy professional.

Anyway, that was sort of the gist of the ad.  I had my pick of horses to ride.  It was fantastic.  I ended up choosing to ride a horse about 15 minutes from my house at a very nice, clean facility that seemed to never have anyone else there at the same time.  If there was anyone there at all, they rode out on trails.  So, I pretty much had the ring to myself.  The owner was a bit on the fence as to whether or not she wanted to sell the horse.  He needed some work before he could be sold.  So, that’s where I came in!  I rode him about 3 days a week and he came right along in no time and sold about two months later.

The other place I chose to ride, I also had free rein.  I came and went as I pleased and had two or three that I could ride whenever I wished and was trusted to do whatever I wanted with them.  Probably the most enjoyment I got out of that gig was bringing their 2 y.o. old along so that he would be more rideable.  Yes, 2! He had just been broken to ride and needed to learn to go straight and to canter and so forth.  That was a lot of fun and it made me feel good when his owner was able to get on him and tootle around safely on him.  He was also sold not long after that to a couple that planned on hunting him.  He was 3 when they sold him – don’t worry!  But I was able to jump the other horses there so I could get some practice in on my goals. 

Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of good friends when it comes to getting yourself down your personal path to your horse-related goals.  My friends have been amazing and I don’t know what I’d have done without them all these years.  They are always looking out for me and have been incredibly generous.  The horse world can be tough.  Be good to your friends.

I think in the next installment, I’ll touch on what to do after you’ve gotten the ride and how to KEEP those rides.

How to get a free ride Part VI: Just Ask

Just Ask

Yeah.  It is really pretty much that simple.  Well, you have to have built a reputation for yourself as being dependable, sensible, safety-minded, organized, a good student of the sport, in fact – a humble student of the sport.  You have to have by now taken the time to have earned the trust of others and if you are a young person, you cannot act silly nor try to make others believe you know everything you need to know about the sport.  That will not give a prospective ‘loaner’ any confidence.  On the contrary!  Riders who believe they have learned all they need to know will become stagnate if not already.  Instead, you must project yourself as someone who can be trusted to do the right thing by the horse.  This is called horsemanship.  To get anywhere in this sport, you have to be a good student of the sport – a lifelong student of the sport and you must always strive to be a good horseman.  I don’t say horsewoman because saying horseman doesn’t bother me personally.

Practice Good Horsemanship (make sure you know what that means)

And to clarify, for those who might not know, since I actually had a conversation with someone recently who was confused about the meaning of horsemanship – without actually looking it up in a dictionary or even referring to a text written by the man himself (George Morris), horsemanship is not how well you groom your horse.  The true meaning of it should not be confused with the ‘horsemanship class’ in your local 4-H show.  Horsemanship is always doing what is in the best interest of the horse.  Whether you have the answer or not – it is your job, as a rider, as a horseman, to get the answer and do right by the horse because the horse cannot do it for himself and he is completely at your mercy.  He is wholly and completely reliant on you and your every action for all of his needs.  Period.  Therefore, you owe it to him to educate yourself and to keep on learning on how to do the right thing.  It always astounds me how many people are out there who never attend a seminar, have never subscribed to a reputable horse magazine like Practical Horseman or Equus.  They don’t get involved in their local equestrian clubs if there is one, they do not attend clinics and sometimes, the very first time they ever see a horseshow is the day they show up with that poor animal that follows them blindly up to the ring.  I cannot stress enough how important it is that you continuously educate yourself.  People will have more of a comfort level with you as a horseman if they know you will always seek to do the right thing by their horse.

Where I get my ‘ride begging’ roots from

Wow.  That’s a rant.  So, I’ll lighten things up by sharing some of my stories.  I might have learned this ‘asking for a free ride skill’ from my grandmother.  When I was… I don’t know, 3 or 4, my grandmother asked a neighbor boy to put his pony mare, Brownie, in a field behind her house when my sister and I would visit.  This boy also had a horse named Sugarfoot, who to me, looked just gargantuan.  I’ll never forget being on the ground and looking up at the boy and seeing how grand he looked way up high sitting bareback on Sugarfoot.  I just thought he was the coolest. 

I’m sure my grandmother had done many favors for this boy or his family.  While my grandmother and grandfather were extremely poor, my grandmother had plenty to give.  I vividly recall her cooking up meal after meal for neighbors and sending one friend or another out the door with a meal for Mrs. So and So ‘who wasn’t feeling too well lately’.  There were countless neighbors either sitting in the kitchen or coming in and out of the house so I am certain my grandmother had probably helped this young man in some way or another and he was delighted to help her in return. 

Brownie appeared in her backyard one day and I remember spending countless hours with a neighbor girl that my grandmother called ‘Twitch Tail’, ‘Twitch’ for short (my grandmother had a very good sense of humor), climbing on and off of Brownie.  We’d also come up with a game where one person would ride in a circle around a tree while the other hung from it.  Then, as the rider and pony passed under the tree, it was the job of the one hanging from it to drop down on Brownie’s back.  Poor Brownie.  We did have fun, though, and I’m sure spending those countless oppressively hot Texas days sliding around the fat, round back of that simple brown pony locked my love in for being around horses.  I believe it is in your DNA and I’m sure it certainly woke the ‘horse lovin’ gene’ up in me.

Don’t be picky!

Not long after that, we moved to Taiwan where we, as a Marine family, would be stationed for the next 2 and a half years.  There were no horses.  At least not that I ever saw.  But there were oxen.  This was my first personal experience of asking for a ride.  Mr. Ma (which ironically means ‘horse’ in Mandarin) drove the oxen cart which was the ‘trash service’ for our neighborhood.  As was typical of the Taiwanese we encountered, Mr. Ma was a delightful man who was always smiling and loved American children.  He also had a great sense of humor.  As the oxen slowly made their lumbering way around the neighborhood, they of course had the occasion where they would relieve themselves on their little journey.  Mr. Ma would hop off  the trash-filled, foul-smelling cart and promptly scoop the manure up onto a flat shovel and gesture our way with the biggest grin saying, “You want a cookie?!!”  We would screech and laugh and run a bit ahead but would always make our way back to hang out with Mr. Ma on his route.  When he hopped off the cart, the oxen always slowly continued on, flies busily buzzing around them, necks locked into their yokes, shafts of the cart gently swaying from side to side with their slow motion strides.

One day, I had to have asked Mr. Ma if I could ride one of the oxen.  Who knows, maybe he offered.  I was 5 at the time so I certainly can’t recall but I can assure you, after getting one ride, I would have asked for more.  I can still recall how it felt to sit on the broad whithers of the ox and how his short, coarse coat felt.  When we came back home, my mother would get angry because we smelled (we did?).  I rode the oxen every opportunity I could except when the mean one was hitched up.  On those days, Mr. Ma would not let us ride.  No clue what that one did but he ruined it for all of us by being a bad ox.  The only other times I couldn’t ride was when we were headed to go shopping and my mother threatened us. 

Know when to keep looking

The next time I asked to ride someone’s livestock, they were ponies.  This actually took a bit more bravery for several reasons.  These ponies were located some miles down the road from my house in Nokesville on a farm with cattle.  My friend and I would see them from the road and took several opportunities to get up a little closer to the farm house on the property to size up the likelihood of asking for rides. 

The farm house was very run down and chickens scratched around the yard.  We’d seen the elderly lady that lived in the house and she actually scared us the most.  Anyway, after some time, we gathered the courage to ask to ride the ponies.  I can’t remember her exact response but it wasn’t exactly a yes.  I think she said that the ponies were older and maybe she said their feet weren’t in the best of shape.  But she said we could go out and visit with them, which we did. 

When we were finally able to get up close to the ponies, we understood what she meant about their feet.  Both ponies feet had been left untrimmed for so long, they curled up and back towards the ponies.  I’d only seen this in pictures in my horse magazines but never up close.  It was sad and needless to say, we never rode those ponies. 

Never stop looking!

Not long after that, I got my own horse and had her up until I left for college so I didn’t need to beg for rides.  However, when I came home from college, I was horseless.  My next ride-mooching occurred when I was probably 19 and home on a break.  I passed by a far on Lake Jackson drive often and saw an adorable dark bay gelding with his chestnut buddy grazing in the field.  Best I could tell, neither were ridden often.  I atleast never saw anyone ride them.  Eventually, I simply walked up to the house and knocked on the door.  I explained I was home on break from college and was looking for rides.  I told her about my past experience and the training I’d had in college.  I explained that I was reliable and dependable and conscientious.  And, I asked if I could ride the horse once for her to see what she thought and that she of course could pull the plug on the deal at any time.  The owner was an executive who had little time to ride given that she and her husband were busy renovating their farm house.  So, it was a win-win situation.  Not only did I get rides on the horse, I taught him to jump and shortly afterwards, we were showing and winning locally.  His owner especially loved going back to her old barn and having us show and win there.  Also, she allowed me to take him (Justin) to college for a semester.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

I have more stories but I will save them for later posts.  Basically, to do this sport on the cheap, you have to really, really want it.  You have to muster a little bravery and you have to have done your homework.  You have to be honest with both yourself and the owner.  Tell them about your experience or even lack of it but most of all, tell them about your goals and what your plans are to try to get where you are going. 

In the early days, I knocked on doors of complete strangers and asked for rides but in the latter days, in barns where I was teaching or already riding, I had people come to me.  When people saw me having successes with one person’s horse, asking for rides on another was a piece of cake.  So, this goes back to building your reputation.  You don’t have to be a trainer.  You simply have to show that you are responsible and organized and serious about this sport. 

In the next installment, I’ll share a few more stories and one of my favorites involves running an ad.  I’ve done that twice and gotten excellent results.

Happy free-ride hunting!

Weekend wrap up

Ahh, the long weekend.  I do love it.  I feel like I did a lot and then I feel like I didn’t get much done at all. 

On Saturday, after our traditional breakfast at Silver Diner, Bob and I went to The Container Store where I got some things I needed and some things I didn’t need at all.  The bummer is, out of two things I saw the following day at Bed Bath & Beyond, both were cheaper at B3.  Like, $4-$10 cheaper.  Anyway, I got two luggage stands for the guest room because I like for people to be able to set their suitcases on something while they are here.  Dad and Kathryn will be coming to visit next month so I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.  Kathryn has them in her guest house as well – they are handy.  I got a bunch of things for the Paris trip – the power converters, a sleep mask, some cute luggage tags (one for Jessie as well), some other silly odds and ends.  That place is like crack.  But, now that I know better, it is also expensive!

Rewinding to breakfast at Silver Diner… I knew there would come a day when I would be so old that the music I grew up with would play in there and I’ll be damned…they just switched the music in there up from the 50’s and 60’s to the 80’s.  Skipped right over the 70’s (thank God, because I can’t say I was ever a fan) and went right into 80’s pop.  While it isn’t quite the New Wave and 80’s Alternative that I adored (the general public a) probably has no clue what that is and b) couldn’t handle it), it’ll do.  I’ll just have to wait for it to show up in a M&M (The The – This is the Day), Swiffer (Devo – Whip it Good), Ritz Cracker (Modern English – I Melt With You), Maxwell House  (Madness – Our House) and so on commercial.  It truly was the coolest and best music ever and has clearly stood the test of time because it is still played side-by-side with a lot of today’s music and fits right in.

Later that night, we went to Friday’s for dinner and had ice cream at Coldstone afterwards.  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Anyway, we managed to fit in naps each day (except today), mounted a new lock system onto our new gate, installed a new light timer for the front of the house (the last one died on us), oh, and most exciting of all, I assembled the three shoe organizing systems I got for Bob and me.  I got these cool carousel ones and got him a rack for his closet.  The carousels are the niftiest because you can fit so many shoes in such a small space. 

Sunday, we swapped it up and went to IHOP for b’fast and today, we went back to Silver Diner.  Yummy!  Afterwards, Bob headed to hit balls and I headed out to ride Gracie Girl.  Her was such a good girl.  I trotted her for 6 minutes today and you’d have thought she was going to die.  She’s enjoyed her sedentary lifestyle. 

As usual, Karin had some new stuff installed in the barn.   This time, it was the shower boom in the washstall.  These things are beyond cool.  The other thing is, she mounted a rack on the back wall of the grooming stall for all the girths.  Then, some people came to look at her trailer and voila! SOLD on the spot for $12K!  Doesn’t get any better than that does it?!

I’ve now broken out the sprinklers for the yard.  We have a reputation to uphold here in the ‘hood.  Some neighbors walked by the other day and told Bob that they love walking by our house because our lawn is always so pretty.  Wow.  I certainly can’t take any credit for that.  I’ll be sure to call our True Green man to tell him – job well done.  Anyway, the sprinklers are on timers and will kick on at about 3 a.m. for a half hour.  I’ll get the front ones set up as well soon.

So, not a terribly exciting weekend by anyone’s standards.  Just mellow and doing what we want to do, which is the way it should be.

How to get a free ride Part V: Shut up and ride!

You can always tell a noob.  That’s short for newbie.  And if they aren’t newbies to having instruction, you can always tell one that hasn’t had proper instruction.  What’s the dead giveaway?  They talk too much. 

I can bust on the noobs and sound like I’m above it all because quite frankly, I’m not.  Above it all, that is.  Nor am I a noob for that matter.  But, like everyone, there was a time when I was one.  If you’ve never had decent instruction, you don’t realize that you are supposed to shut up and ride.  Or, to put it more nicely, listen and ride.

That’s the message in this installment on How to Get a Free Ride.  In our last installment, I gave you some rules of the road to follow while you are in your lessons.  This goes hand in hand with that.  This  part talks about your demeanor while you are riding, especially while taking lessons.

Good riding takes a lot of concentration.  You are on a large animal that is moving across the ground, sometimes at a pretty good clip.  Your eyes are taking all of this in and so is your body.  All sorts of signals are being sent to your brain to help you balance and prepare your body with all of the help it needs to keep you in the tack.  While all of that visual stimuli is going on, you’ve got some auditory stimuli to boot.  That would be your instructor giving you tips and cues and tasks.  It is a lot to take in all at once and the job should not be made even more difficult by taking your mind off the ride by talking or responding to someone speaking to you.

Whenever I got a new student in, this was one of the first things I had to teach them.  There aren’t many nice ways to tell someone they need to quit talking and commenting while they are riding.  The best one I came up with after gentle hints failed was to say, “OK, you need to make a choice, you can ride or you can talk.  Which would you like to do?”  And then I would explain why you can’t do both.  Talking while riding is like taking your hands off the wheel of a car and your eyes off the road.  Horses aren’t fond of it either.  They aren’t sure if the message is for them or for someone else.  So, while you are talking, their ears will twitch back and forth which means they are taking their minds off the road as well. 

Here are some guidelines to follow – while your instructor is speaking to you, simply listen and execute the task.  If you make a mistake, try your best not to make noise about it.  I’ll admit, I have to get better about that part as well.  If your instructor asks you a question that you feel you need to respond to (these are typically yes/no questions), simply nod your head or shake it to indicate your answer.  Any responses that require speaking, you should do while pulled up and walking or pulled up and standing in the center of the ring with your trainer. 

The rider who doesn’t make a lot of noise, doesn’t chit chat from her horse’s back and keeps her focus is more able to concentrate on the task at hand and projects a more organized, competitive, competent image.  And with some practice, it won’t be just an image, it will be part of your personality.

Next up (finally!), I’ll give you some ideas on how to get those free rides and tell you some stories on how I have gotten all of mine over the years.

The thong search – help me understand

I feel compelled from time to time to veer off of my course of horse-related posts when something gives me a really good reason to.  I’ve told you how I love to look at my stats to see what led people to come to my site.  Lately, and I’m talking over the past few months, there has been a rash of visitors who have come to my site after running a search string with ‘thong’ in it.  Which is really odd because it’s not like the thong is some new phenomenon.  I remember donning one sometime around 1980 and they were de rigeur for me for years.  While I still wear the things fairly regularly, I have to say, I’ve become quite fond of the boy short, especially for riding. 

I realize the reason why their search for the elusive thong of their dreams brings them to my site.  It is because of my I see Paris, I see France post.  Which was a post that quite frankly, even entertained me.  While I thought it was funny, I know the thong hunters were simply trying to catch a glimpse of the thong in its natural habitat. 

It is both funny and disturbing to read the search strings.  Allow me to share a few cleaner ones with you.  Today, someone was led to my site by running ‘fuzzy thong’ as a search.  There is ‘fat girl thong’, ‘best thong’, ‘kathryn morris thong’ and ‘thong out of pants’.  And, for the man (I’m assuming) with simple tastes, there is just plain ‘thong’.  Oddly, when I ran a report to see all of the search strings, I know it did not give me a complete list.  Because I specifically remember one string one day as being, ’seeing my sister’s thong’.  That one was a little disturbing to me.  I’m going to try to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he was running a search to see if any other boys were horrified at the mere sight of their sister’s thong.  Maybe he wanted to know if his repulsion (is that a word?) was a normal response.  I hope. 

Anyway, if you’ve come to this post because you plugged the word ‘thong’ into your search string, dude (again, I’m assuming), quit wasting time searching online for the damn things.  You can pick up your very own pair at WalMart for probably $5 or less.  Strap it across your computer screen and you’ll never have to type those five letters again and have people like me blog about what a freak you are.

Weekend Wrap-Up: May 16/17

Bob was out of town this weekend, as he was attending a memorial service for someone he rowed with at Syracuse.  Those sort of things are never happy occasions but regardless of the reason for Bob being away, it always means lots of guiltless time at the barn for me. 

I didn’t line up my breakfasts like I normally do.  Well, I actually tried to with Lori but she sort of slacked on me so I heated up a mini-quiche I’d brought home from work and that did the trick.  The following day, I did my McDonald’s Steak McSkillet Burrito and a big sweet tea.  Heaven, I tell you. 

I mostly fiddled around the house on Saturday, copying music from one computer to move over to my laptop (we got a new computer) so that I could have all my music in one place and now I also have it all backed up on CDs.  I do love my music.

With that little project completed, I headed out to Upperville for my lesson with Jess.  I rode Junior, a Russian horse, who is really quite fun to ride.  He’s very attractive – a dark bay with four whites and a sweet face.  He’s huge but not so big bodied that you can’t get your legs around him.  He’s green but so sweet and willing – the perfect Childrens or Amateur horse.  It was very fun to lesson on him. 

After our lesson, I gave him a really nice bath and made his socks sparkle.  I also conditioned the bejeezus out of his tail and worked a bit into his mane.  He’s not getting braided anytime soon so it’s totally kosher.

I always love making a horse comfortable after a good workout, then putting them into their beddy-byes to rest and chill and flick the occasional fly with their tails.  They always look so happy. 

Afterwards, I headed to Nokesville to ride Gracie Girl.  Unfortunately, the weather was not on my side.  No sooner did I get her groomed (and I even did an abbreviated version of my usual routine) and tacked up, we got up to the gates and I said to Karin, “I just have a very bad feeling.”  My gut feeling around horses has proven to be just about spot on in my old age.  It was getting very windy, and it was very dark coming up from the south and the air just had a certain ‘feel’ to it.  Karin said, “If you have a bad feeling, then don’t worry about it — don’t get on.”  So, I didn’t.  I just had this vibe that I’d get on Gracie and there’d be one crack of lighting and we’d have another ‘hi-ho Silver’ moment, which I’m just not down with these days.  I love Gracie but I don’t want her fat ass grinding me into a mere imprint into the sand.  So, back to the barn we went.  And within seconds of getting in there, it started to pour. 

I untacked, put her away and was off to my next mission:  dinner/movie w/Dave.  I did my usual amazingly quick turnaround from horse girl to normal girl.  I jumped into the shower, put my hair up, smeared on some lipstick, put on a decent shirt, jeans, shoes, appropriate jewelry and was off.  I probably knocked all that out, including taking care of the dogs in like :30. 

Dave invited Sara from Cedar Creek, which is cool.  We all love Sara.  We had dinner first at Gordon Biersch.  I had a vibe my niece had to be in the mall so I txted her and sure as anything, she was.  I had her come swing by while we were eating so I could say hello.  Which meant I got to meet her boyfriend.  I wanted to give him the evil eye but couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I will, however, snap him like a twig if I so much as catch wind that he’s touched her.  Let’s just get that clear. 

We were supposed to see Star Trek but when we got in there to sit down, it was so packed, finding three seats together was nearly impossible.  Which I really didn’t know because I was in the line to get Dave his popcorn.  Because for some reason, I’m the man when we go out.  Dave barks out all the orders, we go where he wants to go, we do what he wants to do and often, I am the driver.  These are the things you do for good friends.  At least, it is what I do.  I let them have their way.  It’s just easier that way since I really don’t usually have a strong preference anyway. 

So, we leave there and someone (clearly not me) had the idea to go for icecream.  I’m all about that.  Coldstone!  YUMMY!  Explain to me why I hate coffee but love the Coffee Lovers at Coldstone?  I get it every time.

Now, here is where I did call a shot – we were all done with our icecream and Dave said, “What are we going to do?”  I said, “You are going to walk me to my car and then I’m going home.”  So, we all got in my car, drove Sara to hers then I drove Dave to his and we all went on our merry ways. 

I think I went home and caught up on a few Chronicles I’d not yet read (which I then give to my dogwalker) and went sleepy-time.

Sunday, I had a lesson again, this time on Tory.  I was OK.  Not stellar.  I was just kind of ‘off’ in my rides this weekend for some reason.  Then, tried to muster the energy to go and ride Gracie but it didn’t happen.  I wanted to be home in time for Bob when he got back so I headed home (after having lunch w/my friend Scott) then did some work for the office (a doc I have to send out before Monday each week) and finally, my Prince returned.  We (me and the dogs) were all happy.  Pippen did his happy run while Sassy just stood on the back of the couch trying to tell Bob how mean I was to her while he was away. 

Now, all is right in the world and I am back to work, waiting to plow through it to do my horsie weekend all over again.

How to Get a Free Ride: Part IV – Rules of the Road

In the last few installments, I went over some basic horsemanship tips on how to turn yourself and your horse out to project a more polished, serious, credible image.  This is something you should take seriously, as not many people are willing to let just anyone ride their horses.  The sooner you develop good basic horsemanship skills, like the ones I highlighted, and make them a habit, the sooner you will be on your way to having a reputation as a serious rider that can be trusted with someone’s investment.

So, there you are, dressed and ready to go with all the necessary clean, well-fitted equipment for both you and your horse (guidelines for this are explained in earlier installments).  And your equally properly turned out lesson horse is by your side, waiting for your cue for him to follow you into the ring for your lesson. 

Lesson rings, whether indoors or out, can be very busy and dangerous so there are certain rules of the road that are important to follow not only for reasons of safety but for courtesy.  Most rings have a mounting block in one corner and regardless of where it is, I like to choose the safest track that will allow other riders to go about their business while keeping myself and my horse out of harm’s way. 

Let’s say you are entering the ring on one end and the mounting block is in the corner to the left.  Since you lead your horse on his left side, it is not wise to stay close to the rail while you walk left towards the corner.  A horse passing by could pick a fight with your horse and suddenly, you’ll find yourself pinned between your frightened horse and the wall.  It is best to consider the track that goes closest to the rail as a busy highway and to leave that free and open for mounted riders.  It is best if you find the closest thing to the ‘median strip’ in your ring and head for that, then make your way over to the corner.  This is typically the quarter line, or, the track just about a horse length away from the rail.  You can also head straight for the center of the ring, then head over to the corner from there.  Bottom line, you want to stay out of the main flow of traffic.

It is bad manners to walk up to the mounting block and then choose that time to tighten up your girth, pull your stirrups down, readjust your stirrups, fasten your helmet and put on your gloves.  I have stood behind people who do this and being ready to go, I could have already mounted and been on my way in the time it took them to do this.  So, when you walk into the ring, before approaching the mounting block, stop in a safe, non-active area and check your girth and make any adjustments.  Pull down your stirrups.  Reach over to the rein on the opposite ‘off’ side of the horse and flatten it out and do the same on your ‘near’ side.  Use this time for any last minute pre-mounting adjustments.  Then, when the coast is clear, walk over to the block. 

If your mounting block is situated so that you can put the horse between you and the corner, this is the safest scenario, because it puts the horse’s haunches the farthest away from any traffic.  Ideally, you do not want to attempt to mount while any horses are near or about to approach.

Most horses like to walk off as soon as you put one foot in the stirrup.  You want to always try to train them not to do this.  I’ve seen someone lose their balance, fall and end up on crutches for weeks after such an incident.  The best way to avoid this is to shorten the outside rein, the ‘off’ rein – the rein farthest away from you.  Shorten it up just enough to keep the horse from walking away sideways from you and from walking forward.  As you swing your leg over, your open left palm should be resting on the horse’s whithers while still holding the reins between your thumb and index finger, then, place your right hand right under yourself in the center of the saddle and support yourself until you have found your other stirrup.  Then, either allow your horse to walk slowly away as you slowly sink into the tack or ask him to continue to stand quietly while you sink into the tack. 

Once seated, walk away from the block and find another safe place to stand where you are well out of the way and make any additional adjustments.  Typically, this means going up one more hole with your girth and ensuring your stirrup length is where you want it.  You should practice doing both while mounted and with your foot still in the stirrup.  At the least, your reins should be secured in the crook of your right arm while you do this.

Now, you are ready to hit the rail.  It is best to start out in the direction of the majority of the traffic.  Typically, in starting a lesson, this would be to the left.  Be certain the coast is clear before you make your way to the active path.  If others are trotting and warming up, you, as the slowest moving horse, should stay off the rail for now and stay on the quarter line or even closer into the center of the ring until you are ready to start working.  Again, this allows all traffic to continue doing what they were doing and decreases the problem of faster moving horses having to pass slower moving horses.

While warming up, if people are moving in both directions, you must always follow the rule of left should to left shoulder.  Meaning your horse’s left shoulder should pass the left shoulder of the horse closest to you.  However, this rule does not apply if the person is such a distance apart from you that there is no risk of a head on collision.  For instance, if you are tracking left and are on the rail and the person coming in the opposite direction is clearly cutting the end of the ring off, you do not need to be concerned about this rule.  You both are a safe distance apart from each other. 

Do not assume that everyone knows this rule, even if they are adults.  There are many adults that pick up riding much later in life and are learning just like every other beginner.  So, should another rider approach you and you are not confident they know where you are headed or you are not confident where they are headed, simply call out your position.  Calling, “Outside” while tracking left typically means you are holding the rail.  If they were to call before you, and were following the rules, they’d call, “Inside”. 

When navigating a ring where jumping is taking place, you would do best to give jumping riders the right of way.  Know that they need the corners to find the best track to a jump and to navigate the safest track through turns.  Therefore, don’t park in a corner thinking you will be out of the way.  It is a good idea to ask their instructor (or the rider) what course they will be doing so that you can navigate around, staying out of the way of the jumps they are using.  It is also a good idea to learn the lingo of jumps and jumping.  For instance, ‘outside line’ is the line of jumps that run alongside the rail, that is, either rail of the ring.  “Diagonal” are the jumps that cut up the center of the ring diagonally in either direction.  “Single” jumps are sitting by themselves with no other jump in a direct track from it.  Learn the names of the style of jumps, such as oxer, coop, stonewall, brickwall, wishing well and so on.  As a courtesy to other riders, a rider on course will call out her track using the line or the jump name if she feels the other riders are unaware of where she is going.  This is a good safety measure for all in the ring.  It is not necessary to call out each jump, however, when a track is obviously clear.  If a track suddenly does not appear clear then yes, the jumping rider can call her line.   Doing so more often than necessary can be a disruption and an annoyance to other riders. 

Once your instructor starts your class, there are even more guidelines for how to build a good reputation as a responsible rider that could be entrusted to ride someone else’s horse.  I’ll cover that in Part V.

Weekend Wrap-up

Aria and Jacey

The picture above is one I took with my Blackberry as I was leaving the barn on Sunday.  To me, it epitomizes the blessing of riding in Virginia’s countryside.  Of course, it doesn’t completely capture the actual beauty of the scene.  Nothing is ever as good as what you see with your own eyes.  But the girls were so cute — typical pony girls taking their ponies out for a stroll after their lesson.  Probably talking crazy make believe stuff to incorporate into their ride to make things more fun — a quality kids tend to have that adults really need to tap into from time to time. 

Great weekend.  I really do love the weekend, but who doesn’t?  I always feel especially blessed by my great weekends.  It is rare I have one that I don’t like.  Occasionally, I do have one I don’t like but that typically means that I didn’t get to have a big breakfast, a lot of time with Bob and not enough horse in my day.  If I have those three ingredients, plus some time with a good friend or two, then that is the perfect weekend for me. 

Saturday, I hosted Kimberley’s baby shower at my house.  Not sure if I chronicled this or not but I also hosted her bridal shower at my house.  Since the bridal shower seemed such a success, I pretty much went with the same arrangements but just put a ‘baby’ spin on things. 

For the deck, I rented two high tops for the front corners and two small rounds to go under the tent.  I skirted the tables in pale yellow linens and did white toppers on them.  Since it was a little breezy, I had to use tiny safety pins again to keep the toppers on the tables.  I bought little potted yellow Gerbera daisies to be given as parting gifts to everyone and, like last time, I forgot to tell most people to take them with them. 

The high tops each got a potted daisy placed into a square vase with green tissue paper inside the vase, hiding the ugly label on the pot.  The small rounds had short cylinder vases on them and I put floating daisy heads in them.

I rented the frozen margarita machines, just like last time.  One lime, one sangria, and let me tell you, that sangria is to die for.  This time, I made sure I got a few glasses.  I had the headache to prove it later in the day but took my good ol’ prescription meds and didn’t have the slightest twinge of a headache the following day.

I hung two ferns from the tent, which was handy because they anchored it a bit when some gusts of wind came through.  The weather was gorgeous, even though we had a few passing clouds.  I was so glad to have the tent (I bought it for my sister to replace one I destroyed and borrowed it back) because people congregated mostly out on the deck and sat under the tent.  I love my deck.  It is huge and can hold quite a large crowd comfortably.

Inside, my extensive counter space came in handy again, with tons of room for food set up, allowing people to start on one side and snake around to the other.  There is always food left over so I again got take away pans w/lids for folks to take some home and thankfully, they did.

Christine made the most hysterical cupcakes for dessert.  I’m hoping to get pictures from Kimberley soon so I can post them.  They each had a tiny naked baby on top.  They were awesome and we were all amused.

I got a pretty flower arrangement of daisies, both white and yellow for the gift table.  The florist did a spectacular job on that and put little sprays of purple mixed in.  I sent Kimberley’s mom home with that arrangement.  The gift table was also skirted but in mint green and yellow (they don’t want to know what the sex of the baby is).  I also found the most adorable cloth banner to hang from the table.  It was of tiny baby clothes pinned with tiny clothes pins onto a line.  Very cute.

I got lots of compliments on the house, which was so nice because like everyone, we are constantly doing things to the house and it is nice when people notice and compliment you.  My neighbor Jeanette also came over for a bit.  She’s seen the house come up from scratch and of course, lives in a house similar to mine so she ‘gets’ the challenges we all face in working with our odd floor plans. 

After the shower, Kimberley had plans to go to a birthday party for another friend so I stayed behind to get the house back in order and Jeanette and I watched Changeling.  Good, yet annoying movie, simply because of what the woman went through.  Angelina Jolie was beautiful in it but I swear, my girl needs some milkshakes.  If she ever gets sick, she’s done for. 

I slept like the dead and the following morning, Kimberley and I went to breakfast at Silver Diner again (we’d done so on Saturday as well) and later went to Barnes & Noble so I could get the book, “Eat, Pray, Love” which I’d only heard about recently, which I feel very behind the curve on, given that the book is in paperback now.  I also picked up some books on Paris and some language CDs in French.  ‘Why?’ you ask?  Because I’m going to Paris!!!

I’m taking my niece to Paris for her 16th birthday!  Bob hates to travel international so I decided I had to find a good travelling companion and who better to bring than my niece.  Her 16th is in June so I decided this would be a very nice gift for a milestone birthday.  We are both really excited.  I’m doing all sorts of research and planning and already have quite a sensational itinerary planned.

The neatest thing is that I have two friends in Paris.  One is Mylene and the other is Kristina.  Mylene used to ride Buster for me and Kristina was Tina’s roommate while she lived in DC.  I am really excited about getting to see both of them.  Mylene is an art curator so I’ve asked her to take us on the museum tours and she has also offered to take us to Normandie for the day, where we’ll get to ride on the beach!  I’m beyond excited.  Kristina will arrange a fun dinner with us one night and who knows what else we’ll cook up.

After Kimberley and I did our morning errands, I was off to my riding lesson and she was off to spend Mother’s Day with her mom.  Bob was in New York spending it with his mother for the weekend as well.  The weather was perfect, although a little breezy.  At Jess’s, I got to ride a new horse, Junior, who was just a big goof and so cute.  He’s very attractive and lovely to sit on.  Quite the big boy, nearly 17 hands, if not that and some change. 

We did our usual flatwork, working on some exercises to help Junior specifically, then did some jumping.  I love how I’m getting much more organized on course.  I am more consistently able to stick to my plan that I started out with, rather than just remembering it for the first two jumps then just hoping to get there right the rest of the time.  So, in cases where a different track is suggested, I’m remembering to land, continue straight and head for that track and turn.  Sounds easy enough but when you are out of practice, you tend to just remember the numbers and go.  There is so much to think about when you are on course and so many things change while you are doing it so you have to be able to adjust and have the ability to get back on plan when they do.  Then, there is remembering to not do all the weird habits that you normally do.  Breaking habits is so hard!

I gave Junior a bath and washed his socks until they sparkled (he has four of them).  He was a good boy and enjoyed it.  I dabbed some salve on a boo-boo he had, then put him in his bed for the day.  I headed home and took a nice long nap with Bob, who had returned from NY.  That made it a perfect weekend!

Another visit to CT

I know I need to get rolling on my latest installment of ‘How To Get a Free Ride’ but I wanted to recap some recent events.

My best friend, Lisa, was in town last week so a group of us got together and had dinner with her in DC on Thursday night.  We went to Proof.  Food was good.  Can’t say that I was crazy about the atmosphere (translation:  decor) but we had a great time. 

That night, I stayed with Lisa in her room then the following day, she and I took the train to Philadelphia (PHL in my world).  She had some hours she needed to spend in her office there, so while she worked, I strolled around the city in search of gifts.  I picked up something for Bob (my sweetie), Lisa, Andrew (her baby) and my best bud here at work.  It was fun to just be off and to stroll around.  I bought a travel journal and made some notes in it and ate at a little place that seemed popular with local students (translation: it was healthy).  It was a neat part of Philly that I’d not yet seen.  Been there several times for various things but never just to mosey. 

When Lisa was done working, we caught another train to CT.  Lisa is such a great person to be around and is so generous so when it comes to people in the service industry, if they have encountered her one time, they remember her.  As we were getting ready to board the 1st class car to CT, one of the staff recognized Lisa, grabbed us and found us a seat together.  It was a nice touch because we were waiting in a different line to get into a different door and we’d have missed those seats had we followed along in the line.  Lisa worked, I played Solitaire on my iPod.  Which I have to say, doing that and listening to my music at the same time has to be my most fun thing to do while traveling.  It just sucks your battery like none other.  Note to self:  get A/C wall charger.

At the other end, once in CT, we took Lisa’s car service to her house and hung out until the rest of the crew (the nanny, the baby, her husband) got home.  Seeing Andrew is always such a treat because he just is bigger and smarter and more talkative every time I see him.  Such an adorable little boy.  You just want to hug him and kiss his cheeks.

Lisa and I got to ride both Saturday and Sunday which was a blast.  It means I get to see my friend Tami and Tami gives us a lesson.  I got to ride Pisco again, who is just such a good horse.  I finally figured out how to ask him for his changes, which are pretty much auto but you have to be subtle when you ask or you’ll get a lot of tail wringing and pinned ears and a few hops from behind.  By day two, I had that smoothed out. 

I was proud of myself for actually remembering and executing a course that Tami just rattled off.  Normally, I’m a little course-stupid.  I had a nine element course that I actually remembered from the get-go.  So, proof to myself that I’m not a complete idiot.  I had everything from a few cavaletti to 2′6″ – one 3′6″ jump.  It was fun. 

On Sunday, we went to Beval so I could sit in a few saddles.  I’ve been half-heartedly looking but I’ve not been able to find one with a flap that fit me from hip to knee (I’m long) and I did find a model that fit.  I want to buy used so I will keep my eye out for one.

I also got to meet Emily – someone who I have chatted with on the COTH board.  She trains with Kip Rosenthal and she’s such a good little rider.  I am so envious of her style.  We all met for lunch on Saturday and she later took us to Benchmark Farm, which was at a really lovely facility. 

It was a fun trip.  Taking Friday off made the weekend seem so long!  I had a great time but was so, so happy to get back to my sweetie, my puppies and my bed!

How to Get a Free Ride – Part III(b) of How to develop into a winning rider

Let’s Review

In my last post, “How to Get a Free Ride – Part III(a)”, I talked about how to turn yourself out.  Now, as promised, we are going to cover how to turn your ride out.  By now, you’re probably wondering why we can’t just cut to the chase and start talking about getting the actual ride.  Just remember, this is a process.  You are building your ‘brand’.  In some cases, you might be re-branding yourself (google this – it’s a business term). 

In this scenario, we are assuming you are taking lessons somewhere.  That is your best ‘in’ with getting more rides at any barn.  You gotta give a little to get a little.  So, again, as mentioned previously, it is recommended that you start at a lesson barn. 

Each time you go into the ring, you want to have presence.  You and your horse should shine.  It should not appear that you showed up late, knocked the dust off of your horse quickly, just to get in on time.  You’ll have wanted to have shown up at least a half-hour early so that you can properly groom your horse and so that you are in the ring a bit early or on time, whatever is your instructor’s preference.

Let’s get started!

If you go back to the “How to Get a Free Ride – Part III(a)” post, you’ll notice I listed the contents of my grooming bag.  Might be a bit much for the average person but there are some essentials you should have and I’ll cover how you should use each of those items.

Before I even touch my horse, I get all my gear on.  I wear full chaps (very old school) – I get those on, adjust my spurs and secure the straps, then I put on my hair net and helmet.  I stuff my gloves in my back pocket and my stick is sitting in my grooming bag.  The reason I do this is because of:  a) safety and b) never make a horse wait on you.  In other words, to me, it is not cool to put a horse on cross ties, groom, tack up and so forth, then make the horse wait while you get the rest of your stuff on.  Get you ready first, then put the horse on crossties or tie him in his stall and get him ready.  That way, once that horse is tacked up, the two of you are ready to do business together at the same time.

Safety first!

If you tack up for your lesson in the stall, you’ll want to find a safe way to secure the horse.  Otherwise, his freedom to move around can cause you to get hurt.  If there are no tie rings in the stall, you can tie him to one of the screw eyes his buckets hang from.  You might even need to take the bucket off of the screw eye because the rope could get stuck under the bucket, startle the horse, then next thing you know, he’s dumped all the water on the floor or worse.  You can unhook it and set the bucket on the floor.  You just need to remember to re-hang it. 

Bottom line, it is not a good idea to tie to the bars of the stall or anything that the horse cannot easily pull away from in a panic.  Tying him is simply for encouraging him to stand still.  You do not want him in a situation where he panics for any reason and pulls himself to the point where he can possibly snap his own neck.  They will do it.

Stay organized

Grooming stalls are great and I like cross ties too.  Regardless of where you tack up, keep your grooming kit nearby and keep all of your equipment in one place, being respectful that others might need to work very close by as well.  Stay organized and immediately put all your things right back where you got them from in your kit.  And, it goes without saying, mark all of your tools so that they are not mistaken as someone else’s.

If you use the barn’s equipment, same applies.  As soon as you are finished using the tool, put it right back where you found it, or where you know it is supposed to go.  Especially because you are sharing the equipment with others.

Work front to back

First thing I do on every horse I ride is start at their head.  I never just reach up and go at it.  I first gently touch their muzzles, then the bridge of their nose, then start between their eyes.  This avoids startling the horse.  I take my tiny curry, which is gentle to begin with, and I gently yet firmly curry the horse’s entire head in circular motions.  I go around their ears (taking care here – some horses are very sensitive about their ears), I lift their forelocks, I do their cheeks and the bars of their jaw.  They all love that curry.

I then take the small curry and brush it in several quick strokes across my face brush which is a horse hair Kiwi shoe-shine brush (found in the Housewares section at the grocery store) to knock any loose dust, dirt or hair out of it.  Then, I brush the whole head again, this time, going with the growth of the hair.  If your horse doesn’t seem to mind, you can be more quick and aggressive with this brush so that you are able to ‘flick’ dirt out of his coat. 

A secret about goat hair or horse hair brushes is that they are soft enough for the most finicky of horses but because the bristles are so fine, they cut deep into the coat and are the best at getting dirt out of a horse’s coat.  I notice the head of the horse gets neglected quite a bit because a lot of horses don’t like to be brushed in the face.  They’ve just never had the appropriate tools used.  If worse comes to worse, you’ll want to use a rag.  First, rub all over, then rub with the hair.  But I have yet to find a horse that doesn’t enjoy being curried and brushed with the two tools I mention above.  I keep those two tools together in one of my side pockets of my grooming bag. 

Next, I brush or comb out the horse’s mane.  The reason why I do it at this stage is because if you wait until the end, you’ll notice more dirt and debris comes out of their mane and will get back on their coat. 

Next, I either get my shedding flower or my round rubber curry.  I have the kind that fits in my palm, has no straps and has rubber spikes that move easily when pushed.  I also like the Jelly curries that fit over your hand almost like a mitt.  Especially for fussy horses. 

If I’m using the shedding flower, I’m careful around bony areas including hips and shoulders.  I never use the shedding flower on faces or legs.  Like the small face curry, I use this in circular motions, going against the growth of the hair.  Pay attention to your horse’s reaction when currying.  Some are more sensitive on their backs or bellies.  Their ears will tell you.  Just be a little more gentle if they seem to object.  Switch to the Jelly if they still seem sensitive.  The Jelly curry is great for legs.

After I have all the dirt and hair loosened, I start back up at the front of the horse, right behind the ears with my dandy brush.  This will be your stiffest of brushes and is designed to knock off the loose hair and dirt you just lifted up with your curry.  I start on the left side of the horse with the dandy in my left hand and my rubber curry in my right. 

I go from ears, to shoulder, down the shoulder then down the legs.  And as I’m doing each leg, I run one hand down the inside of the leg while I brush the outside of it.  This way, I can feel any cuts or any heat in the leg.  After I’ve brushed down the outside of my first leg, I stay down and brush the inside of the other leg, since I can see it best from this angle. 

As I’m brushing, every few strokes, I stroke my brush quickly several times across my rubber curry.  This knocks all the dirt out of the brush that you just picked up.  This is a habit you should get into.  Otherwise, you will be putting dirt right back into your horse’s coat, which defeats the purpose of all of your hard work.  It also keeps you from having to clean your brushes.  I personally never clean my brushes.  I knock the dust out of them before I start, while I’m grooming and after I’m done grooming.  I do it until I see no more dust come out of it.  This method gets rid of the dirt but keeps all the good oils from the horse’s coat in the brush and that gets deposited back into the coat, adding to its shine. 

The very last brush I use is this one by Winner’s Circle.  It is soft in the middle with horse hair bristles and stiff on the outside.  I like this as a polishing brush and for legs.  Otherwise, this would be my favorite.  This is the one I sent with Buster when I sold him.  He was very picky about his brushes.  It is goat hair, super soft and I love using it on dark horses.  They seem to show the dirt the worse, especially in the winter.  This brush will get deep into the coat and picks up everything.  You would use it last in your line up.

Details, details, details

If your horse has white socks, you should be prepared to spot clean his socks with your towel and possibly a rinseless shampoo spray.  In extreme cases, if I have the time and management doesn’t mind, I’ll put the horse on the wash rack and clean his socks, hand drying them.  If the horse is gray or has any white on his body, same applies.  You certainly can’t give the animal a bath but you can do your best by a good grooming first, then by rubbing with a dry towel, then try the spot cleaning.

Next, I do the feet.  I’m going to assume you know how to pick feet.  While I’m picking, I grasp the shoe with one hand and try to wiggle it, just to make sure it is on securely.  When I am done picking a foot, I don’t just let go of the foot.  I first try to set the foot back down so that the horse either places it flat from there or I let it rest on its toe.  You just don’t want to drop the foot.  Some horses actually want you to let go when you are done and prefer to place their own feet.  Just take the time to see which works for your horse.

After I’ve picked out all four feet, I paint them with an oil.  Right now, I’m using Absorbine All Natural Dressing.  It is clear and doesn’t smell too badly either.  If you are tacking up in the stall, dig a little trench around your horse’s foot first to keep your brush from picking up bedding.  I start painting at the coronet (coronary) band on the outside of the foot, and just like I do when I am brushing, I do the inside of the opposite foot.  Then, work my way around in that same manner.

Lastly, I spritz the tail with a detangler and using a tail brush, I work through the tail, starting at the bottom.  I grasp the tail all the way at the bottom leaving only about four inches of the tail to brush.  Once I’ve brushed through that, I inch up a bit more, still grasping the tail firmly in one hand while brushing with the other.  Keeping the tail firmly in one hand reduces the chances of breakage.  Some barns might not even want you brushing the tail so you might want to check first.

Do it like the pros

Now for the finishing touches!  Take your dandy brush and dip the very ends of the bristles in your horse’s bucket.  Gently ’sling’ the water out in one motion so the brush is still damp and while standing opposite of the side the mane falls, brush the mane at the roots away from you.  Then walk to the other side and continue to brush down the mane.  Do the same with the forelock.  Then, go to your horse’s rear and stroke down once on each side at the very top (dock) of your horse’s tail.  Notice how all the bushy hair now lies flat.  Granted, it doesn’t stay but it does long enough for you to make your entrance.  It is a finishing touch that I learned when I worked for Beacon Hill Show Stables during the Florida circuit.  

And finally, take your towel, dip a pinch of it into your horse’s water bucket again and use the moistened end to wipe any matter out of your horse’s eyes, then his nostrils and maybe even around the corners of his mouth.  You can give his coat one last, quick dusting after you’ve tacked up too.

Phew!  That’s my grooming routine.  Believe it or not, that probably only takes me between 15 and 20 minutes.  No matter the horse, they all look better after a proper grooming. 

There are so many other things I could share about grooming but we’ll cover it down the road when we start talking about show ring prep.

Next up:

In the next post in this series, I’ll cover some rules of the road while you are in your lesson.  It’s all a part of building your reputation as someone who is serious about their riding.

Have a great weekend!