Abby

In the past, I've written about two of my favorite horses, Eddie and the Hony Mare, who were instrumental in my horse career. Well now, I'd like to talk about the first equine in my life and I even have a photo to share:

This is Abby, or my Nanny Pony as I sometimes call her.  She wasn't technically mine at any point, but in my heart she was and always will be mine.  You can't see the halo in this picture, but no doubt about it, Abby was a saint.

She was the sweetest, sanest, most dependable pony there ever was.  My dad tells me that she was so safe, that when he was teaching, he would help me tack her up and then throw me up on her in the indoor arena.  He told me he would close all the doors and gates and then go teach a student in the outdoor arena, periodically checking on me to make sure I was ok.  There was never, not once, a mishap.

I would give Abby a little thump with my tiny heels every once in a while, and she would oblige me with a couple of steps of jog, before slowing to her sedate and steady walk.  I remember riding in the indoor telling Abby stories where she and I were on wild adventures together or I'd sing to her the little nonsensical songs I came up with in my precocious childhood.

Abby was my very first best friend and I could not have asked for a better one.   She listened to me for hours on end (no mean feat) and gave me a sense of independence. Those few years of having Abby as my nanny were truly awesome.  However, eventually my parents told me that Abby's owners had taken her back.

It wasn't until two years ago that my naivete vanished a little and I figure out what had really happened. Although, I suppose depending on your religious views, that's exactly what happened.  It certainly does comfort me to think that Abby, Jack and now Eddie, the horses who took such great care of me in life, are still keeping an eye on me from a better place.

I hope that every little girl who dreams of horses gets to have an Abby in her life.  While they are a bit more expensive, ponies like her truly make great babysitters!

He Rode And Lived To Tell The Tale

A while back I posted about trying to take my boyfriend for his first horseback riding experience.  Then I was bummed when that didn't happen, but now I can say that I successfully took my boyfriend riding.

Our University's riding club decided to take a fall trail ride before the weather got too cold.  Several of the girls brought their boyfriends along for the ride (pun, sadly, intended).  We had a blast!

I was like a proud mama on her kid's first day of school.  I took so many pictures and my boyfriend, bless him, did not roll his eyes in a single one.

A cute guy, a horse and a dog makes the prefect picture in my book.

We went to a large establishment with about 25 horses waiting for our group and another trail ride group.  The mounted us up according to hight with my boyfriend being the first one up.  Well that worked out for me, because it meant more time for me to be taking pictures!

My boyfriend took everything in stride (man I'm really on a roll today!) and looked right at home on his mount, Chief.  He was even voted "best heels" of the group by me and a friend!

You better believe that I was coaching my boyfriend in the car ride there.  Of course, I emphasized the importance of having your heels down, but then I started to say "now if you canter..." when my boyfriend interrupted with, "It's my first time on a horse! I'm not going to be doing any cantering!"

I felt extremely sheepish for getting so carried away.  Of course he wasn't going to canter!

Well..... due to a miscommunication in which the trail guide thought we were ALL members of a riding team, not only did he canter but he cantered repeatedly! And now I'm sure he'll never doubt me again. (yeah right.)

I was so proud of him for doing so well and so excited to finally be able to share with him even a tiny sliver of this sport, these animals, that mean so much to me.

How soon is too soon to start suggesting that now we need to get two horses? Just kidding honey if you're reading this!




not really :)

NaNoWriMo

I have decided to challenge myself and expand my horizons again, only this time in the literary world.  Also, I'm hoping it'll be fun.

For the next 30 Days, I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month.  The challenge: to write a little every day (roughly 1,600 words) to end up with a 50,000 word essay or the beginning of a novel.

So, on top of my schoolwork, lessons, work and the blog, I will now be writing fiction everyday.

If I remember correctly, the last story that I wrote involved a palamino mare who walked on her hind legs and wore a dress.  To be fair I was rather young, but this should still be interesting.

So, if I am a bit absent this month, it's because I'm furiously imagining and writing my butt off!

Wish me luck!

Puissance Class

Six riders attempted the $25,000 Puissance Class, but four rounds later just one would win.

In the qualifying round, Aaron Vale was first to be eliminated after knocking a rail at the second qualifying fence, a high vertical.

Five of six jumped the qualifying jumps and the 5'6" wall and returned for the second round.  Two of the warm-up fences were removed so riders had only to jump the triple bar and the wall set at 6'.  Ljubov Kochetova, the only lady and the only rider representing Russia in the Puissance, was the next to be eliminated.

Four came back for the second jump-off round with the wall set at 6'6".  Todd Minikus aboard Sweetheart, his winning mount in Thursday's Gambler's Choice,  had a pretty good rub but managed to leave the wall standing.

Along the way, Boeing added another $5,000 to the purse, making it a $30,000 Puissance class.

The third jump off round saw all four returning riders attempt the 6'9" wall, but Scott Brash got a less than ideal distance and took down part of the wall.

Three riders came back for the final jump-off round where the wall was set at a staggering 7'.  This was the round that would determine the final payout.

Andrew Kocher  aboard Donnatello, was the first in and the first eliminated.  Todd Minikus  and Sweetheart also had the wall down to tie it up for first place.

It all came down to Puissance pro Nick Skelton.  He did not disappoint, despite a good rub, Skelton and Unique left the wall standing to win the title.

Minikus wins the $20,000 Gambler's Choice

A nun, a cop and Santa.  It sounds like the beginning to a joke, but really it is a partial list of competitors for last night's Gambler's Choice class at the Washington International Horse Show.   Since the show falls so close to Halloween, it has become tradition to hold a costume class as part of the festivities.  And truly, there is nothing like seeing world class riders like Aaron Vale, Margie Engle and Todd Minikus dressed is goofy costumes.

As with any Gambler's Choice class, each fence was assigned a point value.  The riders are given a set amount of time to jump as many of the fences they can in whatever order they choose, however each fence may only be jumped no more than twice, as Navona Gallegos found out.  Had her third time over the 110 point Animal Planet vertical counted, she would have been third instead of six. Knock downs and refusals in the regular round do not count against the rider's score, except in time wasted.

At the end of the regular round, riders were given the option of jumping a final "joker" fence which in this case was a high vertical flanked by cupcakes made by Georgetown Cupcakes.  Aaron Vale a.k.a Tony Romo discovered that taste testing the cupcakes while mounted was frowned upon.

Other costumes included two hippies, Buzz Lightyear, and of course, a tube of toothpaste.

In the end, it was Todd Minikus or Uncle Sam's fantastic round aboard Sweetheart that took top honors. Making sharp 360 degree turns back and forth over jumps, Minikus scored 990 points and left the joker up to set the bar at a total 1190 points.

Saer Coulter, who was dressed as one of two Na'vi riders from Avatar, took home second with a score of 1160.  Nick "skeleton" Skelton had a bit of a dust-up when he jumped the joker fence prematurely but in the end, the judges allowed him to jump it again and he managed to ride away with third due to his 1110 point score.

Christmas themed riders "St. Nikolas" Dello Joio and Margie "the elf" Engle took home fourth and fifth respectively.

For the final results go here.

Part Horse, Part Pony, All Awesome

We all have them, the horses that whose personalities stick with us in some way.  Whether it's that one pony who hated cows or the gelding who liked grape soda, some horses are memorable. I like sharing the stories of some of the horses that I've met who were characters.

A good friend of mine has a hony mare. What is a hony? The result of a quarter horse x welsh pony cross.  Part horse, part pony, all awesome.

She's 15.3 on a good day, but woe betide anyone who tries to convince her of that fact. She is pure white with a big fluffy mane and the sweetest kindest, most feminine eye that I've ever seen.  Sometimes I call her "Hoover" because of her thorough grazing habits.  Unfortunately for her, 5 minutes of grazing and she puffs up like a balloon.

But none of that comes anywhere close to why I love this hony mare.

It's her attitude. She has the heart of 18 hand charger and the brains of a mastermind. She loves to jump and cruises around any course with ears forward exuding confidence.  I have never had this mare take a wrong step with me.  One time during a show, half of the ring -including the first fence- was partly underwater.  The Hony Mare did not even pause. She charged right through the water as if it were a puddle, didn't even give the jump a second look, despite not being able to see the base, and sailed right over.

In short (no pun intended) she gets it done.  Instead of "I think I can, I think I can," the little hony engine that could seems to say "I got this, I got this."  She is spunky, occasionally stubborn, spoiled to high heaven, and utterly dependable.

When I ride the Hony Mare, her confidence washes over me and makes me feel nigh on invincible. She is a good partner for every one that rides her and I feel very grateful that her generous owner has let me be one of those people.

Wanted!

Here’s my situation: I have a number of friends who want to ride a horse for the first time.  Naturally, as the only horse person that most of them know, they look to me to facilitate their horsey aspirations.

I would love to do this.  I want to share the joy of horses and riding with everyone I know, so that they too, will love my sport as I do.  My significant other periodically reminds me that I have yet to get him on a horse.  Probably some of you out there are now yelling at your computers, “You mean she has a boyfriend who wants to ride and she hasn’t done that yet!?!?!”  I know, epic fail on my part.

The problem is this, I have no horse for them to ride/interact with.  Chances are somewhat slim that I can find someone who is willing to let me use their horse for ponying around friends and even slimmer that I can find one that I deem suitable.

That’s not me being snobby, just practical. So many people I meet, upon hearing that I am a horseperson tell me their horror stories.

“I rode my aunt’s horse one time and it bucked me into a fence.”

“I tried to pet my neighbors horse when I was five and it bit me.  I cried like a little girl.”

“I got kicked by this really mean pony.”

These stories all end the same way.

“I don’t like horses.”

People seem to have one bad experience with one horse and then suddenly, all horses are jerks.

So, I feel a lot of responsibility to make my friends’ first horsey experiences good ones so that they at least don’t hate all equines.

To me, this means a controlled encounter with the right type of horse, a sort of horse ambassador for the fictional nation of Equus. If my horse were still alive, this would not be a problem. I am convinced that his sole goal in life was to be loved and adored by humans.  The second that anyone would groom him or pat him or simply pay attention to him, you could practically feel the gratitude and happiness radiating off of him.

Jack ferried my friends, my mom’s friends, former students who hadn’t ridden in years and people who had never met a horse before.  Jack remained calm and affectionate and he won a lot of hearts over during his years as an ambassador.  Most notably, a little boy who was deathly afraid of horses came to watch his mother ride and after interacting with Jack he decided that maybe they weren’t that scary after all. Less than a year later and this same boy was taking regular riding lessons.

Jack’s sweetness and dependability were what made him such a great beginner horse and that ability to instill at least a like, if not love, of horses in neophytes is yet another reason that I miss him so terribly.

Unfortunately, my favorite horse ambassador is gone.  Fortunately, I think I’ve found a way to get my friends riding.  It’s not as great as having Jack, but hopefully it’ll do…..