November 10 Questions
Pasture Life, Day One - Leo stood at the gate crying and waiting to be let in for approximately 90% of the day, up until we let out his regular pasturemates after evening feed. Sigh.
And onto the main content...Thanks, L Williams!
How old is the youngest/greenest horse you’ve ridden?
Um, I want to say 4, but not 100% on that. We'll go with 4, +/- 1 year.
How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden?
I choose not to talk about this on the blog, but once a week I work at a local therapeutic riding center. The oldest mare there, Babe, is well into her thirties. She's retired now, but last winter, when she was still in good shape, I took her for a trail ride. She is a dear, dear old soul.
Were you scared of horses when you first started riding?
I don't think that I've ever been afraid of the horses themselves - it's the falling, or the going too fast, or the being out of control parts that have scared me. So, riding scared me. Not horses. :P
Would you say you’re a more nervous rider or a confident rider?
More than anything, I can often be a TENSE rider. I am significantly less nervous than I used to be, very confident on some horses and more nervous on others. It depends on the horse, the situation (shows = nerves), and also sometimes my life circumstances.
Biggest pet peeve about non-horse people around horses?
"You're hurting him!!!"
A time you’ve been scared for your life? (horse related)
We have this gelding at the barn who had crazy abscess trouble earlier in the year. He's usually a pasture horse, but it was during the super wet springtime period, so he was on complete stall rest for close to a month. I got him out for the vet and was leading him to the arena for a lameness assessment and he went absolutely nuts for no apparent reason - just suddenly started spinning and rearing, ripped the lead rope from my hand, spun again, double back kicked directly at my head - like, pretty sure I had whiplash from jerking away so fast - and then galloped off. The vet was freaking out - she thought he had clipped me.
Have you ever fallen off at show? What happened?
I got convinced to take the 20 year old welsh pony to do the 2'6 hunters and she very impolitely told me that she was not in the mood to show that day, thank you very much. Dirty stops resulting in falls during the warm-up and each round - including one that literally everyone thought she should have gone over (and that was, incidentally, our last fence in the course). She then stopped directly in front of the judge during the trotting portion of our flat class to relieve herself, and absolutely refused to budge until she was done. Said pony is now my arch-nemesis.
What’s a breed of horse you’ve never ridden but would like to ride?
Oh man. I would love to ride an Icelandic horse. Or a Lippizan.
Describe the worst behaved horse you’ve ridden?
Well, Lulu was pretty horrific at that show, but she's old and cranky and can be a perfect angel some of the time. I don't know. Leo was pretty terrible for a few weeks there, after I first bought him. And at one of the barns I rode at in college, there was a horse that seemed to thoroughly enjoy scraping the legs of his riders into the arena walls.
The most frustrating ride you’ve ever had?
My first ever ride on Izzy, the OTTB that I leased this past spring. Last November, she was just coming off of a long stretch of time off after an injury, and was mildly psychotic to begin with, and I had never ridden anything like her before in my life. She was essentially acting like it was her first day off the track (it took about a month of being back in regular work for her to settle down somewhat), and I had no idea what I was doing. We literally spent the entire lesson walking and trotting in circles. Except for one moment of sheer panic where I took my leg off and she bolted and we accidentally jumped a random jump. It was a hot mess.
And onto the main content...Thanks, L Williams!
How old is the youngest/greenest horse you’ve ridden?
Um, I want to say 4, but not 100% on that. We'll go with 4, +/- 1 year.
How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden?
I choose not to talk about this on the blog, but once a week I work at a local therapeutic riding center. The oldest mare there, Babe, is well into her thirties. She's retired now, but last winter, when she was still in good shape, I took her for a trail ride. She is a dear, dear old soul.
Were you scared of horses when you first started riding?
I don't think that I've ever been afraid of the horses themselves - it's the falling, or the going too fast, or the being out of control parts that have scared me. So, riding scared me. Not horses. :P
Would you say you’re a more nervous rider or a confident rider?
More than anything, I can often be a TENSE rider. I am significantly less nervous than I used to be, very confident on some horses and more nervous on others. It depends on the horse, the situation (shows = nerves), and also sometimes my life circumstances.
Biggest pet peeve about non-horse people around horses?
"You're hurting him!!!"
A time you’ve been scared for your life? (horse related)
We have this gelding at the barn who had crazy abscess trouble earlier in the year. He's usually a pasture horse, but it was during the super wet springtime period, so he was on complete stall rest for close to a month. I got him out for the vet and was leading him to the arena for a lameness assessment and he went absolutely nuts for no apparent reason - just suddenly started spinning and rearing, ripped the lead rope from my hand, spun again, double back kicked directly at my head - like, pretty sure I had whiplash from jerking away so fast - and then galloped off. The vet was freaking out - she thought he had clipped me.
Have you ever fallen off at show? What happened?
I got convinced to take the 20 year old welsh pony to do the 2'6 hunters and she very impolitely told me that she was not in the mood to show that day, thank you very much. Dirty stops resulting in falls during the warm-up and each round - including one that literally everyone thought she should have gone over (and that was, incidentally, our last fence in the course). She then stopped directly in front of the judge during the trotting portion of our flat class to relieve herself, and absolutely refused to budge until she was done. Said pony is now my arch-nemesis.
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| pre-rematch lesson. Trainer made me ride the entire thing one-handed. |
What’s a breed of horse you’ve never ridden but would like to ride?
Oh man. I would love to ride an Icelandic horse. Or a Lippizan.
Describe the worst behaved horse you’ve ridden?
Well, Lulu was pretty horrific at that show, but she's old and cranky and can be a perfect angel some of the time. I don't know. Leo was pretty terrible for a few weeks there, after I first bought him. And at one of the barns I rode at in college, there was a horse that seemed to thoroughly enjoy scraping the legs of his riders into the arena walls.
The most frustrating ride you’ve ever had?
My first ever ride on Izzy, the OTTB that I leased this past spring. Last November, she was just coming off of a long stretch of time off after an injury, and was mildly psychotic to begin with, and I had never ridden anything like her before in my life. She was essentially acting like it was her first day off the track (it took about a month of being back in regular work for her to settle down somewhat), and I had no idea what I was doing. We literally spent the entire lesson walking and trotting in circles. Except for one moment of sheer panic where I took my leg off and she bolted and we accidentally jumped a random jump. It was a hot mess.
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| I truly, deeply wish that we had had more time. |
My mom has done some volunteer work at that therapeutic riding place (although not much lately) -- wonder if you ever met her! Haha
ReplyDeleteSunny Oak or Cedar Creek?
DeleteWell I'm the worst, I forgot there were two! She's volunteered at Cedar Creek.
DeleteI may have met her, then!
DeletePoor Leo. I hope he adjusts quickly.
ReplyDeleteHe's adjusted. Today I threw him in a stall to eat after our ride and he was screaming to go back out immediately. Now I'm worried that he's going to become herd sour. :S
DeleteBabe has the sweetest face <3
ReplyDeleteShe has the sweetest personality, too.
Delete