50 riding things

Fifty questions about riding, of which I’ll answer most…

1. How old were you when you first started riding?

I've ridden the pony rides since I should just about walk. I started taking lessons at 9.

2. First horse ridden:

Sundance, a white appaloosa gelding who was a total saint. Last I heard, he was still packing around the kiddies and doing a fabulous job.

3. First horse trotted on:

Same. He didn't like to turn right, though. My arm ached by the end of the lesson.

4. First horse cantered on:

Oh... probably also the same. I'm not sure.

5. First Horse fallen off of:

Simon J, a black grade morgan gelding. He taught me a lot. Especially about being exactly where he wanted me to be over a jump, or he'd dump me on top of it. That was probably my first fall.

6. Most recent horse fallen off of:

Izzy. It was one of our first rides. She did a major spook that I wasn't ready for and I came right off. Conveniently, the weather was really crappy (it was march), so we got to do lots of ground work before I had to get back on.

7. Most terrifying fall:

I've never really been terrified. My most humiliating fall was when good ol' Simon J dumped me on top of the biggest oxer (all of 2'3") at the 4-H English show in front of everyone. And then I had to get back on and do it again. The judge said that she'd lower, which I thought was a marvelous idea, but my instructor jumped right in that and said that no, I would jump it at the same height. So the judge backed off and I had to make that stubborn old horse jump a humongous oxer. At that point, I think we got over it because I was more scared of being further embarrassed by my instructor telling the judge what to do than the dear of pain. It was good for me, though. Going over that jump again, and then having to do it in the next class really taught me to get a handle on my fears.

8. First horse jumped with:

Simon J

9. First horse who ran away with you:

Cassie. She was pretty fresh off the track and she (rightly) thought I hadn't lunged her very much. Since it was a nice, cool morning, she took me for a racehorse gallop around the arena. We made 8 laps. I lost my stirrups, then my reins. When I finally fell off, she did a sliding stop beside me. She had no idea why I got off in the middle of her workout.

10. First horse that scared the crap out of you:

Shower, a flea bitten grey thoroughbred mare who was never on the track. She was blind in one eye. As we hacked up a trail to the show arena, she didn't realize that her blind side was a fairly significant drop off. My 12 year old legs could hardly keep her going straight. That was a very bad show.

11. First horse shown :

Simon J.

12. First horse to win a class with:

Shower. After dumping me twice at the terrifying show, she cleaned up her act, and we won ribbons in all our classes at the next one. To include, of course, a beautiful blue ribbon in the maiden rider class.

13. Do you/have you taken lessons:

I took one lesson a week from 9-17. At 17, I started college and horses faded to the back ground. I had a couple lessons and rode in a clinic once on someone else's horse, but I'm just now starting to get back into the swing of things.

14. First horse you ever rode bareback:

Simon J.He was pretty old and fat at that point, so the hardest part was trying to grip with anything at the trot because he jiggled so much.

15. First horse trail ridden with:

Prince was his name. Or at least, that's what I called him. We went up to an outfitter's in the mountains because my dad knew how badly I wanted to ride. As we were waiting for the horses to be saddled, I caught sight of the most beautiful chestnut I had ever seen and knew I wanted to ride him. Fortunately, I got to. He was an excellent trail horse, as were the rest.

16. Current Barn name:

Uh... I try to keep it a little anonymous here. Not that I think you're stalkers, but no sense leaving that open, right?

17. Do you ride English or western?

English always. I confess, despite living in the west for most of my life, I still do not know how to put a western saddle on.

18. First Horse to place at a show with:

Shower. Simon was steady, but it took us a while to do well together.

19. Ever been to horse camp?

Nope. Those were expensive and usually required both a horse trailer and owning your own horse. I just got my first horse this spring, and I've never owned a horse trailer.

20. Ever been to a riding clinic?

I used to do dressage clinics all the time. Maybe next year.

21. Ridden sidesaddle?

Only in my dreams. I really want to, though.

22. First horse leased:

Cassie, the OTTB who ran off with me. She was/is amazing and I love her.

23. Last Horse Leased:

Cassie... I'm a one-horse kind of girl, I guess.

24. Highest ribbon in a show:

1st. I also got a medal when my team won the regional championships. Go us!

25. Ever been to an ‘A’ rated show?

I'm a low-budget rider. To me, an expensive show costs over $100. I can't imagine paying $1200 for a show.

26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?

Yes. Super fun.

27. Ever fallen off at a show:

Many, many times. It's pretty embarrassing at first, but I'm over it now.

28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?

I hope my horse will be a hunter/jumper. We'll see.

29. Have you ever barrel raced?

Yes. Once on Simon J and twice on Cassie. Simon was happy to trot around, but Cassie really got into it.

30. Ever done pole bending?

Yes. Not Cassie's favorite event. She just likes to straight-up run.

31. Favorite gait:

A nice smooth, morgan trot.

32. Ever cantered bareback?

Yes. Also galloped and jumped. I like bareback.

33. Have you ever done dressage?

Yes. Cassie got a 70 once and I was very proud. I think it was first level... maybe training 4. I don't recall. She's too nervous to go far in dressage though, so I took First Class to regionals instead of her.

34. Have you ever evented?

Yep. That was Cassie and I's favorite thing to do.

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?

Ask me if I can remember a week between turning 9 and now that I did not muck a stall. There were two. Once I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed for a week. Once I was on my honeymoon. That is all.

36. Ever been bucked off?

Yeah, but it was my fault. I didn't tighten the girth enough, so when I stepped into the stirrup, Star, the paint horse, felt the saddle slide and took off bucking. I hit the ground pretty hard.

37. Ever been on a horse that reared:

Izzy... but again, it wasn't really her fault.

38. Horses or ponies:

I've actually never ridden a pony outside of pony rides. It's too late now. I'd smoosh the poor thing.

39. Do you wear a helmet?

Always. Except the first time I rode Izzy after she reared. It was so hot that it felt like I had a helmet on. Once I realized I didn't, I got off very quickly.

40. What’s the highest you’ve jumped:

3'9". That was the summer before I started college. I just kept putting the jump up. I was so sick that every landing hurt terribly though, so we finally stopped there. After that day, the weather changed and I idn't get to ride seriously again until this year.

41. Have you ever ridden at night?

Yep. Not on trails or roads, though.

42. Do you watch horsey television shows?

I don't even have the converter box hooked to my tv, so I haven't seen a television show since sometime in June. I don't really miss it.

43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?

Nope. I'm lucky there and I know it.

44. Most falls in one lesson:

Probably two. I used to be a pretty timid rider, so my instructor didn't push us too hard. <3 Cathy.

45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?

Yes, but mostly because the city has moved in and enclosed our barn. :-( We should be moving out to a place with trail access this winter, though, and I'm excited for that.

46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?

No. That would be awful.

47. Have you ever been bitten?

Yep. Cassie was the worst bite I got, but again, it wasn't really her fault. Cathy was pulling her mane, which Cassie hates, so Cassie snapped and my hand happened to be in the way. That hurt.

48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?

Yep. Worst one was Shower; she stepped on me from her blindside and I couldn't get her to move. Thanks to my always wearing safe footwear, however, no serious damage was done.

49: Favorite riding moment:

Finishing X-C at our first big event. We were galloping up to the final fence and I realized that at that pace, if anything went wrong, we would both get very hurt. I just trusted Cassie to take care of it, and she did. I don't think we placed because we missed a fence, but it was a glorious ride.

50. Most fun horse you’ve ridden:

So far, Cassie. Izzy's getting to be pretty fun, though.