Ammy Hour: Meet Carly!!

It's time for another round of Ammy Hour, wherein we meet the coolest and most hardworking people in the horse industry--the adult ammies who make it all happen on a budget. This week, we meet Carly of Poor Woman Showing. She's always been one of my favorite reads--if you think her horse stories are fun, you should look up he account of the incident with the Christmas lights. I was rolling. At any rate, here's Carly! 

 

1) You’re at dinner with work colleagues. How do you introduce yourself?

You should all know who I am because it's printed on the paper in front of you. However, if you're an illiterate farmer, I am your local Farm Bureau secretary. All in favor of skipping this meeting and going straight for the complimentary food, say, "Aye"

2) But what you really meant to say was this:

You should really be paying me for this job.

3) Tell us about your horse:

MightyBobbyMagee, or Bobby, is an 8yo. OTTB who has a rather suprising aptitude for eventing given the fact that he often gazes at you with his classically vacant expression.

4) How did you meet him/her?

Bobby was bred at my alumnus SUNY Cobleskill for our Thoroughbred program. Because of his excellent temperment, he was excluded from the yearling sales and kept to be a training dummy for some of our equestrian classes. He was eventually syndicated and raced for two and a half years before being donated back to the program. I bought him in December of 2010, but I've known him since day one.

5) What have you done together?

We have competed through the stadium phase of Novice in eventing. A thrown shoe ended our season with an early retirement on cross country in our first attempt at that level. Overall, I try to keep things interesting for both of us. I would consider Bobby an eventer that just so happens to participate in such malarkey as skijoring , ponying questionably obedient horses out on trails, and learning to drive once the weather is nice enough.

6) Where are you going together?

This year I'm playing with the idea of moving up to Training in the fall. My end goal is to compete at Preliminary. I think Bobby will probably max out at that level, and since I currently have to flex my mental muscles to not pee my breeches when leaving the start box at any level (It gets better as I start jumping, really.), I don't see myself wanting to go any higher.

 

 

7) How do you finance the addiction?

My fiancee finances my addiction. It's far from the ideal situation it sounds like. I battle both bi-polar disorder and anxiety--I have for most of my life--so interacting with people can be challenging for me. The infamous "Hubby" and I have been together for years, and it's a situation that works well for us, though it  probably wouldn't work for many other couples.

8) How often do you ride?

I try to ride at least four times a week, more in the summer when we're showing, and noticably less in winter when I don't feel like driving thirty miles in snow and ice and generally miserable conditions.

9) What’s the single biggest thing that helps you achieve your goals?

I'm an extremely competitive person, and the sorest loser you'll ever meet. There's nothing that gets me more motivated than someone telling me, "No way."

10) If there was one thing you could say to people getting ready to join the ranks of riding (or re-riding) adults, what would it be? 

What took you so long?!

11) Bottom line:
Make sure you enjoy your horse first and foremost. Everyone gets into fights with their partners, but if you dread swinging your leg over him or her, what's the point? I struggled for a long time connecting with Bobby after losing my last horse, but I had so much history with him, I knew we just had to find some equal ground. Now I'm just as happy plodding along on a trail ride with friends than I am when he's pulling me around a cross country course. It's all about being teammates.

Many thanks to Carly for participating!! Remember to check out her blog (if you haven't already) here. There are so many different ways for adult ammies to be involved with horses after the parents are done paying bills.

Want to participate? Know someone who should? Contact me through the contact page on this blog or in the comments section!