Socially Awkward Equestrians United

non horsey people don't understand

Because I've met some of you, I know that I am not the only socially awkward equestrian out there. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the reason most of us manage to blend in to non-horsey society at all is because we have online pony friends and blogs that let us scratch the itch so we can have occasional non-horsey conversations with co-workers and relatives and neighbors. 

But that still leaves us as a little socially awkward. 

For example: you possibly remember when I signed up for a dressage clinic at the fanciest barn in the area with a VERY BNT this spring. 

And then Courage wouldn't get on the trailer and I had to make this super-humiliating phone call (yes, AFTER introducing myself to the clinician while auditing) to say we weren't coming. 

Ahem. 

So I ran into the host trainer a few weeks back. She'd just hosted another clinic with said VERY BNT trainer that I was kindly invited to but was still too humiliated to show my face at. 

She says hello and is her usual super-polite self AND DIDN'T EVEN MENTION THE CLINIC and I'm all like "oh you just had another clinic. so sad it didn't fit into my work schedule so I couldn't come audit".

Which like.

Was a bald-faced lie. 

we do dressage better now

It didn't really fit into my work schedule, but that was 100% not the reason I wasn't there. I wasn't there because just thinking about it makes me want to sink through the floor and I hope that very kind gentleman who teaches the clinics forgets I ever existed. 

BUT WHY DID I BRING IT UP.

I don't know. Just awkward. 

cute Courage pic to cut the awkward a little

That's possibly almost as bad as the time I audited a Jimmy Wofford clinic. It was literally the week after he got turned down the the position of US Eventing coach, which was a basket he'd kind of put all his eggs in. Someone asked him about it and yeah, REALLY SORE SUBJECT. He did.not.want. to talk about it, which is fair. 

So all the riders go get ready. The friend I'm auditing with goes to get Jimmy coffee. It's just me and Jimmy Freaking Wofford, standing under the eaves of a house in the pouring rain. Side by side. 

And for the next 5 minutes, all I can think is "don't talk about the eventing coach position" and "don't say anything stupid that he might remember". 

So we stood there. You could cut the awkward with a Mack Truck. No knife required. To this day, I don't know what I could have said to him, because just thinking about the experience makes me so uncomfortable that I want to die. Oh, and yes, a trainer I rode with knew him and called him one time to ask about attending that clinic in another year. And he was like "please come. the people there are so weird".

same facility. no j wo.

And yeah, I know EXACTLY who he was talking about.

...which is why I'll probably never audit another  J Wo clinic. I bet he remembers. That was super weird. 

Ahem. 

So yes. Socially awkward. Any one else have a story to share? Please tell me I'm not alone.

Teach Me Tuesday: Honesty

No wonder he has bad feet-he's standing in a puddle

I'm really enjoying the Teach Me Tuesday series--there are so many different perspectives out there and the blogosphere is a great way to bring them together. This topic isn't necessarily "horsey" per se, but but I think it's incredibly relevant and I certainly don't have the answer. So. Here's a fun one that you don't even have to own a horse to answer!

I am the sort of person that generally says what I think and then doesn't give a lot of shits what most people think of me. It probably alienates people, but it tends to attract fellow honest people, which I like. I do try to keep all "training" opinions to myself unless I'm asked (with mixed success).

OMG he clearly needs a flash

But.

I've certainly been approached by people with wholly-non-solicited advice that I found offensive. I'm sure it was well-intentioned (however strangely delivered), but it hit me the wrong way. I'm sure they were being honest, but it was the biggest turn off to whatever it was they were trying to say.

So how do you handle it? When you have training advice or ideas for someone, do you just blurt it out because it's obvious and true? Do you sit on it until they ask you? Do you tell all your friends behind their backs and take snarky screen shots?

Studying Again

There are some really nice horses available locally that I wish I was in a position to snatch up some days... Once in a while, it just sounds really nice to have a trained, going horse to ride and show instead of constantly doing the green thing and doing all the training on my own. I dunno. I keep telling myself that I'll be happy I did it myself in a couple years.

Oh well. I can't afford to buy another horse, much less board and keep it.

Other random thoughts:
1) A local trainer/dealer rides and shows Dutch Harness Horses. I think that's fabulous. They're beautiful animals, well behaved, well taken care of, and quite talented. I do not know this trainer personally at all. Like many in the horse industry, she's having trouble making ends meet apparently, so she's selling off a bunch of horses, including one DHH. However, she's marketing the DHH as a Dutch Warmblood, which is not the same thing at all. I doubt that anyone looking for a Dutch Warmblood would fall for that, especially upon seeing the horse in person, but it seems really dishonest to me. Sad.

2) I'm graduating (assuming I don't fail any important classes) in less than two months. I'll most likely be getting a job of some sort, which involves making more money than my current wonderful and very part time position. Most of the money will go to savings and paying off the house and being responsible, but it would allow for me to make a few more decisions about my horse. Izzy is boarded where she is because I've worked at that particular barn for years and I love the people. I don't love the facility. Yes, it's supposed to be moving, but the things I don't love about the facility are human caused (junk lying around, incomplete projects that sit there for years). In addition, I've heard some rumors from a rather unreliable source that there might be some people or a person at the new place that beats horses around the head or something. (We're merging with another facility that I'm unfamiliar with.) I will address that rumor with the barn owner/manager and see if there's any truth to it, but it brings up an important point: what will I do?

If there's someone beating horses, I'm not going. I know there is no reason for anyone to touch my horse other than me, especially because I'm out nearly every day, but that isn't good enough. I will not take this risk for my horse. Again though, I don't trust the source of the rumor, and I need to get to the bottom of this before making a decision based on this.

On the other count though, I'm curious. If I'm making an income and can afford to move to a different stable and at the same time can seemlessly merge in to something else, that interests me. I'm doing a bit of research on what's available. I think I'd like a primarily dressage- or eventing-related barn, but not an intense everyone shows type facility. I would like to have an actual barn, but those are pretty rare in Idaho. Smaller facilities aren't terribly practicable because I do not have a truck and trailer, so getting out to shows would be hard.

Hm. Any thoughts?