I was thinking the other day about all the horses I rode in my past and how I wished I could see them again, if only to touch their sweet fuzzy noses or rest my head on their neck. The young, the old, the nice, the naughty, the lame, the sound, etc.
Penny was a great horse, she was 20ish when I first met her and past her mid-twenties when she left. We took her from an overweight pony (she was probably 14hh, maybe a little more, not much) to a gorgeous pony rippling with muscle. We were young when we started riding, so our main hobby was to just have fun. We would walk around the pasture for hours on Penny's back and she would always comply. We had her on a conditionning program without even knowing! We would each ride 15 to 20 minutes at a time (taking turns). We were 3 kids and one pony, so we didn't want to wait 2 hours for our turn to ride! We would each ride for 15-20 minutes and we were allowed (decided among us) from 3 to 5 gallops per ride depending on the temperature. The gallops were pretty short since the pasture wasn't super big, but we came to incorporate turns so we could gallop a little longer. We spent afternoons just sitting in the barn, waiting on our turn. We weren't hard on Penny, we knew her age and left her consistant breaks and we would sacrifice some of our gallops to let her breathe.
We were conscient about the risks around horses, how to properly tack and untack, how to cool a horse, brush it, tend to its feet and evaluate overall health. We were only 10 years old and would understand when Penny would need a break and gave her one every 45 minutes to an hour on hot days. We always provided clean, fresh water. We ALWAYS rode with a hat, although that hat did have a chin strap which rendered it rather useless in case of a fall.
We did do stupid things, like ride in shorts (it was summer!!!), but I can't remember anything that could really put us in danger.
Once, we took Penny out for a day long ride. She was in GREAT shape so she could handle it! We only walked the whole way except for a few slow trots. We crossed a doubtfull and dangerous bridge, we never should've done that. On our way back, Penny went trough a rotten board of the bridge and her leg completely fell trough the bridge. We were about 20 km from home and her leg was injured (thankfully not injured as bad as we thought). She could still walk. I had brought antiseptic hand cloths and we disinfected the wound right there. We loosened the cinch on Penny and we all walked back home. I will always remember the terrible blisters on my feet. We had gotten off of Penny to cross the bridges (thank God, someone could've been crushed), but my friend's mom (the owner of Penny) didn't believe us and we got yelled at a lot. We already felt really bad and this just made things worse. We weren't old at that time and it gave me a good lesson. We weren't allowed to ride Penny for a month after the incident. Penny was sold shortly after we started riding again.
I wish I had pictures of Penny today, she was and still is the best horse I have ever been on.
I went on to ride several other horses from rank b****** to good mounts, but none ever came close to Penny. Even today, my own horses don't mesure up (Dandy is getting there, but she is not quite there yet). I've trained everything from weanlings to yearlings to fillies, colts, mares and studs both pets and wild ones that I will never remember as I remember Penny. I rode geldings, but never broke them (sadly!).
I am constantly looking for new challenges in the horse world, but I admit that sometimes the challenge is a little too much and there is no shame in refusing to train or ride a horse if you think your life could be in jeopardy. I had given up on Pearl after our first ride because I felt VERY at risk on her back. Fortunately, my sister took her on and she became great!
Dandy is constantly improving, she is now learning to ground tie. Here are the pics of her ground tied. The shots aren't great but her legs never moved! I took those shots about 10-15 seconds appart after I had went to get the camera in the barn, she stood there the whole time and after the shots, she stood until I put the camera back in the barn and went to get her... she is grasping the concept, now I just have to apply it more often, she is good went there is little distraction, but I haven't tested her too much when there is more distraction. Enjoy!
Here, she is just relaxing and playing with her bit a little (she does all the time!), this is why I want to try another bit for her, maybe she'd be more focused...
And lastly, she heard something, probably on the road (right outside the pasture, behind her) and turned to look... her feet did'nt move!
Needless to say that she LOVES having her picture taken and she seems to pose for the camera... observe... She stayed this way for two good pictures and some bad ones...
And this pose, I took 3 good pictures and some bad ones!
I love that face! I knew I had seen this one before!!! This photo was this summer...
Then again, if she is not in your face... she's on her way there!
So... tell me what is your best memory of chilhood horses or your debuts in the horse world, what you did then that you wouldn't do now and the horses you wish you could've kept.
Hmm...childhood horses...
ReplyDeleteWell the first horse I ever had was a rank old mare who wanted nothing to do with me, so I wasn't sad to see her go.
But there was one pony at the riding camp I used to attend, I can't remember his name. He was a youngish (5 I think?) quarter horse type pony, a blood bay with a strip. He was quite the pocket pony (which all children love). He was the first horse I'd ever ridden that was still young and inquisitive, not old and hardened by lessons and kids bumping up and down on their backs all day.
I remember the first time I saw him, he was in a lesson, I was sitting on the rail. He was halted in the middle of the arena and the girl riding him cued him forward by clapping her boots against his sides and smacking him with her crop. He very neatly kicked up his heals and deposited her on the ground.
The coach told the girl it was her fault for using excesive force. When I rode him for the first time I was terrified he'd do the same to me, so was careful to ask gently for everything, and he responded very well. No one else wanted to ride him because everyone had seen him buck off the girl, so he and I became buddies at camp that year.
I rode him twice a day, in the heat of august. We would do flat in the morning, a jumping lesson in the afternoon, and then go down to the lake to cool off.
The next year I returned, he had been sold. The coach said that he'd been finished over the winter and was sold to show hunter on the local circuit. I'm glad he got a good home, but I was so sad that we weren't going to have another summer camp sesion together.
Ahw! Great story! Our summer camp horses were rank SOBs. The camp was a non-profit organization and they only got horses either from people who didn't want them anymore or problem horses sold for nothing at auction (most of them had deep psychological problems... I'll post about that as it makes a good subject.
ReplyDeleteHaha the camp I went to...we could bring our own horses, but for those of us who didn't have them, the coach would buy young show quality ponies, use the kids to finish them and put miles on them over the summer, and then sell them in the spring as show ready to rich children looking for push button-ers.
ReplyDeleteKool! THAT is a great camp!
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