Month: February 2004 (Page 2 of 2)

This morning I was supposed to have a lesson on Goldie but the wind was (and has been for days) howling. All the jumps in the arena had been blown over. Not a good day to ride.

When I lived up in Washington (I used to hate it when people would preface a point this way but I can’t seem to help myself), because of the climate, we often rode in indoor arenas. Here in sunny SoCal indoor arenas aren’t really necessary but I’ve had more rides cancelled because of weather conditions here than anywhere else. The only condition that doesn’t cancel riding is too hot — that’s when I’d like lessons to be cancelled!

Instead of riding this morning, I worked out lease details with my new trainer at the stable down the street. I do believe she is going to work out for me. She doesn’t seem to have any hidden agendas, is positive, pushes me, and is willing to work within my budget with me. That part is so critical since I’m a graduate student without permanent employment.

For the rest of February I’m going to just take lessons from her. Starting in March I will half lease Goldie so I get some extra riding on my own time. In the meantime she will be horse shopping for me.

Yesterday afternoon I rode 7-year old, 16 hands high Appendix Quarter horse (Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse cross) mare, named Polly. She’s in my price range if I do decide to purchase at some point. However, I need to be more certain of my summer time employment at this stage.

Polly was really lazy until I put spurs on my heels. Then she paid attention. The good thing about lazy is that the horse isn’t likely to run away with a rider. The odds of something bad happening are low. However this horse has a lot of jump in her. I took her around a course of 2′ jumps. She jumped each one of them as if they were at least 3′, until I reined her in and asked her to calm down. Polly has a nice round jump, which is promising if I ever want to show in the higher jump classes. That I’m not sure about. Jumping to 3′, which is adult amateur level, is a good goal for me. Higher than 3′ seems scary to me, even though Polly could do it. She has been shown at 3’9″.

One thing that concerns me about Polly is whether or not she’ll fit into my new trainer’s program. My new trainer is a hunter trainer, which means the horses go around the arena and over jumps in a controlled fashion on a loose rein. Polly is definitely not a hunter; she’s a jumper. The difference, as I understand it, is about speed and technicality. Jumpers go fast and might do more technical courses. Hunters jump as high (to a point I think) but go on a loose rein. If I rode Polly with a loose rein she’d careen around the arena at 90 mph and clear every low jump by 3′. I definitely have to rein her in and not let go even over the jump. Normally as a horse is clearing a jump, the rider releases the reins to a point so the horse can use its head and neck to balance and clear the jump. Polly needs to be held, which is not hunter style.

I am going to try a few more horses that my old trainer has in mind, including a Swedish Warmblood that is coming to her barn on Tuesday. If you’re wondering why I’m not sticking with my old trainer (not the one that can’t work within my budget) it’s because her barn is way to inconvenient –it’s 30 minutes away as long as there is no traffic, which only happens at certain inconvenient times in Los Angeles. However, if my new trainer doesn’t work out, I guess I’ll be getting more windshield time.

Finally, yesterday, I got to ride Goldie and in my new Bates Caprilli saddle. Goldie is an older Thoroughbred mare that is leased by my new riding instructor (trainer number four since I started riding in earnest last July). When I expressed an interest in leasing a horse so I could ride more frequently, she suggested I half-lease this mare. We had plans for me to ride her last Tuesday but had heavy rains Monday evening and a bit of rain on Tuesday, which made the arena unsafe for riding. So we planned for Thursday so the arena would have a day to dry out. It wasn’t dry on Thursday so had to wait until yesterday.

Goldie is a quiet, easy mare. She’s a bay (black mane and tail, brown body), big bodied, and about 16 (~64″) hands high at the withers, the top of the shoulders. I think she’ll be perfect for me to lease. She goes well enough when asked (maybe asked twice) but isn’t scary at all. Anytime someone is trying to learn a new skill on horseback, it’s better to have a horse that might be a little slow but trustworthy instead of too fast. That way the rider can focus on learning the new skill and not spending too much time managing the horse or feeling too intimidated so riding is no longer fun.

My new trainer and I haven’t completely worked out the details yet so I can’t actually claim her yet but I’m riding her again Tuesday. We’ll work out the details and after 13 years of horselessness, I’ll be at least partially responsible for a horse again!

I was hoping to be able to post that I had ridden Goldie and decided to 1/2 lease her. However, we had very heavy rains on Monday and a surprise rain on Tuesday, which turns all the outdoor arenas into sand soup, which is not safe for riding. So both Tuesday rides were cancelled, my Wednesday lesson was cancelled, and this morning’s rescheduled ride on Goldie was cancelled. I’m hoping to ride Polly tomorrow afternoon and Goldie on Saturday morning.

Besides being slightly stressed out about trying horses and deciding which route is best for me, i.e. leasing or outright purchase, I have been worried about leaving the trainer I have been riding with regularly for the last 6 months. I was torn with feelings of loyalty. However, last night was the final straw. I didn’t know the lesson was cancelled so I went to the stable with my new Bates Caprilli with air padding saddle. I found my riding instructor, who immediately snarled at my saddle and started finding everything that was wrong with it. She even said she was sure I’d hate riding in it but she could recommend a $4000 saddle with air cushioning and soft French leather.

Why is it with some people that everything has to cost a lot of money to have any value at all? She said that the nicer saddle would give me an edge in competition. That may be true if I was an Olympic-level rider but probably not at my level. To me, it’s the same difference as having a $1000 racing bicycle or a $5000 Lance Armstrong racing bike. Having the more expensive bike isn’t going to make me a money winner in bicycle racing. For the saddle, it just needs to be comfortable for the horse and for me. The other things that make it expensive are irrelevant. So now I don’t have any heartbreak about leaving that trainer. After all, what has she done for me besides try to make me work outside of my budget?

There’s a fabulous trainer at the LA Equestrian Center who has always been willing to help me work within my budget. Unfortunately the LA Equestrian Center is just too far away for it to be convenient. I’ve certainly wrestled with the idea of basing my horse operations out there. I’m hoping that Goldie’s trainer turns out to be someone who can help me achieve my goals within my budget.

Tomorrow I look at two horses: “Goldie” a 16-year old, super safe, Thoroughbred mare to lease at a stable that is 5 minutes from my house. Convenient and cheap. The other horse is an Appendix Quarter Horse mare, who is 7-years old. “Polly” is a school horse with one of my riding instructors (I’m trying to narrow down my number of riding instructors). Polly is in my price range but I’d like to try leasing for a while since there’s less of a commitment in case something, anything doesn’t work out.

Last time I was a horse owner, I started out by leasing. I leased a 10-year old Arab named Dandy. He really taught me to ride because he had that Arab flightiness. He was a great horse to learn on. Then I bought my little Paint mare Sing, which eventually lead to my buying a fabulous Appaloosa cow horse, named Prince.

I can see that I’m headed down the same road. I’ve been telling Dave that I’m going to buy him a nice cow horse for his birthday some day — sort of like when a long-time ago boyfriend bought me a really nice fishing rod for my birthday then kept it when we broke up.

Last week was really stressful, thinking about the different horse possibilities and scenarios. I figured out how I might work with a horse off the track but was frankly very nervous about the whole thing. This is a project I’d like to take on some day but at my leisure, i.e. I have other horses to ride. Then there was the very nice horse for $15K. Some trainers forget that very nice horses can have lower price tags. Then there was the idea of leasing or purchasing a horse at LA Equestrian Center, which is 30 minutes from my house as long as there is no traffic. What, no traffic in LA?! And finally, a trainer I observed Saturday morning called last night and said she had a horse (Goldie) available for half-lease, which means the horse is still used by her but I get to ride at least 3 times a week for half the boarding and horsekeeping expenses.

Now I have to break up with the trainer I’ve been riding with for the last 6 months. I’m not looking forward to that but she really couldn’t deliver what I wanted and that stable is a mud pit in the winter and a fire hazard the rest of the year. Plus it’s at least 20 minutes away. Five minutes away is very attractive.