...came horses. Here are a few of many I rode over the years.
This is Arabian pony Dan. Everyone took their first lesson on Dan the pony. I'm not sure why I was wearing red pants.
This is Jim Dandy-he was a Foxtrotter which didn't make him a great hunter, but he was a good kid's lesson horse. This picture was taken on costume day at horse camp.
The next one is Bridy who I think was an ex-racehorse.
Sweet William was old for as long as anyone could remember, but he was still good for smaller jumps.
This one is Zoom-a middle aged Morgan. He was one of my favorites. Definitely not your classic hunter type horse but you could ride him all day long, he could jump with the big horses and was great on trails. But he was impossible to catch in pasture. Excuse my helmet hair.
Toshea-another Arabian pony. She was pretty fancy for a lesson horse but was afraid of blue and red jumps. It took a well timed whack with a crop to get her over those. I believe this problem improved with time.
Dozer was a privately owned horse that I rode for awhile.
The one I don't have pictures of for some reason was my all-time favorite pony, Cassie. She was a cute little buckskin mare who came from a bad home to join the lesson barn. She had one foal while she was there (a palomino which surprised everyone since the sire was a dark bay thoroughbred). I also spent some time riding the filly, Cream.
This last one is Willy. He was also privately owned and the nicest horse I ever rode. Pretty much all I had to do was not fall off and collect blue ribbons. As much fun as that was it is one of the reasons I prefer agility these days. Often, in horses, the most expensive horse wins. This is not the case in agility. It's a bit of a more even playing field.
Dan and William lived the rest of their days at the lesson barn. Zoom, Cassie, Cream, and Willie were all eventually sold. Dozer was donated to a college program. And I don't know or don't remember what happened to Toshea, Bridy, and Jim Dandy.
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2 comments:
Love this post! I'm also jealous of your background -- Until I got my own horse at 15, my horsey background consisted of Girl Scout camp and a summer or two of lessons at a western barn. ;o) I always loved watching the "jumping horses."
Of course, once I grew up and was old enough to do what I wanted, jumping scared the crap out of me. lol Probably how I ended up with the broken arm -- I never really was able to commit to the jumps.
You were a lovely young rider! I know you don't ride much anymore these days, but when you do what do you fancy? I was a dressage rider when the dogs sucked me away.
Don't be that jealous-I only got to take one lesson a week and one show a summer for years, didn't get my first horse until I was 21 and have only done trail riding, if anything, since then!
I always wanted to jump, and that's why I chose hunter. I never got into the jumper side of the sport though-something about the elegance of the hunter side kept me sucked in, despite that it is very much "judged" instead of timed.
I always thought cross country would be fun but I'm not sure I would be brave enough for that even if I had the chance. If I was to do more than trail riding I'd probably go back into hunters. I miss it sometimes but then I start remembering the reality of what's really involved.
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