Sooo...what's your story?

Sooo...What's your story?

In her last post, jme from Glenshee Equestrian put up a fun questionnaire for riders to participate in. I thought I would post this particular tag to celebrate my 100^th post. I realize I’m not the most prolific blogger out there in the blogosphere, but unfortunately it takes me a long time to either think of something to post or to put together a piece that has me researching to make a post interesting or helpful. I’ve taken out jme’s answers and made a list so it might be easier to copy and paste.

Sooo... what's your story?

A friend of mine sent me this little horsey questionnaire on Facebook, and I thought I’d post my answers here. I won’t officially tag anyone, but it might be fun if readers passed it on by filling it out and posting it to your blogs with your own experiences, and encourage your readers to do the same. Hope you decide to play along! And if you do, leave a comment here letting us know :-)

1. How old were you when you first started riding?
2. First horse ridden:
3. First horse trotted on:
4. First horse cantered on:
5. First Horse fallen off of:
6. Most recent horse fallen off of
7. Most terrifying fall:
8. First horse jumped with:

9. First horse who ran away with you:
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you:
11. First horse shown :!)
12. First horse to win a class with:
13. Do you/have you taken lessons:

14. First horse you ever rode bareback:
15. First horse trail ridden with:
16. Current Barn name:

17. Do you ride English or western?:
18. First Horse to place at a show with:
19. Ever been to horse camp?:

20. Ever been to a riding clinic?

21. Ridden sidesaddle?
22. First horse leased: 23. Last Horse Leased:
24. Highest ribbon in a show:
25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?:
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?:
27. Ever fallen off at a show
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: 29. Have you ever barrel raced?
30. Ever done pole bending?:
31. Favorite gait:
32. Ever cantered bareback?:
33. Have you ever done dressage?:
34. Have you ever evented?:

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?:
36. Ever been bucked off?:
37. Ever been on a horse that reared
38. Horses or ponies.
39. Do you wear a helmet?:
40. What's the highest you've jumped:
41. Have you ever ridden at night?:
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?:
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?:
44. Most falls in one lesson:
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?:
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?:
47. Have you ever been bitten?:
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?:
49: Favorite riding moment:
50. Most fun horse you've ridden:

My Answers

1. How old were you when you first started riding? I started to formally take lessons when I was 40, but had ridden before that as a teenager.
2. First horse ridden: A trail horse in a park.
3. First horse trotted on: Same horse in the park on trails.
4. First horse cantered on: Lesson horse, Spanky.
5. First horse fallen off of: Jimmy, off the track thoroughbred, I went over the jump… he didn’t quite make it.
6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Dusty…who else? She has mounting issues, I almost had my leg over when she took off, I landed on the frozen ground, bit my tongue and banged my head. Must have looked like I had a stroke slurring my words and limping for the rest of the day. You gotta love her, what a _itch.
7. Most terrifying fall: Had to be off Erik my 17’2 hand Dutch Warmblood. We were jumping a line, he stopped in front of the jump, I thought okay we’ll do that again, I sat back for a minute to regroup,and started to turn him around when he decided to take the five foot standard from a standstill, I slid off the back of the saddle wound up on my back and my helmet (no strap) came off so hard it bounced off the opposite wall of the arena. I got back on and finished the course but I was hurting for about 2 weeks after that one.
8. First horse jumped with: Spanky
9. First horse who ran away with you: Ellen’s horse, off the track thoroughbred, just kept going around the arena and had no brakes. I’m sorry I forgot his name.
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Ellen’s horse. See #9.
11. First horse shown : Lifeguard
12. First horse to win a class with: Lifeguard
13. Do you/have you taken lessons: I used to have 3 lessons a week and ride at least 2 horses a day…making up for lost time I guess.
14. First horse you ever rode bareback : Never have and don’t see it in my future.
15. First horse trail ridden with: Other than the trail rides in parks, the first horse I took out was Dopey on the traditional day after Thanksgiving barn ride where everyone from our barn went to a nearby park.
16. Current Barn Name: Glenshee Equestrian
17. Do you ride English or Western: I ride English but have ridden in Western saddles a few times; I feel very unsecure in a Western saddle so try to avoid them if I can.
18. First horse to place at a show with: Lifeguard
19. Ever been to horse camp: No
20. Ever been to a riding clinic: Yes, but I prefer to audit them as I think I get more out of watching and listening.
21. Ridden sidesaddle: Not on purpose.
22. First horse leased: None for me thanks.
23. Last horse leased: None for myself but one or two over the years for my daughters.
24. Highest ribbon in a show: 1st and champion.
25. Ever been to an “A” rated show?: More than I care to count.
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races: Only from the ground.
27. Ever fallen off at a show: No, but I have forgotten a few courses in my time.
28. Do you ride Hunters/Jumpers: Hunters- yes ,Jumpers-no, because I’ve done mostly Equitation classes.
29. Have you ever barrel raced: No
30. Have you ever done pole bending: No
31. Favorite gait: Canter
32. Ever cantered bareback: No
33. Have you ever done dressage: Yes
34. Have you ever evented: No, I find that particular aspect of riding not to my liking because of the way the horses are treated.
35. Have you ever mucked a stall: Ha, Ha, silly question of course, more than I care to remember.
36. Ever been bucked off: No, not that it hasn’t been tried on me though.
37. Ever been on a horse that reared: Well yes and no. Snow slid from the indoor arena once and banged the outside wall as Erik and I were passing he went up but then again not that far up so I don’t know if I would qualify that as a Hi Ho Silver rear or not.
38. Horses or ponies: Horses
39. Do you wear a helmet: Always, I have seen too many accidents take place that wound up with serious injuries and could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. I could go on a rant about this but at the very least parent’s are responsible for insisting on a helmet for their children whether they ride Western or English.
40. What’s the highest you’ve jumped: According to plan I’d say about 3’3, unplanned, well there was that 5 foot standard…
41. Have you ever ridden at night: Sure, many of the lessons I had were at night.
42. Do you watch horsey television shows: Occasionally
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall: I’ve hurt my back more than once (disc dislocation) then there’s the knee thing, and of course some would say the brain is completely shot.
44. Most falls in one lesson: Just one usually did it for me for the day.
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring: Yes, but also like to ride in the field and on trails. I prefer to be outside almost all the time when riding, but I wouldn’t mind my own indoor for the winter months.
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse: Not yet, I’m pretty quick on my feet…or I used to be, hopefully I’ll escape this one.
47. Have you ever been bitten: Once, I was holding a horse for someone while they tacked up and I was gabbing away, when she tightened the girth this horse got me really good on the inside forearm. It was black, blue, and yellow for a month. I recall his name as being Devil something.
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse: Erik was great at this, he would just step on your foot and level out and stand there while I tried pushing, pulling, yelling, hitting anything to get him off and he’d just stare at me like I was this crazy person and what was my problem anyway.
49. Favorite riding moment: Well I’ve had so many it’s hard to choose. We all know that when it all goes according to plan that’s always a favorite riding moment. If I had to choose one though it would be the day my mom came to the show I was competing in to watch me ride, it was the only time she ever saw me ride and it meant a lot to me, especially since I was champion that day and clinched the year end award for that particular series.
50. Most fun horse you’ve ridden: I know everyone would expect me to say Erik, since he was my boy and I loved him so very much, but he was a hard ride and not so much fun unless he was being very cooperative. The most fun horse I ever rode was Lifeguard, he did whatever you asked most of the time and he was a blast to take over a course, this was a horse who really got into it and loved to show.

I hope this wasn’t too boring. Join in the fun, put up your answers, and let us know about it.

Until next time

Quote for Today

You can love a horse and ride it and a horse can love you and squash you.

Friday's Funnies

“Friday’s Funnies”

I would like to dedicate this particular “Friday’s Funnies” to On the Bit. A few weeks ago, my young friend locked herself in Texas’ stall on her first night in the new barn. I would like her to know that I am not laughing at her but with her; it is definitely something I could have easily done. Another favorite blog of mine Halt Near X recently did a post on stupid things to do with horses.

Have any of you ever done something really silly and then wondered how you were going to get out of the situation with your dignity intact? If so, I am sure we’d all love to hear about it. There have been so many instances in the past where I put myself in a predicament with no clever way out. So many times I have found myself locked out of the house and had to “break in” through a window or door, or locked the keys in the trunk of the car etc…

A specific incident stands out as my number one all time blunder. While dog-sitting for my daughter’s malamute puppy, I once again locked myself out of the house. This was not my usual lock-out though; this was my greatest fiasco. Having recently moved into a new home with doorknobs that open from the inside but remain locked on the outside, I took the pup out for his last nighttime bathroom break. As soon as I closed the door behind me, that sinking feeling of “OH NO” hit me. That’s right, no matter how many times I twisted that doorknob, or pushed on the door it was locked up good and tight. Now mind you, it was about eleven o’clock at night, pouring rain, the neighbors were asleep; everyone from the family was away on a business trip, there was no phone and two other dogs were barking their heads off in the house as I tried all the doors. The front door seemed to be the least secure so I gave it a few good kicks and broke back into my house. In the process of course, I splintered the door jamb/molding and now had to spend the weekend with no lock on the door. We live in a rural area with acres of woods surrounding us, but at least I had my killer Aussies and the malamute pup to protect me.

When my husband came home he surveyed the damage and inquired, “Why didn’t you just break the glass in a window, it would have been easier to replace”? Hmmm, didn’t think of that. But hey, then the rain would have come in; with just a broken door I could pile lots of furniture in front of it for defensive fortification or work on building a moat, so I never have to lock a door again...

Until next time

Quote for Today

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.