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How I Got Started Riding

3 August, 2010

Well this story has a happy beginning, tough middle, and the end has yet to come! Soo it all started out when i was a spunky little seven about to turn eight year old. I like most little girls that age wanted a pony for my birthday more than anything else in the world! My parents had tried to avert me from the wonderfully expensive world of horses. I had tried every thing: dance (too bad i have two left feet ha!), gymanstics (i was pretty good but its sooo boring!), clogging (clogging? really? nuff said!), and softball. But nothing could make me like horses any more and still on every chritmas list right on the top was PONY PLEASE!!! So on my eith birthday my parents woke me up and took me to a farm of some sorts and walked me around and let me look at all the horses and then they told me that I was going to start taking lessons here. I was shocked! I didnt know what to do i started crying right there in front of the whole barn! And two long weeks later I started my first riding lesson. Now i am still not sure why but my nervous dad tagged along to make sure he would be there if needed (whatever parents are crazy). But i was fearless i would ride anything they put me on and was not afraid to go up to any horse (even the biters!) so i told me father that i simply didnt want his to come with me to my lessons anymore (what a sassy eight year old i was!) Now readers this wast some amazing barn that always had new horses coming in and out, no this was the recreational park and by the time i had been riding for a year i had ridden every horse there multiple times and was a pretty good rider! But the point is i had out grown that barn and me being the clueless kid didnt know about it. So one day i wanted my mom to come watch me ride since she had only seen me a few times in the barns fun show. She came and i got the horse ready and went to ride, well i completed my lesson perfectly or so i thought. Later that day when we got home my mom asked me if i would be ok going to a different barn and riding for a while, and i was ok just as long as i got on a horse! A week later we went to a much nicer hunter barn. Now this lady who taught me also taught the local colleges acredtied equestrian team and was know for being tough on her riders and pushing them very hard (too bad we found out after i rode there). So i came took my lesson and got yelled at alot and remeber readers i was a dressage rider before and had no clue what she wanted from me so everything i tried to do right just happened to be wrong and i ended up jumping fences on my third week of lessons! Well this my mother was not happy about.So we went to another barn and possibly where i learned the most about the horse show world. We went originally to look at a trailer but ended up being sucked inside the barn by my love of horses! Now this barn was saddle seat and was a pretty nice show barn! So the owner invited us to take a free lesson on Saturday I quickly said yes and was even happier when he told me there would lots of little girls of the same age there on saturday too! So we came up on Saturday and I was trying to ride but the gu would’nt let go of the reins so i couldnt show them what i could really do i guesse he thought i didnt know what i was doing ha! And my mother liked this place alot more and so they set me up some lessons and i relearned how to ride yet another discapline but there was something about riding saddlebreds that just clicked with me and i was really good at it too i loved feeling the power when i took on that straight away and knew that the horse looked as good as i felt! I started showing about six months later adn we started out small and gradually worked our way up and the whole time we were bombarded with people trying to sell us a horse and our family financially was not ready to make such a big commitment and my mother had had enough! So we went a few other places to ride eand none felt like home! But one day in the fall we got a call from my adopted uncle Eddie! Uncle Eddie is the really cool uncle who had horses and we shared a sort of connection. But he had a road pony that i could ride! And that was the reason he called, his daughter had outgrown the pony and he said we could use him if we took him somewhere else to ride and it would be like a lease! THIW WAS AWESOME!!!! Finally a pony of my own (sorta) and one thing can be said about road ponies is that they are FAST my favorite speed! So we boarded Pedro a.k.a. Sugar Daddy at a place about 45 minutes away at a place called Break Away Farms and i started my trianing on this little keg of dynamite! So i rode and rode until one day the pony whirled around and knocked me on my butt! Now i had only fallen off two times before and they were accidents but this was on purpose! I think my pride was more hurt that my back side but if any of you have ever fallen off a pony before it is alot harder than a horse because ponies are smaller and that means FASTER! So Pedro started to make a habit of flinging me off while riding and he even did it seven times in one lesson! Granted i did land on my feet some of those times, still seven is not a good number! So i continued to try to ride this crazy pony and while at this barn i had my first encounter with a five gaited horse and people let me tell you, once you rack you NEVER go back! I rode that horse until there was sweat dripping off both of us! That was probibly one of the best rides of my life! But back to the pony i finally got tired of being thrown in the dirt and it become more dangerous the more ways he figured out to get me off his back. So i said lets just drive him. At the time i thhought this was better than not having a pony to do anything with at all so we started driving and we were a pretty good team! And then the next obstacle was showing which you can read in my next post about the best show i ever had!

by Rey in Must-Read Blog Posts

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