Off Topic!

I must really feel like writing lately.  I've been writing in my personal journal again as well as updating this blog.  Hmm.

This is pretty much off-topic.  I'll loosely tie it to my teaching and riding by saying that I've had teenage students ask me this question: What classes am I taking in high school that will actually apply to my adult life?  Or, stated another way, will I ever use any of this stuff again?

Here is my totally non-scientific, biased list of which classes are (or are not) useful in everyday life as an adult.  I'm not including classes that would be useful in a specific career -- these are all classes that will help an adult understand the news and current events, the world around them, and how to effectively function in society no matter what career path they choose.

First, the sciences.  Basic biology and chemistry are a must in order to grasp the building blocks of life.  You'll forget how to do the equations for the reactions but at least you'll take away an understanding of organisms on both the molecular and the whole-being level.  These classes were required at my high school and both were pretty well-taught.  I'd also like to see a required basic physics class.  I think this would round out the sciences nicely.  A good understanding in these three subjects would hopefully prevent flawed thinking such as "I'll turn the heat up to 90 degrees to warm the house up faster" or "the rainbows I can see in the sprinkler must be some sort of government conspiracy".

Math.  Why do people hate math?  My career does not involve any of the really fascinating things I learned in calculus but I use basic algebra and geometry all the time and I'm sure most adults do, even if they don't realize it.

Health.  Oh my gosh this class was boring and maybe it could be combined with biology but you really do need to know what is happening when you take a mood-altering drug and how to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.  I actually remember the things we learned in this mind-numbing required class.

Accounting.  We were required to take a personal finance class which I think was useful but didn't go quite far enough.  Some basic accounting concepts could have been added because no matter what you choose to do, even if you hire an accountant, you will be somewhat responsible for managing and keeping track of your money.  Personal finance was another painfully boring class but yeah, important.

History.  What don't I remember?  Ancient history.  We all had to study the Mayans or whatever but I don't see the relevance to adult life.  I did take a really nifty humanities class where we learned about mythology and art history... maybe ancient history could go here, as an elective.  What is useful is recent history.  For US high school students I would say that at the very least this should cover events that occurred on North America (and on other continents when it's relevant) from about the 1500s to the present.  I would say the majority of the subject matter should be very recent history, however, which is precisely the part we pretty much skipped.  Everyone should graduate with an understanding of all the wars and other major events within memory of our oldest citizens and we barely touched on this.

Ha.  I saved Engligh for last and that's because I think this is the class with the most misguided emphasis.  We were required to take English every year and still, the majority of my class graduated with not even a rudimentary understanding of English grammar.  Reading literature and poetry and guessing at symbolism and talking about how it makes you feel could be saved for an elective.  What you really need to know no matter what career you choose is how to write correctly and in a way that people will understand.  We had no grammar at all past seventh grade or so which is probably why most people who graduated when I did write on about a seventh grade level.  Seriously.

So there's how it would go, if suddenly I were to be named dictator of public schools or something.  I know there are plenty of other interesting or useful subjects but I stand by my list of what I would say are the bare minimum required necessities.  Students with interests in other areas may take other classes as electives.

Some smart-ass is going to notice grammatical errors in my post, I'm sure.  There you go.

Tips For Selecting A Riding Instructor

I'm a riding instructor, coach, and trainer.  Put bluntly, my job is to put small children on the backs of prey animals who are  five to ten times larger than the child is and who can easily run at least 30 miles per hour.  Then I teach them to jump.  Safety has to be my absolute top concern.

In this country there is no certification or licensing requirement for riding instructors and horse trainers so pretty much anyone can advertise and start taking clients.  Of course although part of me balks at the thought of having to take courses or tests to become licensed, it would certainly be a huge step toward making this sport safer for new families.  The way things are now, a mom or dad with zero horse experience is faced with selecting an instructor for their child and without an understanding of the important things to look for, they end up having to make a decision based mainly on distance from their home and their feel for the instructor over the phone or email.  There are plenty of instructors out there who are much better sales people than teachers!

As someone with nearly thirty years of riding experience and over a decade of teaching, these are the things I would look for in an instructor or program for my own child.  Of course some of this is based on my own opinion of what the emphasis of a good riding program should be, but this should at least be a good start for someone with no experience.

• A good program should have lesson horses in various sizes and riding levels.  The horses should be trained in the discipline the program is teaching.  Often the best lesson horses are ex-show horses (or even current show horses) because they are well schooled and have been exposed to lots of excitement.  You'd be surprised how many programs are using horses with very little training beyond basic under saddle work.  A horse who is not trained in the correct cues will not teach a beginner how to correctly apply these cues.
• A good program should have an instructor or instructors who are very experienced in the discipline they teach.  This seems obvious but remember, in this country, anyone can teach.  Not every program needs to be based on showing but often the only way for a new parent to find out whether the instructor can ride is by finding out whether the instructor has shown successfully.  If the instructor is currently taking students to shows, their students' own performance at shows can also be a clue to the competence of the instructor.
• The instructor should be able to get on the horse, if necessary, whether it is a lesson horse or the client's own horse.  Even well-trained lesson horses can occasionally be naughty and will need the trainer to get on.  If the instructor or trainer is unable to ride due to age or injury, there should be an assistant or working student available with the ability to get on and ride through whatever the horse is doing.
• A good program will insist on safety equipment for all their students.  If you go to observe a lesson, are all children in long pants, boots, and helmets?
• The lesson horses should appear to be in good health and weight.  A horse with a depressed attitude, very dull coat, or easily visible ribs (ribs may show slightly in a very fit horse) is unhealthy and it is inhumane to ride that horse.  Remember that there may be rehab or rescue cases in the barn who fit the above description but these horses should not be in the lesson program.  If you're curious about the condition of a horse, ask.

Some of these things will be difficult for an inexperienced parent to spot.  I would suggest observing at least one lesson from start to finish -- from the time the student gets the horse out to the time the horse is put away. 

 Try to chat with other parents while you are there.  You'll likely get a pretty good feel for the program by talking with them and you may find that the parents will volunteer the answers to some of the questions above.

It may be that you will select a program for your child and find out after they have already started that it is not a safe program or just not the right program for you.  Don't be afraid to tell an instructor that it isn't working out.  Sometimes it's just a bad personality match, which is something that's happened to all of us.  A good instructor will understand and respect your decision.

Why Don't I Show on the Welsh Circuit?

Out of the 21 horses currently in my barn, nine are eligible to show on the Welsh breed circuit. The shows are said to be cheap and friendly. Why don't I do it?

When I first joined the WPCSA I was told there was a wonderful Yahoo! group I should join to get to know some of the other breeders and start learning my way around the breed. As is my custom on new forums or online groups, I lurked for a while to kind of get a feel for the posting and then I introduced myself. I thought the Welsh breeders would be thrilled that I was getting Welshes and Welsh crossbreds out there and seen by people outside the Welsh world. After all, their own breed website boasts how versatile these ponies are. Instead, I was urged to show my ponies on the Welsh circuit. When I politely declined because open hunters is what I know, I was told that my Welshes were going to waste and what a shame it was that they were "lost to the Welsh world forever". (That's a direct quotation, by the way, and it makes me laugh so much that I pull it out and use it tongue-in-cheek whenever I see a Welsh cleaning up in pony hunters.) I know countless breeders do what I do, cross with Arabs and TBs and WBs and show open, and apparently just do it quietly and ignore the uproar from the Welsh breeders. I'm in possession of the USEF top pony hunter sires list from last year and out of the top 29 stallions (the number on the first two pages I printed) only TWO are not Welsh or half-Welsh. (The other two are a Connemara and a Thoroughbred.) A couple people posted to agree with me that Welshes and Welsh crosses should be out kicking other pony butt on the hunter circuit (seriously, nothing else can come close) and a few people contacted me privately to tell me that the ones causing a problem for me were a particularly vocal minority but the damage was done. The whole business left such a bad taste in my mouth that I did not renew my membership and have never shown on the Welsh circuit.

I think that any time a group of people get together, show a single breed of horse, and place "type" high on the judging criteria, weirdness starts to happen. Initially I think halter classes were supposed to showcase the correct conformation and yes, the certain look, of animals who were at the top of the competition in that breed's chosen disciplines. Over time, however, the look takes over and the animals showing in halter are no longer capable of doing anything but stand up. Does anyone want to tell me that this http://www.magnumpsyche.com/ or this
http://www.bertonqh.com/index_bqh.htm is even remotely what these breeds were originally promoted for?

Wow. Yeah. It's Just a Fashion Show.

I haven't blogged in a while but I ranted elsewhere on the internet this past weekend so who am I to let a good rant go to waste? I shall paste it here.

I am so **** sick of hearing about the snobbery of the hunter/jumper world -- that it's just a glorified fashion show.

There is fashion in every discipline. Do you honestly want to tell me that I could wear any old thing if I wanted to compete at a high level in Western Pleasure? Saddleseat? Pleasure Driving?

In any sport, from baseball to competitive ballroom dancing, there are acceptable outfits and uniforms and wearing them shows that you respect and understand your sport (and in a horse show, that you respect the stewards and judges).

And the body type? Again, in any sport there is a body type that will give a participant a leg up. A ballerina is willowy -- a sumo wrestler is massive. A certain body type may allow someone to excel in sprinting but be lousy at throwing a javelin. Of course there are always exceptions but if you pick a sport that favors a body type that you don't have, you can expect to have to work a little harder. The body type favored in hunters and equitation is not just a fad -- the short torso, long legs and lithe body is the type that will make learning to ride a little bit easier. I see it again and again in my lessons, that the girls who are not blessed with this body type just have to work that much harder. When they are willing to put in the work, however, some of these girls can do just as well as the ones who had it a little easier. My own trainer does NOT fit the norm for body type and she won and won as a kid.

It isn't fair to dismiss the hard work of the kids who show hunters as a fashion or beauty contest. Drop your stirrups and jump a course with us before you judge the entire sport.

Equitation works!

I have a whole post planned on equitation and I don't have time to write that now, but I have to share this photo. I just took three students to a hunter show, two of whom had never shown before. I didn't have a chance to get any photos because I was busy coaching so I emailed one of the moms to see if she had happened to snap any photos. She said she didn't get many, and the ones she got were dark. Here is the only riding photo she sent me so it's not as though I pawed through a whole slew of photos and pulled this one out.

This is one of the girls who had never shown before. She is nine years old. The pony she was riding was a little nervous and forward and she handled it excellently. The photo is dark and blurry, but to the best of my ability I put dots at her shoulder and heel and at her elbow and the bit and drew lines between them. You will see that a straight line from her shoulder to her heel goes right through her hip, and a straight line from her elbow to the bit goes right through her hand. Although the pony was going faster than she was accustomed to, my rider kept her foot underneath her, her leg is wrapped around the pony, and her heel is down. This allowed her to maintain her base of support and not lose her balance. And although the pony's head is high, my rider kept a straight line from her elbow to the bit to keep a supple, effective communication with the pony. She may not have known why she was doing these things, but she remembered how to ride, even under pressure, and I'm so proud!

I must stop enabling.

I received an email containing the following statement the other day:

I hate to see practices that put riding out of the financial range of so many people.

I keep thinking about this, and I have to say that I soundly disagree. I'll echo the often-repeated phrase from FHOTD, "Owning a horse is a luxury, not a right."

I've been mulling this statement over for the past few days and then today a few minor things happened and taken together, it's all really made me regret the way I've tried to make this sport easier for some of my clients. I have always tried really hard to give clients less expensive options, such as having relaxed training requirements for the horses and showing requirements for the riders and allowing them to work off or trade services for portions of their bills. I think it's backfired though, and now I have people expecting that I will pave the way for cheaper horse ownership for them, no matter what the circumstances are.

The vodka and I would now like to make some points.

• I founded this program with the intention that it would be pretty low pressure and I'm not going to force anyone into competing if it is beyond their financial means or comfort level. If you are going to show, however, it is going to be expensive. It just is. Don't expect me to let you go to shows with low-quality clothes or tack because not only are you representing yourself in the ring, you are representing my program. I can work with you to help you find quality used things if the cost of new items is prohibitive, but if even that is beyond you, you're in the wrong sport.
• If you buy a horse, there will be expenses you don't expect. I can list out for you the prices of vaccines and dental visits and hoof trims and other routine needs, but do not be surprised (or indignant!) if you buy a horse and it turns out that he needs supplements, or chiropractic care, or extra feed, or whatever. I cringe when people balk at paying for a minor extra expense because it always makes me wonder what will happen if a real emergency comes up. A vet bill in the thousand-dollar range is not unheard of. Plan for it.
• If you choose not to buy a horse, that's fine too. I have a barn full of horses and likely there will be one that works well for you to take lessons on or take to some shows. It is unfair, however, to decide that owning a horse is too expensive for you but expect to use my valuable horses as if they are your own. If you are taking lessons or showing one of my school horses, there will be limits on how high you may jump or how many shows you may do. I have to protect my investment in my school horses -- you might be shocked to find how much it would cost to replace them. The lesson horses are the most valuable animals in the barn.
  
• There are going to be disappointments. I can do my very best to pick a horse for you and we can get a pre-purchase exam and do everything right but things might still go wrong. Whether we have bought a $4,000 horse or a $40,000 horse, he might only be a day away from major illness or permanent injury. If this happens you make a decision and move on. Yes, it might get very expensive (refer to second bullet point). Yes, you might have to get another horse if you want to continue to compete (refer to third bullet point). My horse died. If your horse is still breathing, f-ing get over it.

Now, more vodka.

March!

The other day I looked at the calendar and realized that it's March. March! Not February! I made it!

If you know me in person you may have heard my February rants. It's my number one, most despised month. December is the first of the really rainy months but you have the holidays to look forward to (if you happen to like them) or at least to keep your mind off the weather. January tends to have the most ice storms but that's at least a break from the usual mud. February just sucks. Calendar-wise it makes you think that you ought to be heading into spring but you're just not. February is all cold, boot-sucking mud and darkness. Often in February a physical despair sets in with me that makes it difficult to get my outside work done. Last February was just about the worst ever even though last year I had a partner. This year, as February loomed closer, I was nearly panicky about how I would get everything done alone when I had previously struggled with help.

But suddenly, it's March! And February wasn't so bad! Don't get me wrong, my property was still covered in cold, heavy mud and I was still feeding in the dark, so the difference is in me. The point of this post, which has turned rather personal, is that it seems a relationship can cause every part of one's life to seem hopeless. I lingered in that relationship even though I knew things were going horribly, horribly wrong because the thought of being alone was scary. Well, ha! Not only am I happier in general, but everything seems easier. Who knew?