It’s time for another traveling adventure from one of our awesome readers! Jen managed to ride a horse instead of a hay wagon in New Zealand. She also tells about her experiences making a discipline switch, and finding “The One” (horse, I mean). Take it away, Jen.
Ricochet (Tiki) 7yr TB geldingOn Life With Horses: My name is Jen, and I make my living as an assistant to a WONDERFUL local hunter trainer. I coach our farm IEA team, and run the lesson program. I’ve been working with horses since I was 15 (I’m 31 now!). I’ve done the hunter thing my entire life. 2 years ago, on August 24th, I drove to Maryland to pick up my VERY FIRST horse. I saw a picture of him, and thought, “This is it. He’s the One.” I picked him up from the Timmonium Fairgrounds, right off the track.
Over the last 2 years, I have done 100% of his re-training myself. For the first 9 months, we didn’t even have a ring to work in. We worked in relatively flat areas in the pasture learning how to bend, flex, slow down, and jump. I have taken 2 hunter lessons from my boss, 3 dressage lessons from a local trainer, and rode in my very first clinic with Jeff Cook last month. I have found during my journey that I am desperate for something new, and have decided to immerse myself in this whole amazing world of eventing. My horse and I have competed in a handful of jumper shows, earning ourselves a few blue ribbons, and he has acted as an IEA team horse for my equestrian team, helping the kids win themselves a few blue ribbons as well!
(right: Tiki’s photo from the track. It was love at first sight!)
We have been cross country schooling twice, and are going to compete with some friends in the hunter pace at Chattahoochee Hills in August. Our “long term” goal is the Halloween horse trial at Chattahoochee at the Beginner Novice level. Resources such as Eventing Nation and COTH are what I’m using to prepare myself for this journey. My goal is to finish on my dressage score, whatever that may be! It has been a MOST amazing journey, and I’m so excited to see where we are 2 more years from now.
On Travel: The summer between 7th and 8th grade (geez … 1991, I think) my family and I took a trip to Australia/New Zealand/Hawaii. It was for a dance exchange program, so our entire vacation was planned by the owner of my dance school. It just so happened that our hotel was called the Huntley, and had a horse theme (which was SO cool). I actually was quite a pill for the beginning of this trip, because I was going to go THREE WHOLE WEEKS without riding a horse. Little did I know, there was a racetrack adjacent to our hotel, and I got to stand at the window and watch the racehorses walk across the parking lot every morning at 6:30. It was heaven. We found some super cool eventing magazines that I pored over every night, and then it was on to New Zealand!
In New Zealand, we had a “field trip” to a huge sheep farm. Right there at the parking lot, was a pony ride operation. I shamelessly begged my parents to let me take a pony ride. These “ponies” were nice, solid pinto horses that stood about 15.3. There was nothing “pony” about them! I didn’t give up, and finally my parents let me go over and talk to the people. I explained I was going CRAZY without horses, and I would be blissfully happy if I could just walk in circles on the “pony ride”. Well, a discussion was had with my parents, and 10 minutes later, I was riding out on a full fledged private trail ride across the New Zealand countryside! I can not explain how ecstatic I was. Once the guide realized I was a pretty decent little rider, we trotted and even got up to a nice little hand gallop. It was absolutely amazing, and made my entire trip. While all my other dance mates were bundled up on a tractor taking a “hay ride”, I was on this amazing trail ride; it was heaven.
Way to go Jen! I’m glad you’ve found your soul-mate! Thanks for sharing your story with us. Good luck to you and Tiki! If you have a travel story you’d like to share with Eventing Nation, send your thoughts and photos to [email protected]. Happy travels!
