Once again, it is time to meet a fellow member of our Eventing Nation. To see previous rider profiles, click on “Rider Profiles” in the Categories sidebar. These features have been interesting and insightful– I am continually impressed and humbled by our readers as the emails keep pouring in. You guys rock!
If you would like to be featured in an upcoming profile, please fill out the Questionnaire and email it to [email protected]. Thanks again to all our participants…there are many profiles to post, and hopefully we will get to yours soon!
FEATURED RIDER:
Name: Lindsay
Age: 34
Location: Kuna, ID
Primary horse’s name: RPS Reveille, or just Reveille
Age, breed, pertinent info: 5 (6 in September!), blood bay with 3 white socks and a huge blaze, 15.0 hh grade mare. Her dam is supposed to be a registered Quarter Horse; I met the dam, and I’d believe it. Her sire is supposed to have been Izar, an Orlov-Rostopchin dressage stallion. Because she’s developing tiny white spots and has white hairs in her mane and tail, I begin to wonder if I got told a tall tale when I bought her and her daddy was actually a Paint. I’ll settle for “her mama was a Quarter Horse and her daddy was a sailor.” Whatever breed she is, she’s got fancy gaits and is a great little jumper.
Level currently competing: Cross-rails/Intro
Short term goals this spring/summer: Get MUCH more confident about jumping; expose Reveille to new places and situations; overcome my own nerves at exposing my green mare to new places and situations!
Year-end goals: Participate in each Event Derby in my area (shout-out to Idaho Dressage and Eventing [www.idahodressageandeventing.org] for putting them on!), and complete each derby without any mishaps. Break 60% on Training level dressage tests without the judge being generous.
Overall goals? Take Reveille as far as she can go through the eventing levels – I have no idea how far that’ll be, but I suspect she could at the very least go to Training. I think it’ll all depend on our dressage, in the end, since Rev’s pretty brave.
What’s the best thing you’ve learned recently? Any big epiphany or light-bulb moment? What are your strengths/weaknesses? Two major things, that I learned and then keep having to re-learn, almost every lesson, because they’re so big and deep: First, ride every step. I can’t sit back and just think “gosh, this is pleasant” and do nothing on this horse. She’s got a beautiful canter for jumping out of, but if I don’t pay attention and keep riding, she’ll fall out of it or get strung out. Second, it’s okay to be scared. What I have to do is acknowledge the fear, then focus on what I have to do on course, rather than focusing on being afraid. That was the big epiphany of the summer: after I fell twice in one day at event camp, I was pretty scared to ride the full course the next day. I rode it anyway, of course, after telling one of my teachers a couple of times that I needed her to remind me why I shouldn’t be scared. And yknow, I realized the answer for myself as I rode through a spook and a “wait, what?” from Rev on course: I shouldn’t be scared because if even if I have a problem, I’m going to ride through it. That was a huge epiphany! It’s also one I need to remember, as we go into our very first off-site event this weekend …
As for my strengths, three things: my refusal to quit, even though it would be understandable if I did, after getting bucked off and shattering my collarbone a couple of years ago. My talented little horse. Even though she’s green, she’s awesome, and she’s helping me re-learn how to jump after 20 years of not jumping. And mainly, my incredibly patient and knowledgeable teacher, Gary Mittleider! I chalk my success so far up to him and his family, Sara and Brenda, and their invaluable help. My weaknesses? The fact that I have to keep a full-time job! I’m also not the fastest learner, athletically, so I compensate with excellent teachers.
Favorite eventing moment/story? (can be anything, something you did, felt, witnessed, realized…?) At this summer’s event camp at Mittleider Eventing, I mentioned that I fell twice in the same day – both falls were a result of the same mistake on my part. The next morning, I had to really cowboy up, since my back was killing me. All the time that I was driving to the barn, tacking Reveille up, warming up, jumping in the warmup arena, etc, I was thinking “Oh gosh, how can I get out of jumping this course? I have got to get out of this!” And yet, while I was thinking about how to get out of it, I was going through with it! I worried until I got into the start area, and then I just rode. I think that’s my favorite moment of my own. There’s also the realization that yknow, I can DO this. It’ll take me a while, and I’ll have ups and downs, but it’s not impossible for me to one day compete at recognized events and actually be competitive. All I need to do is commit to the work involved, and I can eventually get there. I realize this every time we have a successful jump, actually.
Link to blog or website, if applicable: http://reveilleandrinsie.blogspot.com Nana korobi, yaoki.
