From: patty@alpha.larc.nasa.gov (Patty Howell)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: My Bio
Date: 21 Jan 1993 16:41:33 GMT
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: alpha.larc.nasa.gov

Has anyone else found these great to read, but really embarrassing
to write?

Patty Howell

I'm currently working for a small 'support services' contractor
to NASA, called Analytical Services and Materials, Inc. (I come
to work everyday AT NASA, but I don't work FOR NASA - confused, yet?)
I got my B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Va Tech in 1986 
and stayed for a year of graduate school studying Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD). The group I work with studies remote detection of
structural flaws (think disbonds, cracks, corrosion, etc) using
an infrared detection techniques, and I do the computational simulations.

I live in Yorktown, Va with my computer weanie son, Thomas (8), 
his cat, Timothy (named after MIT spelled backwards), and my dog, Tripp
(do you think I'm outnumbered by the "T's" in this family?)a 1/2 chow
1/2 Samoyed who knows how to dance and how to sing, now if I can
just get him to do them both at the same time! 

I was critically infected with 'Equus Ridiculous' at a very young age
and never recovered. Spontaneous metabolic reactions to driving
by a horse munching in the field included but were not limited to
frantic yelps (from me) and jumping up and down in the back seat
while my parents exchanged that 'what planet is this child from?' look.
I think I was about 8 when they finally relented to lessons on a
school horse (thinking I would get tired of it and get off their backs! HA!)
A year or so later, I graduated to MY VERY OWN PONY (actually, it was
a halter w/o horse under the Christmas tree - we had to find the pony to
fit it) He was a 12.3 3/4" 1/2 Arab, 1/2 Welsh chestnut named Cassell's Abantis
(Banti) And boy did he teach me alot! I matured to a whoppin' 4'9" tall,
so I was able to ride him for YEARS. I started like all other kids 
around here, doing the local hunter/jumper type stuff. 

Of course the biggest influence on my horsemanship skills is my
friend and trainer, Jan Dickerson. I started taking lessons from
her about 6 months after I bought Banti. She started teaching me
how to really train my horse. A year or so into lessons with Jan,
she got my father to bring me (without horse) to a dressage show
in northern VA. (At the time, I sure couldn't see the point in
going all that way to a show w/o the horse! ) Of course I was never
the same. Dressage was my niche and has been ever since. For
years I was the only kid on a pony at recognized dressage shows.
Sometimes that presented interesting problems. Like the fact that
dressage tests are TIMED and based on the average time a HORSE should
need to complete the test. His little stride was so much smaller
than a horse's that I always had to really move it around that arena
to come in under the limit! So anyway, Banti was my 3rd level 
dressage pony extraordinaire.

The time finally came when even I outgrew Banti, and then I got
my 'project horse.' (I guess I was about 14) I wanted something
'green broke' but untrained. We found a nice young TB mare (4yr old),
Gemstone, a very 'feminine' looking bay with a white star and strip.
I took her about to the same point Banti was in his training before I 
left for college. The woman that has her now took a few lessons from
Jan to learn Gem's training background (I was in college - she never
met me) and remarked what a polite mare she was,'she even lowers
her head for you to put her bridle on or clip her ears or bridlepath.'
Jan never disillusioned her - how else was a 4'9" rider going to
bridle a 15.3 hand TB?!? (My dad was once trimming her ears for me
and actually got irritated that her head was sooooo low. I think she
was taking a nap at the time, too.) So much for the 'hot' TB.

I went to college w/o the horse (I figured I'd better concentrate
on my studies) and now, after TOO long a time away from them,
I'M BACK!!! :)  :)  :)

Without the finances for my own horse, Jan is letting me ride one
of her horses, Presto. She has her barn at her own place (no board),
she pays for feed, ferrier, vet, etc, etc, gives me free lessons
(ie won't let me out of her control yet - this is her 4th level
dressage horse I'm hoping I won't screw up) and I ride. Great deal, huh?!!
She gets a devoted guinea pig on which to test her teaching methods.

BTW, I just had to finally retire my IBM PC and get another home
computer. (ever have an 8 yr old complain on a daily basis that
you don't have nearly enough memory for him? And just WHY don't we
have a hard drive? Geesh, kids! He also thinks horses 'smell', so
what does he know, right? ) So anyway, I would like
to access rec.equestrian from home now. Anyone know how to do that?
(I mean, do you have to go through Prodigy or Compuserve or something?
or can you get in directly - meaning for free?) 

Patty (who needs a good sig file to prevent confusion with the other Patty)