From: susan@noaapmel.gov (Susan Collicott)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: IN SEARCH OF RIDING!
Date: 29 Jul 92 00:17:57 GMT
	<1992Jul28.001555.11202@athena.mit.edu>
	<SUSAN.92Jul27192650@wimpie.noaapmel.gov>
	<1992Jul28.222522.7500@u.washington.edu>
Organization: NOAA/PMEL, Sand Point Way, Seattle, WA


>Ok before I get off my soapbox, let me finish with a flame....
>In article <SUSAN.92Jul27192650@wimpie.noaapmel.gov> susan@noaapmel.gov 
>(Susan Collicott) writes:
>>, and the horses know where they are allowed to canter and won't do
>>it on any other part of the trail!  Heh.  Smart horses.  
>No Susan, inexperienced rider!  If you don't have the ability to
>dictate your horse's gait at any and all times during a ride, you have
>no business being out by yourself. 
>Phew! I'll get off my high horse now.... 
>-Carol


Hey Carol - Do you know me? Do you know the trail I was speaking of?  Do
you know the horses I was speaking of?  Did I say *I* was the one riding
when the horses did this?

NO TO ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Carol, the trail in question is clearly marked for the beginning riders
(or even those riders who are experienced and yet still know nothing about
trail riding, having spent their entire riding life in an arena) so that
they know where it is safe to canter.  (As in, no three foot downed tree
around the corner - isn't it nice when someone actually *maintains* the
trails?)  I was commenting on the situation where people want to run
the instant they get around the corner from the barn (out of sight of the
owners) but the horses refuse to rise to a canter until they reach that
spot in the trail where they know they're allowed to canter.  It is quite
obvious on this railroad grade where the cantering area is - the trail
otherwise is frequently too moist, pebbly, or curvy for safe group 
cantering.  I noticed this quite frequently when large groups of beginners
tried to 'run' in the non-cantering zone.

While I feel juvenile having to resort to this sort of bragging, I'm going
to indulge myself (haven't had any chocolate lately) and brag on.  Carol -
at the trailhead in question, the owner of the place trusts me enough to
let me ride one of his own horses, instead of one of the rentals.  
He also takes the time to go out on the trail with me, and we have some quite 
enjoyable discussions out in the countryside.  (Gee golly gosh - guess that 
makes him a GUIDE!!!! Look!  She went out on a guided trail ride!!!!)  
See?  I don't mind guides when they're interesting.

Carol, not all of us rush out to some new place, yank a horse out onto the
trail, fire it up a hill and down the other side, fording chest-high 
rivers and bring the horse back as a parboiled chunk of horseflesh.  When I
go to a new trail place, I just take their normal ride, to see if I like
the area and the way they treat their horses.  If I like the place, I'll
start to frequent them, get to know the owner, and then request an unguided
ride.  If they say no, but I still really like the place (and the guides),
I still frequent it.  If the guides are lousy but they let me go without
one, I'll still give them business.  If the entire place is messy, lazy,
dirty, and they have stupid guides and take poor care of their horses, then
I want no part of the place.  

And carol - if I'm inexperienced with 6 years in the big horns, what are you
with only 4 in the rockies?


Tsk tsk, there I go being juvenile again.  Ah me.  Back to studying, and
paying out tuition. At least it comes regularly, instead of not knowing
when the next emergency vet call will happen!   One time this summer I 
was sleeping in the barn for a friend of mine, waiting for her mares to
foal, when we had to call the vet out for an emergency with one of her
geldings.  He presented her the bill at 4am when he left.  She looked at 
it and said "For this much he could at least have shaved!"  He heard her,
turned around and said "If you let me put 50 more bucks on there I'll dance
a jig!"

Susan
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian