Newsgroups: rec.equestrian

 I have so enjoyed reading everyone's bio I finally decided to try to 
 contribute.  My name is Denise (not Dennis) O'Connor.

 I grew up on a horseless farm in Eastern Washington State. I always wanted
 a horse, as many of the other bio's state, but Dad said I could have a horse
 only if I could pay for all of it and save for college.  Well, unfortunately
 I was a practical child and saved all my money for college.  Finally with
 a worn out library card and a graduate degree in Robotics Engineering I began
 my career with Hewlett Packard in Santa Rosa, California.  The best part is
 that I also married a large animal vet (close to free animal care - just have
 to bribe him now and again).  Being ever practical we decided that we must
 at least have a house the horse was put off again, and I've never even had a 
 lesson yet.  

 Well, at the age of 29, I received the best suprise of all.  One day Mike (my
 husband) came home and said that Faema was for sale.  I had met Faema several
 times before while riding on call with Mike.  He had treated her several times
 for allergies.  One time she was so swollen from her withers to her nose there
 was no definition of anything, her eyes were swollen shut.  She was the sweetest
 mare, she always let Mike do anything to her.  She had allergies to dust. The 
 price was more than what I thought was practical to pay, she was an arab, she 
 was young (4.5 years), just barely broke, and a mare, just the match for someone
 who had only sat on a horse maybe five times my entire life. I fell in love
 with her.  She was all I could think about.  

 The owner had been in the arab "business" but had decided to get out.  Faema
 had never matured tall enough (she's 14.2) but the owner is 6 feet tall. Faema
 was a real pet of theirs because she is so personable and sweet.  Most of the 
 offers they has recieved were for breeding(I guess she had some good old time
 bloodlines) purposes only and they felt she would not get the attention she
 liked.  Any way, they called us up and offered her to us at a much lower price.
 I was in love, I couldn't resist.

 I was in a mad rush for many days, finding a stable, arranging to use a trailer,
 and getting horse STUFF.  Now I didn't know anything about the way horse stables
 worked, lessons, I had seen western saddles, but knew nothing about english, trainers,
 and a whole lots else.  I didn't realize that you could take lessons without
 owning your own horse(no one offered that in the area I grew up).

 It is a good thing she is such a nice mare.  She is far more spirited these days,
 I have had her for three years now, than she was when I first got her.  I think
 she took care of me.  I soon realized that I needed lessons and took one from the
 trainer at the stable (big mistake).  First lesson she had us go from a walk to
 gallop,  now by this point I had only managed to figure out how to get the saddle and
 bridle on, climb aboard the western saddle and walk around the arena.  The second lesson
 was to gallop a figure eight, with each loop being about 15 meters.  We crashed 
 just like in the old westerns.  I was lucky in that I was tossed far enough from 
 the horse and landed a foot from the fence, the horse rolled all the way over. Neither
 one of us could walk away for some time.  So I kicked into engineering mode of 
 fact finding and making sure that I had the information necessary to make sound
 judgements. 

 I started all over, english, proper safety helmet, good rated trainer.  The first 
 thing I did was to take a clinic with Faema on Centered Riding, it was the best
 thing I ever did.  So now three years later I love riding even more, I have been
 riding 4x a week, with a trail ride every Sunday.  A girl friend has a trailer,
 I have a truck so we are mobile.  I've done a few little hunter shows, some dressage
 shows and am suprised that we place in most of them.  We just started jumping 
 this year, horrible terror for me but I love it when it goes well.  I have been
 with the same trainer now for two years and she has worked with Faema and I so that 
 we are a sucessful green horse/green rider combo.  The greatest compliment that I
 have recieved is that Faema is wonderfully light and responsive and very even
 side to side.  The greatest joy for me is for Faema and I to figure out a new movement
 together under the eye of the trainer.  This year was most fun as we started
 cross country work also.  We competed in the masters division(little jumps) at RAMTAP
 and won the silver cup.  Oh it was so fun, other than the 2 foot jumps still look
 like they are 12 feet high when I get close.  It has taken some effort to get
 Faema to jump nice and round and without shying so much.  My seat and balance are
 pretty good now after months of her shying to one side then to the other then back and still 
 try to be straight for the jump, and then haveing her jump so high that the trolls
 that live under the jumps have no chance of ever grabbing her feet.  She does love
 crosscountry, she spots the next jump and heads right for it.  The shying from
 jumps is pretty much gone so we can settle down to work on some height now, also my
 fear has settled too.

 My husband is finally able to take some time and has been able to ride 2x a month.
 We dream of having more time to ride and a ranch of our own.  As usual I think I
 talked to much.  I have sure enjoyed reading the bio's.