From: sjh@cs.brown.edu (suzi howe)
Subject: another bio
Followup-To: bio
Keywords: bio
Organization: Brown Computer Science Dept.
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:16:09 GMT

It IS a little intimidating to be bio-ing my soul (so to speak!)
before the net, but here goes:
I grew up in the North of England, in Sale, Cheshire.  My sister
and I took riding lessons when we were 5 & 6, then my father
bought us Shetland ponies, (Queenie and Jeannie-more like big dogs!)
At 8 & 9 we were shipped off to a boarding school in Herefordshire
which had a marvelous riding program. We both won cups and prizes
--riding certainly made life bearable! We spent summers riding
in Wales (Benllech Bay, on the island of Anglesey).  The barn had
dozens of horses (mainly hardy Welsh Mountain ponies which
carried adults as well as kids) - afternoons were given to 3-4hr 
picnic rides - our favorite was crossing the bay (about 3 miles)
to a farm house on the other side where we turned the horses out
and had a wonderful farmhouse tea, complete with homemade
'barrabrith' (?sp), Welsh fruit bread.  The trip across the bay
included an exhilarating flat-out gallop to the wreck in the
middle - best to be on the OUTSIDE of the herd or you'd be
plastered with wet sand!  The return trip could be tricky if we
ran late because the tide would be coming in and the
river, a trickle on the way over, would deepen FAST with the
incoming tide.  Many a beginner would have to have their pony
urged forward as he stopped to paw and hoped to roll!  
No horses in college, then I left for the USA.  One son and two
marriages later, I got back into riding (aged 42).I joined the Brown
University equestrian club and started riding once during the
week, then on weekends. I became friendly with the instructor,
and she asked if I'd like to ride a horse at her barn and take
lessons out there. The owner was in college and hadn't been to
see Oscar (Octavian) in 2 years. This was my first opportunity
to TAKE CARE of a horse and I learned PLENTY.  I showed dressage
at training level (tests 1-3)and evented novice.  I think white
must be MY color -- most of my ribbons were 4ths!   
5 years ago, one of my instructor's other students with whom I
was friendly, decided to buy a new horse (Indian Bow had a
paddock accident and needed a year off).  She wanted one big 
enough for me to jump (I'm 5'7" and she's a pipsqueak!) but
quiet enough for her.  With our instructor in tow, we went to
Strain's in CT and bought a 10-year-old QH/TB cross.  Well,
those were her criteria, but with 20/20 hindsight, I realize that
ANY animal they trotted out would have been whatever she asked
for! We learned later that Kody was barely 7.
I just LOVED this horse!  Soon after we got him home, she asked if I'd 
like to share ownership, and we began a great partnership:  Suzi,
Maryann, and Dakota (Kody).  We had some super times with him, but it
soon became clear that he was more mine than Maryann's since she rode
Bow and I rode Kody.  He was pretty green but showed great potential.  
Unfortunately, Maryann was always afraid of his size (16.1), and I'm
a pretty green rider, plenty of courage, but no finesse! The perfect
rider for him would have had my guts and Maryann's talent! We enjoyed
him for 3 years, then I got divorced from my 2nd husband and things
financial started to fall apart.  We free-leased him for a year, then
tried to sell him, to no avail.  Then he came up lame with navicular
and the barn where I started riding with the Brown club took him as
a schoolie -- the Johnson & Wales Equestrian Program uses the barn, so
he was ridden by GOOD riders.  Although he was 'serviceably sound' at 
the outset, the problem worsened to the point where they couldn't 
carry him any longer.  Since we couldn't bear to think of putting him
down or taking the $1/lb route (he weighed 1500lbs!), we gave him to
'The Last Chance Corral' in South Country, RI, where they find adoptive
owners who are aware of any problems and ride accordingly.  Within a 
week, Kody had found a young lady who was as nutty about him as me, and
who planned to hack and hop over the odd log on the trails now and then (he
LOVES jumping).(he's in bar shoes and takes weekly doses of Isoxoprine).
So, now I'm 47, have been remarried for a year already.  I live on 22
pine/oak acres in Coventry, RI, with a corral, barn, pool, and baseball
field the EXACT dimensions of Fenway Park!  We plan to retire when
my husband is 55, (I'll be 52), buy a couple of easy keepers and cut
trails through the woods - no more showing.
That's the DREAM, and that's all, y'all!  :)
Enjoy the net daily, but post rarely.