The Adventures of Clara Clapsaddle
In light of the Kentucky Derby being run recently and the other stories about horses I thought you might enjoy this story I wrote about six years ago about my experiences while being the "supportive mom" while my daughter gave horseback riding lessons a try:
"In yet another attempt at helping my daughter to find a healthy outlet for all her energy we have entered the fascinating world of "English horseback riding"! As a good and supportive parent (according to the instructor) I must "tack" up the horse to help my daughter get ready for her lesson (in addition to paying for the lessons, I might add). I'd been dressing kids for years--now I had to dress a horse! After getting the saddle and girth on the horse I must put my finger in the horse's mouth to tickle it's gums (safely away from his big teeth, ofcourse), so that we can get the bit into his mouth. If anyone 10 years ago would have told me that I would be doing this today I probably would have laughed my head off. I grew up in the city. We didn't know for horses. If I had told my father I wanted to take horseback riding lessons, he probably would have walked away laughing dismissing the whole conversation as fantasy on my part. My daughter brushes the horse and picks up its feet to clean out the hooves. Try to imagine in your mind how large these animals are. If they step on your foot, they don't even know it! And yet they are like big dogs in a way. I remember watching one day as three horses stopped all at once and stood there like statues watching a boy playing with a kite in an adjoining field because they couldn't figure out what the tiny red object was?? Next, I decided to buy a used saddle for my daughter to use. No one told me in advance that the saddle had to fit my daughter's rearend as well as the horse's back! Yesterday my daughter tried out the "first" saddle I bought for her to use. I looked out to see her laying on the ground in the show ring with the horse standing there patiently waiting for her to do something. The horse was wearing the saddle on the side of his body! Hmmmmmm?? What's wrong with this picture? I didn't know the horse can bloat and debloat in between the time you tighten it's girth to the time you start riding him/her. Two saddles later we found ourselves the proud owners of an English saddle and a saddle tree for our basement collection! We live in the suburbs. The saddle and all the other accessories made for a great conversation piece for awhile when guests came over!
The big day came for my daughter to participate in her very first horseback riding competition. My daughter and I had worked hard the night before at the stables along with the other students washing the horse, grooming it, and putting decorations on a horse blanket (the horses and riders wore Halloween costumes for this competition). My daughter was dressed as an Indian princess riding atop a horse decorated by imaginary Indians! I climbed on a stool and braided the horse's mane and put decorations in it. On the morning of the competition my daughter's instructor said she was much too busy preparing for her own competition with her horse, so I would have to call out all the points in the course for my daughter to follow as she went through the steps of her first competition. I urged my daughter all week before to pretend she was going through the paces to memorize her course in our front yard with strategically placed cards and an imaginary horse! Picture that one in your minds!
The competition began. It was my daughter's turn to go into the ring. As the judges and several audience members looked on my daughter went through her paces around the show ring going to each letter around the track that I called out. I couldn't see the letters on the fence that I was standing directly in back of. I was doing pretty well, though, at calling out the instructions until half-way through when I lost my place and became disoriented as terror and embarrassment gripped my throat. My worst nightmare unfolded as the judges rang the bell for the first mistake. All eyes turned to me! I did the best I could to recover and began reading out more instructions. My daughter started to cry and looked at me for help. I wanted to run away into the woods, dig a hole, and die but not without doing away with my daughter's instructor, first, ofcourse."
"In yet another attempt at helping my daughter to find a healthy outlet for all her energy we have entered the fascinating world of "English horseback riding"! As a good and supportive parent (according to the instructor) I must "tack" up the horse to help my daughter get ready for her lesson (in addition to paying for the lessons, I might add). I'd been dressing kids for years--now I had to dress a horse! After getting the saddle and girth on the horse I must put my finger in the horse's mouth to tickle it's gums (safely away from his big teeth, ofcourse), so that we can get the bit into his mouth. If anyone 10 years ago would have told me that I would be doing this today I probably would have laughed my head off. I grew up in the city. We didn't know for horses. If I had told my father I wanted to take horseback riding lessons, he probably would have walked away laughing dismissing the whole conversation as fantasy on my part. My daughter brushes the horse and picks up its feet to clean out the hooves. Try to imagine in your mind how large these animals are. If they step on your foot, they don't even know it! And yet they are like big dogs in a way. I remember watching one day as three horses stopped all at once and stood there like statues watching a boy playing with a kite in an adjoining field because they couldn't figure out what the tiny red object was?? Next, I decided to buy a used saddle for my daughter to use. No one told me in advance that the saddle had to fit my daughter's rearend as well as the horse's back! Yesterday my daughter tried out the "first" saddle I bought for her to use. I looked out to see her laying on the ground in the show ring with the horse standing there patiently waiting for her to do something. The horse was wearing the saddle on the side of his body! Hmmmmmm?? What's wrong with this picture? I didn't know the horse can bloat and debloat in between the time you tighten it's girth to the time you start riding him/her. Two saddles later we found ourselves the proud owners of an English saddle and a saddle tree for our basement collection! We live in the suburbs. The saddle and all the other accessories made for a great conversation piece for awhile when guests came over!
The big day came for my daughter to participate in her very first horseback riding competition. My daughter and I had worked hard the night before at the stables along with the other students washing the horse, grooming it, and putting decorations on a horse blanket (the horses and riders wore Halloween costumes for this competition). My daughter was dressed as an Indian princess riding atop a horse decorated by imaginary Indians! I climbed on a stool and braided the horse's mane and put decorations in it. On the morning of the competition my daughter's instructor said she was much too busy preparing for her own competition with her horse, so I would have to call out all the points in the course for my daughter to follow as she went through the steps of her first competition. I urged my daughter all week before to pretend she was going through the paces to memorize her course in our front yard with strategically placed cards and an imaginary horse! Picture that one in your minds!
The competition began. It was my daughter's turn to go into the ring. As the judges and several audience members looked on my daughter went through her paces around the show ring going to each letter around the track that I called out. I couldn't see the letters on the fence that I was standing directly in back of. I was doing pretty well, though, at calling out the instructions until half-way through when I lost my place and became disoriented as terror and embarrassment gripped my throat. My worst nightmare unfolded as the judges rang the bell for the first mistake. All eyes turned to me! I did the best I could to recover and began reading out more instructions. My daughter started to cry and looked at me for help. I wanted to run away into the woods, dig a hole, and die but not without doing away with my daughter's instructor, first, ofcourse."
posted by The Celtic Contessa at
8:34 AM
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