October 30, 2014

I saw this posted and answered on several of the equestrian blogs I follow and I thought I would give it a go.

1. How many pairs of breeches/jods do you own? 

That seems like sort of an odd and pointless question, but I have no idea. I rotate through 4 or 5 pair of black and one pair of navy summer weight Kerrits and Irideon tights until it gets chilly and then I switch to winter weight Kerrits (with the cargo pockets) and Irideon fleece lined pants for the winter. I have maybe 6 pair of those in black, navy and dark gray.

2. How many horses have you ridden?

I seriously cannot even begin to guess at this. Off the top of my head I can count 18 horses that I have owned (counting my sister’s too). We used to swap ponies all the time when I was younger, and I barrowed a lot of ponies when I traveled internationally as well. When I was looking to purchase my most recent pony, Poe, I went and tried well over 20 ponies in that endeavor alone.

3. How many trainers have you had?

Lots. Shoot, even narrowing it down to just mounted games trainers alone… Michelle, Tamera, Kathy, Janey, Robert, Rob… lots of clinics and short term help…

4. How many barns have you ridden at?

I have never really ridden for a barn. But I did start off my equestrian life at a weekly lesson barn owned by Mrs Gibson, called Frederick Riding Academy in Frederick, Maryland. I boarded for a while when I was a kid at a private, non-show barn. Then my ponies moved into my parents’ house. When I moved, as an adult, down to Virginia I boarded at a friend’s house, and it was eventually just my ponies there. Now they are at my house.

5. What is the name of the horse you consider yourself to have the greatest bond with?

Simon. Hands down. He is my pony soul mate.

6. What is your favorite show name you’ve ever encountered? 

I am not much on show names. (I am also sucking at taking this questionnaire. Maybe I am too old for this type of foolishness). I am sure I have heard clever ones but most of them suck and sound pretentious.

7. What do you consider your greatest weakness or flaw in riding? 

Over the years I have lost a lot of my courage. I think all of my other flaws fall under that. Oh, I got fat too. That is a huge flaw that pretty much all of my other flaws also fall under. Yep, courage and fatness. And actually, the fatness also causes a lot of the courage loss. So I’ll have to go with getting fat. Fat <- Biggest flaw!

8. What do you consider to be your greatest strength? 

Well crap, that’s a hard one. I suppose if you focus on games I have a lot of basic equipment skill and know a lot of techniques. But that’s not really a riding strength. I am a pretty good basic rider but I don’t think I have anything that really pops out at me like, “damn, that’s my STRENGTH”. So uh… pass.

9. Have you ever leased a horse? 

I grew up in Pony Club, and pretty much everyone in my pony club leased a pony at one time or another. I had Berry for years. I rode her and then my sister rode her through most of our pony club years. We got her when I was about 10 years old. And she died when I was about 22 years old, give or take. She was a free lease that just stuck around. My sister had a couple free leases through pony club when she was in her younger years, Princess Wildflower, Pammy, I had Bobo for a few years. I suppose that’s it. I have an older pony that I still own now, Osh Kosh, who I purchased from auction when I was about 18 years old that is out on free lease now to a pony club family.

 10. What is the name of the first horse you rode? 

The first pony I really remember riding (like riding and not being led like in a pony ride) was named Warrior. He was at Mrs. Gibson’s Frederick Riding Academy. A black small medium stocky thing. A perfect school masters that plodded around on the buckle. What a champ.