(Back) In My Horse Girl Era

Fun fact about me: I rode horses as a teenager/early 20-something! I don’t think I’ve talked about it much here on CCCH except in passing (including in my anti-bucket list when I turned 30).

My family is not horsey at all, but I was influenced by a horsey friend when she got her own horse. I also played online horse showing and breeding games religiously, including Horseland and Horse Phenomena. OMG, those games defined my teen years. I’m still online friends to this day with some of the people I met on those websites! I also learned so much about coding from it, which translated to my MySpace page. What a blast from the past!

I also became obsessed with the series on Animal Planet called Horse Power: Road to the Maclay. That’s what really kickstarted my interest in riding in the hunters and equitation, even though we have a very small hunter/jumper community here in Boise compared to other places in the country (and even though my parents could not afford the $$$$$ horses those girls rode!).

Below, I shared my early riding journey, my recent comeback, and my current riding goals. Are you also into horses? Do you also show in hunter/jumpers? Did you play any of the online games or watch Horse Power? Please share in the comments

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(Back) In My Horse Girl Era

My Early Riding Journey

My memory is poor enough that I can’t remember exactly how I got into horses, but I know one of my best friends had her own horse boarded at a stable not far from where we lived, and a family friend offered to let me free lease one of her horses (she had two, one she rode regularly and a dark bay off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding named Chance that did not get ridden regularly). I think I was around 15 or 16 years old at the time.

The family friend paid for Chance’s pasture board and let me ride him in lessons and in our barn “shows”. He did not get along well with the other horses in the pasture and often showed up with random cuts and other wounds. My dad, who is not horsey in the slightest, became a pro at treating him and giving him medication and shots, haha.

I used to own an orange camo mesh baseball cap (that I believe was a dollar store find), and Chance quickly learned to associate that cap with me and would come running when he saw me! Thank goodness, because his pasture was huge and it was not fun to walk through.

After Chance left the barn, I started taking lessons with a hunter/jumper trainer on her own horses, starting with her Appaloosa mare named Surprise. I was fortunate enough to show Surprise at local hunter/jumper shows. We showed in the 18” crossrail hunters and 2’ hunters (and maybe equitation too, I can’t remember). Those were my first “real” horse shows!

During my time with my new trainer, I rode a couple of others: a cute chestnut pony mare named Amira (I so vividly remember falling off of her during a jumping lesson!) and a grey Thoroughbred mare named Lucy (I also fell off Lucy, including during warm-up day at a show—that one hurt the most; I blacked out and landed on my butt!).

I showed both of them in the 2’ and 2’3” hunters and equitation plus the flat classes, and I even got to show Lucy in a 2’6” hunter class at a show in Hailey, Idaho. It felt like a big deal to me because you needed to have flying lead changes to show at 2’6” and above!

My trainer eventually moved all of her clients over to her trainer when I was in college, and I started taking lessons on the new trainer’s Appaloosa gelding (who I think was crossed with a Mustang if I remember correctly) named Apache. Funny enough, he was only the second gelding I rode regularly (besides Chance) and the only one I showed!

I did the same classes with Apache at local horse shows, 2’ and 2’3” hunters and equitation plus the flat classes. My proudest moment was getting 2nd place out of five riders in equitation on the flat, behind the best junior rider at our barn!

Sadly, I stopped riding after 2010 because I was halfway through college at this point and feeling the demands of classwork.

I’m Officially an Adult Re-rider!

I really wanted to ride again once I was done with grad school and back in Boise, but all of the bigger barns are 30+ minutes away from me… and I actively avoid driving if I can, haha. Riding is also quite expensive. So, my riding break was a lot longer than I thought it would be. I even tried selling my riding stuff, including my saddle, at one point. What I love about riding, though, is that you can ride any time and at any age!

15 years since my last lesson and show, my current trainer advertised her property and lesson program on Facebook late last summer, and I felt like it was meant to be! I was giddy with excitement after reading her post. I couldn’t wait to start riding again! I felt really good physically; I had been working out regularly for well over a year, so the timing felt perfect.

I immediately tried on all of my old riding gear and realized my breeches no longer fit and my helmet was long expired. I picked up a couple of new pairs of breeches from a local tack shop as well as a new helmet with MIPS for extra concussion prevention.

One thing I was not expecting as I started lessons again was suddenly having an intense fear of falling off and hurting myself. I know it’s bound to happen again someday, but now that I am 15 years older, I know I’m not going to bounce back like I did when I was younger. I was super nervous going into my first couple of lessons because of that.

My first few lessons were on an Appendix mare named Roo, but I had to switch to an older mare named Heidi when Roo hurt herself. I’ve had a bunch of lessons with Heidi and feel like I know her fairly well, enough that my fear of falling has subsided. She’s in her mid-20s and quite set in her ways as a former dude ranch/trail horse.

So far, I’ve taken a total of 18 riding lessons and 3 groundwork lessons (when weather/arena conditions aren’t conducive to riding but I still want to learn things!). I’m learning a lot of dressage stuff, which is all new to me, and I feel like I’m getting a good foundation in the basics, including transitions, bending, flexion, steering, etc.

I’ve only walked and trotted so far… no cantering, yet! I’ve done a lot of no-stirrup work, and while it’s painful in the moment and immediately after dismounting, I know it’s good for me. My biggest challenge is keeping Heidi going; she’s definitely a kick ride and can be quite lazy at times. 😆

As an adult with adult money, I find that I’m more likely to buy a new pair of breeches just because I can…ha. And, unfortunately, I’m no longer relying on my parents to pay for horse things. This time around, I’m keeping track of all of my horseback riding expenses to stay on top of things.

My Current Riding Goals

Right now, I’m just trying to absorb as much information as I can and really build my confidence in the saddle. I feel like I’m learning so many skills I previously knew for the first time all over again, and I am actually learning brand new skills and cues! I haven’t done any jumping, but I want to feel good on the flat before we introduce jumps again, so I’m fine with that.

I’d love to eventually make it back to our local hunter/jumper shows and maybe go to a dressage show. I have no desire (or the budget/vacation time) to show in the big rated shows, and my trainer doesn’t want to do the show barn thing. However, I realized I’m still going to need to lease or purchase my own horse to reach my show goal.

Eventually, I’d like to show in the 3’ classes! I know that is many years in the future. I also don’t know if I’m going to go back into the hunters and equitation or if I’m going to do more jumper classes this time around (I’ll be honest, jumper courses scare me, haha—there’s so much to remember!).

So, what’s next? Hard to say… but I tell everyone that I’m not actively horse shopping and then I find horses I want every week, haha. I do eventually want my own horse that can teach me even more, that I can show with, and that I can love on. Someday. 🤗