How to Explain Horseback Riding to Anyone

We all have friends, and friends are awesome.

Some of our friends are horse people, and totally get what we are talking about all the time. For instance, you can say your horse “was a little up today, but only bucked a few times and was otherwise fine” and these horsey friends will nod in understanding..because that’s not jargon to them.

But we also have non-horsey friends…and to them that is pretty much a foreign language. Your non-horse friends are also awesome, but sometimes they try to ‘get hip with your lingo’ and stumble…and sometimes they just stare blankly and pray you talk about boys, or ice cream, or the latest episode of The Bachelor so they won’t have to listen to you talk about your horse again. And this can be tricky to manage, but here are some things you might hear, and how to address them nicely:

1. “How was your race?” – Because mainstream media touts racing as the ‘horse sport’ of choice, this tends to cause many people to wrongfully assume that all riders are racers (kind of like how everyone assumes that anyone who lives in Texas must be a Country music fan). It’s ok to correct them a few times, but be nice. As a hobbyist group, we tend to not realize how defensive we are about our beloved sport…and can come off as jerks. So don’t be a jerk. If your friend feels the need to always ask ‘how fast’ you went, or if you raced anyone today…just smile and re-explain that your discipline has nothing to do with going fast (unless you actually do race horses, or are a jumper).
2. “But doesn’t your horse do all the work?” – Don’t flip out, this is a common misconception. Because most actions that involve sitting are commonly misconstrued as ‘easy’, horseback riding is an easy target. For the same reason that Nascar is belittled for just being about going fast and turning left (see Talladega Nights), many people assume that things you do whilst sitting on your butt require little to no effort. Just calmly explain that what you do is a challenging physical activity, and that no, riding a horse is not like driving a car. If you still have difficulty letting this concept sink in, find a good ‘thrills and spills’ video on Youtube, and try having them watch that.
3. “You horse is brown, so it’s a clydesdale, right?” – This one probably will only happen once, as once you’ve established that not all brown horses pull beer carts you should be good to go. Because Budweiser uses clydesdale horses in their ads, its only natural that most people assume horses that are big and brown must be clydesdales (your average person might have caught wind of the Romney horse and be aware that warmbloods exist, but it isn’t likely). If you ride a warmblood, feel free to explain what that means…and if you have a thoroughbred, be prepared for a renewed believe that you race and go fast. See 1. again.

For the most part, these are the only 3 annoyances you will probably experience. The exception to any of these, is the person that firmly swears by what they find in a Google search or from ‘sources’ like Yahoo answers and comments in YouTube videos. In the case of these, just don’t bother trying to explain to them that:

• Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron is just a movie, and your horse is fine with being ridden
• The Parelli method is not the only effective method out there
• No, they cannot ride your horse without permission
• Yes, even if they have been taking notes from old western movies
• No, rearing and kicking out is the opposite of what should happen (those were stunt horses)
• No, you cannot ride your horse on the highway
• Yes, you are sure you cannot ride your horse on the highway, its illegal

Hopefully this helps!

HITS Day 2

Final Summation:

1. Crackers jumped in a ring
2. Crackers jumped out of a ring (don’t worry he was supposed to)
3. Crackers had a smashing good time

Skye and Nina looked fabulous

The Powers sisters, no surprise to anyone, looked fabulous

Taxicab and Abby rocked it out

Troy and Anastasia guided George and Maaaaaavelous beautifully, as expected.

IHSA Zone 4 Championships; GO GCET!

Tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM, the  members of the Goucher Equestrian team will head down to the college stables to prepare for a varsity horse show, just as they always have. But tomorrow, it’s not ‘just another horse show’: the team will be facing the top riders of their conference.

Making a bid for nationals, selected riders will represent the team as a whole as the official ‘zone’ team. Several individuals who have qualified for this event will also represent their college as individuals.

Goucher will be facing off against Bridgewater College, St. Andrews University, and University of Delaware as a team, but those riding as individuals will also face tough competition from other individuals from schools in the region like Sweet Briar College, University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University.

The competition will begin at 10 AM, and will be held at the Goucher College stables (this link will take you to a campus map)

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to view to Goucher College lineup for tomorrow’s competition!

Work to Ride: Transcending Boundaries

Pictured: Most people's first impression of a 'polo player'. Image courtesy of CapMiller.com

When we traditionally think of polo as a sport, sometimes we conjure up images of the upper crust of society sipping flashy drinks whilst celebrity polo players charge across the field on expensive ponies, met with polite golf claps. Work to Ride, a program based out of the Chamounix Equestrian Center near Fairmount Park, focuses on making this traditionally bourgeois sport more accessible. Work to Ride program’s mission, as stated on the website, is to :”promote discipline, self-esteem, motivation, social development, life skills, academic achievement, and physical fitness through year round programs that encourage long term participation.” This ideology is better explained in the video below:

The Cowtown/Work to Ride team, which has been active at Chamounix Equestrian Center since 1994, is notable for being comprised of mostly black players. In a sport so dominated by mostly white teams, it is refreshing to see a diverse program successfully establish itself. When the team won the National Interscholastic Championship in 2011 against Baltimore, every member of the team was African-American, making interscholastic history as the first-ever all-black team to win.

All My Daddy’s Horses: Wealth In The Showring

It should be no surprise to anyone in the equestrian sport that being a participant in the show ring comes with a lofty price tag: between the cost of equipment, horses, horse care, show fees, veterinarian bills, shoeing, and show clothes, you are already looking at an annual bill that would make the lease of a ferrari look like chump change.

Pictured: Moorlands Totilas, one of the dressage world's most expensive, and most talented performers. Image courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk.

In a recent article in Forbes, high-profile riders such as Georgina Bloomberg and Jennifer Gates are mentioned, both of whom compete at the Winter Equestrian Festival. An unnamed source mentions that because these girls are pampered and given tutors and funds, that riding is often “the only part of their life that they care about”. As an equestrian I take a lot of offense to that statement, and find it highly unprofessional that a journalistic source of information like Forbes would not name whoever made such an inflammatory remark. Furthermore, I highly doubt than any equestrian, celebrity or otherwise, only cares about riding competitively and nothing else.

So then they don’t care about charity work, the welfare of animals, or anything else except spending daddy’s money on their horses? Really?

Goucher Equestrian Takes To The Airwaves!

On this past Sunday March 26th,my fellow tri-captain (Goucher’s Equestrian Team has 3 team captains!) Karli Postel ’13 and I joined in the evening broadcast of INSIGHT ON disABILITY at the WCBM AM 680 radio station in Pikesville, MD. We pitched the Goucher Equestrian Team‘s Healing Hooves 2012 event alongside host Michael Gerlach, and charismatic co-hosts Brent Tarring and Harry Cook. Having never been on the radio before, we were naturally incredibly nervous, but anxious to get started.

Image courtesy of Michael Gerlach.

I have never tuned into AM 680 before, as I tend to habitually listen to CDs and mixtapes instead of the radio when I drive, but after this experience I think I have found a new station to tune into! Michael, Brent, and Harry as well as the entire staff at WCBM were incredibly respectful and Karli and I were honored to get a chance to join the show!

Image courtesy of Michael Gerlach

To hear the full program, click the link below!

goucher-equestrian-on-insight

Save The Date!

Hello! Anyone following this blog might remember me mentioning that there there is a major fundraiser coming up in April. Well, Goucher Unbridled would like to encourage all of its Maryland-based readers to save to date! Click the following image below for more information! Thanks!

The Olympic Long List Welcomes Laura Kraut and Beezie Madden

Fans of show jumping will be pleased to hear that two more familiar names will join the long list before the Selection trials set to run from March 21st until March 24th at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL. Joining previously announced competition McLain Ward, Beezie Madden and Laura Kraut will join the hopeful contenders to represent the United States in London this coming summer. Joining these ladies on the list will be their respective mounts: Kraut aboard Cherry Knoll Farm’s Cedric, and Madden aboard Coral Reef Ranch’s Coral Reef Via Volo.

From Left to Right:Will Simpson, Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward
who won the Gold Medal at the 2008 Olympic Games. Image courtesy of Zimbio.

Its A Rough Week To Be A Horse: HBO’s Luck and History Channel’s Full Metal Jousting

Still shot from HBO's 'Luck'. Image courtesy of The Atlantic.

HBO’s horse racing series ‘Luck’ faces an unprecedented number of horse deaths on set, raising questions about the treatment and well-being of animals being used in filming. In previous productions, even one horse death was extremely rare, the last known horse to be euthanized during a productionwas in “3:10 to Yuma” from 2007: Luck has lost three horses.As a result, Luck will end its first season abruptly on March 25 after HBO has decided to pull the show entirely. Whether this was due solely to the loss of life, or in combination with its low ratings is still unclear.

Full Metal Jousting competitor,Landon Morris, having just struck the black horse pictured in the face. Image courtest of Warming Glow.

CLICK ‘CONTINUE READING’ TO READ ABOUT A HORSE GETTING PUNCHED IN THE FACE

Getting Back On The Horse: A Word of Advice

Greetings from Oranjestad, Aruba everyone!

Horses and motivational sayings have a long proud history in America. As Ronald Reagan once said, “There’s nothing so good for the inside of a man like the outside of a horse” Many famous equestrian idioms have been inducted into our daily life, however none have taken off quite like the saying, “When you fall off a horse, you have to get back in the saddle”, along with its many variations and adaptations. Though it is unclear who first said this motivational phrase (and when), it has served as one of the most universal motivational phrases for nearly every difficult situation: If we are to assume that ‘life’ had all the mannerisms of a horse, then we must ‘fall off’ all the time. Don’t believe me? Here are a few situations where this phrase works fairly well:

Lose your job? Get back in the saddle and ride it out.

Rough hangover from the night before? Get back on the horse.

Or take it from Sandra Bullock:

“I didn’t think I was ready to go back to acting, but that role was a great way to get back on the horse.”

(Actress Sandra Bullock talking about returning to movies after her divorce. (Associated Press))

Image courtesy of Laurel Hill Event Horses. Click to read their suggestions on how to fall safely from a horse!