first stable

The first stable I rode at was a blue aluminium building, with two long aisles on either side of a large indoor arena. The front entry was welcoming and lead into an office and viewing room. You could watch people ride while staying warm in the cold winter months. All the horses that were privately owned were stabled in the barns attached to the main building while the lesson horses were kept in a seperate smaller barn referred to as the upper barn. I never understood why it was called the upper barn, it was not on another level or even a hill. The land was all very flat. I could only imagine it was somewhat further north.




I remember every lesson horse as if they were my own. I mostly rode Speckles, she was a large pony or possibly a small Arabian cross, appropriately named as she was a Fleabitten grey. There was Dandy, a stocky chestnut, Peanut, one that my Aunt frequently rode. TDST, which stood for That Damn Spotted Thing, he was an Appy that I think most were afraid to ride. One of my favorites was Mr. Boo which I had a chance to ride once, he was light grey with slight markings, I believe he was Appy or at least part. My Mom's, Aunt's and my Mom's friends horses were sometimes used for lessons as well.




The stable held frequent schooling shows that I was lucky to participate in. I rode Speckles in my first show but since she was a popular horse and ridden by many kids, I did not get to ride her in any other shows. When Speckles was unavailable I rode my Mom's horse Bud or her friends horse Poppy. One show I insisted on riding Mr. Boo, even though I had never ridden him before but I was sure it was a good idea. After much to do, I was given the chance to ride him. I was so excited, it was as if I was going into the Olympics. I was so proud as I entered the arena on Mr. Boo, we walked on the rail with perfection. The judge asked all the riders to trot and Mr. Boo stopped, dead stop. He wouldn't moved, I kicked and squeezed with all my might, nothing. We stayed at a stand still right on the rail while the other horses happily trotted past us, several times. When it was time to line up in the center for the announcement of ribbon placement, he kindly walked to the middle to join the other horses. We did not get a ribbon and I never rode him again, nor did I want to.




Just before my sixth birthday, my trainer wanted me to canter for the first time. For some reason it had been decided that Poppy would be the best horse for my first canter. Poppy was about 16'2 hands high, very tall for a little squirt like me. I was never quite sure why this was a good idea. Thinking back, Speckles was very bouncy and perhaps a bit fast. Bud was very trustworthy, but hard for me to get moving. Poppy was tall and slender, a sorrel with high head carriage and very comfortable gaits. I didn't know then but as I reflect I think he may have been a saddlebred. I asked Poppy to canter and he did, our first try. We cantered right around the first corner to find there was nowhere to go. There was no room between the horses on the rail and the jumps that were set up, Poppy went for the jumps as oppose to running into one of his stablemates. I recall that later someone saying the jumps were set at 2'9", not a huge jump but I was not much taller than that myself. We sailed over the first jump and I stayed on, however, the fear I felt as we approached the second one was probably the reason Poppy decided it was best not to go over the next. He sharply turned before the jump, I continued straight, right into the jump, head first. Somehow I walked away just shook up, crying and vowing never to canter again, never to jump and never to ride Poppy again. Not riding Poppy again turned out not to be an option after my Mom bought Andy and we moved to a stable that did not have lesson horses. Over the next year I would start to ride Andy as well. It took some time and much persuasion, but eventually I would canter again and even jump. That happened at the third stable I would ride at and second trainer I would have.