Skip to main content

Learning My Basic Horsey Equipment

WhiteStar
     Jump forward to the end of the summer.  By this time, I am working largely on my own, with my instructor working on small projects nearby (ready at a moment's notice to help me if I needed it).  I still felt pretty awkward using the equipment, but I had a general idea of what I was doing.
     My equipment consisted of a halter, a lead rope, and a stick with a string.

      Here is an image showing what my horse's halter looked like.  Do you see the blue halter on this horse's head (over his nose, along his cheek, and behind his ears)?  That is a halter.
You can also see the lead rope in this picture.  It attaches to the halter under the horse's chin, and the person (not shown in this picture) holds the other end.
     Your lead rope is kind of like your "hose of communication" with your horse.  You might be surprised how much you communicate just by how tightly you hold your rope.  Try holding the rope in your hands with your eyes shut and have somebody else hold the other end of the rope -- see how much you can tell about the way they are holding it without opening your eyes!

This is kind of like what a carrot stick and string looks like.  It is long (firm but flexible) stick with a string tied to one end.  It helps a person (who stands upright) to communicate to a horse (who stand on all fours).  It is a very versatile tool.  Sometimes it is like a tail.  Sometimes it merely gives you a "longer body" (like a horse).  Sometimes it is a hoof.  On occasion, it acts as teeth.  It's basic purpose is to help you talk in horsey language (instead of expecting the horse to understand English).

In reality, I guess this is not a lot of equipment.  An experienced person moves smoothly with these things, as though they are a part of her.  I, on the other hand, as a beginner, was constantly tripping over, dropping, and tangling myself in these various pieces of equipment.  A more "left-brained" horse would have been snickering up her sleeve at my clumsiness.  WhiteStar, however, was very patient and nonjudgmental as she waited for me to unwrap myself and get up again.  [I am immensely grateful that I did not start out on a wild horse as I imagine what would have happened if the horse had spooked while I was tangled.  Yikes.]

When I rode her, I connected both ends of a rope to her halter to act as "reins".  Occasionally, I put a bareback pad on her, but she is so comfortable to ride that I usually rode completely bareback.  Riding bareback is fun.  It definitely makes me feel connected to my horse, and it also helps me pretend that I am either an Indian or some girl taming a horse in the wilderness.  :)  It is very "natural" and I like it.

So that is the equipment that I used on a regular basis to work with her.  In addition to that equipment, I learned to used various kinds of brushes, a hoof pick, and special non-chemical fly spray.



Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Countdown: Eight Days

Eight days.  Do you know what that means?  Barely over a week.  Tomorrow will be one week from the announcement date. Are you excited? I am. So, today, I want to talk to those who wrote something for the contest, whether or not you entered it in the end. What made you start writing your story?  What was the first inkling of an idea that tickled your brain?  What was it that you liked about your premise?  As you wrote, did you have a favorite character or a favorite scene?  And are you glad you wrote it down?  Do you feel like you learned and grew in your ability as a writer as you tried out things for this contest? And, if your story isn't included in this year's Rooglewood anthology (either because you didn't submit it or because it didn't fit with the other four stories selected), what will you do with it?  Will you market it elsewhere?  Or will you lock it away in a drawer?
20 comments
Read more

Goodbye and God Be With You

It's rather fitting that some things come to a close on this day -- the last day of the year. I submitted my last entry into the Rooglewood contest this morning.  I can hardly believe it took me until the day of the deadline to send it in because I'm usually earlier than that.  And, even with the extra time I took, I still felt a little bit like maybe I could have done better if I had more time. But there was no feeling of regret when I hit "send."  Mostly it was just a prayer that Rooglewood would hear the heart of the message when they read it and that maybe, if I win, they could help me bring the full potential out of my little story.  And there was also a feeling, after working on these stories for more than six months, that it felt good to close that chapter and move on to the next one. I did it.  I wrote them.  And I'm really proud of them. Last year, the act of hitting "send" on my contest entry catapulted me into an anticipatory state....
18 comments
Read more

Infinity Dreams Award

Rules 1. Thank and follow the blog that nominated you. 2. Tell us eleven facts about yourself. 3. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer. 4. Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them. STEP ONE:  Dear Tracey Dyck at http://traceydyck.blogspot.com, thank you for nominating me. STEP TWO:       I am the tallest girl in my family.      My hair is probably the same color as Tracey's.      I love red hair.  Long, rich, wavy, red hair.  Yes.      Death doesn't scare me.      Thunderstorms make me feel safe.  And happy.      I've seen about 170 human babies be born, and I haven't even counted the little animal babies that I've seen.      I think math is fun.      I think school in general is fun.      Im a vairy gud speler.      I am an aunt.    ...
14 comments
Read more