Riding over the Hill » The Horse Life

Barn Wars

adrienne — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:13:01 +0000

Most of the time horse people are friendly and easy-going. But put them together in a high pressure situation and some of that niceness goes a way. For example, when it is the rainy season and they are all forced to share the arena at the same time. Your stable then transforms into an island on Survivor with tribes forming with all the drama and personality clashes. And I don’t mean among the horses.

My Experience

I have boarded my horse at two different barns now and have leased horses from half a dozen stables. At all of them, I have witnessed clashes either between trainer and trainer, trainer and client, and boarder and boarder. You would think the barn would be a place of tranquility and peace. Most of the time it is. But I guess we humans just can’t always get along.

In addition I have seen that horse people tend to form groups or tribes based on horse breed, trainer, training style, or discipline. I think it is human nature to do this. We tend to be attracted to others with similar beliefs and circumstances. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this except when one group thinks it is superior to the another. That is usually when conflict starts.

Best Breed

I myself am attracted to those who own an Arab horse because we Arab owners tend to really really love the breed. If the person owns an Arab and shows, I really feel a kinship to them since we have a lot to share and talk about. However, I don’t just limit my friendships to Arab horse owners. I have friends with different breeds of horses and who ride both English and Western.

At the barn, I go out of my way to be friendly and polite to everyone else. For one thing, I feel I have multiple strikes against me: I own an Arab, I ride western, and I also have had natural horsemanship training. (In California, it seems there are more English riders at barns now then Western.) For another, I try to keep an open mind and don’t make judgments against others. I am very sensitive to the fact that alot of people do not like Arabs and view them as hot-blooded flighty horses. I have heard a lot of comments about Arab horses being “crazy or stupid”. In fact, one trainer said to me, “I would never own an Arab, since they are too hard to train.” Luckily many people don’t always know what type of horse Valerie is because she is always calm and relaxed. In fact, when I tell people she is an Arab, they sometimes remark “for an Arab, she is very quiet”.

My feeling is there are alot of horse breeds out there and we can’t judge an entire breed by a few horses. Yes, I have seen some crazy Arabs I would never own but I don’t condemn the entire breed. I also have seen crazy Quarter horses and Warm Bloods but I don’t think they are all bad.

Riding Disciplines

Just like breeds, people have strong opinions about riding disciplines. Western riders make snotty comments about dressage riders and some dressage riders act superior to western riders. Some of this behavior is due to a lack of understanding. One way to stop this is to learn more about the other discipline. If you ride western learn about dressage or vice versa. When my trainer and I practice reining in the arena alot of the english riders ask us questions and think it sounds fun, which it is.

Training Styles

At my last barn, I never encountered prejudice against training techniques since most everyone rode western. Since it was a training barn, everyone had to do things the way the trainer taught us. When I left that barn I was exposed to a whole new group of people with different goals and training styles. There were people who just trail rode and others that showed. Some were interested in dressage others in jumping. Because of this, I was and am careful about what I say, since not everyone looks favorably on “natural horsemanship” training techniques. And I have an open mind myself. If a training style makes sense and is humane I am willing to try it.

Luckily, I think I have been accepted at my barn since no one has said anything negative to me. And I don’t think they would since Valerie is one of the calmest and good natured horses at the barn, so there really is nothing to complain about!

Do you have fighting at your barn? How do you handle disagreements?

Photo by spakattacks

My Top 17 Favorite Sites to Buy Western Show Clothes

Adrienne — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:11:39 +0000

We all have our vices. Some women collect purses. Some collect shoes. I have a closet full of western show outfits in various colors. For some reason, I have a weakness for them. Maybe because of the Swarovski crystals, the multi-hued material, or because they are related to horses. Either way, I love to spend my money on show clothes. Since there are no local shops that I can buy show clothes from (see About Me), I have bookmarked online websites that I like (and can afford) that sell western show clothes.

It took me along time to determine what show clothes looked good on my horse and were appropriate for Arab class A shows. In this post I will share what I have learned with you and what sites I feel have good clothes that are reasonably priced.

Note: This article is for mostly Western Pleasure outfits and possibly reining and trail class. There are no Showmanship or Horsemanship classes in the Arab show world so I don’t buy clothes for those classes.

Four Questions

Before you rush out and start shopping, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:

1. What type of shows will you be attending?
2. What is the color of your horse?
3. What is your age and figure?
4. What is your budget?

Type of Show

When I first started shopping for show clothes, I looked at outfit styles online and read about the current trend in western show clothing–less black and white and lots of color in shirts and chaps. I saw many show clothing sites that featured shirts paired with matching chaps in almost all colors of the rainbow. So I found a blue outfit I liked and bought it without checking to see what exhibitors were actually wearing in the shows I attended.  When I attended my first regional Arab show, I saw that most of the adults wore black or sand chaps and a colorful shirt. No brightly colored chaps. Whoops. I didn’t consider that most of these outfits online were for the Quarter Horse or Paint circuit, not regional Arab Class A shows. I assumed the outfits would be the same, which was a wrong assumption to make. The lesson I learned was before you buy, go watch a show and study exhibitor outfits–the styles, colors, and if they are custom-made or off the rack.

The Color of Your Horse

When you buy a show outfit, the outfit should compliment your horse.  In a Western Pleasure class, you may be one of twenty people in the ring so you need to have any outfit that makes you and your horse stand out.

Hobby Horse clothing company has a chart on their website that shows what colors flatter the coat and tail color of your horse. Basically the chart shows these coat colors:

Black

Redhead (Chestnut, Sorrel, Liver Chestnut, Red Roan, Dun)

Brunette ( Bay, Black, White, Silver Gray, Blue Roan)

Think of it from a fashion point of view. Most women’s magazines say, cool or jewel-tone colors look good on brunettes or dark haired women (red, blue, green, etc.) and warm colors (yellow, orange, etc.) look good on blonde’s. Valerie is a dark bay so I choose outfits with strong jewel tones, like blue or red. I also find that outfits highlighted with a small amount of black look really good because of her black mane and tail. However, because she is a very dark bay, I can’t wear too much black because it does not offer enough contrast.

I also believe because Valerie is small that I need to choose patterns that are not overwhelming for her small frame. I stay away from fabrics with a small pattern.

Age and Shape

As older women, unfortunately we must dress more conservatively. What does that mean? Well, if you look online it shows kids show outfits in bright colors like red, blue, pink, purple, etc. with cute little flower or stars. We can wear bright colors but the pattern and style cannot be over the top loud or wild.

You must also consider what shape you have. If you are on the larger side darker colors look more slimming and so are certain patterns and styles. Some designer special in plus size show clothing.

Cost

Once you get to the last question, you should have a good idea if you will be needing custom or off-the-rack show clothing. Off-the-rack show clothes tend to be less expensive then custom-made. I say “tend to” because I have found some designers whose clothing prices are comparable.

If you are only going to local or schooling shows you can probably wear non-custom show clothes. The down side with non-custom is that it is not one of a kind so someone else may be wearing it in your class. Hobby Horse and 1849 Authentic Ranchwear offer inexpensive but nice off-the-rack clothes.

If you have decided to buy custom, there are many designers to choose from and each prices their clothing differently. Prices climb if you choose expensive fabric, loads of Swarvorski crystals or leather, or ask for an intricate design. One warning I would give is this: you get what you pay for. I have seen some cheap show shirts on EBay but they don’t look well made (patterns don’t match) or are made with inferior material (thin bathing suit type fabric that looses shape or snags).

My Wardrobe

My wardrobe is a mix of custom and off-the-rack and new and used items. I have a pair of black slick leather custom chaps made by Deb Moyer, which I love. They fit well, are easy to clean and are very durable. However, my shirts are a mix of Hobby Horse and custom-made and range in cost from $300 to $125.00. There are certain high-end designer shirts I drool over but can’t afford new so I look and wait until I see them online used.

The List

Here is a list of some of my favorite shopping sites:

*Hobby Horse

*The Wire Horse - offers Hobby Horse, 1849 Authentic Ranchwear and custom shirts

*Final Cut – I bought several shirts from her. Nice lady and love her clothes.

*Deb Moyer – bought my chaps from here

*Karen’s Kustoms (U)

Kris’ Kustoms

*Show Me Western

*Painted J Western Show Apparel – made a very pretty shirt for me very quickly

The Tami Dern Collection

3 Gems Tack

Show Me Again (U)

*Tack Trader (U)

*EBay (U)

Clotheshorse Connection (U)

Beautiful but Out of My Price Range

Showtime Show Clothing (U)

Connie’s Customs

Show Diva Designs

*Purchased clothes from these stores.

(U)=offers used clothing

Note: If you want to look at a more comprehensive list of show clothing sites, go to the Boot Lady’s website http://www.thebootlady.com/links.html.

Have fun shopping!

First photo Pink Sherbet Photography, second photo cj berry 2009

Tell me about other online stores that you like.

Growing Old Together

Adrienne — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:14:07 +0000

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

                                                                                                    Mark Twain

At the last Region 3 Arabian Horse Show, I was glad to see that though many of us are “riding over the hill” it is not stopping us from riding and competing on our horses. The large amount of amateurs that enroll in classes divided by age, 35 to 54 and 55 and over, show that for many of us age is not slowing us down.

It is good to see that with better healthcare, 50 is the new 30, 60 is the new 40, and 70 is the new 50. All this means we can ride longer! Thank God since I bought Valerie at age 50. It makes me feel I can keep on riding for a long time.

One of the competitors, who impressed me by her spunk and determination, was a 75-year-old woman who was showing her Arab in the Hunter Pleasure division. This petite woman had ridden and competed on horses all her life, so as long as her health permitted she would continue doing what she had always done. Not only was she comShe gave me hope to continue riding on into my sixties and seventies!peting at this competitive Class A show, she was beating other riders who were twenty or more years younger.

At the last Olympics, there were three riders aged 60 competing in Beijing. According to The Virtual Equestrian, Ian Millar, a Canadian rider who is 61, is the oldest show-jumper in Olympic history. However, he is still not the oldest. Hiroshi Hoketsu from Japan is the oldest rider at the Games at 67-years-old.

Ian Millar

In addition to older riders competing, there were older horses going up against young ones in the show ring. My trainer, Shawna Parks, competed with Crystal Emir, her dad’s 20 something- year-old Arabian, in Hunter Pleasure and in Sport Horse In-Hand. Normally, Emir is used as a lesson horse for Shawna’s students since he is well-behaved and trained. At the barn, he is quiet and low key. Recently Shawna has brought Emir out of retirement to show again and the old guy seems to love it! His whole demeanor changes in the show ring. Shawna’s dad rode and competed on Emir for many years winning many firsts and championships. So for Emir ,it means doing something he remembers and enjoys. At the last show, he beat 13 other younger horses to win third place in the Sport Horse In-Hand class. Good for you Emir!

Shawna Parks on Emir

So the moral is–keep on trucking older ladies and horses. We still have a long way to go!