Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hmmm. I really envy all of you who were able to have horses as a kid. I borrowed horses from the time I was 12 to 20, but didn't get one of my  own until I was 40. Still have her too.

Maryanne

On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:07 AM, lori gaines <dragonsong63@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I wasn't supposed to ride out on the trails alone! (of course I did almost every day) No one at my stables wanted to go as fast and far as me and my Arab/Welsh cross. Who by the way once beat a TB ex race horse in a race down the wash! I also taught her to jump. There was one girl who was taking lessons on her TB. Jumping/hunt seat stuff. It looked very boring riding at a slow canter and going over the same jumps for an hour. Molly and I would jump the same jumps bareback at a gallop. (she didn't have a canter) This was when I was 13.

  My dad got Molly in a trade having to do with farm equipment  when we lived on a farm in MO. She was 8 and I was 11. Her previous training consisted of the grand-kids riding her around with a halter a few times. For some reason dad never doubted that I could ride and train the unbroke horses he bought.

I was very lucky in that I took lessons for about 2 years starting when I was 6. My riding instructor was an English lady named June Stangle who was very strict. Left me crying more than onece but I thank her for it now. At 6 I was riding english in a double bridle that I had to learn how to put on a pony who's withers were about at the top of my head and of course I had to saddle him myself. My pony, Marty, had been shown by his previous owner who had outgrown him. In fact she had a room full of trophies he had won. Jumping was his specialty. So I had a good teacher. Except that he would run off with me every chance he got. One day I was out riding with June and her 2 children (her daughter was a year older then me so we were good friends.) We came to a nice sandy open area so Rodney, June's son who was older then me and riding a horse said "Let's let then run!" We all took off. My pony passed all of them at a dead run. I was never so scared in my life. But I stayed on!  Rodney seem very impressed with my mount's speed. He was supposed to have been 1/2 Hackney, which I can believe. He was every bit as spooky and energetic as those guys are. Hmmm, kind of like a small Arab.

 Wow! I was only going to write one sentence. Really!

Lori

--
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
msgabbani@xxxxxxxxx

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