Personal Narrative: Dressage Test

“Doping and the inappropriate use of normal medications present a serious threat to the integrity and reputation of our sport, because they give athletes an unfair advantage and threaten the welfare of horses.”(FEI’s Clean Sport Campaign pg1) Federation Equestre Inerationale and several other animal welfare organizations have well-established regulations trying to create a more perfect sport. Because riding in shows is so competitive riders need to understand that showing isn’t always about winning but learning for the experience of showing.

This lab took place at the Linn Benton Horse Center, and it was an introduction to halter horses and how to judge them. We looked at three stallions; two were halter horses and one wasn’t. We assessed their balance, muscling, and structural conformation in the way that a halter judge would.

It was just me, my horse, and the four judges, who were there to critique my every single move. I probably looked like an ant standing alone inside such a large area. My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it beating in my ears. Thump. Thump. Thump. I tried to block it out in order to concentrate on the task at hand. The announcer calls for 805, which was my show number, and up to the first cone I went. I knew that pattern better than I knew my own name. The arena smelled so fresh and clean. I could see the perfectly straight drag lines from the tractor, since I was the first one to go in my class. This was the moment that I had been waiting my entire life for. While waiting at the first cone, the pattern was soaring through my head. Trot to the first cone and stop, then do a turn to the right. Over and over again I kept repeating it silently to myself. Finally, the judges nodded for me to begin, and I started the best pattern

My greatest goal is to compete with my American Paint Horse in show jumping. I obtained my talented, beautiful, and intelligent horse in August. When I bought him, he was a hot-headed, Paint that didn't know how to do anything but walk, trot, canter. I worked day after day, trying to get him to jump over a stick. At first, Tacoma, thought that jumping over a painted stick was a worthless waste of time, and that the stick was sorta scary, but I eased him into it and eventually he started jumping fantastically.

I have been advancing my horsemanship skills through private lessons, clinics, and shows since I was eleven years old. I am well disciplined in western and english equitation and I continue to practice my ranch roping skills. I trained my own horse under the supervision of a professional who instilled in me the likings of the great horseman, Tom Dorrance. I have exceptional experience working with young, green horses as well as well trained bridle horses.

I took a deep breath as I walked my horse into the Greeley Stampede Arena. I told myself just to "relax." I loped a circle around the arena to make sure that my horse was warmed up and ready to go. He was ready but I was starting to get nervous. I stopped in front of the roping box to put my piggin' string in my mouth. I looked at my calf in the chute to make sure that it was number 33, which was one of the best calves out of the whole set. It was, and I was ready to ride into the box and rope my calf, or attempt to rope my calf. I began to get more nervous, more nervous than I ever had been at a rodeo.

On observation, Chloe presented with limited knowledge and insight relating to equine and horsemanship skills. For example, she asked for a halter to assist with connecting to the horse and when provided with one, she was unable to independently place the halter on the horse’s head. She asked if the horses were wearing shoes, rather than investigating herself. On

I watched as the flashes of orange lights from cars raced past me through the city, and knew there were no signs of any possibilities that there would be a place to keep a horse. I lived in northern Virginia near Washington D.C., where the city was filled with gigantic, tall office buildings with gray and gloomy windows. I could smell the gasoline and smoke coming from the cars’ exhaust. I felt the cool breeze as cars whipped past me, and the air tasted like millions of littered cigarettes on the side of the road. However, there were some horse stables, but they were far away, and the payment required for horseback riding lessons was a ridiculously large price. Of course, that never stopped me from continuously asking

If you wanted a sport that requires an intricate balance of speed, trust, and timing between a horse and rider, you are looking for the sport of barrel racing. Trust and timing are everything in the sport of barrel racing. If you don’t present any confidence or faith in your horse, then consequently, you will be too occupied with worrying about how he will perform, instead of having faith in how you trained him to perform. If you don’t time your moves just right, it could mess up the whole pattern. As the need for a roping horse arose, we decided to buy Preacher, which explains his wide frame, and immense structure. Since we didn’t focus on roping primarily, Preacher’s owner decided it was time to distinguish Preacher’s abilities in barrel racing, so his owner, decided to let another girl ride him. After only a month of training on barrels, Preacher showed a tremendous amount of potential. Since being on the farm for about three years and last year was the first time that he ran around a barrel, and now I was the fortunate one to start riding

The horse ride changed mike's opinion of his horse and himself because at first the was some trouble with getting him on the horse,but once he got on he started to enjoy himself and realize that just because he has a disability he doesn't have to limit himself.according to paragraph 1 it states how he felt or his opinion of getting on the horse. "No, stop it, I don't want to!" I yelled. Some of the horses in front of the barn looked at me, and all of the people stared, but I didn't care. Not being a sweet little angel like the disabled kids they show on TV is what gives my life meaning. I raised the volume of my voice enough to send birds flapping out of the shade trees. "You have no right! Isn't this supposed to be a free country?".

I have been at Saddleback for around seven years. I began riding in the beginner camp and am currently jumping and showing at 2’3”. Showing with everyone at the barn is always a blast we make it a great time. Ashley, Jessie, and Allie are great trainers , incredible teachers, and will do anything they can to help you. The people around the barn are very kind and helpful. The horses are absolutely amazing and extremely well trained. I've had a chance to ride almost all of the lesson horses and show a couple of them. I have enjoyed getting to ride all of them! The facilities and land are unbelievable! The stables are very clean, well kept, and organized. I also have the joy of working as the barn hand on Sunday afternoons. This is a great experience

I approached the spirited horse with confidence because I was experienced with these types of shows in which all the riders are assigned a random horse to ride. I could sense his tension as soon as I was in the saddle. He furiously pawed the ground and shifted his weight around. Before I knew it, we entered the arena. Almost immediately he began prancing like a deer around the ring, my fear growing with every misstep he took. I desperately looked to my coach for advice, but there was nothing she could do. It was between him and me and he knew he was in control. The spectators lining the outside of the arena fell into an eerie silence each time we passed by. I was masquerading, pretending I had him under control while the situation continued to worsen. In my mind years passed before the judge finally called for all of the riders to line up in the middle of the arena. As we turned to line up, he stopped. I convinced him to take one reluctant step forward before he reared up onto his hind legs. He rose up higher and higher, turning into a skyscraper towering over all others in the arena. Then, everything went quiet. I frantically grabbed for his white mane, trying to maintain my balance, but to no avail. We both fell backwards, all two thousand pounds of his body crushing

I couldn’t wait to show Prince (my steer) his nickname is “Boom Cow” because he’s awesome. We were fitting him and I was in charge of the clippers, this is going to be a disaster when I picked up the buzzing, shaky clippers. I was starting to get rushed and people were surrounding me everywhere. It was so crowded it was like Black Friday in November. I finally finished and it wasn’t so bad. We put on the slick, fancy, shiny black show halter. I could hear the announcer “final call for class 2 of CrossBred steers.” I have to admit I was getting pretty nervous because there was really good quality steers in my class. I lined up stroking Prince with my show stick very gently because if you scratch him to hard he gets CRANKY. Then finally it's time to go into the

As of 2010, a whopping 61% of the horse show population has gone lame. Lameness is caused by trauma, over working, and improperly healed injuries. It is my belief that there should be restrictions upon what time the

Everyone has a certain level of confidence in certain things that they do. Someone may be confident in school, but not in some other aspects of their life. That of course, goes both ways, whereas someone might be really confident in an extracurricular of theirs, but not school. There are three different confidence levels of horse riders. In the first level, you’re still very timid, and often ask for help to make sure you’re doing things correctly. In the second confidence level, you’re more independent, and only ask questions when you need to troubleshoot. The third level of confidence, you’re the one giving advice to others. Today I will be explaining how you can find these different riders in any warm up arena.