Personal Narrative: Dressage Test

Equine therapy helps the special needs population by letting them ride horses as part of their therapy. 20% of the special needs population is affected by disabilities, which is equal to 1.1 million people in Houston (Panther Creek Inspiration Creek). Equine therapy helped Sophia with her emotions and helped her calm down in care rides (Jennifer Sanchez). The population with cognitive, psycho-motor and behavioral disabilities have improved with equine therapy (“What is Equestrian therapy?”). The horses provide a movement that helps the special with their spines and the nerves. The equine therapy also helps by providing a communication abilities, better balance, and motor skills (Texas Agriculture). This lesson is usually only 30-45 minutes long, but it helps with the rider’s goals. The students and horses are matched by personality, ability, and

The training aspect that goes into preparing a horse for showing can begin soon after a horse is born. The earliest a horse trainer could begin training a newborn horse is only after they have been weaned off of their mother for a few days. Once this has been accomplished, the horse trainer may begin putting the horse through the process of knowing what they need to know so they are able to take part in shows once they are ready enough. The horse is first put through learning the basics, being taught to understand when it must stop, to go when the rider clucks their tongue, and how to trot alongside them. With this training, the youngest a horse is allowed to begin participating in official events is at the age of 4 months.

My cousin and I went to a horse camp in Iowa this summer. For the first three windy days, we learned to walk in circles around the arena. On the fourth day, we came to The Ranch, and I was told to saddle my white and brown-spotted horse, Ranchero. The girl next to me saw me struggling and put on the saddle for me. We walked into the fenced-in arena and lined up. The teacher said we were going to learn to

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.

Equine judging is when you judge the conformation (how the horse is built) of a certain breed, including performance classes. Performance classes are basically where you learn multiple patterns for a certain class while taking notes based off how the rider and horse perform as a team. On April 22nd, both teams competed in the N.C State Horse Judging at St. Andrews equestrian center. Everyone was split up into groups (four groups total); up until 3:30pm we observed each class thoroughly in order to place whom described how the breed and gender should appear.

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

I signed up for the 4-H club, Rough Ridin’ City Slickers, and the 4-H Horse and Pony Project right away, in September of 2007. Beyond ecstatic didn’t even describe it, I was about to compete in my first 4-H horse show. I walked Tip in the arena and lined up facing the judges. Before I knew what happened, I stood up with a mouthful of mud; Tip dragged me across the arena. With a clenched jaw, I snatched the lead-line and marched myself and Tip back to the line-up facing the judge. As she gave me the nod to begin, I gripped the lead-line and advanced towards her.As she told me to trot off, the corners of my mouth slid upward. Despite being drug across the arena, we finished with a First Place ribbon in the class. Following that class, I tacked Tip up for the gymkhana portion of the day. Finishing the day with all first place ribbons, it was set in stone that I was meant to be a barrel

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.

“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.

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

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

B. Once I was showing a horse named Chip and I had only ridden him a week when I took him the show in Springfield, Ohio. I thought we was not going to do very good because we had not been together for very long. He was a good horse but sometimes he was a liitle full of himself. When we went in to show it was a run in pattern, which is the hardest kind of patterns. We ran in and nailed the first stop and I was very happy with it. The spins were plus halfs and the circles where very good!! Our score was a 73 which is a very big score. We won the rookie level 2.

In November 2015, I finally walked up to Keeneland for the first time in my life to finally see a live horse race. But it wasn’t just any race – it was the 2015 Breeder’s Cup Championships and American Pharaoh would go on to win the Grand Slam. It was an awesome day, meeting people from all over the country who seemed just as passionate about a sport as I was. It was that experience that led me to move to Lexington, KY two months ago with a desire to work in the Thoroughbred industry.

At the 2016 Kansas State Fair, I was the leader of my small show team. The eldest and most experienced, Madeleine and Rylynn were cheering me on through each class. I had already had a wonderful time, winning reserve champion in my equitation class, making pleasure finals and placing fourth in hunter under saddle, horsemanship was my last class. There were 40 in my class, and I was twelfth in the working order. Maddie and Ry sat on the other side of pen happily eating soft pretzels, eating up pattern after pattern. I walked in the small warm up arena as much as I could, I was terrified that my horse would turn up lame, as he had gotten a cut on his coronet not but a few days ago, and I had scratched him out of trail and hack because of it. Though there had been no sign of soreness from him, I was terribly worried.We worked on our spins, I backed him to the gates more times than I could count, and his trot offs were prompt and rhythmic. Our gatekeeper called my number to tell me I was on deck.