Collegial Equestrian Blog Hop

What is a Blog Hop you ask? A link list that lets viewers hop from one blog to another, discovering blogs they may not have known about before.

I'm happy to participate in my first blog hop from Collegial Equestrian, which we learned of via Viva Carlos. I love the internet and blogosphere  =)

Share a memory from: 
1. The first horse experience you can remember.
2. Your first "aha" moment -- when something really clicked for you as a rider.
3. Entering the ring. Could be your first show, or another time when simply entering the arena could be considered a "debut" of sorts.

My answers:
1. The first horse experience I can remember would be from my early childhood riding lessons at the saddleseat show barn down the block from my house. I remember my early lesson horse, Wings - a stately American Saddlebred who was the best babysitter horse ever. I remember a polo bandage wrapped around his neck as a grap strap. I remember loving every moment on and around horses.

My first lesson, at The Saddle Horse Works in Canyon Country, CA.
You can tell from my boots that my parents were *not* horse people.

From one of my first shows. Looks to be at LAEC in Burbank.
Academy division (no jackets). Back when you wore derbys instead of helmets.

2. My first "aha" moment when something really clicked for me as a rider came when I was about 12 years old. Ironically it wasn't really a technique or concept from a lesson, but rather an "aha" moment of my adventuresome spirit, when I realized I could do more with my horse than just what I had been taught to do by professionals. I was watching an old western film Duel in the Sun (I think that's its name - they all sound alike). In the film the leading lady nimbly hops onto a horse bareback and takes off galloping into the desert. I distinctly remember thinking "I sure wish I had a horse where I could hop on bareback and go galloping off into the desert.....hey, wait a minute, I *do* have a horse...what's stopping me?"  That thought started me down the path of bareback riding, trail riding, galloping (*gasp*), and eventually combining all three (Bo was a pretty tolerant ASB ex show horse!). I fell off more in the 6 months following that moment than any other time, but ultimately I gained lots in the way of my riding self-confidence. It was the start of my core value that you can and should try new fun things with your horse - something I still value very much.


3. Entering the ring. A debut. So much symbolism packed into a transitional moment. Several such moments come to mind but the one to share presently is the first time I left a start box. The start box is 3-sided box shaped paddock you enter to await the countdown to begin your cross country course. The timer gives you 30 second warning, then 15, then 10, then "5...4...3...2...1...Go! Have a good ride!" at which time you and your horse exit cantering away towards your first obstacle. My first start box experience was at my first horse trials at Shepherd Ranch in Santa Ynez in June 2011. I was nervous. I was excited. My heart races even thinking about that first countdown. I trotted out to my first jump, but I felt like I was soaring. I sure can't wait to do that again.

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How to join the blog hop:
1. Copy and paste the logo, the prompt, and the questions in bold.
2. Respond to them on your blog. 
3. Publish your blog post and copy the URL.
4. Come back to this page, click the button below, and enter your blog name and the post's URL.
5. Then click the link that says "get the InLinkz code" and copy/paste the appropriate cote in the HTML of your blog. Enter the code at the very end of your post so it appears at the bottom.
6. The list will update on everyone's blog automatically once you sign up!