July 10 Questions

Thanks to L. at Viva Carlos for bringing back this fun activity!

1. Do you actually always pick the horse’s feet? Always? Really?

Yes. No hoof, no horse.

2. What is the biggest obstacle/reason preventing you from becoming a professional or competing full time with ease?

With ease, money. At all, hmm … good question.

3. Do you think it will ever not be about the money?

It may always be about the money, but it is also about a lot of other things, too. Ambition, talent, discipline, work ethic, willingness to work for any client and ride any horse and do it well and rely on a very unsteady stream of income, have the knowledge it takes to run a farm, ship horses all over the map, have people who believe in what you do … ugh, I guess a lot of that does boil down to money. But then couldn’t you say that about many career paths?

4. Was there ever a horse that you loved and really wanted to have a connection with, but it just never panned out? Details.

I have fallen in love with well over half of the horses I have ever ridden and if I had some how been able to buy them all I would need many, many more hours and dollars. Many. I would hoard horses.

5. What is one weakness in your riding that even your trainer doesn’t pick up on, only you?

I have so many weaknesses and surely most of them are fairly obvious. I am not likely to second-guess a trainer that I have chosen to ride with.

6. What is the biggest doubt/insecurity you ask or tell yourself in your head?

That I will do something stupid enough to flip my horse.

7. There is a barn fire. You are the first person to discover it and see that the roof is collapsing in slowly, and you can tell it’s going to come down any time. Do you call people first or head straight in to save the horses?

Call and save at the same time because smartphones. This question is a nightmare. I am having anxiety over this question.

8. What is one event in your riding career/horse/anything that you’re still not over, even tho you might tell others you are?

Sports amnesia is good … there was this one time I was showing a really cute little chestnut QH in the Adult Jumpers that I did not own, and he had been fun all weekend and we were there for two weekends. On Sunday, I woke up with food poisoning and spent like ten hours in the ER or something like that. I managed to feel mostly well enough to ride by Thursday or Friday, I think, but then the chestnut slipped badly in the warm-up ring, and was kind of balky at the jumps after that, like maybe he hurt himself, but he still felt sound and looked sound, was just a little less tractable. The course rode a bit tougher than what we had been able to accomplish the weekend before, and there was an option of a skinny or a liverpool. The horse had jumped the liverpool the previous weekend, and I hated skinnies, but he stopped at the liverpool. Twice. The second time I fell off, into a muddy tarp because that’s liverpools in Texas. I mean I guess I am kind of over all that but that was not a fun way to end at Pin Oak and I felt really bad for the owner, like I had let her down.

9. If you could tell off one person you just don’t like, what would you say?

But there are so many people I don’t like … I’d lose my voice. Mild examples would be: “You are an idiot.” “You need to quit.” and “Go away.”

10. Have you ever seen questionable riding or training practices, but let it go/ignored it?

Like witnessed in person? Yes and mostly. I never say nothing, but sometimes I redact and edit a lot of what would otherwise come out of my mouth. Pissing off an asshole probably won’t help the horses.