Riding on the Side

I started riding horses when I was in fifth grade at one of my friend’s farms. The farm started off modestly, with only a few horses and a shed that held all of the tack. But as more and more people became interested in taking horseback riding lessons, the operation grew. Eventually, by the time that I stopped riding during my junior year in high school (because I wanted to take more AP courses), the farm had over 20 horses, a two-story tack room, two eight-horse trailers, and a giant arena with stadium lights. It was fun to watch the farm grow into such a successful outlet of education and activity!

Throughout middle school and high school, I competed in horse shows and enjoyed them to an extent. I liked to get dressed up and show off for the judges, but they always made me nervous. I also felt like I wasn’t getting the chance to enjoy being with my horse because I was too busy worrying about whether we were going to make it over the next jump or whether my leg was in the right position to get the correct lead. So, if there was one thing I learned from doing horse shows, it was that I enjoy being with the animal and interacting with it on a more intimate and personal basis than getting caught up in the flashy world of show-jumping, where human and animal often become two separate things.

This is one of the many reasons why I feel lucky to have chosen The Silva Project as a place to volunteer this summer. I never realized how much I missed having that connection with a horse until I came here and began making friends with all of the horses here. I have even picked up riding again, and have had a lot of fun getting back into practice.In fact, volunteer horseback riding at The Silva Project has created some unforeseen additional goals for me while I am here. For instance, every volunteer at the riding school that has experience with riding can choose whether they want to pick a “project horse” to ride and help improve while they are here. Naturally, I chose the biggest, cuddliest horse on the farm named Captain (pictured above). He is a black shire horse with big, feathery feet and a sweet happy-go-lucky disposition. He is an older horse, and is extremely out of shape since the small children at the farm find his size to be off-putting and his need for extreme amounts of leg impossible. So, it has become a loose job of mine to ride Captain whenever I have time so that he can get back into shape to be used for more advanced riders and even the adult therapeutic riders that we anticipate having at the farm in the winter.

I usually work from 8:30-11:30 and then from 5:00-9:00, so that we skip the hottest part of the day, but that doesn’t leave much daylight time to ride Captain after I am done with work. Even though I can’t ride him as often as I like, I have gotten to the point where I get the warm-fuzzy feeling anytime I look at him.

This week, I submitted a video to an international dressage competition on a pony named Rodi. Even though I haven’t ridden in over three years, I feel that I did pretty well, all things considered. My performance for the video is rather sloppy just because I am out of practice, but it really just made me happy to be taped while I was enjoying myself on a cute little pony that I have fallen in love with! Click here to see the video if you'd like!