Searching for a New Stable: House Hunters for Horses

Previously on this blog I put forth the idea of having a TV show similar to House Hunters, but instead of connecting homeowners with houses, it would connect horse folk searching for a new stable with appropriate barns and trainers.

In an interesting twist, a girlfriend who lives in Oregon and owns a cafe just posted on Facebook this week that House Hunters is going to shoot a scene at her restaurant! I commented, “Tell them we need a Horse version of the show! You’re my ‘in.’ I just blogged about that last week: House Hunters for Horses (House/aka boarding stable).”

Her response was, “I will plug your idea while I have them cornered!”

Since the last episode, there have been some interesting new developments.

Instead of the three original options

• Personally Recommended Hunter/Jumper Barn Close to Work
• 10 Miles from Home in Pretty Neighborhood with Cowboy Events
• Close to Home with 24×24 Stalls and Miles of Trails

I landed on a 4th option!

There is one other barn I knew of that is also ten miles from home in the opposite direction from Option 2. I had ruled it out earlier as my impression was it was a Western and dressage barn.  I had been there a few years earlier as a friend/acquaintance I met at church keeps her horse there. I remember there were no jumps in any of the arenas, and when I contacted the dressage trainer three times about riding, she never returned my calls. 🙁

I liked the location as I would not have to get on any freeways to get there. Once I even went on a trail ride with a woman who is friends of my friend. My trail ride partner encouraged me to shareboard the horse I rode that day, but I don’t think she understood that I am not that drawn to trail riding at a walk through a neighborhood park on a 15 hand horse.

That might sound bad, but I explained it later to my husband who grew up skiing in the Eastern Sierras and later ski raced in college that he would probably not have fun “skiing” down the one man-made hill in Illinois that at its highest point is not even the equivalent of a beginner run in Mammoth.

Last week I emailed the Western friend who boards at Option 4 and told her what was going on with me. I said I was on a quest to find a trainer. She recommended I contact a gal who had started training at her barn within the last year. In fact, she said that while she was at the barn earlier, she approached the trainer and said, “I have a friend who’d like to meet you and take some lessons.” The trainer said she’d like to meet me too!

So, I’m happy to say that Lauren, the trainer, not only returned my phone calls, but scheduled a lesson with me right away! I got to ride this Wednesday. I have spring break this week so I had a 10 a.m. lesson and rode one of her four horses.

Merlin, a cute bay, is 1/2 Arabian and 1/2 Quarter Horse. I had to ride with a crop which I haven’t done in decades since my last horse never needed the extra encouragement. He’s on the smaller side, so I felt like my legs were going to wrap underneath him, but it was super fun.

There was a little X set up with poles in a diamond configuration. The goal was to go over it in a figure of 8 pattern. How have I never seen this set up before?

At the end of our lesson she said I was a good rider and that it was nice to be able to tell me things and I “got” what she was talking about. She said she teaches a lot of younger riders. Then she asked, “Do you have any questions?”

“When can I ride again?”

So I set up a lesson for the next day. Yes, I rode 2 days in a row. And yes, I am really sore today. But it’s all good!

Yesterday I got to ride Rio, Lauren’s new event horse. She is a chestnut mare with gorgeous strawberry blond mane. I said that women pay big bucks to get their hair to have the layers of color like Rio’s mane. Rio is a Morgan and for some reason I always think of Morgans as really stocky and bay, not sleek and chestnut.

Lauren said Rio is super honest and she will jump anything from any angle. That was reassuring as I hadn’t jumped in years (except for trotting the X the day before with Merlin). I knew if I breathed and steered straight, we’d be good.

We worked on all the normal trot, canter stuff. I have a bad habit of having such “soft hands” that my reins progressively get longer and longer. There were moments of magic followed by moments of complete disorganization.

Rio got me on my first request for a canter departure from a trot and we bounced bounced bounced along for a few strides and I felt like a complete newbie.

“She’s just testing you. She can canter from a walk.”

I got better organized and wrapped my brain around how to pick up a canter, and for the rest of the lesson it was fine. We spiraled in and out of a 20 meter circle at both the trot and canter.

At first I had to confess to her, “You know I’m not really a numbers person and I’m having a hard time envisioning how big 20 meters is.” Not to mention we didn’t really learn the metric system very thoroughly when I was a kid. When she said to think of about the size of a lunging circle, the lightbulb went on in my head.

During this time an older woman on a gorgeous black warmblood rode in the arena. I was aware of her, but concentrating on trying to ride well, and she stayed out of our way.

Rio and I worked on the same figure 8 cross pole exercise that Merlin and I had ridden the day before. I was kind of making the pattern skinnier than necessary, not really riding deep into the corners to get a longer approach to the fence. This was all remedied when Lauren stood over by the rail and said I had to ride around her.

Our grand finale was to complete the pattern again, adding in another jump (a small X) that was at an angle off the rail. I said, “I know where the fence is now, but I might need a reminder so I don’t get lost.” It really shouldn’t be that hard to remember, but my brain is out of practice, just as my riding muscles are.

I’m happy to say I didn’t get lost, but I was supposed to canter the lone angle fence, but instead we took it from a forward trot. Oh well. Next time.

As I pulled Rio up to a walk, the warmblood lady said, “I want to ride like that. I want to work up so we can lesson together.”

Seriously? It was an X.

The warmblood lady and I had a nice conversation. I told her I hadn’t done much riding in recent years as I lost my horse. I told her I might start to cry if I talked about it more and she said, “Honey, I get it. These horses are part of our lives. Don’t feel bad.”

I think that in addition to having a fabulous new trainer, I may have just met my first new barn friend!

We arranged it so that I have a standing lesson appointment at 8 a.m. on Saturdays starting next Saturday. Also, Lauren was just given the green light by Pony Club to start a Pony Club at the barn. Given my passion for ponies and my knack for working with kids, I told her I’d be interested in volunteering, especially during the summer when I’m off school.

I’m happy to say I envision a horse-filled summer!

Thanks for following me on this journey. 🙂

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