Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Title: Re: [RC]   How did you get started?

Well, I wasn’t going to rear my curly little head again, but as it seems that so far, I set the thread record for least and latest history with horses, I’ll share in hopes of encouraging other late bloomers.

I started riding English/dressage 3 years 7 mos 2 weeks 4 days and 8 minutes ago, at the age of 52. After being laid off from a high tech health company in the Silicon Valley dotcom bust, it was time to finally follow my heart. 

At the ranch, I anguished over seeing 8 year olds cantering bare-nekkid-back when I was struggling to walk in a saddle. So I tried to make up for 50 years of no equines by doing everything with horses: volunteering for hippotherapy and therapeutic riding, helping with the 60 lesson horses and 200 private horses, going to clinics and a cattle drive, watching tons of other people’s lessons, hanging around vets & sick horses, reading everything I could get my hands on, esp stuff written for kids (Pony Club manuals are the best!) and getting certified in equine-assisted psychology and equine experiential learning. Oh, and hours and hours and hours on the web.
    I keep a diary/database that shows that I’ve ridden 57 horses and learned 254 by name, half of which I’ve related to physically in ways that didn’t involve riding. 

As a former solo multiday backpacker, and with not really the years, patience, or physical resilience to do 3-day eventing (you guys rock!), I was drawn to the trails and back country and to looooooong rides. I learned about endurance from a speaker at a Parelli group, was told to get into it by volunteering for rides, and did so for several in 2004 (This seems to be a MUST for anyone wanting to do endurance—be a vet scribe, P&R person, in/out timer—anything! ). In fact, my first experience was Nick Warhol’s Oakland Hills Ride, where Julie Suhr was the main speaker at the ride meeting. What an inspiration!

As a vet sec at Desert Gold 2004, I encountered a rather unusual rider whose entourage of people and horses impressed me enormously. A couple of months later, I got in touch with this person asking if I could crew for them and—dare I ask?--even ride w/ them. These people became mentors to me and I keep their Tevis picture on my dashboard for courage and inspiration. I crewed for them at Tevis and, terrified, I drove up North to do my first conditioning ride with them last May. 
    Several months and great rides later, knowing I’m not getting any younger, and trying both to make up for lost time and to live on some borrowed time, I nudged my mentor into taking me thru my first 50 at this year’s Desert Gold. What a gift and a great experience!!


Beverley

http://www.horsensei.com