 |
Re: [RC] My recruitment - Mike LewisMy 3rd cousin, Suzie Anderson, recruited me. I was just out of college and Air Force ROTC and had been stationed at Robins AFB near her in early 1997. I started taking horseback riding lessons from Suzie, as I had ridden off and on for the first 20-something years of my life. I rode on of her quarter horse ponies (Prince, God rest his soul) at Oconee WMA in February of '98. I was hooked! I bought Imperial Nafal in April of that year. He was 17, and needed work, then had a major hoof injury that rotted most of the tissue in his right/front hoof. I received orders to Cannon AFB, NM later that month. Shipped Nafal that summer after he had a chance to recover from major hoof surgery, and gradually got him in shape by riding per veterinarian's instructions. I entered him in a ride in Santa Fe, NM in '99 that shared part of the national championship qualifying course... had to pull him due to muscle issues. Did several rides in NM before getting orders to Korea. After Korea, rode him in SE region races as I was again serving at Robins AFB. He had a fairly successful career for an old guy, including a BC at Far Out Forest at 22 years old. He is retired now. Anyway... I am totally hooked on this sport and want to go as far as I can with it... unfortunately have work and family issues to deal with, and then there's always the money issue. Recently bought a mare who is capable of getting me out of the LD rut I've been in for 10 years, and eventually hope to do some international competitions overseas, but not sure that's possible since I have an employer to deal with and limited funds. I will definitely be passing this sport to my children, though, as it is TOTALLY worthwhile. Best people I have ever met, best experiences with horses I have ever had, and totally rewarding... even if I'm not quite where I want to be in the grand scheme of things. I will say that the bond I shared with Nafal in particular was amazing. Even for his advanced age he performed 110% for me and wanted more. At the peak of his performance, shortly after I returned from Korea, he knew everything I wanted him to do--it was almost as though he had ESP. THAT kind of bond is why I do this sport. I can only hope that Molly and I will develop that kind of tie. Mike --- Lynne Glazer <lynne@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: My college roommate from Idaho recruited me, years later when she'd been doing LD on her QH-Arab Palomino. She tended to be the turtle even then, though she's done 2500 or so of 50s since. I was also hooked on my first ride, despite heat exhaustion from not knowing I should be drinking in 105 degree weather, while RIDING. <d'oh> My first piece of endurance tack was a simple Griffins water bottle holder the collapsible one with the rawhide ties (i still use that on on my bareback pad!) It was a present from my friend. My horses were too old (in 20s) and too young (2), so I went to Idaho to ride on borrowed (Morris) horses. Started reading RC very early, and compiled a "Best of Ridecamp" binder of the "good stuff" in 9 categories, 3" thick, that I loaned out to my recruits, and sent a copy to Steph and John. Once my critter was old enough, I had a few people at my barn who were enthusiastically training too. I didn't own a truck or trailer, that was a limiting factor. After some frustration with a used truck and bumper pull, I bought a diesel as a daily use vehicle and have been driving one ever since, and bought a used 4h gooseneck trailer so that my friends could come along--it was fun talking about those days recently at a remodeling/warming party one of them had. I still have that trailer, one of the old good Sundowners. I still have that binder, and the "save as text" source somewhere-- with sections on feeds/feeding, tack, etc. but most important were the humor and inspiration sections. That's where Julie Suhr's stories went, and Angie's of course. Pam bought me a subscription to Trail Blazer which had subscription fulfillment troubles even back then, which is where I read (and saved) Angie's sponge story. Then of course there were the ride management years, where part of that was helping new riders be more prepared for my events. Lots of phone support and some railing at the general membership meetings at convention about how we needed to better mentor new riders. Was part of the mentor list that Steph started. I never overtrained, but my mare and I did have our share of injuries to work through, which delayed our getting there and consistency. She of course suffered the Great Saddle Hunt (5 saddles) and my ignorance of long toe low heel (is THAT why she always needed trimming by 5 weeks? I though she just grew a lot of foot. <sigh>) Lynne dryest SoCal ever http://www.photo.lynnesite.com http://www.photo.lynnesite.com On Mar 30, 2007, at 7:04 PM, rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:There was absolutely no doubt I was totally, completely hooked from the first ride. So, my lineage was that I was recruited by my App/mule riding friend, who was recruited by the Arab riding endurance rider who had spotted her reading a horse magazine at their elementary school's car pickup line and recruited her. Those guys had the old Linda & Wentworth Tellington-Jones book that they lived by and loaned it to me along with some early 80's yearbooks. When I started recruiting people I photocopied every article out of 10 years worth of Equus that mentioned endurance & training and we loaned the big brown envelope full of them to every new rider we brought in and we watched Darolyn's Farnum endurance/ct tape. I listened to Matthew Mackay Smith's lecture over and over. The main image I remember is the coathanger. If you bend it over and over in the same place, it eventually breaks. That was what kept happening to me. Too much stress...not enough time to heal. I train so much less now to go so much farther. Angie=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|