The day I found my legs

The day I found my legs was also the day that I nearly broke my neck. Before I get into that let me give you a bit of background.

In one of my first lessons at Churchill Chimes, I had the privilege of riding a black and white paint horse named Simon. At the time, Simon was a bit chunky and so he was on the "Jenny Craig" horse program at the barn. He was in a paddock where all of the chunky horses were staying. Tessa was in this paddock as well but I didn't know it at the time. These horses were fed hay and no grain for a month to help them lose weight and during meal times, they were left outside to watch longingly as the horses in the next paddock went into the barn to have their breakfast or dinner of sweet grain.

My lesson was at 9am on a Saturday morning. At 8:30am (around breakfast time), the barn hand took me to the paddock, which was a bit of a walk from the school barn, to get Simon. Simon, convinced that he was finally going to have breakfast, came barreling towards the gate to meet us. This was the second fastest that I have ever seen Simon move during my short time at Churchill Chimes but I get ahead of myself. We opened the gate, I put the lead on his halter, and off we went to the barn.

This was a stormy March day and the wind was blowing really hard. I made it through the boarder barn and into the school barn when suddenly the wind picked up and shook the whole building. Simon nearly lost his mind. I managed to get him through the narrow passage to the open area but once there, Simon calmed down and proceeded to drag me to his stall so that he could have breakfast. Of course, there was no breakfast. Poor horse looked a little forlorn as I walked him out of his stall and tied him up to groom him.

At 9am, we made our way to the riding arena. Because I had seen him gallop to the gate, I had high hopes that he would be a fun ride. My high hopes were crushed when he barely kept a trot for me. Cantering was even worse.

Fast forward a couple of months and I was at the barn with my family for the Family Free ride. My mother, father, father in law, and husband were all at the barn to check it out. My mother and husband had agreed to try riding. My husband was assigned to Candy and my mother was assigned to Simon.

Candy was already in a lesson so we only had to tack up Simon. Despite the pictures and the horse petting, we groomed him and tacked him up in good time. By the time we were ready, the lesson was still in progress in the arena and so we waited outside and took pictures with Simon. All in all, we were having a great time with him.

In the arena, I helped my mother walk Simon around while one of my riding friends helped my husband with Candy. When it came time to get on their horses. My mother full on chickened out! Well she did get on Simon but then quickly got off of Simon. Since Simon was all tacked up and ready to go, the barn owner said that I could ride him. I took my mom's helmet and got on to ride.

It had been two months since I'd last ridden Simon and it was as if I had a new set of legs. These legs squeezed and actually squished him. While I felt a little bad for squishing him, he was responding to everything I asked him to do and that was great! I couldn't believe the change that had happened in just 2 months! These legs made him walk around the arena at a good pace and then when the coach said to trot, they made him trot without argument. He didn't even try to quit trotting either! After a couple of circles of trotting, the coach told me to drop my stirrups and trot around the ring stirrupless. So I dropped my stirrups. I was feeling pretty confident and Simon did have a nice smooth trot.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the sky opened up and let fall a fury of rain drops onto the arena roof. Well Simon took off like a bullet from a shotgun. In case you were curious, this is the fastest that I have ever seen Simon move. Anyhow, here I was on a horse at his full gallop with no stirrups!! I made it 50 feet before bailing and landing on my shoulders and neck. I was lucky not to have broken anything but my neck did suffer from whiplash and I suffered a very painful week. To this day, my mother believes that divine intervention made her get off of Simon and put her 'experienced' daughter on him instead.

While I could dwell on the fact that I nearly broke my neck that day or that it was incredibly embarrassing to fall off of a horse in a beginner lesson, I prefer to dwell on the fact that this was the day that my riding legs came back to me.

Introducing Tessa

Very quickly, I realized that riding once a week was not going to be enough so I signed up for 2 lessons a week. By the 2nd month of riding, I decided I wanted to part-board a horse for the summer.

I really liked Duchess, Whim, Koby, Cayenne, and Sasha. To be honest, I liked every single one of the horses that I tried. It was really hard to choose. The barn owner was a true believer that you need to find the 'one' before you decide and I took this to heart.

One lesson in early May while I was riding Candy, I looked over at the other rider in the lesson and she was riding a very pretty chestnut horse that I hadn't seen before. Her name was Tessa. The coach was explaining to the rider that Tessa was on the obese side and that she was one of her laziest horses. The rider seemed to have her number though as she prettily trotted around the ring. While I thought she was a beautiful horse, I was a little worried about the lazy horse comment so I disqualified her from my search before I even tried her.

About a month later, the coach asked me to ride Tessa since she needed the workout. I went back to the barn a little worried. I really didn't know what to expect and I was worried that she would embarrass me in the lesson by not cooperating. With reserve, I found her in the paddock and proceeded to try to bring her into the barn. She didn't move. I tried again. Nothing. I tried changing directions. I tried talking to her. Still nothing. Finally, I remembered watching another rider with a stuck horse threaten them with the lead rope. With a heavy heart, I tried it. I barely touched her but it worked and finally she walked on.

Once in the barn, she was a breeze! To be honest, she barely needed to be groomed. I discovered later that she rarely rolls around in the paddock. She helped me lift her hooves off the ground for hoof picking. She stood very still while I brushed her. She liked to sniff the brushes before I groomed her with them. Putting the saddle on her was easy. Tightening her girth was easy. My impression of her was quickly changing.

After putting her bridle on, I took her out to the riding ring. The coach had me take a bigger crop for the lesson. She explained that while she suggests that her riders coddle most of her horses to get them to work well in the lesson, Tessa needed a person that takes control with some force. I really don't like to use crops but I did what I was told to do. Luckily, it worked and Tessa was great in the lesson! Jumping was a bit rough but timing is an issue with me.

At the end of the lesson, I was telling people how much fun I'd had with her. I was surprised! She had nice movement and she really wasn't as hard headed as I was led to believe.


In the next lesson, Tessa was assigned to me again. This time, I used a normal sized crop and I barely used it. She did what I asked of her for the most part and we had fun! I was sold. This was the horse that I wanted to part-board. Only one snag, her owner rode her on Wednesdays so I could only ride her 2 days of the week. I decided to ride Duchess on my third day of the week. I had my 2 favourite horses to ride every week. I was so excited for July to begin!

New Beginnings

One Sunday in March, I was sitting on my couch watching TV. As I sat there, I kept thinking that there must be more to life than this. There must be something more I can do with my time.

Up to this moment all I had been doing with myself was waking up, going to work, working, coming home, maybe hitting a yoga class but maybe not, and watching TV. Outside of Yoga, I was leading a pretty sad life.

There I was on the couch, thinking and on the verge of a life changing decision. I can't remember how this thought entered my mind but suddenly I was thinking about how great it was to ride a horse. How beautiful horses were. How much fun I had as a teenager at the barn. I HAD to grasp onto the small feeling of happiness that I felt with these simple thoughts.

I turned to my husband and said, "I'd like to try horseback riding, again." These words combined with the act of phoning a barn in North Markham sealed my fate. I was going to ride again!

In addition to the barn in North Markham, I also found two barns in Stouffville to try out. Each barn was very different from the other. At the first barn, I rode Dodge, an elderly grey horse. Dodge was a great horse for a returning rider. He cantered with very little ask. He maintained his trot without much convincing. I really enjoyed him. The lesson though was too much of a beginner lesson for me and there weren't enough options in the week to take other lessons.

The next day, I went for a ride at the second barn I had on my list to try. Not the best idea to ride 2 days in a row since my body was tired from riding the night before. I did like the level of instruction at this barn. The coach gave me ideas for things to improve but did not overwhelm me with things to improve. Also the atmosphere was very friendly and there were a large number of lesson options. At this barn, I rode a white horse named Gwen. Unlike Dodge, Gwen made me work for every movement. I had a difficult time trying to get her to canter. She eventually cantered but not for long. At the end of the lesson, I was extremely exhausted. I did want to come back and try another lesson though so I signed up to come back the next Friday.

The last barn I tried was a very fancy barn. There were a few lesson options that worked in my schedule and I really liked the facilities. Here, I rode Duncan. Duncan was a handsome bay gelding who pretty much did what I wanted him to do despite my weak muscles. The coach at this barn gave me a tonne of instruction. It was hard to follow everything she said but I tried. At the end of the lesson, I signed up for another class.

After a few weeks of trying out the 2nd and 3rd barns, I decided on the second barn, Churchill Chimes. I liked the community feel, the more laid back instruction, the coach's stories about each of her horses, and most importantly, I loved the horses!