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| My riding career started when I was old enough to shimmy up the leg of the neighbor's donkeys. Anything that had four legs was fair game for a wild ride across the pasture. My parents, who were not horse people at all, encouraged my pastime as long as I took care of the horse I had. From keeping my first horse in the chicken coop to finally having a barn to put my third horse in, I developed my riding skill by trial and error without the aid of a saddle. In fact, I never owned my own saddle until I was 15. |
When I was old enough, my parents helped me get into 4-H where I learned basic riding skills as well as how to jump ponies off a bridge into a creek and my very first chance to drive a horse. I'll always remember my 4-H leader's handsome Hackney pony stallion and his high stepping gate and being impressed by his awards and ribbons that covered an entire wall in his owner's living room. I never did take any actual riding lessons until after I was married. I wanted to ride English and jump. My previous attempts were ugly at best and down right scary at worst. I took lessons from a young woman named Connie Tuor who started the long road to correcting my many bad habits. |
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| Over the next 15 years I rode with Connie and did Hunters and Jumpers as well as started Eventing, which meant I had to do dressage. |
| During that same time I was still involved with the 4-H program as a leader. Those eight years helped me learn the skills of teaching that I still use today. When I was young in the 4-H in Yakima, where I was born, I attended a horse camp designed to teach the members of the 4-H program riding skills. I liked that idea and started a camp in the Skamania County 4-H that is still going on today, though not exactly the way I did it. |
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My husband and I had once been outriders for a wagon train trip to Dufer Oregon and I was fascinated with driving. I played with it off and on with some farm machinery and pony carts, but didn't really get into it until I purchased a pony named Joker. |
| I had a cart and purchased a harness and took the former owner's word that the pony was suppose to be trained to drive. That was my first exposure to the wide interpretation of 'trained to drive'. However, Joker has been one of my original teachers of the art of driving and has given me the opportunity to experiment with pairs and tandem turnouts. |
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Because I had a history of riding dressage and doing the faster, exciting eventing, it was a small step to Combined Driving. At my very first event I eliminated when I tried to memorize the cones course like I had jump courses from the sidelines and missed a gate. Lesson one; always walk your course because it is way bigger than a jump course. One of my clients and friend named Wanda Walker became interested in the driving and we decided to train her Arab gelding, Copper, to drive. He was my next teacher in how to smooth talk a tense horse into doing the dressage and how to control a horse that was willing to gallop through the hazards. |
| Now, almost ten years later I am helping others to develop their driving skills as well as still teaching riding and jumping. Hopefully, I will be able to continue to share my love for horses and the safest, correct way to enjoy them with my students. |
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