This is the first of many articles to come about the world of horses and fox trotters from my viewpoint. I thought it would be important that you meet me and understand the floundering data base from which I operate. Firstly, I’m classified as a beginning adult rider.

 I raised Shetland ponies in my youth, branched up to a large pony and did all the small town horse show speed events—poles and barrels and pleasure classes. After I outgrew my large pony, I had an American Saddlebred and I only competed in western and English pleasure in the small town horse shows. My life with horses stopped at age 18 when I went away to college. I had given up on ever getting back into horses when suddenly my husband and I lost our minds, sold the house on which the mortgage was but 3 years from being paid off and bought several acres and a house in the country. We are now soundly saddled in debt and loving every minute. Naturally, the 1^st thing I thought about was… HORSE! I’ve had a 35 year gap.

What kind of horse? I dislike the quarter horse pleasure class with dead looking things, noses dragging on ground, but quarter horses could be fun in other areas. I loved my beautiful heads-up American Saddlebred, but I didn’t have much fun just being in pleasure saddle classes. I remember how high spirited she was too! Scary, now! I loved those racing events-pole bending and barrel racing in my youth.

I attended the American Royal Symphony of Champions and I saw my horse! I was seated by a complete stranger who was chatting with me throughout the show.  In danced the gorgeous fox trotters with their smooth gait and their long flowing manes and tails. I sat up. The stranger knew lots about Missouri Fox Trotters and told me about their start and history…cow chasing, rocky hill climbing, smooth riding. “Self,” I said, “There is my horse! They are beautiful like my Saddlebred, fun like my quarter-horse type large pony. I’m old now, and if I go incontinent, the smooth gait will prevent me from having to wear diapers when I ride.”

That’s how I made the decision to get Missouri Fox Trotters as my horse. I knew no one who had fox trotters and the Internet wasn’t even in my vocabulary yet. That was 1996.

Everyone I knew who had horses told me to buy older horses. Ha! I knew better than that. Didn’t I show as a youth? Didn’t I have a wonderful trainer and I remembered lots of stuff. I would be bored with someone else’s trained horse. Nope, I love to train horses and I want to start my own. No one else’s problems or boring old horse for me! Besides, I saw a John Lyons look-a-like start a two year old in a round pen, and he was riding that horse in 3 hours. I paid a lot of attention plus I rented the video and watched it 2 more times. (My husband was the only person who supported my decision. He knew less about horses than I did!)

I picked my two year old Sage because of her color, and my yearling Velvet, because she was black and had a beautiful head, out of  herds of Missouri Fox Trotters owned by Robert Lewis, Butler, Missouri. Bob delivered them, and I proceeded to start the Round Pen Reasoning. What a horse Sage is. Instead of the 3 hours, it took me 3 weeks before she stopped running away because of noises, flapping, touching.

My husband happened to be in the round pen with me when I 1^st put the saddle on Sage. Right in front of our eyes, she turned into a rodeo bucking horse. She exploded. The frightened spouse and the bucking monster both took off running around the round pen. I had to scream at the spouse to get into the center where it was safe. He didn’t know the rule about center being time out and the fence being the run-around part. That was a 3 wine  bottle event!

The round pen with Sage was a great experience until I mounted. That was a wine-bottle event. We just stood there wondering what to do, until I reached up to adjust her bridle strap, and in the spouse’s words, “Sage spun around 3 times, but Susan only made 2 trips!” That’s when I discovered that I was old, fragile and could easily be killed! Hitting the ground was not in the plan. Whose bright idea was it to buy young horses?!

We decided that the answer would be to find someone “young and dumb”…enough to ride a two year old. I had Sage ready to be delivered to 3 different trainers in the area. I canceled her out from all 3 as my instinct (at the last minute) said, no ..can’t trust them with my precious partner.

I stumbled into a clinic that was held near my house and that’s when I discovered Parelli Natural Horsemanship, which saved my life. My horses and I have both been “started” by Jenny Vaught. I recovered from a terrifying year of horse fear. I have learned far more than I ever dreamed, and I have the two safest horses in the world to ride.

I’m a member of the Kansas City Regional Fox Trotter Horse Association and MFTHBA.

I’m a bit of an odd duck. My Parelli equipment looks real weird. I have different ways of thinking and doing. I’m shocked when people actually come up and talk to me! I quest for answers in all the horse philosophy worlds. I’ve agonized over the gaiting of these two horses. Sage turned into a pacer and it’s taken a lot of time and agonized thinking on my part, but she’s turned into a running walk horse. Velvet is a “trotty” horse, but is actually fox trotting after spending a summer in professional training with Jennifer Vaught.

I haven’t yet decided what I really like to do in the horse world other than train. I’ve decided that I love trail riding and rode in two Competitive Trail Rides. I also just recently stumbled across a Doctor Buggy, fell in love with it and bought it. Sage is just finishing her professional training as a “buggy horse” and I perch on the edge of joining a carriage club. I attend and ride in clinics and take volumes of notes when I audit.

I’m over 50, overweight, dieting, and excitedly living my second adulthood. I’m a spoiled red-headed only-child. I have a tiny bit of disposable income which I just pour into horse stuff. I’ve wrecked our new pickup truck twice all by myself… this year…no other vehicles involved. ..just me and the trailer.

This is the start of SUSAN’S VIEWPOINT in the horse world with my beloved fox trotters. I’ll be reporting clinic events, carriage driving and trail riding. I’ll be agonizing over the gaits. I’ll be talking about versatility events. Join me!

“Showtime”, I thought as I lurched out of bed and listened to the rain.  I thought about the mud on those two glistening horse  bodies after yesterday’s full body makeovers, nails done, expensive hairdo’s.  I’m talking baths, scrubbing, rubbing, drying, clipping, sheening, and attempted braiding of manes and tails.  Both Velvet and Sage were lovely;  I was broken, old, sore-footed, wet, dirty and hairy. This is my first show as an adult.  My last horse show was 33 years ago.  I am called a beginning adult rider. Hang on for the day!

I went out to pasture this lovely morning and the horses were barely wet with no mud.  Whew!  Thank you up above!  After breakfast, my husband’s friend came over to play guy machine stuff.  I was nervous about getting those fox trotter ribbons in Sage and Velvet’s mane and forelock.  I asked John, who is a team roper, if he could braid my horse’s hair.  AHAHHHAAAA!  John and my husband broke up over that.  Braiding is not a manly team roping thing. As they were spitting up with laughter, I promptly broke into sobbing sobs.  These were outloud sobbing sobs!  All three of us were shocked!  “Hmmm, we all thought, Susan is hysterical!  Let’s do calming words and thoughts and get her out of here!”

I got the horses into the trailer and drove the 10 miles alternating with tears and deep breathing.  What causes a calm, relaxed, don’t-worry-till-it-happens person to experience such frightful feelings? This show stuff is hanging yourself out, with no defense, for strangers to judge in an area where you are so inferior that you have to reach up to lick people’s toes. Fox Trotter Horse Show!!

The week before the show I was hysterical because I had never touched clippers and last braided anything 33 years ago.  I didn’t want my horses to be pitied because I didn’t know how to make their fuzzy winter bodies into sleek summer splendor. Thank goodness a friend volunteered to help so “my girls” were truly beautiful!

I belong to the Kansas City Regional Missouri Fox Trotter Horse Breed Association. Two years ago my husband and I lost our minds and moved from our city home to a country home and I was finally to own a horse again before death took me.  Why did I choose fox trotters?  I love their heads-up beauty, their flowing manes and tails, and the practical reason that they are so smooth I will never have to wear adult diapers when riding!

Against all the advice of the practical horse people in the world, I bought two young horses. The adventures and rear that I lived through for the last two years to arrive at this point is a separate story.  I hire out as a motivational speaker.  Just ask me!

This is the 2^nd annual horse show and seminar that the club has put on – purely for my benefit. The seminar teaches us about biting, training, and gaits. The horse show is for riders new to showing can have some experience before we get thrown out with the wolves. This is not to say that all the Missouri Fox Trotter World Grand Champions in our arena do not participate.  They participate too as a warm up for the show season just around the corner.  Plus, they help us “newbies”. This year the association president, Tom Owens, was the speaker and judge.  I laughed at all his jokes, but it didn’t do any good in the show ring. Drat.  He judged the horses on their performance rather than who laughed the most at his jokes.

My first hint of something going wrong was when the registration person said, “
Eight Classes?  You want to sign up for eight classes!”  I looked on the show bill again and counted.  Yep, there were eight classes for me to ride in with Sage and Velvet.  It was also then that I discovered that the show started at 1:30 rather than 2:00 and I barely had time to saddle both horses, stab their ribbons on and get into the arena to warm up Sage, my fun events horse.  I was back stabbing the ribbon into Sage’s mane when another rider asked if the trail class allowed you to wear ribbons. Whoops!  I looked at the rules and saw that it said, No Ribbons!  I frantically sawed the ribbons out of Sage’s mane and arrived at the gate to see the gate man frantically trying to find me.  My number had been called several times.  I was the next to last horse to perform in the trail class. When I came out, I leaped off Sage and traded her for Velvet, my “show horse”. The next class was starting and Velvet’s newly borrowed show bridle hung for the saddle horn instead of her head where I put it.  My husband had arrived to take care of my horses for me.  He said, “Velvet hates her bit.  Her borrowed bridle is too long and I can’t control her!”  Husband is also new to horses and Velvet went hysterical when I took Sage away. Good GAD!

I was trying to get the bridle on Velvet, the hysterical horse when the trail class riders and horses were called into the arena and line up!  HUH! Sage and my husband had dropped out of sight.  I had a hysterical horse.  The brave gate keeper volunteered to hold my horse.

Susan, the new show horse person, cantered into the arena.  I hoped people wouldn’t notice that I wasn’t riding a horse.  They did notice as there was a pregnant silence.  The announcer was finally able to recover and made a quip about a funny lookin’ two legged horse in the arena. I lined up in the middle with the other horses and hoped my number would be called.  It was!  I got reserve!  To thunderous applause, I cantered over to the ribbon girl and got my red beauty ribbon!  I cantered out. Thank goodness I didn’t win first or I would have had to canter a victory lap.  Whew!!!

I scratched the bridleless horse from the first class and went out to do some calming ground work.  I hoped I might be able to get the bridle on before my next class of seven!  The classes that Sage and Velvet were in alternated and the trailer was parked blocks away.  I had planned to have different outfit for the fun events and the fox trotting events, so I compromised with jeans and shiny silky jacket and teddy.  No pictures were taken of me.  Drat

Sage, the fun events horse, has turned into the bravest horse ever. She was a formidable competitor with her trick bag of sidepassing, backing and tight fore and hindquarter turns.  We had a blue tarp in the trail class and she just sailed over that. She sniggered at walking over the logs – come on give me a challenge!  She sidepassed to the mailbox and waited patiently for me to get my letter in and out.  She floated between two staked flags and won 2^nd in the class.  Our first show ring experience!

The egg and spoon was lost when I believed the announcer who jokingly said, CANTER.  That lost me the egg.  No one else cantered.  I’m still bitter.

We had a water relay where two riders had to work together.  One had to dip water out of a bucket with plastic glass and then pour the water in the partner’s plastic glass who then had to empty his glass contents in the bucket. Then we had to bring the bucket to the judge’s helper. We won!

We had musical feed sacks. When the music stopped a horse had to get one foot on a feed bag. There was one less bag than horses. Sage was yelled at, threatened with ramming but managed to STOMP on her sack.  “Don’t try messing with the boss Mare!”  We lost when we were too far from a feed sack. The other horses beat us and were standing on the feed sack when we got there.  I told Sage that we weren’t allowed to knock them off the sack and we left the arena!

The husband loved Sage that day.  He held her ribbons.  He wore them on his overalls and stuck out his chest more as the day went by. Sage became “his horse” on this day.

Velvet, the former “sweet” horse now turned “spirited”, electrified the crowd with her beauty and fire.  Our performance at the gaits was not to be discussed. We did move quickly around the arena when asked to go into the faster gait.  It appears that Velvet and I must get out more into the real world.

When the show mercifully ended, I was so grateful to Ronald Howe, the wonderful gate man who helped me get on my horse, held the classes open until I could get into the arena and tried to calm me down. My thanks to Ralph and Sue McGarry who gave me advice and also helped to calm me down before entering the arena. Thanks to Paula Crump who gave me some training tips after the show was over, even though she worked harder than all the show horses and was dead tired. Thanks to Nancy McConnell who loaned me the show bridle. Thanks to Gail Osbourn who fed me and wasn’t afraid to hold the spirited Velvet. Thanks to all who helped a beginning adult rider survive her first show.

Thanks to my great husband, Terry.  He approached the announcer and told him it was my first show. He did this while I was in the arena waiting for the next class to start.  Terry also mentioned that these were young horses.  I bet that announcer was just amazed to learn all this, but he dutifully reported it to the crowd.  So I had to ride around the arena and wave at everyone which I did with a big grin on my face with the Queen Elizabeth wave.  Thank goodness, I was riding Sage.  I told Sage to canter, but she wanted to hard trot instead.  Oh, the crowd was nice to me and clapped.

Lordy, what a day….