How Rediscovering Horseback Riding Changed My Life
As a rather passionate and iconoclastic person, life has not been easy for me. Somehow, while there is an entire world of writers, philosophers, free thinkers, etc., out there, molding and shaking the world, I somehow have managed to travel in circles where people seem to think that discussing their food is genuine and topical conversation. I tried joining Mensa, only to find it filled with wannabees. I tried chat rooms, only to find them replete with lame non-sequiturs. So, most of my friends are writers I’ll never meet, but in whose intellectually inspiring thoughts I have found some solace. Pretty sad stuff, wouldn’t you say? Well, I’d like to think that my life has been given meaning again.
In the summer of 2005, I drove over to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center to inquire about riding lessons. I had ridden off and on as a kid and a teenager, my first riding taking place in 1963 when I was 5 years old. My parents had taken me on a vacation on Long Island, New York, and we rode horses every single day for four days, and, on the fourth day, we rode twice! Clearly I was mesmerized because as soon as I got the chance, I began taking riding lessons when I was 9, just after we had moved to Orange County, California. (It was 1967 and my parents bought a 3 bedroom house with a huge backyard for $25,000! Can you imagine?) Anyway, I started with a 2 week package of lessons and of course, I was bitten by the horsebug again. The stable was a quick bicycle ride from our house, so I just kept riding.
In my teens, I did a lot of jumping and some showing and, while in college, bought a horse who ultimately made the trek to Chicago, Illinois and back with me, as I attempted to settle into a career as an Art Director. By the age of 27, after one more attempt at riding and showing, I gave it up for good as I settled into a life of financial struggle.
Sure, I had some respites from the struggle with generous boyfriends paying the bill, but, the compromise was that we pursued “his” passions. Automotive sports, skiing (Which I loved!) and more automotive sports. Horses became part of my past. Every time I would see Grand Prix Jumping on ESPN, I would watch, swallow hard that something I loved so much was simply out of my grasp and switch channels.
Well, after signing off of boyfriends in my early 40’s and settling into attempting to build a marketing business, things finally turned around financially for me. At the age of 48, I finally found myself with a couple bucks in the bank, a business that was stressful beyond belief and a bout of boredom that I knew I couldn’t endure much longer. Hence, the trek to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.
I was overwhelmed at the time at how much more expensive things were. Sure, it had been 20 years since I’d ridden, but, $75.00 per lesson! $1,700.00 for a new saddle! And, the kicker was when one of the trainers told me a decent showhorse now cost at least $70,000! No way, I thought. I didn’t scrape together a couple of nickels so I could again become impoverished. So, I went home and continued to be scalded alive by my tempestuous and relentless clients and bored to death by my predictable life.
In January of 2006, I decided that I had to get out of the house, no matter what. I marched back down to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, left inquiries with every hunter/jumper barn down there. (Barn in this context refers to a trainer and their clients. The Los Angeles Equestrian Center is the home of roughly 10-15 trainers from a variety of disciplines.) About a week later, I got a call from two of the barns and began taking lessons again within the week.
It’s been 18 months since I started riding again, and, while the journey has been somewhat troubled, it has been more than worth it! I finally found a trainer I really like, purchased a fairly good horse at a reasonable price and the barn is 15 minutes from my house when the traffic is light. Bottom line, when I go to the barn, I usually have fairly meaningful conversations! Virtually everyone at this newest barn rides either hunter/jumpers or dressage. Hunters is when you jump over relatively low fences and try to create a pretty picture. Jumpers is when you jump over bigger fences, with jumping clear and fast as the main objective. Dressage involves no jumping but is somewhat like gymnastics or ballet with a horse. All these disciplines require tremendous commitment, courage and consistency to master. (Though true horse people know they can never truly master a discipline. You can only ever get close.)
So, the people who are drawn to riding, tend to be fairly introspective. And, given the cost of the sport, fairly well educated, yet friendly and kind. You can strike up a conversation with virtually any horse person, virtually anywhere and have a meaningful exchange. Also, when you are training with someone, you have, in essence, a working relationship with them. And, that is where I find most of the meaningful contact with others in my life. By working with them. By finding a common goal and focus.
Apparently, my return to riding as an aging baby boomer is not unique. Many girls who gave up riding in their 20’s have come to much the same conclusion that I have. That now that they’ve seen what having a family, a husband, a career really means in terms of personal satisfaction, that horses and the riding life give you something that you will just never find anywhere else. It’s anti-tech, anti-trendy, anti-fad and, with the right trainers, anti-B.S. It’s a life-style where you can again feel that life is full of hope and yet peppered with sufficient challenge to keep you on your toes. Where the rush from riding over a series of jumps, fairly well, is without compare. And, there’s nothing to replace the feeling when your horse sees you coming and starts whinnying and getting all bug eyed. Or, when he gallops across a pasture to get the apples you’ve brought him. That such a large creature can be so trusting and so loving and yet so potentially deadly is somehow more magical than ever, now. And, to be able to genuinely appreciate the gift that is horses and riding, given a lifetime’s experience as reference, makes it all the more precious.
Barbara Israel is a marketing professional who has been designing ads and writing advertising and PR copy for 30 years. She has worked on accounts ranging from Xerox, Church’s Chicken and Brach’s Candy to the Lucky Lady Casinos, JDS Uniphase and Allied Mortgage. She currently owns a marketing company and has just launched an equestrian search engine called http://www.Equilink.com Her horse’s “barn name,” is Cooper and he’s a 15 year old Thoroughbred babysitter who Barbara is relearning how to ride “Hunters,” on.
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