10 Questions for December

Monthly hop from L over at Viva Carlos.

Does your horse need shoes? Yup, all around all year round.  Nothing fancy, but he wears his feet down pretty quickly when he's in full work.

   
What do you think of the barefoot vs shoes debate? Whatever works for your horse.  I wish I could have a barefoot horse, I'd love that, but it's never worked out for me since I tend to go out on rough trails, jump, and put in a lot of miles in the ring.

Favorite season for riding? Definitely fall, New England is so gorgeous in fall and the bugs are gone.  Spring is black fly season and it's terrible, summer is hot and deer flies, winter is freaking cold and icy.

How many shows do you think you’ve gone to? Absolutely no idea.  I've probably shown in over a hundred and groomed/spectated at more.

Do you consider yourself a good rider? I consider myself to be above average.  Keeping in mind that your average rider doesn't compete their horse or jump regularly and certainly doesn't spend a couple years working at a show barn, I'm comfortable saying above average in the overall rider category.  As a show rider?  Average at best.

How experienced do you think someone needs to be to own a horse? More experienced than they are.  I feel at times like I'm not experienced enough and I've been riding since I was five and I'm on my third horse. 

Have you ever gotten into a fight with your trainer? Sure.  Most of the time it's piddly stuff like my horse's food notes not being updated or when I don't get what they're saying and I'm frustrated.  I haven't had a proper yelling match with a trainer in a long time.  It takes a lot to make me snap.  The last one that I clearly remember yelling at was when I found out a trainer was drugging a horse before showing it to a potential buyer.  Left the barn that day.

Describe your dream horse. Big, dark bay gelding, no white legs, gleaming like glass, bouncy trot with natural lift, forward thinking, calm mind, cuddle bug, enjoys showing and trail riding, SOUND.

Does anyone in your family ride? My mom did when she was younger and up until just before she had me.  I technically had my first ride on a horse in utero.  My sister rode when we were teens, but I don't think she's been on a horse since I went to college.  My hubby rides on occasion, but not seriously.

If you could ride any horse in the world, which one would it be? why? VALEGRO.  Because he's gorgeous and looks calm enough to not completely destroy my uneducated ammy butt for making mistakes.  I don't have any illusions that it would go well or that Charlotte would let my uneducated butt anywhere near that horse, but in my dreams, he tolerates me long enough to experience just a bit of what's possible.

Who wouldn't want to sit on that?  If he can cope with thousands of fans on their feet, applauding and yelling, I can hope that he can cope with playing school master for me.