In my experience as a student (aka poor person) who worked in trade for horseback riding lessons, I count myself extremely lucky to have helped to break out and ride many different types of horses. Facebook inspired me today because my current profile photo is of me on yet another horse I've only ridden a handful of times, which is how most of my riding experiences work.
We have to start at the beginning. With the super broke, sweetheart of a mare named Aziza Rose. She was a breeding mare at an Arabian barn where I began my riding experiences so after tacking up horses for the trainer all day, I would be released to traipse across the horse facility to the far-reaching broodmare pasture to retrieve Aziza. Keep in mind this is when I was a super novice and had a hard time discerning a bay from a chestnut. Funny enough, Aziza was grey. But if you know anything about Arabians, you know grey is a dominant color. And this band of broodmares lived up to the standard. Challenge number one: identify and halter the correct horse for lesson. Aziza made it a little easier on me as she was flea bitten. So that is what I used as her identifier. Case in point. This mare was a saint. She taught me how to have confidence on a horse while learning all the basics.
I rode my fair share of those amazing horses who will pack someone around and just let that person learn. There was Zenda, Milagro, Genelle, Dancer, Ravage, and so many others that I know I'm forgetting. These horses were saints and their owners were so generous to let this newbie flop around on their horses.
Of all the horses I've ever ridden, Prince Andre was the one who took the biggest piece of my heart. He was the horse who came to Trish with a lot of baggage (don't tell her I told you, but he bucked her off. Trish NEVER EVER gets bucked off, so this is a HUGE deal.) and was suppose to be a horse for a timid rider to ride and show. Needless to say, that didn't work out so well. Trish worked long and extremely hard on this horse to fix his naughty ways and as always, was able to fix him and make him safe for someone else to show. Well, that person was me!
Let's flash back to three months or so after I started working/ riding with Trish. I had always had this crazy dream of showing at Youth Nationals. And for whatever reason, my shy teenage-self piped up one day and told Trish of my goal. Mind you she didn't know me well at that point, so she just sort of laughed and smiled and politely brushed it off. A year or so later, I guess she got to know me better and started to understand my determination as she had arranged for me to lease Andre so I could have a national caliber horse to show at Youth Nationals.
Not only did the experience of preparing and eventually showing at Youth Nationals help me to improve my riding, but man did it teach me how to work towards my goals! I worked at the barn Monday - Friday, after school from 2pm to about 7pm and then would get a lesson (time and weather permitting) on Andre. On the weekends, I worked at Papa Johns from 9am - 9pm to pay for his board, shoeing, show entry fees, hauling and other incidentals. High school was (obviously) different for me. I didn't go to dances, no dates, didn't hang out around the mall, or get into any sort of trouble (minus when I got home late from the barn).
We did make it to Youth Nationals. Andre and I showed in one class and didn't make it past the first cut. But it wasn't from lack of quality, try, or hard work. It was nerves, inexperience, and exhaustion (from not eating because I was so nervous) on my part. As an adult when I reflect back on this time in my life, I start to realize what a special horse Andre was and how seriously patient Trish was with me in exchange for nothing but free labor. But seriously, that jury is still deliberating about how helpful my labor really was.
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