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Member Spotlight December 2008 Member Spotlight - country_girl
Name: Jessica S.
Location: Kansas
What's your day job? Freelance Word Specialist (Writer) & he-he
How did you first find horses' or did they find you?
Well, when I was younger, I had this amazingly gorgeous Clydesdale trot up to me and whinny out, "Hey, Baby, do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?" Ha-ha. Okay, so that's not exactly how it happened.
As a little girl, I was always fascinated with horses (to the point my dad would actually pull over on the side of the road if we saw one, just so I could stop and stare at it more easily). I also had an uncle who was involved in a lot of community activities with his farm animals, one of which was a Clydesdale. Well, once my family discovered my obsession with horses, this uncle brought me to meet his Clydesdale, and she and I quickly bonded. When the next St. Patrick's day parade came up, my uncle let me ride her through the parade all by myself. Granted, I was about five, and "all by myself" at that time just meant sitting in the saddle alone, allowed to hold the reins, with my uncle down in front actually leading the horse.
Then, that year for my birthday, my uncle gave me Star (not to be confused with my later horse Stardust), a registered three year-old Paint filly, along with Dutchess, an old Shetland Pony. This would have been a great gift for someone a little older, but since I was only five or six, no matter how much desire I had to do so, there was no way I was going to be able to manage these horses by myself. Unfortunately, my parents were not horse-people, and while they tried to be for my sake, it was only a matter of time before they ended up selling Star and Dutchess. As you can imagine, I was absolutely devastated, but my parents told me I was remarkably understanding for my age.
At this point, I had all but given up on ever actually owning my own horse again. So, I pacified myself with subscriptions to Horse Illustrated for the next few years.
Then, when I was in eighth grade, my mom discovered that one of the women she worked with actually gave horse lessons. So, for a birthday gift, my parents paid for me to go to one of these lessons. While there, the instructor paired me up with a 16.2HH horse named Leah. Sadly, I can still remember how Leah smelled.
Anyway, I absolutely loved her, and my preoccupation with finding a way to get a horse started up all over again. My instructor said she never saw a horse respond so quickly to a person before, and while she was attached to her, she told my mom that they could buy Leah for me if they wanted to. So, I got to take another lesson on Leah, and since my dad had patients and couldn't leave work early enough to make it out, my mom recorded the whole lesson on the camcorder. Looking at the video now astonishes me how confident I was around Leah, since she was 16.2HH, and I was merely 5'4 and weighed a measly 85lbs. Anyway, the confidence was not lost on my dad, and after watching me ride Leah bareback a couple more times on the video, he told mom to go ahead and call my instructor and find out Leah's price. Now, remember, my parents were not horse people, and when my instructor came back with a price of $5,000, my parents gawked, and decided that they just couldn't spend that much on a horse, based on what happened the last time. I understood where they were coming from, but I've always been slightly bitter about the fact that my instructor wouldn't budge on the price.
Regardless, about three months after this whole ordeal, I finally got my first horse Maverick (a white appaloosa with one black spot on his cheek, and a matching one on his butt). After a couple of months of working with him and having him be as sweet as a kitten and as well-behaved as a nun, my dad became a horse person and asked if he could have Maverick if he bought me another horse. I was absolutely thrilled at the idea of not only having another horse, but having my dad ride with me. So, we bought Stardust (a Morab), and soon after, Fancy (an Arabian) for my mom. I have been involved with horses ever since.
Do you have a favorite horse story?
One evening when I was riding Stardust, we ventured over to a neighbor's pasture where he said I was free to ride. Our pasture is quite flat, so the opportunity to go up and down hills was just too good to pass up. We galloped over as many hills as we could find and "barrel raced" around some shrubs and trees, basically just thrilled at the new environment and scenery.
As the sun was setting, we started heading back to the farm, and as we approached a ravine, a coyote came out of nowhere. At this point I was quite thankful I wasn't on Fancy, our Arabian, because she would have thrown me to the predator to save her own life. Anyway, Stardust, being the mothering type she was with me, immediately stopped and waited for my command. Since I was totally freaked out and riding bareback, my command was simply "kick, kick, kick." I didn't care if she ran, jumped, or skipped. I just wanted the heck away from that psycho coyote. I mean, I had never seen a coyote run at a horse before, so I was scared out of my mind.
So, Stardust lurched forward, and when she did, I became off-balanced, and was suddenly riding the side of her belly, instead of her back. Miraculously, Stardust stopped and waited for me to get back upright (this wasn't the first time she had the opportunity stop and wait for me to fix my bad balance). However, while she was stopped, the coyote kept coming, I was near tears (and I NEVER cry), and so she just stood and kicked at it with her rear hooves. She landed one really good one, because I can still hear the sound of that stupid creature scream out in a high pitched whine. That, luckily, was all the motivation my body needed to get back up on Stardust properly. Once situated, I gave her another kick, and she stopped her backward assault and ran us out of harm's way. We probably ran another 200 yards, even after the coyote wasn't chasing us (probably due to severe brain damage - not that he wasn't obviously already suffering from some prior to her kick).
True to my habitually compulsive self, I made sure she walked as soon as the farm was in sight because I didn't want her to think that running home was okay. I knew I may have owed her my life, but at that point I was just excited to have a great story to tell my friends.
If you could change one thing within the horse industry, what would that be?
I would love to find a way for horse rescue organizations to find more monetary support and recognition from others in the horse industry.
Other than horses, what else do you enjoy doing for fun?
There's life outside of horses?! Wow! Who knew?Hmm... Well, let's see. I just completed two Bachelor's degrees, immediately got a job as a paralegal (something to do while I get into law school), recently quit due to some ethical differences and started my own business. Other than Cali, I'm not sure I remember what fun is. I'm exaggerating my bitterness, of course. I loved being in school and working as a paralegal because I deeply enjoy research and writing.
When I have spare time (outside of Cali, that is) I usually just sit around wasting it in frustration, because I can't decide whether I want to knit, crochet, quilt, read, play my violin, sing, clean, write, or go outside. By the time I've changed my mind a zillion times, it's usually time to hit the hay. Ha-ha. Nonetheless, other than horses, you'll find most of what I enjoy within the previous sentence. For the most part though, I just love anything and everything having to do with the outdoors - hunting, four-wheeling, fishing, riding, running, mudding - if it takes place outside, I bet I love it.
Is there a special significance to your avatar?
I'm not entirely sure what avatar you're referring to. *blush* My avatar for my yahoo account, though, is a girl wearing a cute blue dress, a cowboy hat, and pig-tails. I suppose that kinda sums me up in a nut-shell. As for my profile picture, most people know the only way to get me to stand still for a picture is to make sure I have an animal in it with me.
Anything else we should know about you?
When I was about 3 years old, my parents decided to buy us a family dog (since they weren't into the idea of us having a family horse). Anyway, they brought home this little pug that absolutely terrified me, because it would jump around and try to lick my face. So, because I was such a little chicken, they had to bring the cute pug back to the pet store. While we were returning it, this huge black and white horse wearing sunglasses and a hat leaned down and licked my face. Needless to say, my response was to embrace its head with a hug in return. To my surprise, my parents seemed absolutely thrilled, and everyone else in the store seemed to find my behavior just simply awe-inspiring. It was brought to my attention that I was hugging a Great Dane named Jake. Needless to say, that very same afternoon I got my first "horse," Strider, a cute little black Great Dane puppy.
Comments
**notices the very professional editing out of animal inpretty white dress picture...*
Thanks for the insight and tales of you and your horse passion. I'm still wiping the laugh tears from a couple spots, and the crying *uh popcorn salt in the eye, to us guys* tears from others.
Funny how similar our introductions to live horses is, when I use the Hubble prototype to look back on my life. Working Draft horses and Shires were my first horse intro,discounti ng the mule at fair that stepped on my foot to keep me planted after it ate all the peanuts I had to offer...
Meh, Keep doing what you love best. Take your worries one day at a time, and always make falling look graceful.
Bliss and blessings.
I just thought I'd be goofy and comment on my own profile thingy.
Whoo-hoo! ...Okay, I'm done being weird again for a little while.
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