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I'm Riding Again!
Sep. 20th, 2013 10:08 amSo I found a stable in my neighborhood--hurrah!
The last place I rode regularly was Kensington Stables in Brooklyn, which is a few blocks away from Prospect Park and has a ring there. Kensington is okay but has a couple of disadvantages--1) It is QUITE a hike to get there. 2) I hate to sound dismissive but their facilities ain't all that. I trained at probably the best college program in the country--this is our ring:
In fact that picture doesn't give a good idea of how huge that ring is--you could easily fit THREE classes into the SBC ring, it's the size of a football field. Sweet Briar also had an enormous campus on which to hack. The Kensington ring is tiny and kind of busted-looking, and we never went on hacks even though Prospect Park would've been lovely (maybe no bridle paths there?). This would not be so bad but Kensington wasn't exactly cheap, and I didn't really feel it was worth the money. 3) As I said it wasn't exactly cheap. Kensington wasn't outrageously expensive by any means (as NYC stables go, it's fairly reasonable) but still, I could only afford 1-2 lessons per month. My instructor never seemed to remember that. She kept saying "next week, I'm going to give you [horse's name]" and I kept having to remind her "not next week, remember, I can only afford it every few weeks." Eventually you get tired of having to say out loud "yes, I am POOR, can you please stop trying to push me into another lesson I can ill-afford?!" Like, are you getting a commission or something with every lesson?
So anyway, that was my experience with Kensington. There are about 4-5 other stables in NYC and I thought I had scoped out every one of them. One in Forest Hills, one in Jamaica Bay and two in the Bronx. The one in Pelham Bay seemed like a possibility but I wasn't sure how I would get there--take the 6 to the end and then the bus, but it seemed like a long walk on top of that. Anyway a few weeks ago I had a softball tournament scheduled on Randall;s island so I Google-mapped it to see where it was. I noticed on the map there was listed a "NYC Riding Academy"--as I said I thought I knew all the stables in the city, so I checked them out. They've been around for awhile--the owner is this OLD guy who is committed to making riding affordable. This all sounded very interesting so I called them up and booked a lesson.
I showed up (BTW, I can WALK to this place! It's just across the East River so I cross the highway at 111th St. and then walk down to the footbridge to the island at 103rd St.) and the owner talked to me for awhile. He is seriously old, 83, although he looks much younger. We talked about training, what kind of riding I like, etc.--he picked out a horse for me but she was refusing the bit so I ended up with another, much more spirited mare named Scarlet. The instructor was a Brit who was quite good and understood the horse--we were most working walk-trot, although I cantered once. We worked the trot a LOT, especially working to control Scarlet who wanted to GO. Sarah (the instructor) was critical at first and then quite effusively complimentary--at one point she said "there isn't one rider in 20 who could get her to do what you're doing." I have to say, I LOVE the spunky ones! I love the challenge, the danger, the SPEED. Once you've hacked across campus with a pony who doesn't just want to canter, he wants to flat-out GALLOPand take a fence or two, a sedate little gelding just ain't the same!
When I dismounted Sarah said "you're going to be in pain tomorrow" and I said "I know, my first lesson in six years" and she squeaked "you didn't tell me THAT!" I untacked the horse and cleaned her up and then one of the stable hands told me the owner wanted to talk with me. I went over to his office trailer where Sarah was chatting with him--I sat down and he asked me how I liked my first lesson. I was of course raving--the intructor was great, the horse, everything. He talked a long time (the man does go on!) but the gist is that I shouldn't worry about the money too much. I can pay what I like (a suggested donation, essentially) and if I'm really poor, they'll work something out. He also mentioned instructing--as in, *I* could instruct which stunned me. The thing is, when you ride at a place like Sweet Briar, the varsity riders there are AMAZING, the best in the country, they routinely collect IHSA and ANRC titles. Team, Individual, they've won them all. This fostered in me--not an inferiority complex, certainly, but let's just say I had a very realistic and healthy awareness of how much I have yet to learn as a rider. But literally everywhere else that I've ridden, people have made reference to how experienced they think I must be. When I rode in Dublin, hell, all I did was MOUNT and they knew right away I knew what I was doing! (Which is not that surprising--good riding is all in the seat.) The training at SBC really is phenomenal.
So I went back last weekend and worked the horse (another one this time, a gelding named Magic) in the ring for a half hour, being instructed by the owner. Then he said I was "doing so well" that I could take Magic outside the ring, to a copse of trees on the other side of the property and work him there. OutsideoutsideOUTSIDETHE RING, yeehaw! By myself! I had a GRAND time working on my own and then after a half hour, he had me turn over Magic to one of the younger students, a 12-year old, and also instruct her. I was kind of thrown into this, but I think we actually did good work together. Magic was fine with me, I only had to use the crop the very first time, but was lazy with the girl. Not sure if he was tired or--I actually have this theory that the more you progress as a rider, the easier it gets. And not only because your skills improve, but because the horse can sense you know what you're doing and is more likely to obey your commands. At any rate Magic was fine with me but lazy with the girl, so we worked to overcome that.
The best part of the day was that after all this, Dr. Blair (the owner) told me that I could come over during the week and ride FOR FREE. You can just imagine my reaction. Also my Mom is visiting this week and brought my hardhat. (I detest wearing those plastic ones. 1) They look like bike helmets and make me feel 10 years old. 2) I want my hat decked in VELVET, dammit, I'm a Virginian!) I put it on and started humming "My Friends" from Sweeny Todd and said out loud "at last my head is COMPLETE!"
Jack that heel down low, Clara
Ease up on the reeeeeeeeins!
The last place I rode regularly was Kensington Stables in Brooklyn, which is a few blocks away from Prospect Park and has a ring there. Kensington is okay but has a couple of disadvantages--1) It is QUITE a hike to get there. 2) I hate to sound dismissive but their facilities ain't all that. I trained at probably the best college program in the country--this is our ring:
In fact that picture doesn't give a good idea of how huge that ring is--you could easily fit THREE classes into the SBC ring, it's the size of a football field. Sweet Briar also had an enormous campus on which to hack. The Kensington ring is tiny and kind of busted-looking, and we never went on hacks even though Prospect Park would've been lovely (maybe no bridle paths there?). This would not be so bad but Kensington wasn't exactly cheap, and I didn't really feel it was worth the money. 3) As I said it wasn't exactly cheap. Kensington wasn't outrageously expensive by any means (as NYC stables go, it's fairly reasonable) but still, I could only afford 1-2 lessons per month. My instructor never seemed to remember that. She kept saying "next week, I'm going to give you [horse's name]" and I kept having to remind her "not next week, remember, I can only afford it every few weeks." Eventually you get tired of having to say out loud "yes, I am POOR, can you please stop trying to push me into another lesson I can ill-afford?!" Like, are you getting a commission or something with every lesson?
So anyway, that was my experience with Kensington. There are about 4-5 other stables in NYC and I thought I had scoped out every one of them. One in Forest Hills, one in Jamaica Bay and two in the Bronx. The one in Pelham Bay seemed like a possibility but I wasn't sure how I would get there--take the 6 to the end and then the bus, but it seemed like a long walk on top of that. Anyway a few weeks ago I had a softball tournament scheduled on Randall;s island so I Google-mapped it to see where it was. I noticed on the map there was listed a "NYC Riding Academy"--as I said I thought I knew all the stables in the city, so I checked them out. They've been around for awhile--the owner is this OLD guy who is committed to making riding affordable. This all sounded very interesting so I called them up and booked a lesson.
I showed up (BTW, I can WALK to this place! It's just across the East River so I cross the highway at 111th St. and then walk down to the footbridge to the island at 103rd St.) and the owner talked to me for awhile. He is seriously old, 83, although he looks much younger. We talked about training, what kind of riding I like, etc.--he picked out a horse for me but she was refusing the bit so I ended up with another, much more spirited mare named Scarlet. The instructor was a Brit who was quite good and understood the horse--we were most working walk-trot, although I cantered once. We worked the trot a LOT, especially working to control Scarlet who wanted to GO. Sarah (the instructor) was critical at first and then quite effusively complimentary--at one point she said "there isn't one rider in 20 who could get her to do what you're doing." I have to say, I LOVE the spunky ones! I love the challenge, the danger, the SPEED. Once you've hacked across campus with a pony who doesn't just want to canter, he wants to flat-out GALLOPand take a fence or two, a sedate little gelding just ain't the same!
When I dismounted Sarah said "you're going to be in pain tomorrow" and I said "I know, my first lesson in six years" and she squeaked "you didn't tell me THAT!" I untacked the horse and cleaned her up and then one of the stable hands told me the owner wanted to talk with me. I went over to his office trailer where Sarah was chatting with him--I sat down and he asked me how I liked my first lesson. I was of course raving--the intructor was great, the horse, everything. He talked a long time (the man does go on!) but the gist is that I shouldn't worry about the money too much. I can pay what I like (a suggested donation, essentially) and if I'm really poor, they'll work something out. He also mentioned instructing--as in, *I* could instruct which stunned me. The thing is, when you ride at a place like Sweet Briar, the varsity riders there are AMAZING, the best in the country, they routinely collect IHSA and ANRC titles. Team, Individual, they've won them all. This fostered in me--not an inferiority complex, certainly, but let's just say I had a very realistic and healthy awareness of how much I have yet to learn as a rider. But literally everywhere else that I've ridden, people have made reference to how experienced they think I must be. When I rode in Dublin, hell, all I did was MOUNT and they knew right away I knew what I was doing! (Which is not that surprising--good riding is all in the seat.) The training at SBC really is phenomenal.
So I went back last weekend and worked the horse (another one this time, a gelding named Magic) in the ring for a half hour, being instructed by the owner. Then he said I was "doing so well" that I could take Magic outside the ring, to a copse of trees on the other side of the property and work him there. OutsideoutsideOUTSIDETHE RING, yeehaw! By myself! I had a GRAND time working on my own and then after a half hour, he had me turn over Magic to one of the younger students, a 12-year old, and also instruct her. I was kind of thrown into this, but I think we actually did good work together. Magic was fine with me, I only had to use the crop the very first time, but was lazy with the girl. Not sure if he was tired or--I actually have this theory that the more you progress as a rider, the easier it gets. And not only because your skills improve, but because the horse can sense you know what you're doing and is more likely to obey your commands. At any rate Magic was fine with me but lazy with the girl, so we worked to overcome that.
The best part of the day was that after all this, Dr. Blair (the owner) told me that I could come over during the week and ride FOR FREE. You can just imagine my reaction. Also my Mom is visiting this week and brought my hardhat. (I detest wearing those plastic ones. 1) They look like bike helmets and make me feel 10 years old. 2) I want my hat decked in VELVET, dammit, I'm a Virginian!) I put it on and started humming "My Friends" from Sweeny Todd and said out loud "at last my head is COMPLETE!"
Jack that heel down low, Clara
Ease up on the reeeeeeeeins!
