Being the mom of Equestrian daughters has always been near and dear to my heart. I tell people that I'm the equivalent to the mom's who have their daughters in beauty pagents at young ages and live vicariously through them! I love horses, I think they are magnificent animals and the closest I've ever been to competing is being on a trail ride and getting close to the barn and your horse wants to get there first! Although I'm the one bouncing up and down, shoulders hunched in, holding onto the pommel, praying I stay on!!
People automatically assume since we have three daughters that compete Nationally, either Eric or myself rode growing up. This couldn't be farther from the truth! Horses actually scare me. Yes, they really do. I go into full panic mode if one of the girls asks me to hold their horse while they walk the course. I make sure they know that if for any reason the horse starts doing anything crazy, I'm immediately letting them go... run away!! The typical reaction from them is (after rolling their eyes of course) "Mom, look at him, he's just standing there, does he look like he's going anywhere?" What I don't tell them is that in my mind, bad things start happening and the next thing you know they are rearing, etc. For the record, I've learned to not be anywhere close when it's time to walk the course. I go directly to the stands and plant myself in a chair, preferably next to a friend that I can squeeze their arm or leg while each girl is on course. I should follow up with, I've never had anything bad happen while holding their horse, the dramatic effects make for good stories though!
Emily, who is a Sophomore at the University of Georgia and rides on the Equestrian team there started riding when she was 6. I was the mom who stood on the side and listened to what the trainer was saying and when Emily would trot by the side I was standing, I'd tell her again, what the trainer had said. You know, reinforce it because I was certain she wasn't listening.... "keep your heels down", "shoulders back", etc. Then I decided to take a few lessons..... oh dear. Let me just say right now that I NEVER said another word to Emily after that (until she got older, but that's another story)! Helen, the one-eyed horse I was on was fabulous but when she coughed, I just knew she was going to rear. When she shook, I knew she was going to rear. Basically, I spent the entire time assuming she was going to rear. Did I mention Helen was old and had one eye? Helen wasn't going anywhere, and the trainer was guiding me with a lead rope. I think I took three lessons and realized I was better off on the ground, writing the checks!
Sarah (a junior in high school) and Lizzie (a freshman in high school) hopped on their first ponies when they were probably 3 and 4 years old! This was, of course because they were at the barn when Emily was taking her lessons so it was a natural thing to have happen. Although we did have them do other sports because we didn't want them to get older and say, "I never really liked it but because EMILY was riding, we felt like we HAD to!" This is too much time, energy and money to have that happen! By golly Sarah and Lizzie needed to be in love with horses!!
And they are!
I often times feel like I'm their personal assistant. I make sure their memberships are renewed each year. I keep track of points for different classes to assure they can make the cut for finals. And then there is knowing when the cutoff is for each Equitation class because of course, they are all different! Making sure to secure hotel reservations a year in advance for Finals, making sure entries are in by the deadline because those are all different, etc! It's a full time job!
I haven't even begun to talk about the number of pictures I take each season. Don't even get me started on that!! Yes, I am the mom that pulls out the camera with the huge, white lens. This year I'm digitally scrapbooking and my goal is to keep it up each month. I'm going to be more organized with my photos and my personal goal when I take 500 pictures at a show is to ask myself if I really need 20 shots of the same jump. I mean, they are all good but I think 20 might be overkill. It's my goal, I'm not saying it's going to happen... one step at a time!!
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