In which questions are asked, and some of them are even answered, sorta.

1. How old were you when you first started riding? plastic spring-y pony, age 3. zoo pony, about the same time.

2. First horse ridden: Dixie, a black-bay mare of unknown age and uncertain parentage. She belonged to my friend Carrie's family, and I thought she was beautiful.


3. First horse trotted on: Dixie


4. First horse cantered on: Dixie

5. First Horse fallen off of: Dixie. Yes, all on the same day.

6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Fiddle. My fault, not paying attention, no excuses. Fell right into some nice (oof) comfy (yow!) blackberry bushes. Last winter.


7. Most terrifying fall: that rolling-down-the-sand-hill thing with the Toad, maybe 7-8 years ago...everyone unhurt, but I thought for sure he'd broken my brand new saddle (it was fine).

8. First horse jumped with: what, on purpose? Midnight, I think.

9. First horse who ran away with you: Toad. Don't ask how many times. I lost track.
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Toad.

11. First horse shown : shown what? >g<


12. First horse to win a class with: oooooh, a horse show. Um, Fiddle and I did pretty well at an obstacle course class a few years ago...the other horses in the class were afraid of the rope thing, so we had a good time, compared with those 'fraidy cats.

13. Do you/have you taken lessons: as often as possible
14. First horse you ever rode bareback: Bo, I think. She got too pregnant to wear the saddle anymore....


15. First horse trail ridden with: Midnight or Tonka, probably.


16. Current Barn name: "She who cleans and brings food"

17. Do you ride English or western?: I ride "far."

18. First Horse to place at a show with: Fiddle, sorta. It wasn't a very show-y show, it was a game day for off-the-track Standardbreds. We had fun, though.

19. Ever been to horse camp?: yeah!

20. Ever been to a riding clinic? yup.
21. Ridden sidesaddle? bareback in the pasture, being silly.

22. First horse borrowed: Beware



23. Last Horse borrowed: Toad
24. Highest ribbon in a show: what is this show fixation? peh.

25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: peh peh peh.

26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: yes! these are fun!

27. Ever fallen off at an event: almost, but not yet. Well, there was that time at the Prineville 50-miler, when Story stumbled and I came off when she rolled...I don't think that should count, though.
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: not if I can help it. I'm a chicken.



29. Have you ever barrel raced? well, I've gone around barrels on a pacing standardbred. "Scamper" doesn't lose any sleep over our not-exactly-breakneck speed.

30. Ever done pole bending?: bent and broke those suckers. not really. yes, I've gone around poles, but not very fast.



31. Favorite gait: cantelope and cricket-stomp (these are special STB gaits--you gotta ride 'em to recognize 'em)

32. Ever cantered bareback?: yeah!

33. Have you ever done dressage?: I have attempted to improve my dressage technique. The "Dressage Queen" crown will always be elusive, I fear.

34. Have you ever evented?: not intentionally.
35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: I currently hold a 3rd degree black belt in stall cleaning!

36. Ever been bucked off?: Yup. Lost count of those. Not lately, though.
37. Ever been on a horse that reared? Yup. Not often. Whew.

38. Horses or ponies. horses.

39. Do you wear a helmet?: Every ride, every time. Current helmet is purple with reflective flames.


40. What's the highest you've jumped: try not to think about it

41. Have you ever ridden at night?: often.
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: if somebody records them for me.
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?: thus far, I have escaped serious injury >knocking wood<

44. Most falls in one lesson: one

45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: sometimes

46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?: no
47. Have you ever been bitten?: no
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: often


49: Favorite riding moments:
sunshine. Story. top of the hill. bliss.
Fiddle. Collected trot. Wow!
Toad. Finish Line of Mt Adams 100-miler. Whew.

50. Most fun horse you've ridden: Fiddle!



UPDATE:

I didn't write this to scare people, but judging from some of your email responses, my answers seem rather...um...intense.

The list of questions came from another blog--a lot of horse blogs have this particular list lately--and the only thing that generally strikes me when I read other peoples' answers is that most people seem to spend a lot more time at horse shows than I do!

Other than that, my answers about falling off and getting my feet stepped on are actually kind of average for horse people. I don't enjoy falling or getting squashed, and I try to avoid that stuff, but gravity happens a lot when you spend time with large silly animals.

Most of the time, the fun is worth the pain. Ain't that true of everything worthwhile?

Back to farm news soon : We are just about to install a GATE--wahoooooo!