Trading Places - Part 1

In this two part series we'll meet four people who've already taking the plunge and made a big change in their brand of horse activity.

For a moment, let's suppose you have a nice little niche carved out for yourself in the equine world. You have the horse, the gear, the social network and the degree of competency it takes to feel at home in your chosen pursuit. Sound great? To many people, it would.

But let's also suppose that the walls of your comfort zone have started to close in. In place of satisfaction, you feel something else, and it's tickled the notion of trading your current place in horsedom for a new one. Could you? Should you? And would you, if the first step toward doing so made itself clear to you?

These questions are common to anyone contemplating a change, horse-related or not. To help you in the quest for answers, WH sat down with four horse lovers who left the familiar behind and traded it for something new. Their stories differ, yet each has something to offer to anyone standing at the crossroads of indecision.

The Trade: English for Western
Raised in Annapolis, Md., Sandi Kempton started riding the way many East Coast kids do - at a lesson barn and in an English saddle. She participated in U.S. Pony Club activities until she was 18 and also rode show hunters. Then she took a 25-year hiatus from riding to finish her education and raise two sons. She got back into horses 8 years ago and now, at age 51, is a recent convert to western-style riding. She competes in Quarter Horse shows with her 5-year-old gelding, Just Plain Assets.

"I went from a 16.1-hand hunt-seat horse to a 15.2-hand, pleasure-bred gelding," she says. "I'm always telling people that if the hunter riders knew what they were missing, they'd kill to ride a western-trained horse. Western horses are broke, in a way the typical hunter rider could never even imagine."

When Sandi first returned to riding, it was only natural for her to gravitate to the English world she'd known earlier. After half-leasing a horse, she bought a Thoroughbred, then acquired a green-broke Quarter Horse gelding whose training she completed on her own. She'd dreamed of owning a Quarter Horse ever since riding one in her younger years, when she was amazed by the horse's quiet disposition and versatility.

"It's not that I'm any great trainer," she insists. "It was the horse. He had the typical Quarter Horse willingness, and I ended up doing everything with him at our local hunter shows." This initial success with her first Quarter Horse prompted Sandi to look into American Quarter Horse Association shows - where she discovered her present passion for competing in western events.

"I'd already decided I had too much fear after a 25-year layoff to continue jumping, and I wanted to do more than just go around in circles in my English saddle," she explains. "I started riding western because of the different things I could do. There's trail, western riding, horsemanship, etc. I enjoy the pattern classes and have been trying to learn the western disciplines since just after 2002's All American Quarter Horse Congress."

Her biggest learning curve? "The equipment!" Sandi exclaims. "The first time I used a western saddle, I had to stand on a stepstool just to get it on the horse. I wasn't used to a saddle being that heavy. Then there was that business of the girth - or cinch, I guess I should call it. I looked at it and thought, 'How do I attach this thing? It doesn't have any buckles!'"

She initially felt baffled by riding in a western saddle, too.

"I said, 'You mean you just let your legs hang there?' I had to give up what I thought of as security. When you ride English, your leg positon provides a way for you to hold onto the horse."

Although she's now comfortable in the saddle, Sandi admits she continues to be challenged by the idea of riding and controlling a horse on a loose rein.

"All those years of riding with contact are hard to erase," she says. "I still have this urge to hold onto the horse's face with my reins."

The disparity in tack and rein contact notwithstanding, Sandi sees at least one area in which her hunter background helps her in her western pursuits.

"Thanks to riding hunters, I know how to get a horse to the first pole in a lope-over series for trail," she notes.

Sandi names two things as the most noticeable differences between her old horse world and her new one.

"The most obvious difference is in the clothes," she says. "In the hunter world, everyone basically wears a uniform. It was a shock to get into western, where there's so much glitz and glitter and where everyone seems obsessed over fashions. All the questions about what goes with what, what's in and what's out - it's taken some getting used to."

As already alluded to, the other big difference Sandi sees lies in the realm of training.

"Western horses are so obedient and so soft; when you put a leg on one, there's an instant response. You don't have to start planning a turn 50 yards before you intend to make one. These horses understand the meaning of 'whoa.' And I really can't get over the willingness they have. When you want them to do something, you just show it to them and they do it.

"I never knew that riding a horse could be like this," she adds. "The people who turn their noses up at western riding don't know what they're missing."

The Trade: Slow For Fast
Nicole Busbee, a college student from Cave Creek, Ariz., had a youth show career that many would envy. Excelling at showmanship, trail and rail events, she spent 3 years riding with professional trainer Mark Sheridan. She also qualified for and competed at 2003's American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Championship Show.

Nevertheless, Nicole traded her prowess at the go-slow events for the chance to learn the fine points of reining and working cow-horse - two events in which walking and jogging aren't even an option. Coached by trainer Cal Cooper for the past year, Nicole now spends her riding time at a gallop and says, only half-jokingly, "He's always telling me to 'speed it up!' when it already seems to me like I'm flying."

Nicole's big switch was prompted when her youth-class gelding, Par Te Raven ("Jimmy"), turned 20 and was retired.

"When we retired Jimmy, I decided I wanted to do something different from what I'd been doing," she explains. "Cal rode at Mark's place when I was training there. I used to watch him work his reiners and cow horses and thought they were really cool. My grandparents, who own a manufactured-home business, took a green, reining-bred mare in as partial payment for a home. That's the horse I'm riding now with Cal."

According to Nicole, there's a big difference in atmosphere between her current and former disciplines, even though they're often performed at the same AQHA-approved shows.

"What I'm doing now is so much more laid-back. The outfits are more comfortable, the people are more relaxed, and because the judging's based on a scoring system rather than opinion, there isn't the pressure to make every tiny detail just perfect. Do I miss banding my horse's mane? No, definitely not!" she laughs.

Nicole acknowledges that cattle add an element of unpredictability to the working cow-horse event. For her, though, this wild-card element is balanced by the fact that both her new events have a finite number of rulebook-published patterns.

"With showmanship and horsemanship, two of my old events, each judge made up his own pattern, and you never knew what it would be until you got to the show. Now, even though the judges have multiple patterns from which to choose, I know more about what to expect. Every pattern is in the rulebook."

As with Sandi, Nicole's able to pinpoint a useful carryover skill learned during her previous pursuits. She had plenty of experience at performing in front of judges and spectators and thus wasn't intimidated ("well, not too intimidated!") by the idea of putting herself on public display.

"I did have to get used to being out in the arena alone, though," she confesses. "The first time that gate opened and shut behind me and I had the whole arena to myself, it sure seemed awfully big!"

Nicole has few regrets about returning to beginner status after having been one of the competitors to beat in her old events. Even so, she does find herself missing a couple of things.

"Now, because our show days conflict, I don't get to see as much of the people who were in my other classes," she points out. "I also miss showing my old horse. He was my friend and teacher."

Watch for Part Two coming soon!