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 Expert
Posts: 1631
   
Location: Somewhere around here | Tell us how you got your start in riding horses? Was it already something big in your family and you just picked it up, or did your parents realize that you were never getting over the "horse stage" and went along with it?
Personally, I think my mother got sick of me reading so many scientific and fiction horse books and asking them questions just to see if they knew the answer. Pretty sure my dad thought that after one old horse and a couple of years I'd turn my attention to boys and leave the horses...nope lol, big surprise for him! |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | When I was 9, my friend went along with her mom to the barn and started taking lessons and I thought that would be cool. So I bugged my parents to go too...
Of course mom was not happy about it, she is terrified of them... (after 30 some years she still prefers a fence or gate between her and them....) So I am sure she was hoping it was another one of my fads..... I stuck to everything for about 3 months and then got bored... ( swimming, gymnastics, soccer, judo.. you name it, I've probably tried it...  )
Even though she was scared of them and I did end up in the sand a lot both her and my stepdad were (and she still is) always very supportive. And I know she is proud of what I have accomplished in all those years. Every competition I had they were there cheering me on, and whenever she comes to visit she is always there, videoing me, and telling me what I messed up... 
I don't know how long I begged them for my own horse, but they told me if I wanted one I'd have to buy it myself.  Well, growing up a citygirl in the Netherlands that never happened, not till I moved to this country.... Horses are very expensive to keep there because most people have to board them and there are not a whole lot of place you can do that, so I realize I would have never been able to own 1, let alone 4 of them, and better yet, have them at home.
It's not really the buying one, but what comes after that... and we all know what that is... lol, tack, vet bills, farrier and so on...
Anyway, I know I am very fortunate to be able to do what I love now, and hopefully I can keep doing it for a long long time. It's not a hobby, it truly is a lifestyle.
 
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 Expert
Posts: 1395
Location: Missouri | When I was 9, we moved out of town and built a house on some land. My mom had horses as a kid and wanted to be able to have a few again. They bought me a little 15 yr old Foxtrotter. I didn't have a clue, my mom really didn't either, so it was a good thing that mare was extremely patient and mild. Learned a lot from her. When I was 12 I started taking lessons, at 14 an old friend of my mom's let me show her older WP horse for a few years (mom was hoping I'd back off of the idea that I wanted to barrel race...didn't work) and I started barrel racing around 18ish. :) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 682
Location: Northwest | My grandma was toting me along on her horses before I was even out of the cradle... Much to my non-horse parent's dismay  |
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| My sister wanted riding lessons at the age of 8. I would tag along and they would lead me around on some old nags. I started riding as I got a little older (6). My parents bought us sale barn horses and we didn't know what breed they were half of the time. They ended up buying me an Arabian pony with a colt on her side for $250.......I horse showed on my Arab pony until I was 11 years old. She did all the events like poles, barrels, speed, keyhole, flags, and barrel pickup. Of course she wasn't very good at any of it. When I was 12 years old my parents finally bought me my first quarter horse gelding. He was a 3/4D barrel horse and as sweet as they come. At this time my sister was showing western pleasure, AQHA shows mainly. Our parents bought her a nice gray gelding for 10k. In the 90s we thought that was a lot for a western please horse. She went to Fort Worth, Congress, Jackson.......you name she was there showing. BTW western pleasure is soooooo boring to watch when you're a kid! My sister quit showing when she was 16 and was more interested in boys. I however continued to ride and run barrels. My parents started buying me nicer horses and I started doing jr rodeos. I was home schooled and worked at a barrel trainers place every day cleaning 20 stalls and riding colts for them. I did all that for free in exchange of learning how to train my own barrel horses. So here I am today....29 years old and still at it.
The end!
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| My mom was 2 months pregnant with me when she ran at the NFR. Beings Im a guy, its the only opportunity I will have to run at the NFR! I was sitting on my first horse the day I got home from hospital. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| Grew up on a ranch in E TX. I have never been without a horse. Ran in my first barrel race in 1959. Met Martha Josey in 1964, we have been friends and competitors since. Always appreciate that free help.
Funny thing, Pro barrel racers and many others have moved to the Marshall area because Martha lived here. I have always lived about 25 minutes away.
Edited by streakysox 2016-06-02 9:02 AM
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
Location: Jersey Girl | I started riding because of my dad. He grew up on a dairy farm but was never allowed to own a riding horse (my grandfather was afraid of horses due to an accident when he was a kid). When my dad moved out and got his own house the first thing he did was go out and buy a horse.
I had my own pony as soon as I could walk. My parents divorced when I was 5 and the horses had to be sold so I didn't get my own horse again til I was 15. I am 49 now and have had one ever since. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | I was horse crazy pretty much from the time I could walk. I begged my non-horsey parents for years for a horse and when I was about 7 my parents said if I took four years of lesson they'd buy me a horse. They of course were hoping that I'd grow out of this "phase". Well twice a week lessons and four years later I had my first horse. She was a miserable cow who could turn on a time and if you weren't 100% prepared for your fence she'd turn on a time and send you flying.
She taught me how to sit a horse through pretty much anything and gave me my start in dressage and eventing.
My switch to barrel racing wasn't until I met my husband who is a roper and now I barrel race, team rope, and breakaway rope. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I think you should get an award for how many threads you start. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | We've always had horses and my parents rodeo'd before and after my brother and I were born. Mom quit rodeoing as we grew up but dad kept on and was still entering up with my brother and I at the amateurs. Before we were in school we lived on the rodeo trail. We've always had horses and not having my horse for 3 years when I moved to the city were the 3 most miserable years of my life! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| I was lucky, and have never known what life was like without a horse.
My parents had horses, and I never stood a chance to not love them.  |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | My mom grew up with horses and we always had them. So it was automatic for us kids to start riding at a very young age.
With that said, I only have seen my dad on a horse ONCE in my entire lifetime, and I think I feel safer when he is on the ground, haha. But he's supportive of our "horse habit".
My brothers lost interest in horses as they grew up, but my mom and I still are both horse crazy, and that's something fun that we can do together.
I'm due to have a baby girl myself any day now, so I hope the "3 generations" of us can enjoy horses together! I will absolutely be getting her on a horse at a young age.
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
Location: 31 lengths farms | My dad grew up on a farm in NE during the Depression and so had horses to pull farming equipment. He ended up going into the military and often the bases he was stationed at had stables, he would take us out there to ride and then as he grew in rank he made arrangements to take a horse or two home on his dAys off so we could ride with him if we wanted to. I fell in love with horses at an early age, had an old pack saddle that at 3 I was constantly trying to saddle the family German Shepard with. Dad finally broke down and got me a pony for my 6th birthday, handed me the lead rope and said "here you go, see as you don't get yourself killed...your mother would't be very happy with me". I didn't really learn to ride so much as how to survive that little turd. With the next pony came 4-H, I think I was 9, and that is when I guess I really started to learn to "ride", leads, diagonals, etc. and proper care of my horses. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Both parents grew up on farms and my granddad broke mules to harness for farming. So when we went to visit, we would get to ride. But when my Dad was transferred to Libya when I was 5 he found a little grey Arab mare for lease on the American base stables. We were in heaven until we had to move back when Kadafi (?) came into power. We could NOT understand why we couldn't just ship her and our dog back to Texas, lol. Fifty years later, I have never forgotten our little Beraga and I am still riding. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| My dad was a team roper and my mom a barrel racer. My mom hauled me along to barrel races every weekend when I was a year old, I started doing leadline pee wee barrels at about that age. My mom retired from rodeoing when I was six, by that time I had a pony and she thought I'd just ride horses occasionally for fun. Little did she know I would catch the rodeo fever even more strongly then she ever had it, I've been running barrels ever since! She always jokes about how she "Created a Monster" by letting me start running barrels and getting hooked at such a young age. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 964
Location: Alberta, Canada | My mom was a horse crazy little girl who's horse craziness went nowhere living in a big city. So the first chance she got to get us kids out to a farm and into horses, she took it. I was 9 and wanted to be a showjumper. Then a jockey. Then I was introduced to barrel racing and never looked back!! |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | I was hanging out at the feed lot back when I was pre-teen,
The cowboys were riding pens on a horse that kept bucking everyone off. I asked if I could ride him and eventually bought him because he didn't buck me off so much.
Went on to win 11 world titles,
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | I started out in Walmart, rode the hair off those horses there. Haven't looked back since. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 582
Location: Wherever They Send Me | I always loved horses, my parents sent me to horse camp in the summers (not one of those "we have 5 horses, horse camp" but a "we have 60 some horses and you can spend all day at the barn, horse camp"). My world revolved around my summers and I got riding lessons if I made the honor roll.
My parents are not horse people, I bought my first horse as an adult (the first time I rode him, we clicked...he is currently 24 and still my best friend). My husband isn't a horse person, he says he "doesn't get it;" but he is very supportive in every way possible (going to races, cleaning stalls and financing, if needed).
I have owned horses in five states (Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, Alaska and Louisiana) and trailered them over 10,000 miles (not including shows) - I don't think it is a phase. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | My mom married my dad. His family had a ranch and horses. My sister and I were around 4/5 at the time. Been in love ever since. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 933
Location: north dakota | My Grandpa always had horses and had farmed with them. When I was 4 he had bought a little blue roan pony at the local auction and broke it to ride and drive for me. We hauled the pony from IA to Colorado in the back of the pickup with a topper. All my ponies I had as a kid came from that local auction and my Grandpa started them all for me and my sister |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| My mom had horses growing up and barrel raced. By the time I was born she and my dad ran the local riding club where we spent most of our weekends. I started out being led around the barrels by my parents in the 0 to 5 age divison. I developed a passion for it that never left. There was a time during my middle school years that I did not have a barrel horse but I had a riding horse that I spent hours a day on. I would leave on him in the mornings and come back sometimes way after dark. I just felt at home as long as I was on the back of a horse. I snuck out at night sometimes to go out into the pasture and ride bare back with a halter. I am now married to a horse trainer and there is a 12 stall barn right out my back door with an arena. Paradise for someone like me. I have a barrel horse now but I still watch that old gelding from my living room window enjoying his retirement. He is in his 20s now. He deserves it after all those miles. |
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | ~BINGO~ - 2016-06-02 8:22 AM
I think you should get an award for how many threads you start.
Hahaha thanks. I just think of random questions that I'm curious about other people or a thought I might have that might actually happen in weeks/months/years. |
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I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
Location: Jersey Girl | 1DSoon - 2016-06-02 12:13 PM I was hanging out at the feed lot back when I was pre-teen,
The cowboys were riding pens on a horse that kept bucking everyone off. I asked if I could ride him and eventually bought him because he didn't buck me off so much.
Went on to win 11 world titles,
Riiiiiight.
Is your name Charmayne too? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
Location: NE TX | RunNitroRun - 2016-06-02 9:19 AM
I was horse crazy pretty much from the time I could walk. I begged my non-horsey parents for years for a horse and when I was about 7 my parents said if I took four years of lesson they'd buy me a horse. They of course were hoping that I'd grow out of this "phase". Well twice a week lessons and four years later I had my first horse. She was a miserable cow who could turn on a time and if you weren't 100% prepared for your fence she'd turn on a time and send you flying.
She taught me how to sit a horse through pretty much anything and gave me my start in dressage and eventing.
My switch to barrel racing wasn't until I met my husband who is a roper and now I barrel race, team rope, and breakaway rope.
I had a similar start that you did. I had always been obsessed with horses and wanted one since I was really little. I attended a week long horsemanship clinic when I was about 12-13 and it got worse. I kept begging my mom and dad (my mom is a trauma nurse and my dad is an EMT so they knew the "bad" side of horses) to let me get a horse. My mom and dad let me take lessons at a local barn and they taught barrel racing. I had no idea what it was but after about my third lesson we went and watched them practicing and I knew I wanted to do it too. I took lessons for about a year before we started looking for a horse. We looked for months and while my dad was in Europe on a business trip we drove 5.5 hours to go try a horse we found online. He ended up not working out but they had another one that we really liked so we bought him. We called my dad that next day and talked for about 4-5 minutes and as we were hanging up said "Oh, by the way we bought a horse, bye." He called back and said "Y'all did WHAT?"
He was a great first horse even though I didn't get to ride him long, I didn't know anything about splint boots and leg care and wasn't being taught that where I was so he bowed the tendons in both front legs a few months after we got him. I will always be grateful to everything each horse has taught me that I have owned, be it bad or good experiences I always learned something. |
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Location: NE Texas | When my parents married they bought a place about an hour from the city on 37 acres and my Dad would commute in. My uncle gave my parents an off the track thoroughbred that my sisters rode from time to time (nothing competitively) and as a pasture buddy to him another family friend gave us a black Shetland pony. By the time I was 2 years old I was riding the pony by myself and moved to riding the old thoroughbred (tough mouthed freight train that would not stop when heading back home - but by the time I was riding him he was old and had slowed down some). At around 13 I picked up an appendix bred filly that a neighbor not too far down the road was getting rid of (rode it home - we did not have a trailer). My parents did not ride, other than my Mom occasionally trail riding - never have seen my father on a horse. My sister moved into town when I was around 14 and had a few acres so i rode my horse (13 miles) to town and put it out in her pasture to help graze it down. Saw a sign for the local riding club having a playday in the local grocery store and rode my horse down the road for the first several shows.... was hooked from then on. Then when I reached about 21 moved to the big city and family separated and went different directions and I didn't have the means for a horse. 20 years later finally getting back into it. Will never not have a horse again as long as I'm physically and financially able! Life is too short!
Great question - love reading everyone's stories. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | Well, like most everyone here I was a horse crazy little girl. But...my parents couldn't afford much let alone a horse. And we lived in the city. My parents were also bikers. Like the 1% type so a horse was definitely out. My folks (hoping I'd get over the horse thing) took me to a barn and paid for some English lessons for a while, and that just added fuel to the fire. Unfortunately, that lasted only a couple of years until I was 12 then I moved to Iowa. Didn't have a horse at all, not until I moved to Germany for a year did I pick it back up. I took lessons and also worked at a barn where they rode dressage and cross country. So I did get a chance to ride some nice horses. I moved back to the states and after having my 2nd daughter I just took the plunge and bought a couple nice horses but above my experience level at the time. So I sold and swaped until I found the perfect match, we showed lightly in the local saddle clubs and mostly trail rode. It wasn't until 5 or 6 years ago that I really got into barrel racing solely. And honestly I couldn't be happier and am looking forward to many many more years of it. |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
Location: OH. IO | Im the one you all start the vent threads over,you know,the poor one who didnt have money for lessons and the tack of the century. My mom being a single parent,bought me an auction pony,his name was Jingles.I loved that pony,couldnt afford to do anything but ride him incorrectly around the yard,but we had LOTS of fun.then,after he died i wasnt allowed to have another pony,so when i grew up and moved out,my passion begun,when i had my daughter,my passion continued and again i became the person you people VENT about,probably over mounted her more than once,and heard about it too,but i live thru her passion now,she has accomplished much,and has some very nicely bred mares.And now,im getting my 14 month old grandson his first pony and donkey,lol,vent away :} |
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 Horsey Gene Carrier
Posts: 1888
Location: LaBelle, Florida | Neither of my parents were horse people...grew up in town.
I got the gene, I guess as a throw back or something. Barbie was just an assesory for my herd of plastic horses. I ate, breathed, slept all things horses from the womb.
Finally got my first horse a 8 and never looked back. I still have the bug. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Both of my parents grew up with horses, but had no interest once they grew up. My grandparents were/are my neighbors and I was put on a horse as soon as I could sit up. They would take me on trail rides. By the time I was 3 they bought "me" 2 ponies and a horse. Only the old paint mini was broke lol When I was 5 my grandma started taking me to shows. I still remember the first time my grandpa taught me the barrel pattern that day he set up barrels in the arena. My grandma was the one who pushed for me to show....my grandpa would rather trail ride though he still supports me! Everything I've learned has been through them or self taught. So long story short....I grew up in a barn and on the back of a horse.
This was a cool thread to read! |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | My dad got be a rocking horse when I was about 2. Then a little later on (3-4, not sure) I remember riding a horse bareback, someone leading it. Then every fair, farmers market, whereever there was horse/pony rides, I wanted to do that. Finally at 14 I got my first horse, and the rest is history. I love horses and I think I will forever. I didn't start competitively barrel racing until 2012 (did some in the pasture before that, not much), so I would have been 20-ish, and I love it and am still at it as much as life allows! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 407
| My sister brought home a sheltand pony that her friend gave her. She told my Dad that she wouldn't take him back either so we had to keep him. He was the meanest pony I ever had but I took him over and took care of him. When I outgrew him my Dad said I had to get rid on him. I said no so he traded him and $60 for the best large pony mare. A POA she was all a little girl could ask for. I was also told that I had to pay for everything if I wanted to keep her. Only thing my Dad did was get a place I could keep her at. So ever since then I have worked all my life to have horses. I haven't looked back since and that has been 40 years ago. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
| I wanted a horse from about age 5. When ever I had a chance to look at horse books, I would. My dad realized I wasn't going to give up on riding horses. He took me to trainer and I did lessons for a year. My dad saw the determination and we bought our first horse after that. Ive had the same drive since. No one in my family has horse experience except me. |
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Expert
Posts: 1255
| My dad was raised on horses.he actually ran away @ 13 and lived on the nez Pearce Indian reservation. |
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Expert
Posts: 1395
Location: Missouri | fulltiltfilly - 2016-06-02 1:24 PM
1DSoon - 2016-06-02 12:13 PM I was hanging out at the feed lot back when I was pre-teen,
The cowboys were riding pens on a horse that kept bucking everyone off. I asked if I could ride him and eventually bought him because he didn't buck me off so much.
Went on to win 11 world titles,
Riiiiiight.
Is your name Charmayne too?
Hehehe. This made me giggle.  |
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Veteran
Posts: 285
| I'm lucky, my mom had me on a horse before I could walk. I had a few ponies, then moved up to a big apply who was amazing. Did playdays on him till I wanted something faster and took over my moms 4 yr old made and still ride her now. She's 19 and has taught me so much. We get along better now that I'm grown and know more of what I'm doing. ;) my mom was 13 when she got her first horse. She didn't come from a horse family, but she'd sneak out and ride the neighbors and I guess my grandparents thought they better get one for her. I'm so thankful that they did, cause if not, my life would be completely different without my horses!!
Edited to add, mom had us in 4H and horse judging. I learned what conformation to look for, different disciplines, colors, and parts of the horse early. I'm glad I had to learn all of it.
Edited by pepsi97 2016-06-04 9:07 PM
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 Three in a Bikini
Posts: 2035
| I have always had horses in my life...
But I have taken so many breaks during my equine career it is hard to keep track.
I started REALLY riding at age 10.
I was 12 when I attended my first barrel race and 15 when I joined high school rodeo.
I did not run barrels throughout college.
I was 22 when I started back up again and tried to get serious.
Then I moved across the country for a year.
FINALLY here I am 26 and have been consistently running for the last 2 years.
All that, and out of 26 years of life I have really only competed for maybe 8 years total. |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4553
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | My grandparents had percherons and mammoth Jacks to pull plow and hay wagon.Their son became a jockey then along came thoroughbred race horses..My uncle ran a cattle ranch in Wyoming thus cutters and roping horses.my sisters best friend belonged to a saddle club so we joined and did all events.We proceeded to little britches rodeo local barrel races to showing Arabians to NBHA and other local barrel races and rodeos. Still at it. |
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Expert
Posts: 1586
Location: west of East Texas | My parents were boaters and campers until I came along and tried to drown several times. They sold the boat, bought a couple of sale barn horses and threw me on behind the saddle for 'trailrides' around town. We climbed the foodchain of quality after that. I don't remember NOT having horses. I tried the 'adulting' thing after college but that didn't last but a few years. Moved out of the city and got back in the saddle. |
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How did you get your start in riding?