Masters: first, second, and third. First field is fastest and jumps any obstacles that may come up. Second field follows first, but does not choose to jump. They will go through gates provided for that purpose. Third field may not even be mounted, but choose to view from a following vehicle, or meander along from height to height. These are called “hill-toppers.” The etiquette of hunting is a story unto itself. My students and I participated in, and found Hunting to be great fun. In Southern California, coyotes rather than foxes are hunted. In the nearly twenty years we hunted, the dogs managed to kill one old, probably sick and blind coyote. The equestrian experiences, including sportsmanship, were valuable for my students. The social aspect after the Hunts was important, too. Networking, etiquette and manners all came into play and we were better for it.
Hunter –
A type of horse and type of class where consistency and evenness over relatively lower obstacles are most valued.
Jumper class–
Class where what matters is going over obstacles with the fewest faults, i.e. refusing, knocking down a rail, incurring time faults.
Roads and Tracks –
In 3-Day Events, this timed phase may come after the dressage test and before the cross-country event. It was used to warm one’s horse up for the jumps to come, but is not part of the competitions at the lower levels.
Scope-y –
The horse in question jumps well, carries itself with spring and loft over an obstacle and makes jumps appear to be easy to deal with. Wide or high jumps are well within its “scope” of competence and it makes jumps appear smooth and effortless.
Steeplechase –
An event that includes natural brush and wood fences on a track or course. Speed is of the essence; it is a race over obstacles. This event used to be included in the higher level of 3-Day Events as a timed event before cross-country.
3-Day Event –
A competition that can take up to three days to complete, composed of dressage, cross-country jumping, stadium jumping. The steeplechase and roads and tracks are being phased out.
Transition –
The change of gait “up”(faster) or “down” (slower), or the change of stride, shorter or longer, within the same gait.
1
HASHISH
A Great Beginning
I met my first husband when he was riding Hashy at a huge picnic during “Scots on the Rocks” week in 1970 at the University of California, Riverside soccer field. I was riding Merlin, a Cremello part-Quarter horse. I boarded him at a nearby stable right next to UCR. When we married, Hashy and Merlin were our family. Nearly every day, after school, the four of us would take long rides through the hills of Highgrove, where we were living, or Grand Terrace, or Reche Canyon, in Southern California’s foothills. I was in my third year of teaching, my husband was in school. My income supported the horses, we had food on the table, and a house with a backyard big enough to have a horse pen, in a semi-rural section of Highgrove, California.
Later, however, we moved across the street from my husband’s parents’ estate in Riverside. Rent increased (we had not yet bought a house), we had a car payment, wanted a horse trailer, and became more mainstream consumers. My husband wanted to work for himself. My income was adequate, but a visit to my credit union presented an interesting consideration; we had no tax deductions. My husband was out of school, we didn’t have a mortgage. We did have plans to travel, needed new furniture, would have liked fancier accommodations for the horses, would have liked to go out to dinner more…the usual wish-list for those first years of marriage.
Anyway, one fateful day in 1972, I walked into my credit union, and Bob, the manager, was showing another man around. I had been a member since 1968, when I began teaching school, and Bob and I had discussed my financial goals on various occasions. I all but bumped into them, so Bob introduced me to his visitor, a gentleman interested in showing the credit union various ways to save its patrons’ money. I laughed and said he could start by showing me a way to save money on my taxes. On the spot, the visitor made an appointment to come to our home and do just that. Out of this came the riding school.
Our advisor said that if we started a riding school, we could deduct the horses and all related expenses from our taxes. Further, we would not even have to pay for a DBA ( a “doing business as” announcement) if we used our own name. We did have to file a business license. Done. “Gunther’s Equestrian Schooling” started, and Hashy became our first school horse. I had had to sell Merlin. I wanted a competition horse to jump, and Merlin, wonderful trail horse that he was, simply didn’t enjoy jumping, or getting on the bit, or other people riding him. I then found Benefactor (I name my horses with positive ideas in mind when I can…relates to next story), a huge 17.3 hand Quarter-draft cross. Thus started the riding school, and the tax deductions associated with it!
Hashy was perfect. Anyone could ride her as she adapted to her rider. She was slow and mellow for apprehensive children, fast and powerful if your seat was secure. She was a husky 16 hand half-Morgan, half-Quarter line back dun: yellow ochre with black points: black socks, ear tips, zebra striped legs. Her broad back was like a sofa, and she was smooth enough that any novice could ride her bareback. I used her for vaulting, and I have a picture of her in a 3-Day Event at Pebble Beach. Versatile really is an understatement.
Hashy was probably about ten years old in 1971. In all these years that have passed, no horse I’ve worked with was more suitable. Lucky for me! I had some three-line liability release for students and parents to sign, like “I do not hold Gunther’s Equestrian responsible for accidents” tacked onto the bottom of the sign-up form my students filled out. A far cry from the triplicate forms, insurance premiums, and notarized leases that came later.
Of course, the riding school didn’t just suddenly have students. I advertised in the local paper: “Highly qualified instructor (I really had been riding/taking lessons/competing since that epiphany when I was 7, and I WAS a certificated teacher…). Great school horses (well, one was… Bene was for more, um, advanced riders!). Local, Reasonable, and my phone number. Local meant that my neighbor was allowing me to use the vacant field next to our house. Reasonable was $5.00 per lesson, private or group. I didn’t actually have a group at first, but the school pretty much did advance at a slow, steady pace.
My first student! Hashy walked, trotted, cantered. The dressage arena consisted of rails on the ground. The nearby house of a friend of ours had recently burned down, and they were rebuilding. Their redwood rail fence did not go with the new house plans, so they had stacked it up for removal. Not a moment too soon, I asked if I could have the rails for my riding school. These were horse people. They said “Sure”. About 90 van trips later--we didn’t have a truck yet--I got all those rails to the field. They were sufficient to make a dotted line outline for my dressage arena. There were spares enough to make five or six cavaletti composed of rails and cinder blocks to vary the ringwork and introduce
