# The Trials and Tribulations of Training as a College Student



## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

Marge, my neighbor, was the person to find Toofine for sale. When we drove to look at him, I did not want him. He was very green, very snorty, and very not what I was looking for. I wanted to join my friends in 4-h, and be able to compete, not be stuck with another horse that wasn't ready for the show ring. We left, and when I got home, I told my parents that I wanted to keep looking. I was given a deadline to decide on this horse, and the final night that I could've decided I wanted him, I decided I did. I was tired of being horseless, so I wanted to see where this decision would take me, and at the time, I had no idea.










The first year with Toofine was incredibly hard. He was only ever really broken-out and trail ridden occasionally for the first 9 years of his life. In the first few weeks of owning him, I stuck to the round pen, so we really only walked and trotted. Once we brought him out to the bigger arena, it was discovered that he had no idea how to canter, and that I had bought something that was just as suitable for the show ring as my previous horse. A year of basic riding later, I joined a 4-h club, and began competing...or trying to.










Toofine had zero experience in the show ring, and it showed. He would dance in the show ring, and yell for any horse that would listen. He would get distracted by the surroundings, decide to completely shut down, and do whatever he pleased. I was absolutely heart-broken at every single show. Sometimes my parents had to come into the arena to get him because I had no control and would be in tears. All of my friends had perfectly trained show horses, and I was stuck with a horse that knew nothing. The first year or two of showing Toofine was the same, but eventually, we began figuring each other out.










And after the first couple of years with Toofine, he started to show me how amazing of a horse he truly was. One weekend we could be winning in the English ring, and the next weekend we could be sweeping at a Speed show. He kept me safe doing absolutely anything that my heart wanted, and he would give me all of the heart he had to do so. This horse that seemed to be a mistake, become everything but that. Toofine became my heart horse.


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

Love it. Subbing. Your journal makes me realise I should take more pictures. I never think to.. I rarely have my phone with me. But it's really nice to be able to SEE your story too!


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

Kalraii said:


> Love it. Subbing. Your journal makes me realise I should take more pictures. I never think to.. I rarely have my phone with me. But it's really nice to be able to SEE your story too!


I was really lucky to have parents that had cameras! I don't have a single picture of my first horse because that was in the time before good camera phones, but now I make sure to have so many pictures of all of my animals.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Great story, but the interspersed pictures take it over the top!


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

In my Junior year of high school, I ended up with my third horse that I could call my own (my family had two other horses, Zeus and Hunter, but they will be a separate story). My farrier, that I had been using for nearly 8 years at this point, mentioned that one of her clients across the state was getting ready to send one of his Arabians to an auction that often attracted kill buyers. According to the owner of the horse, she was incredibly dangerous and was a lost cause. According to my farrier, her owner practically tossed her into driving lines and beat her to go forward, until she reared up and flipped over on herself. By that time, I was enthralled by the Arabian breed, due to the fact that nearly all of the horses that I have ridden at that point were Arabians or Arabian crosses. I begged my parents to give me a chance to help this horse, and the next morning my stepdad and I were driving to pick her up.










The name Flame suited her bright red coat, and later I would find out, her personality. She was a lovely Egyptian-bred mare, but much smaller than I imagined she'd be. At the time we had a tall, ramp-less trailer, so Flame had to do quite the leap to get on and head to her second chance.










We quickly discovered that she was not dangerous, but rather was the product of human failure. Over the course of a few short weeks, I had her saddle broke and riding at a walk-trot. Flame rarely threatened to rear, and if she did, she had good reason. Sometimes, the pressure of a situation would just set her off, and she would panic. Oftentimes her panic would lead to Flame throwing her body every which way, trying to get away from the simplest of questions that I would ask of her. None of this was ever her fault; the more questions I asked my farrier about her, the more it came out that she was regularly cornered with a pitchfork and beaten at her past home. Flame had no reason to trust humans, but as time passed, she chose to trust me and my family.










After her initial saddle breaking, I let her be a pasture horse and occasionally a leadline pony for my younger siblings, due to her hock arthritis at only 10 years old. I was never worried about putting a young child on her, as I knew she would never hurt anyone, as long as no one ever hurt her again.










Flame has since crossed the rainbow bridge due to a freak accident, but she will forever remain in my heart. She made me realize that often the problems that horses have aren't due to themselves, but rather the humans that failed them. Flame taught me so many unforgettable and invaluable lessons over the short time that I had her, and of the horses that I have owned, she has been the only one ever to knicker any time she saw me. I carry a piece of her mane as a key chain wherever I go, as a reminder of the little red mare that found refuge in my barn and in my heart.










Rest in Peace, June 2015.
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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

I'm going to fast-forward this journal to today, and get into the "tribulation" side of this journal. Today was considered "_just one of those days_" for me. Last night I was up late with a nasty case of acid reflux and a dog that newly became scared of storms. I had a gaming/speed show today at a fairgrounds about an hour away, and thought it started an hour later than what it did, and set my alarm an hour later than I needed. I only found this out as I was about to leave, because my horse's ride to the show messaged me and asked if I was still coming. :eek_color: 

I arrived to the fair grounds just in time to avoid paying the late registration fee, but no longer had time to have any time for a warm-up. Usually this is no big deal, especially if it is just a pleasure show, but Toofine has forever struggled with the in gate at speed shows. Usually it is a combination of excessive side-passes, back-ups, and hops...and today was no different. At last weekend's speed show, I found out that if I allowed him to canter through the gate and immediately start the pattern, we have no issues whatsoever. Well, after my first successful run, and just as I was about to canter into the ring for the second, the gate keeper decided this wasn't going to fly and slammed the gate shut and gave me an earful. :shrug: So, for the rest of my classes (9 of them!) I had to fight with Toofine to get into the ring, without backing into any other horses or hopping towards people. 










My frustrations grew, and Toofine could tell. We were having some of our worst runs and worst gate problems to date. It was hot, we were both sweaty, and we were both ready to go home by the lunch break. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a stress crier, and soon the tears were flowing. My biggest fan, my mom, drove 10 hours with my Grandma to spend time with me and watch my horse show, and I felt like I was failing them. I've become known as a local trainer, and I was not putting on my best rides. And, this was one of the last shows in the circuit that counts towards an all-around high point award that I am working to get. I was a mess. 
:music019: 
With the help of a cold snow-cone, I got myself back together and finished up the day.










Once the arena cleared out, I took the chance to work on the gate. Toofine did his typical skippity-hoppity entrance, but then decided I had two choices; to have his feet glued to the sand or to take off at full speed like a bat outta...anyways, that used up the final straw of my patience and I hopped off of him and reminded him who paid for his board, his feed, his LIFE in the way of fast-paced circles. I mounted back on and he gave me quite honestly one of our best rides in that arena (probably because he was reminded of who his supreme being is)... inkunicorn: 

After we got home, he got a well-deserved bath and his dinner, and I took the time to contemplate the day. I took the time to remember why I love this horse so dang much. Toofine has always kept me safe, no matter the "_maneuvers_" he decided to toss in on the given day. He never gives me, or anyone, more than we can handle. He always keeps me on my toes, and never acts his age (20!). And no matter when I decide to have an emotional moment, I always end up feeling his muzzle resting on my shoulder or his lip nuzzling my cheek. Toofine is my absolute best friend, my soulmate, my heart horse - and sometimes the temporary frustrations of the ride blur that - but at the end of the day, he is still my Toofine.











And now that I am home for the night, I will crack myself a cold one (a gifted six-pack for my 21st birthday!) and continue being emotional over 11 years of pictures and videos that I have with my boy, Toofine. 
:cheers:
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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

Over the years, I've had many trainers from many different disciplines tell me that if I were to train with them, I should only be riding my horse in that discipline and that's it. Many people that I showed with couldn't believe that I would do both speed and pleasure classes in the same weekend! I've had strangers come up to me after my first barrel run of the day, and make remarks on how they thought I was running my horse just for fun as he was a "slow-poke" in the warm-up. This past weekend, Toofine and I showed over four days in four different disciplines; speed, jumping, pleasure, and a cowboy challenge, finally earning us our first ever high-point belt buckle. 










I'm a huge believer that if you are going to spend the money to own a horse, then that horse should be versatile enough to be somewhat successful in whichever discipline you want. Over the eleven years that I've owned and shown Toofine, we have competed in nearly everything offered to us. This hasn't always been a walk in the park, and this past weekend I was reminded that a horse is never completely "finished". Upon arrival to the fairgrounds, I realized just how close the carnival rides were to the riding arena (100 yards, at most!). Luckily we arrived before the fair officially started, so Toofine was able to go up and sniff the mystery machinery to his heart's content, and have an amazing ride in the arena to start out the weekend. The following day was the speed show (Thursday), and I realized just how much of a fiery dragon that Toofine could still turn into at 20 years old, with the help of those carnival rides of course...ya know how all of those racehorses look being led the morning of the Kentucky Derby? That was him. He was prancing, hopping, pulling, and even doing those LOUD snorts. I knew I was going to be in trouble. 
:runpony:

Just to hopefully put the entire weekend into perspective, here is a comparison of two flag race runs that I have done with Toofine. The first? We won a high-school championship state title. The second? We dropped the flag far away from the bucket AND jumped over the timer. The video doesn't show it well but the carnival is on the far end of the arena and anytime we turned away from it, we were on the homestretch about to win the Triple Crown. Yee-haw.











Luckily, we still ended up coming home with a decent check, even though we had our first DQ in a long time. The next day (Friday), we had our jumping show, which Toofine gets notoriously over-excited and hot for. He has always loved jumping, and that day was no different from any other. Even luckier for us, this jumping show was based off of only time and penalties, so even though he was a speedy demon, we had no problem doing well. I normally jump him in his usual latex-wrapped Myler, but I decided to step up to a pelham for the day just to account for the tomfoolery that I knew he was going to throw my way.

The following video isn't from the jumping show, but it shows a glimpse of what amount of work I had to put in to help keep him together this past weekend. Usually, I try to give him a bit more rein to account for his tendency to drop behind the vertical, but it didn't seem like a good option this weekend. Anytime I tried to give him even an inch more of rein, it would result in a rocket-like maneuver or a spook away from the carnival. Pretty much the entire way around the ring my heel was actively holding him onto the rail and my fingers were playing with the reins trying to keep his attention. If you watch really close, I believe there were two or three attempts at mini half-halts that didn't do much. 






I was most looking forward to the pleasure show (Saturday), as I was using it as preparation for a double-judged show in September that ends my club's show circuit for the year, and will hopefully put me at the top for year-end awards. The halter classes in the morning were our biggest classes for the day, and we started off winning both the Geldings division and Hunter type division. Those qualified us for the Championship class, which we took Reserve in. 
:loveshower:
Afterwards, we had a Showmanship class, which kicked off our long line of classes that we only had one or two competitors in. Our pattern started off incredibly strong, until we trotted up to present to the judge, who was standing right in front of the carnival. Toofine decided it was a great time to hop from side-to-side like the ground was on fire, before finally standing in place long enough to finish the evaluation by the ring steward. Whoops. 

Little did I know, his riding classes would bring a whole new meaning to Toofine being silly...and not in the fun way. Our pleasure classes went on without a hitch, probably only because I had a rail to hold him against to keep him from exploding. 
:shrug:
During both of our equitation patterns, we couldn't even reach the starting cone before he would blow up and shoot across the arena away from the carnival rides. Once I negotiated with him and threatened to sell him to the random man that offered me $75, we would find ourselves back to the starting cone and give a really pretty pattern. Up until that point, the audience and judge got to watch him fly backwards, spin better than any reiner I've ever seen, and throw in some baby rears. But, the couple of stills I got from the day look really nice...I'm sure any video would tell otherwise.

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Once the rodeo that I called "pleasure" was over, there was a little costume class that one of my lesson kids begged me to do. At her last lesson, she did quite a bit of stirrup-less two-point, so I guess I could oblige just this one time. :rofl: Toofine behaved absolutely perfect and was a great sport for the whole ideal, even though he was subject to a lot of "Freaky Fast" jokes.

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This post got a bit rambly, so the next entry will cover the highlight of our entire weekend, our first Cowboy Challenge!






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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

subbing! I love the arabs!


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

After three long days of having an overly-hot horse at the fair, I was really ready just to pack up and be done with showing for the summer. For those who have never had the experience of having a horse like Toofine, I can tell you it is absolutely _exhausting_ at times. Just this past weekend, we went on a three hour long trail ride where over 90% of the time Toofine was either jigging, going sideways, circling, or backing down the trail - it is a treat when he decides he can just walk rather than exert the maximum amount of energy possible - and this was all after galloping quite a ways down a dirt road! 

So, while watching the Cowboy Challenge being set up at the fair, I was already envisioning the movements Toofine would show off in the ring. The entire weekend was already full of his silly antics, whether they be airborne or fast as lightning, but in typical Toofine fashion he reminded as to why he is my absolute heart horse; he never gives me more than I can handle, and gave me an amazing ride (minus the mailbox, of course!). 






We may not have won, but we ended our weekend on a good note, and that is all that really matters.
:loveshower:

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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Wow! So impressive. Toofine is some versatile horse! Great job.


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