Some Things Stick
Lookee what I found. Me + Star Attraction, Kentucky Horse Park. I was 17 & he was 6, I believe. I love this picture. What a smart, good boy he was. So incredibly loving and sweet...and what a looker. I'm not sure what class this was -- Low warm up or Juniors, but I remember that we were newly showing 3'6", and we had a great show, ending up Champion in the Juniors. Winning was always fun. Hells yeah. My grad school friend Cowboy always used to say it that way, with the plural "hell"-- "Hells yeah!" I admit I stole it.
Back to the Horse Park. I also remember how hot it was -- July in Kentucky, and they waived our jackets that day (note the casual white shirt attire). Riding is the only sport where the uniform totally works against you. When you grow up doing it, you just wear it. The new helmets make sense, but back in the day, helmets were made of something like thin felt, and they were really there only for the look. No protection at all. We didn't even wear them half the time. After years of curious study, the AHSA finally started regulating helmets, and the breeches improved as far as the grip, but later, this still comes to mind: what the hell are they thinking making us wear thick, wool jackets on 100 degree days, when it's hard, physical work to ride? It makes no sense, but the jacket tradition carries on. And on. And on.
I could also tell you about the hilarious Turfway show the next year when I was in the ring, showing Juniors, and in the first class, I just spaced out and completely stopped riding around the turn somewhere, and I could tell my horse was thinking, Uh, where are we going? So right then and there, he slowed to a trot, then stopped, and we walked out of the ring. Baffled, my trainer asked me, "What happened? You just stopped riding." "I know," I said, shrugging. "I have no idea." There are no timeouts in riding, but there need to be. I took my own timeout I guess. Later that day, we turned it around though. Go figure.
My timeout, and the jackets, and the fact that we used to ride without helmets -- all of that is ridiculous. Today's truth: as in deeply loving someone, some things are ridiculous, and yet they stick, staying with you forever.
C.A. MacConnell
