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Not everyone is fortunate enough to be born into a horse-mad family. This always makes things harder on the front that it's more unlikely that you will be able to grow up with horses as a main part of life. OK, so the answer for the past years and years has been "NO" What can you do to fill that gaping hole in your heart?
In
lots of countries around the world- American, Australia, Canada and Great
Britain in particular, will have a number of riding school facilities located
close to you. These riding schools charge a set fee (ranging from place
to place) for usually one hour where you (as the rider) are instructed
by a qualified instructor on a provided school horse. If you find a good
place, often they will let you groom the horse you ride as well as tack
it up. Some riding places also provide general horse sense classes ie.
teach you about caring for horses etc.
You
live really far away and your parents won't drive you? No stress! Try
and find a place that might be along a bus route. If that's no help, get
a bunch of friends together that may be interested in riding on the weekend
and get eachothers parents to take turns in dropping you off. For example,
one friend's parents will drop you off the first week, then maybe your
parents will drop you off the next week and someone else's parents dropping
you off the week after. That way, your parents won't be as hesitant to
drop you off every weekend so they don't have to drive all that way!
During
term breaks, a lot of places offer horse camps for one or a couple of weeks.
Here, they provide your food and accomodation. Often you are allocated
one particular horse for the time. In general, you ride twice a day being
taught things ranging from dressage to jumping. This is a great way
to be able to ride horses, as well as learn about caring and feeding. This
also allows you to meet many new friends that love the same thing as you:
horses!!
If
you can't afford riding lessons, you might like to try and volunteer help
at your local riding stable. By helping out, you will gain a lot of knowledge
and might even be able to score rides for your hard work!
You
may have a friend or relative that owns a horse and competes. If so, ask
if you can act as their strapper. A strapper is like the competitors helper;
helping with the horse. As a strapper, you are in charge of looking after
the horse while he is not competing. This includes grooming, tacking up,
feeding and watering, rugging etc. This could be a lot of fun!
If
you are a good rider then you might like to put up an ad at your local
riding stables offering to work owners' horse(s) if they are unable to.
This might work better if you actually know the person. Also, some people
may actually advertise such ads in the paper for a person needed to work
their horse.
You
may be lucky enough to be able to lease a horse. Leasing is much like owning
a horse, in the way that you are fully responsible for the upkeep of your
horse INCLUDING feeding, riding, medical bills, farrier, etc. etc. In other
words, you practically own the horse but it is owned by someone else. Leasing
can be free but some owners may infact charge a weekly/monthly/yearly fee.
Most owners will prefer long-term lease which means that you are entitled
to lease the horse for a period of one year or longer.
