RECREATION & LIFESTYLE

Recreation & Lifestyle

Welcome to Recreation & Lifestyle, which includes leisure riding and other aspects of the equestrian lifestyle for you and your horse loving friends and family.

Looking for the perfect present? See the Gifts & Jewelry section. Redecorating? Find a Painting, Photograph or Sculpture in the Artwork section. Need to check out a movie or crawl up with a good book or magazine? See our Entertainment section where you will find and Books, Movies, Games, and Magazines. And don't forget about Fine Art in some specialty Museums that might surprise you.

Looking for love or a trail buddy? Riding Partners is the spot to seek other riders who share your passion. Find a place to ride with that special person in our Trail Riding section and if you need more time away, take a look at Vacations. Want to know about the next horse show or special event? Don’t miss it! Dates and locations are included in the Calendar of Events for Recreation & Lifestyle.

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The Sport Horse Problem Solver - from Horse & Rider Books

by Eric Smiley

The development of the mind and body, either human or equine, to perform at its optimum goes through many stages before it reaches its peak. Along the way, it encounters mental and physical barriers, which must be overcome if it is to be the best it can be. Some of these challenges improve the resolve to succeed, while others leave scars that impede progress or even threaten the realization of the ultimate goal. How do we keep our horses and our partnership with them on the right track?

Education should be an enlightening experience full of understanding, but the success of all forms of education depends on adhering to a progressive system: one step at a time, layer upon layer of information, you build a solid foundation, progress to the next level, and so on. This applies to both physical and psychological challenges, especially in the early years of development. To move from one stage to the next requires a confidence in where you are and a belief that where you are going is within your capabilities. Without this solid base, progress is uncertain. This is true of humans in their education but is even more true of horses whose education is guided by humans.

How often have we heard of parents entering their children for a competition that is above their level with reasoning such as, “It’ll be good for them,” “They will see what the standard is,” “It will show them what to work on”…only for the child to be knocked out at the first metaphoric hurdle and come home deflated.

On the way home the parent then says, “Don’t worry, it’ll be better next time.”

But the chances are that it won’t be. A marker of failure and for failure has been put in place and that is very difficult to overcome.

Draw the same analogy with a young horse. Move him up in level to gain experience, only to find that he knocks fences or has run outs. The marker of failure has been laid down. Or he tries so hard to please and jumps clear, but the next time out he remembers the experience as being unpleasant and performs badly. Now that marker of failure has had a confirmation. Bad news.

This is what’s known as overfacing, a term that is defined as: to intimidate, especially by presenting too great a task or obstacle. Although the word is typically associated with asking a horse to jump something beyond his ability, it can be equally useful when applied to other aspects of training, including groundwork and riding on the flat. It’s crucial, in fact, that we embrace this broader understanding so we don’t become the architects of our own problems by pushing a horse too far, too fast. For just one example of the perils of overfacing, consider Thoroughbreds that begin a racing career at age two—those that go on to retire sound in mind and body are in the minority.

Horses are generous animals, constantly curious, and willing to take an interest in most things that are asked of them. Very few are disingenuous, which makes them good students.

The key is to stimulate their interest, understand their limitations, and be cautious not to take advantage of their desire to please. In stimulating their interest we must set achievable goals. This is how we create a pathway to learning: with clear, well-planned steps, direction, and plentiful rewards as we go. With interest and achievement much can be done.

These are the fundamentals of Progressive Training.

Excerpt from The Sport Horse Problem Solver — (Artwork by Penelope Daukes)

A Year-by-Year Breakdown

Ultimately, the goal of any horse’s journey should be for longevity, in his sport or just in his life as a nice riding horse. Horses that are still competing at the highest level when they are well into their teens tend to have been brought up the correct way.

In simple terms:

A four- to five-year-old is starting.
A six- to seven-year-old is learning the mechanics and skills of his trade.
An eight- to nine-year-old is developing and improving these skills.
A ten- to fourteen-year-old is in his prime.
Fifteen years old plus is bonus time.

The most critical years are between four and five and then again when a horse is seven. At seven there is a temptation to think of them as mature and adult. But that would be foolish. This time of life is fragile, as horses are beginning to show what they can do (their potential) but are not yet secure, either physically or mentally. To make a mistake in either physical or mental development can leave scars they may never recover from. However, using this time to consolidate experience, skill, and confidence at the appropriate level will allow horses to learn to believe in themselves and the future.

The Sport Horse Problem Solver
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This excerpt from The Sport Horse Problem Solver by Eric Smiley is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books (HorseandRiderBooks.com).

There are so many great reads in our section on Books.

In a matchup that will go down in boxing history as one of the most significant title fights of all time, unified WBC, WBA and IBF Welterweight World Champion Errol “The Truth’’ Spence Jr. will take on WBO 147-pound world champion Terence “Bud’’ Crawford for the Undisputed Welterweight World Championship on Saturday, July 29 in a highly anticipated SHOWTIME PPV clash from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas headlining a Premier Boxing Champions event.

The winner of this battle of undefeated superstars will become the first undisputed welterweight world champion in the four-belt era and likely emerge as the sport’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. But we also know Errol Spence Jr. as a horse lover! Let's look back....

In the early-morning hours of October 10, 2019, the life of Errol Spence Jr., one of the boxing’s brightest pay-per-view stars and undefeated boxing champion changed in a flash.

Driving his $300,000 Ferrari 488 Spider at frighteningly high speeds on the streets of downtown Dallas, Texas, where he resided – he'd been drinking and wasn't wearing his seatbelt -- Spence, then 29, lost control of his car when he hit a median and was ejected through the windshield as the Ferrari cartwheeled multiple times and was totally destroyed. The entire crash was caught on tape by a nearby security camera.

Miraculously, Spence, nicknamed “The Truth,” not only survived but suffered no broken bones and only some facial cuts and the loss of a couple teeth. Just a few weeks removed from successfully defending his welterweight titles, the boxer quickly realized he had cheated death and lived to talk about it.

“I don’t know how or why I got saved, but thank God,” he later wrote on Instagram. “The thought of leaving my (three) little girls and them growing up without me still (messes) with me, but I’m triple blessed and must be here for a reason . . . My accident slowed me down and gave me a different perspective on (things) I was taking for granted.”

Armed with a new lease on life, Spence found that new perspective in a nearly 60-acre ranch he purchased in DeSoto, Texas, just south of Dallas.

“I was just trying to find answers, you know? I needed to go somewhere new and start over and get out of that dark cloud that was downtown,” he said in a recent interview, “and be in a better element, because I’m already like an introvert; I don’t like being around people that much anyway.

Never Trust a Sneaky Pony from Horse & Rider Books

By Madison Seamans MS DVM

When I was a bright, young veterinarian just starting practice back in the eighties, I got a phone call from a man named Bob Gray who lived out of state. He asked me if I was available for a pre-purchase exam on a real good colt that he was thinking about buying. In those early days of my practice, this was like asking my cat if he was available for a can of tuna and a nap! I was so eager to practice medicine, I would have vaccinated his goldfish.

“When would you like me to look at this colt,” I asked while I thumbed through my nearly-empty appointment book. “I’ll try to work you into my schedule.” I took a deep breath and hoped that I had not violated some part of the veterinary oath.

“Any time would be okay with me,” he said. “I won’t be able to be there when you look at him, so just do it when it is convenient for you.” The voice came over the phone like a ray of hope, saving me from having to enroll in the Ace Truck Driving School to keep from starving. “The colt has some great bloodlines, and I am planning on using him as a foundation sire in my breeding program. If you find anything wrong with him, I need to know about it. This is a real expensive horse, and I don’t want any surprises. He’s just a yearling now, but I have a lot of hope for him.” Mr. Gray paused, then repeated: “He has great bloodlines.”

I had no idea that this last phrase would come to haunt me for years.

Bob gave me the name and phone number of the lady who owned the colt in question. I called Carla, and we made an appointment for later in the week. She was friendly enough but let me know clearly that there was nothing wrong with the colt. If Mr. Gray considered a prepurchase exam necessary, that was “all right with her.”

I have never considered myself a distrusting fellow, but I have been involved in enough horse trades over the years to realize their potential to bring out the scariest parts of human nature. In addition, I have purchased enough lame, crazy, crippled and just overall bad horses to become, well, “cautious” when dealing with the buying and selling of horses.

For example, when I was still a student, way back in the early seventies, one of the ways that I supported my college habit was by riding colts for people and trading a few horses myself. One time I bought a big, stout, red, four-year-old gelding that I called Red Man. I rode him for quite a while as he had about every bad habit a horse could have. When I finally sold him, he was about fifteen years old. I didn’t ride him that long, he just wasn’t that young! I took quite a beating physically and economically, as this old snide had crippled a couple of local cowboys before I got him, and he hadn’t seen his fourth birthday since LBJ was president.

Some of life’s best lessons are also its toughest, and I was lucky to have survived that one. It did motivate me to learn how to tell the age of a horse by looking at his teeth, and I got pretty good at it out of economic necessity.

Hats in the Kentucky Derby Museum Gift Shop 2017

When you think of the Kentucky Derby you think of two things: big horses and big hats. Women’s hats. There are plenty of other big racing days, but none of them in the United States are associated with the millinery grandeur the same way as this longest consecutively running sporting event on the first Saturday in May and began in 1872. The first editorial mention of hats at the Derby was in a 1926 edition of Time Magazine. It wasn't much of a mention, and was stuck in the middle of an extremely long, convoluted sentence describing the start of the race. “… hats and parasols and a foam of faces…”

For those of you who are new to the sport, the Kentucky Oaks is run the day before the Derby. Unless otherwise stated, most other races including the Kentucky Derby are open to both genders. Although, the general public is probably not as familiar with it, it too is a “hat” affair.

The Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby were founded at the same time by Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. in 1875. Thoroughbred racing, which started in Europe, set the trend as a fashionable event across the pond, and those attending adhered to the trendy styles of the day. However, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride in America: in the beginning stages of American racing, women had a tendency to think the racetrack may not be the proper place for a lady. Meriwether, with the help of his wife, decided that they should present the experience as a picnic outing, which would require what is called “full morning dress” for both men and women. For women it was not overly formal, but respectively presentable. For men, it was job attire. Hats were more in the style of simple bonnets to keep the sun off women’s delicate white skin, as tanned skin was considered to be a lower class attribute, for those who worked in the fields.

French artist Benedicte Gele’s award-winning abstract piece

... ‘art that makes you feel good’.

Newmarket racehorse trainer Ilka Gansera-Leveque will be adding a splash of colour to May’s Guineas weekend with an unusual art exhibition in her own Newmarket racing yard.

Ilka will be displaying work from 13 artists, including international names, alongside the thoroughbred racehorses in her Hamilton Road stables.

The ‘Art & Horse Racing’ exhibition will be open to the public free of charge at her picturesque Saint Wendred’s yard from 10am-6pm on Sunday May 7, 2023 - 1,000 Guineas Day.

It follows private viewings for racehorse owners, Vantage Point Racing Club members and invited guests during 2,000 Guineas Day on Saturday May 6, 2023.

Emily Johnson, artist in residence at Cheltenham racecourse, is one of the exhibitors and can be seen painting during the exhibition – plus she is donating a sketch for visitors / social media followers to win.

By Nick Pernokas

The third grader sat on her Grannie’s daybed, reading. Her grandmother’s cottage was in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and the open window allowed in the ocean air and the sounds from an osprey nest in the tree outside. It was a Saturday and the girl and her sisters had just returned from Grannie’s weekly summer pilgrimage to the library. Now Letitia was engrossed in a world created by Walter Farley, in a book titled The Black Stallion.

“I remember thinking that I had to have horses in my life,” says Letitia Glenn, founding owner and saddle systems designer for Natural Horseman Saddles, as well as the newly christened company, Contour Saddlery.

Unfortunately, it would be many years before Letitia’s dream came true. At the age of 47, Letitia and her husband, Art Glenn, had become successful entrepreneurs. They had homes in Houston, and in Durango, Colorado. The Rocky Mountains called to them and they enjoyed the outdoor activities there, like skiing and back packing. Around 1990, they moved to Durango full time and purchased the O’Farrell Hat Company. Letitia felt that the time was right for a horse.

“I said, ‘Art, if I don’t have a horse before I die, I’m going to die!’” remembers Letitia.

Letitia had friends who were Paso Fino breeders and they gave her a well-bred two-year-old stallion. Her friends told her not to ride him until he was four. A corral was built in the backyard and Letitia began doing the groundwork on the colt. Within a year, Art became interested in horses as well and he purchased another Paso Fino for himself. When they were able to start riding the horses, the couple took them to a well-known saddletree maker to have their backs measured for custom trees.

Through Letitia’s involvement with the O’Farrell Hat Co., she met famed horse trainer Pat Parelli over the phone. Pat had called to order a custom beaver hat.

“He was absolutely lovely and didn’t request a discount, which impressed me.”

The Glenns, and hatmaker Kevin O’Farrell, soon took their hats to Germany for the Equitana trade show. Pat and Linda Parelli were also there conducting some horsemanship clinics. The couples became friends and eventually the Parellis stayed with the Glenns in Durango, while they searched for land in the area to build their first equine learning center. Letitia designed a logo for them and began to create custom clothing for the Parellis’ customers and fans. In 2000, Linda Parelli made a comment to Letitia that would alter her life.

“Linda said that saddles are all too often torture devices. “

Letitia thought to herself, “Luckily ours aren’t, because they were measured and built to fit our horses”.

by Robert Clark

Gem has become a fan favorite. For many people it was because of his long tenure at the track where I believe he became the first million dollar earner for West Point Thoroughbreds. Before his career was through he would claim his Grade 1 victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup - as portrayed in this painting of him.

Many others have become a fan of Gem when he arrived at Old Friends in Kentucky (which is just a couple miles from my house now). There, Gem greets hundreds of fans on a regular basis.

But for me - Awesome Gem was a different kind of special and that was because a very dear friend in the sport Clyde Haugen loved this horse. I think Clyde had a piece of more than 20 different horses through West Point Thoroughbreds, but GEM was the ONE that made Clyde light up every time he talked about him. Clyde was one of the most inspiring guys you'd ever meet. He was a former fighter jet pilot and had transitioned to being a business mentor to groups of people all over the world. As much as he loved horse racing, Awesome Gem was the horse that Clyde would travel the world to watch run. Clyde even had a carousel horse made of Awesome Gem!

By Van Hargis

Some of the most successful people I’ve met are the Henry Fords of the world. For a particular project in college, I studied Henry Ford, who is credited with the concept of the mass production of automobiles. Now, Henry Ford was not known as a “book smart” guy. He was very brilliant in understanding mechanics, engineering, and processes, even though his only formal education was in bookkeeping. However, when Ford was releasing a new product or making corporate changes or whatever the case may be, he would hold press conferences. Snide reporters would occasionally poke fun at Mr. Ford by asking questions to which they figured he probably wouldn’t know the answers. One day he put a stop to that practice when he said to one such rude reporter, “Young man, I don’t know the answer to that question, but I have over one hundred people that work for me that do. Next question.”

In my humble opinion, this was a brilliant response from Mr. Ford. It said that he was done with responding to petty, irrelevant questions. Most importantly it said that he understood the purpose of roles. It was not his role to know everything. He trusted others in his company to know things. Mr. Ford was smart enough to know his job and allow other people to do their jobs. Together they formed a stronger team. Of course, as the leader of the company he is ultimately accountable and responsible for every employee’s actions, failures, and successes. Leaders must have great commitment while also having great trust in those around them.

The same can be applied to horsemanship. In order for me to be a good horseman, I must know I can’t do the horse’s job. I’ve only got two legs. There’s no way for me to move around nearly as well, with as much strength and athleticism, as a horse can. I could never pull a plow as well or as efficiently as a horse. I could not carry a passenger as easily as a horse. I could not cut a cow from a herd as effectively as a horse. I could not go over the jumps that horses do. I could not run the races that horses run. These things and countless others are strengths of the horse. God blessed horses with size, speed, strength, stamina, and the intelligence to be trained.

So, what strengths do we have? Among many more, one of our best strengths is the ability to think and use logic, which we do much better than the horse. I frequently say that God blessed horses with a brain the size of our fist, but God blessed humans with a brain the size of both our fists. What that tells me is maybe we can use our strengths to teach the horse to use his strengths—and together we can achieve remarkable things as a team. To do so takes trust, courage, discipline, self-confidence, and faith.

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There are certainly a number of riding disciplines, with some aiming to master a certain few for an amateur event and others needing to nail them all, given that they’re an aspiring professional horse person. Additionally, horse lovers tend to follow the latest news in the equestrian world and find out various aspects of a horse’s behavior and health. Essentially, whatever your link to horses is, there is a wealth of information available.

In the modern world in particular, horse enthusiasts certainly aren’t short on resources thanks to the rise of the internet. One notable area in the online environment where information is shared on a consistent basis is through the form of websites and blogs, with former riders offering an insight into a past life and horse enthusiasts sharing the latest developments on owning their first-ever horse. For some, horse racing is a particular favorite, too, with sites dedicated to horse racing tips providing a real insight into the sport in Australia ahead of placing a bet on one of the major events on the racing calendar. Put simply, whatever horse-related activity piques your interest, there is most definitely a website or a blog out there that will tickle your fancy.

In order to provide you with some additional content to help manage your horse or to become a professional rider in the future, let’s take a look at some of the must-read websites and blogs for horse lovers.

HorseyCounsel

Featuring interesting articles for aspiring equestrians about the responsibilities of an owner around horse care, horse gear, and any equipment related to horse riding, HorseyCounsel provides an informative dive into modern-day equestrian news and views. Created by Louise Richards in 2020, the site offers fresh and intriguing takes on a comprehensive selection of subjects in this area.

Horse and Rider

For UK-based readers who enjoy horses, Horse and Rider is a go-to magazine. In fact, it’s officially the UK’s best-selling monthly publication that focuses on a variety of facets within this particular category, although most people subscribe to Horse and Rider for the fascinating interviews with top riders, trainers, vets, and behaviorists. For people who are passionate about horses, Horse and Rider is a solid choice.