Free Horse Racing Videos! Enter Your Topic Below:

8. THE CROWNING GLORY

But many months must inevitably pass between the time you first start practicing the elementary steps in riding and the time you are ready for a rider's dream come true—enter­ing the big-time National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden, in New York City; the Grand National, in San Francisco; the Chicago International; The American Royal, in Kansas City, or the International, in Washington, D. C. During those months, or perhaps even years, of practice you should acquire three chief talents.

First of all, you should develop a feeling of true closeness and friend­ship with your horse. This means that you not only love him but understand him. You have some idea of what 'makes him tick.' You've ridden him so often that, nearly every time he makes a move, you know what to ex­pect next. You know that if he lays his ears back while you're riding with other horses, he is likely to kick out because someone is riding too close to his heels. If you're riding along the trail and you feel him tense up, you will be aware of the fact that he might be frightened and about to shy at something. Perhaps you feel him grab at the bit and try to put his head down. Then you should know whether he's about to buck or whether he's merely making a stab at picking up some grass along the way. In short, you should become sensitive to his every mood. Then you will be able to tell if he's relaxed and gentle or if he's nervous and frisky. You are practically certain of just how far you can trust him—and you have a good idea of how far he trusts you.

Well, you might ask yourself, what has this feeling of "togetherness" got to do with Madison Square Gar­den, or the San Francisco Cow Pal­ace ? It has this to do with it: it means that when you enter the big ring with bright lights shining down on you and several thousand people con­centrating on your performance, you aren't simply on any old animal hop­ing for the best—you are with a friend. The two of you are working as a team. You aren't two frightened strangers in the middle of an arena, each wondering what the other is going to do. And as soon as you enter that ring, you'll realize that the feel­ing of closeness, trust and friendship between you and your horse is not only wonderful in itself but is a tre­mendous advantage in a show. You are far luckier than the rider who sees his mount an hour or so a day and who has a groom to take care of such things as cleaning and feeding him. In such cases, the horse becomes a friend of the groom—not the rider.

The second quality you'll develop is a sense of balance. No one can teach you this. It comes about with constant practice, with hours of riding day after day. Soon it becomes automatic. You move right with the horse with­out even thinking about it. You de­velop ease and flexibility in every action while you're mounted, and you stay on the horse with scarcely any concentration at all on keeping those knees in, and heels and hands down.

The third skill you must develop is an ability to perform certain techni­cal exercises required in any horse­manship class. In other words, you must not only demonstrate correct riding form on your own part but you must also be able to maneuver your horse easily while keeping this form. Before you even think of enter­ing a national horse show, you must be able to canter a horse on the cor­rect 'lead.' What is a lead? Well, when you get to the point of being able to canter, you'll notice that in this gait the horse always leads with one of his front feet at every stride. If he is on the right lead, his right front leg always strikes out ahead of the left. The opposite is true if the horse is cantering on the left lead; then his left foot will extend ahead of the others. When cantering in a ring, the leg toward the center of the ring should lead first. To put the horse on the correct lead, you turn his head slightly toward the rail (away from the center of the ring) and kick with your foot nearest the rail. The horse should break into the canter on the correct lead when you give those signals. He should not be run into a canter from the trot. Learn to change leads easily and quickly; then practice doing figure eights and performing serpentines. This will give you added drill in changing leads.

You should also be able to back your horse easily when mounted, remem­bering to move your legs back slightly while pulling steadily and evenly on the reins.

Handsome, high-stepping hackney ponies are judged on looks, way of moving, performance, and manners. Carts are called gigs

These are Lipizzaner, famed white horses of Vienna. Seen here at the Garden, they are considered among most beautiful and highly trained horses in the world

Good form and competence with mount may take you to big shows early. Here a young rider takes jump on her prized pony

Coaches and four are another attraction at the Garden in addition to the various horsemanship classes

Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their horses perform drill that shows importance of teamwork

Frank Chapot, U.S. champion, in Rome for Olympics

Diagonals are another tech­nicality you should be familiar with. When you are trotting your horse in a riding ring, the motion of your posting should correspond to the movement of the horse's front legs. Every time his leg next to the rail goes forward, you should be going up. When his leg nearest the center goes forward, you should be down.

All these are skills you must acquire before entering the more advanced horsemanship classes, or classes where the horse's performance is at stake. Practice the exercises every day until you have mastered them. Then try performing them without stirrups, being certain to keep your legs in the proper position.

Once you really become familiar with these requirements and are at ease doing them with or without stir­rups, the road to the big show rings is not a long or difficult one. Let's take a visit to Madison Square Garden now—just to see what it will be like when you ride there.

Opening night at the National is truly a splendid affair, rivaled in elegance only by the opening of the Metropolitan Opera. The show takes place during the latter part of No­vember, usually within a week of the opening of the Met. Each year there is a sort of delightful, unofficial com­petition between the opera and the horse show to see which opening will be the more spectacular.

The ring is in the form of a huge oval, brilliantly colored in orange and black along the sides. At each end hang the flags of the countries com­peting in the international jumping classes—usually at least eight nations. Every year the Garden looks forward to sporting the colors of our three most regular visitors—the Irish, the Mexicans, and the Canadians—but other nations competing in recent years include Chile, Germany, France, England, Italy, and Argentina.

At one end of the ring are the 'in' and 'out' gates—the entrance and exit to the ring used by the horses and riders.

Over the 'out' gate is located the sparkling brass band which sends tingles through the view­ers when it plays the national anthem of each country represented by its equestrian team.

At every performance there is a special exhibition in addition to the regular competitive classes. Often the scarlet-coated Royal Canadian Mount-ies go through their formations, or a special 'dressage' act will provide this extra entertainment. A dressage horse is a superbly trained animal capable of doing the most astounding feats at the slightest signal from its rider—a signal which is invisible, to most onlookers. First-nighters get an added treat for, on opening night only, there is a special march of the U. S. Army band which goes through intricate formations while playing stirring marches.

Then the classes begin, and the gleaming lights shine from above on each rider and his mount. The sleek coats of the horses reflect the lights with mirror-like brilliance. The animals sense the excitement of the moment and, with ears perked for­ward and nostrils flaring, they circle the ring with special beauty.

You're up on top of the world when you win a tri-color championship ribbon at this show Gleaming trophy is formally presented member of U. S. Equestrian Team as winners of international jumping competition at the Garden

The atmosphere is tense and every muscle in every horse is taut—ready for a signal from the rider, ready to exert the ultimate in his strength to dash over a five-foot jump, or ready to strain every inch of his body in order to pick up his feet as high as he can, or rack just a little bit faster.

Riders are deep in concentration and, of course, dressed in their very best. Saddle-seat folk wear formal tuxedo saddle suits—black jodhpurs with a black satin stripe down the side of each leg, black jackets with satin lapels, black boots and black top hats made of silk. The handsome figure they cut is enough to make any operagoer think twice about whether his own attire is up to par! Picture what a stunning sight these riders are, dressed in black and mounted on their different-colored horses sport­ing gay brow and nose bands!

But hunter-seat riders are not to be outdone by their saddle-seat friends. Long forgotten are the blue jeans and loafers: the girls will have on their best canary-yellow breeches, shining black boots with patent leath­er tops, and snow-white stocks held with a plain gold pin. To this each will add the formal vest and dashing fitted, black shad-belly formal hunt coat with a collar matching the colors of the hunt each girl rides with. The shad-belly coat looks something like a man's full-dress tail coat except that it fastens in front instead of hanging loose. Of course, the outfit is completed with a silk top hat.

Men wear essentially the same at­tire, with slight differences in the cut of the formal coat and details of the boots.

As these riders and their big, intel­ligent-looking hunters flow smoothly over one jump after another, you'll feel that you are in another world, another time. You'll think you must be with the royal courtiers of an ancient English king, out on the bronzed autumn fields with a pack of hounds heralding the call of the wild, free spirit of the hunter.

When the last rider circles the ring, the class will be over. The judges will confer and the winners will be an­nounced. You will feel yourself slip­ping back to the present as grooms and workmen buzz, about getting ready for the next class. Then the winning horses return to the ring, and the polished, shimmering trophy goes to the best horse and rider.

The presentation is made by a lady in evening dress escorted by a gentle­man also in full evening attire. . . . You see yourself as that winning rider, and know that this is the crowning glory. It is something out of a make-believe world—and yet you know it is real. It happens now, in our time—and you can see its splendor every single year. In fact, it is a spectacle of beauty all your very own once you've caught Horse Fever.

PAT JOHNSON

A native of New Rochelle, Pat Johnson started riding at the age of three and showing horses at the annual Hutchinson Farms Horse Show at nine. While in school, Pat concen­trated her spare time on hunting, which she vastly enjoyed, and rode with the Old Chatham Hunt. During summers in school and college—she went to the Emma Willard School, then to Vassar and New York University—she taught riding to countless campers, and also worked on a horse breeding farm training young horses. Meanwhile, her sister Peg devoted week-ends to showing and went on to win, on her horse Peg's Pride, the Reserve Open Jumping Championship of the United States and Canada.

After college, Pat worked for two years in the editorial department of Sports Illustrated, then joined Fawcett Publications where she is now Associate Editor of Gold Medal Books.