There was always a small group of girls at the barn – usually 3 of us. Mrs. Brenda taught us to be true horse people. On the weekends when we weren’t barrel racing we could be found at the local horse auctions. She would buy horses cheap, bring them home, and then hand them over to us. Within a week a rude and unpleasant horse had an attitude change. The task was generally very simple. These horses had been allowed to do whatever they wanted with no regards to the rider. We simply taught the horse that it had to answer to someone – no more walking away when it was time to mount up, cantering when I said trot, and definitely no more bucking temper tantrums. Then we would start training on the barrel pattern and the horse would be sold with “30 days of barrel training.”
We weren’t taught to ride pleasure horses, jumping horses, ranch horses, or anything like that. We were taught to ride HORSES. Brenda trained us to be true horse people so as I’ve moved from barrel racing, to polo, to racehorses, and finally jumping, the transitions have been easy.
As wonderful as Mrs. Brenda was, her people skills and business skills were a bit lacking. It was obvious that she loved her girls at the barn, but it was often tough love…very tough love. Someone visiting to look at horses once pulled me aside and told me I was being verbally abused. Mrs. Brenda was definitely on a roll that night because I had forgotten my jacket on a chilly evening, but I’m not sure that it was so different from other horse trainers. When I was riding at Mrs. Brenda’s it felt like we were always being taken advantage of. I remember being asked to purchase hay bales during the glum winter months where the grass was hiding in the cold, wet Mississippi mud. All of the boarders took turns purchasing the gigantic round bales. Mrs. Brenda ordered them and we reimbursed her. It turns out we were paying $40 to Mrs. Brenda, and she was only paying $20 to the hay guy. When we loaded our horses into the 4-horse blue stock type trailer for horse shows,we all split the cost of gas. Everyone was happy until we hit a curb one day and had a flat tire on the way to a show. She asked the parents to pay for it, and they were infuriated. After all, it’s Brenda’s trailer and Brenda’s horses were on it too. It may not sound like much, but it seemed like Mrs. Brenda always had her hand out. Now that I’ve ridden at many barns and worked in the industry, what seemed then like scamming now simply looks like poor business management. Most barns simply raise the price of board during the winter when the cost of hay needs to be shared. And the price of trailering?…there’s a reason I bought my own trailer soon after leaving Mrs. Brenda’s! In Virginia you can expect to pay $35 for your horse to get to a show that’s less than 10 miles from the barn. Add up 4 horses in a trailer and often several trips back and forth with new loads of horses, and someone is making some good extra money.
No one is perfect, and I will forever cherish the education I received from Mrs. Brenda. You may have guessed this by now, but all good things must come to an end…
Lesson for the day: Love people anyway. They don’t always mean what they do, and you don’t have to stick around and take it. But continue to love them. After all, we all have faults.
Recent Comments