Rider Insider

Share your stories, ideas and knowledge with other horse lovers.

Noble Equine Sometimes the best resource for becoming a better horse owner or rider is to learn from other equestrians. Each month, we ask HorseChannel.com visitors a new question about horses, horsekeeping and equestrian life, and we want you to share your stories. Some of the editors’ favorite responses may appear in the pages of Horse Illustrated!

Throughout 2013, Noble Equine will be sponsoring the Rider Insider column in Horse Illustrated with a prize for the selected featured response. If you'd like to be considered for a prize, make sure to include your contact info in the email field of the contact form (emails will not be publicly displayed.)

	One Reason to Ride Any rider can list off a dozen reasons why they love to ride and be around horses. The challenge would be whittling those myriad reasons down to one. If you had to describe the one primary reason why you ride or work with horses, what would it be? Read more >>
	Bring in the Newbies How would you combat the misconceptions about our sport and get newcomers out to the barn to see what it's really all about? Read more >>
	Dream Horse If you could have any horse, real or fictional, which horse would it be? Read more >>
	Finding a Perfect Match There's nothing quite like seeing a horse and rider working in perfect harmony. The only thing better is actually being the rider in that equation. Read more >>
	Stuff Non-Equestrians Say As horse lovers, we accept that we can seem a little strange to the outside world, but when outsiders step into our world, they can be downright hilarious. Read more >>
	Finding Motivation In any activity, enthusiasm ebbs and flows, and accepting the tough times as a normal part of life is the first step in getting through them and returning to the devoted rider you truly are. Read more >>
	Telltale Signs of a Rider Face it; no matter how hard you may try to appear to be a normal person at times, you are, in fact, a horse person. Read more >>
	Time for Horses In a perfect world, you’d be able to spend all day riding, grooming and doting on your horse. However, real life doesn’t usually allow for that luxury. Read more >>

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Reader Comments

donna Coldwater, MS

5/6/2013 2:02:34 PM

I have the best horse. While having Meniere's I am still able to ride only because my little girl knows when I get off balance and will put herself back under me or if I am tofar off she stops altogether until I position rright in the saddle. Never letting me fall off. Love her so much and thankful for her.

Tessa Westfield, MA

3/3/2013 5:27:19 PM

I knew my match with Willow, my 7yro Paint mare when i first saw her on the cross ties. She was a beautiful horse with the kindness in her brown eye and the wildness in the blue one. It was a mix of everything i look for in horses. I love challenges which she sure is but she would never do anything to intentionally hurt me.

Katie Newlin Alabaster, AL

2/15/2013 10:42:07 AM

I wouldn’t call it a match, but rather a destiny.
Loping up the pasture from the creek, all I saw was a mesmerizing muscular body with a silky smooth beautiful flowing mane, simply a beauty queen. I had seen multitudes of breeds, colors, and personalities, from the high spirited brats to the slow gentle giants. Not a single steed could compare to my Peppermint Patti.
It was a pleasant aha moment type of day in September of 2007, the day I asked the barn owner if I could ride that Quarter Horse mare Patti on the trails with the group. Patti was just a pasture ornament, occasionally ridden by beginners on trail rides. Men definitely were devils in her eyes and not all beginners could ride her, so she always got tossed to the back seat. Mind you, I had my own family horse to ride, although Queen Patina was the mare I was recklessly determined to ride. Luckily for me, approval was given to saddle up, and let me just say, you think winning the lottery is overwhelming, well you are sadly mistaken. My excitement was enough to give my little heart a never ending violation. From that trail ride forward, I knew what I saw loping up the pasture that day was a soul mate I could never loose. I looked beyond her occasional witchy ways that made her second class. Surprise, surprise my Mother and Father had seen the match too. In a box beneath the Christmas tree that year was a bill of sale and Patti’s American Quarter Horse registration papers with my name labeled on the bottom. Can you say happy?
I had never moved forward in lessons from the trot before I owned Patti. The next day I was in the round pen riding. Okay, even casually trail riding I had an assurance that if she loped off, I’d be safe. So, I decided to give it a try on my own, no trainer and no mom, and my assumption was right. Although it took me a few more months afterwards to get fully comfortable with cantering, Patti was my confidence builder. She had such a cadenced lope, that no matter how fast she went, I would always feel safe. One of my worst fears while riding was steep hills and sides of mountains. Every step that mare took, she took with my safety in mind, with one ear forward and one listening back to me. She sensed my every emotion, whether I was balling in tears from frustration or nauseated before entering a class at the horse show.
All she wanted was a little girl to know as hers. We both understood one another’s strengths and weaknesses and loved each other anyways. I didn’t really have a girl best friend, you know the one you do girly things with and know each other’s deepest darkest secrets. I also had some confidence insecurities. Conclusive Patti was that girl, my first class; confidence builder; best friend. It did not matter what we went through, she always proved herself unfailing. So was she a match? Yes she was, love at first sight for me, but a destiny is more like it, two souls wanting acceptance through thick and thin, meant to be, a match with destiny.

Katie Newlin Alabaster, AL

2/15/2013 10:40:31 AM