The Western Equestrian Society have upgraded their Rules concerning the wearing of safety helmets while riding during any WES event. The WES Rule book will be amended accordingly in due course.

The following is a brief statement on behalf of WES Council by Judy Jones, WES Council Secretary.

Everyone riding at a WES Activity must wear an approved hard hat. However,
competitors at a WES approved show can continue to wear a Stetson in both
competition and warm up areas subject to providing the Society with a signed
disclaimer which is to be handed to the Show Secretary on arrival at the show ground,
or submitted with their entry.

The hard hats which are currently acceptable are:

PAS 015:1998 – these have now been superseded by PAS 015:2011 but we will still
accept the 1998 standard as helmets are valid for 5 years. The European standard
compliant hats are marked with the standard of BS EN 1384 and the American
standard is ASTM/SEI this covers the Troxel helmets most members use.

(Most manufacturers recommend replacement of helmets after a period of 5 years, or
whenever the helmet takes a hard blow. When buying a new helmet it makes sense to
check the date especially if buying on line or from an auction site as some helmets
may well be old stock.)

We would also like to reinforce that if, during a WES Clinic, Instructors are going to ride
clients’ horses then they should wear a hard hat whilst mounted. We would expect
them to lead by example – also if they were injured we could be held responsible by
their insurers for not enforcing our own requirements.

Would you all please ensure that your County Reps (where you have them) are also
aware of the current Policy and it’s practical implications.

Regards.
Judy

Part two……..FIRST LESSONS

(All horse names have been altered in these articles to protect the innocent.)

In the first article, readers will have learned that “Tenderfoot” got into horse riding, and Western horse riding at that, pretty much by accident.  So, there he was in his mid forties, in the tender care of Trisha Wren, getting up close and personal with a horse for the first time.

“Big isn’t it” thought Tenderfoot on being introduced to “Boots” the quarter horse gelding that was to be his schoolmaster for the first few years.  “Smells a bit too.”  Then it was off to the school where Trisha showed off what Boots could do and explained how one sat, held the reins and how easy it all was.  It looked easy enough.  Tenderfoot was not too bad a car driver and boat handler, played with dangerous things like pistols and assault rifles and got on well with most dogs and the occasional cat.  (The four-legged variety, that is!)  So let’s try a horse.

Up the steps of the mounting block and gently sit in the saddle.  Hey, never mind the width, look at the view!   Tenderfoot was led around the arena with Boots imparting that gentle sway that his quarter horse butt generated.   In a matter of seconds Tenderfoot was hooked.  His long-suffering friend Anne was also smitten.  So this pair commenced weekly, and occasionally twice weekly, lessons aboard Boots.

In the early days, all the hard work of grooming and tacking up was done for you.  You just rolled up, mounted up and got on with being shouted at.  Shouting.  Over the years I have become aware of just how much shouting a riding instructor has to do.  For those of a military background, your average Drill Sergeant with the “awkward squad” is a mere beginner when it comes to the art of “voice projection” when compared to a riding instructor. True, your DS will introduce you to a fine selection of expletives but for true wit and stiletto like sarcasm you need to hear a riding instructor in full song.  Perhaps it’s because the novice rider, however elegant and precise on his two legs, seems to lose all notion of co-ordination when ascending onto a horse.  The idea of being capable of doing more than one task at a time falls into the same area as running too many programmes on the PC at the same time.  Things kinda get hung up.

The TV cartoon character Homer Simpson encapsulated this when he said that “when he put something new into his brain, something old fell out”.  The idea that you can – make sure that the reins are the correct length; you have light contact: you are sitting correctly; your arms, elbows and wrists are correctly aligned; your legs are correct; your heels are down, is all fine BUT to look where you are going as well???  Get real!

Every time I looked where I was going, one of the other tasks failed.  My personal view is that we can get so used to using inert equipment which, short of a mechanical or electrical failure, produces the required result at the touch of a button, that beginners expect the same from a horse.  It took me several lessons before I became fully aware that our equine buddies do have a mind, eyes, ears and an agenda of their own.  Luckily for us we can usually influence them into doing what we ask when we want but, interestingly, not all of the time.  My early endeavours at staying in the saddle (aka “on the horse”) went reasonably well and my first of many unscheduled dismounts was much later when practicing a lope.

Tenderfoots other “dismounts” will be retold later but, for now, let’s examine the first and its effects on a novice rider.  Perhaps, like Tenderfoot, you last considered the “Laws of Physics” some years back but you will no doubt recall the adage “what goes up must come down”.  This thought stayed in Tenderfoot’s mind pretty much from day one.  Almost immediately after admiring the view from Boots’ back, a quiet wee voice in his head whispered, “It’s a long way down”. This negative thought lurked in the back roads of Tenderfoot’s memory, together with the inescapable fact that he knew that he no longer bounced as well as he did in this younger days, until that fateful day when the **** hit the fan, (or Tenderfoot bit the dust).

It was dark.  It was an evening lesson after work and the outside arena was lit, with pools of light interspaced with areas of shadows.  So what?  We had been here many nights before without incident.  What caused Boots and Tenderfoot to part company is a mystery to this day but part they did.  Seconds after a lope departure, so did the rider, on a bend at the end of the school.

In situations like this people say that everything slows down.  This Tenderfoot can confirm but, in actual fact, it’s more like your brain goes from a walk to a cattle-cutting sprint in less time than it takes to squeak “oops!”  Being a little slow, Tenderfoot didn’t manage even the squeak.  He knew things were not right when he passed down the right hand side of Boots’ neck.  He knew he still had at least one rein but was holding it loosely.  (No point in hanging onto his mouth.)  He had an excellent view of Boots’ cantering feet and time to consider that ending up under them got you no “brownie points”.  He even had time to consider the old rider’s tale that “a horse will not stand on you if it can help it”.  There was even time to check on how fast terra firma was coming up (or, if you prefer the converse – how fast Tenderfoot was going down).

“Thump!”  Tenderfoot landed.  Boots took a couple of strides, stopped and looked back.  Even a novice rider like Tenderfoot could partly “read” the horse’s expression.  Further exposure to Clinics and other horses would expand on this ability but, for now, the word “prat” seemed the correct translation.

“Are you alright?” asked Trisha.  Now, for all their shouting, there are a few occasions when riding instructors show concern.  Most of the time it relates to the horse but just now and then it will be for the rider.  So it was this time.  Gathering up his manly pride from the furrow it had just ploughed in the arena sand, Tenderfoot muttered that he was just fine.  The next question from Trisha was “What went wrong?”

“Dunno” said Tenderfoot.  Boots probably knew but was saying nothing.  “If you’re ok, mount up again” said Trisha. Doesn’t compassion evaporate quickly?  His lesson continued without mishap but another mental hurdle had been cleared.  Tenderfoot had come off but was just as keen to stay with the programme.  That said, Tenderfoot’s unscheduled dismounts have left him with a kind of fetish.  At clinics and events, especially prior to his riding, he is to be found helpfully removing “horse apples” from the arena sand.

Tenderfoot, like most beginners, found the co-ordination required in riding difficult.  It is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.  “Heels down” was also a problem and the following thought may help others.  Try thinking “toes up”.  Tenderfoot’s wee brain tried getting his heels down but almost invariably this made him put pressure into the stirrups which, in turn, pushed his backside up out of the saddle.  The mental picture of “toes up” left his butt where it ought to b – in the saddle.

The lessons continued, each building on the previous, sometime back to the beginning to reinforce some of the basics (Remember? Something new in – something old out).  Boots just kept being his great self providing a schoolteacher to a greenhorn and making Tenderfoot keep coming back for more.

As all of you who ride know, horses have accidents and Boots was no exception.  He had an argument with a fence resulting in a badly cut foreleg which put him out of commission for a spell.  It has been said that a cowboy (or a native American) without a horse is a sorry sight and so it was with Tenderfoot.

The withdrawal symptoms were such that serious thoughts were given to his acquiring his own horse.  Thus Princess entered his life, but that’s another tale.

Speak to you next time,

John Roy

TENDERFOOT TALES by John Roy – the first in a twelve part series first published in the WES magazine.

 Part one…….HOW IT ALL STARTED

Every rider, whether Western or not, will have a different tale of the route he or she took to learning to ride.  In my case it happened almost by “accident”. I came to the equestrian scene in my middle years just a little short of the magic 50 year marker.  Before this, my interest had not extended beyond watching the odd horse race and “Westerns” on TV.  I would add that one TV Western series had always stuck in my mind, not the actual screen play but the closing film clip which ran only as long as credits rolled up the screen.  Please forgive me if I have trouble in remembering the series title as my memory seems to be fading as fast as my seat develops; probably as that’s where, according to my long suffering lady friend, I keep my brains.  I think the series was entitled “Cimarron Strip”. No matter what it was called, the clip showed a rider at a fast lope or gallop over scrubby semi-desert.  The image which always stuck in my mind was that the rider and horse appeared to be one entity.  There seemed to be no join between either of them.  The rider’s head and torso were erect and appeared motionless whereas, from the waist down, he was in perfect motion with the horse.  It looked right!  It looked as it should be!  And the teenage “tenderfoot” thought, “that looks real neat”, but did nothing about it.  Certainly, he was not thinking of riding “English” and appearing like a monkey on a greyhound’s back! Several decades late he found himself accompanying his lady on one of her clothes buying expeditions. (As all you fellows will agree this is where the average male’s mind attempts to find another planet to explore whilst leaving the body on auto pilot.) The expedition was to find her a “Musto” jacket and the local saddler shop had been listed as the main stockist.  Thus our hero found himself, on a Saturday afternoon, scanning with bored eyes racks of assorted jackets, jodhpurs, tins and jars of unbelievable goo and more chains and leather straps than you could shake a bondage freak at. The entire shop seemed to be filled by small earnest Thelwellian female customers supported and served by a lesser number of older and larger Thelwellian females.  As for other males – there were none. “What do you think of this shade?”  Her ladyship’s question received the standard male reply.  “It’s quite nice.”  However, before she could counter this with a request to compare different shades of garment, Tenderfoot spotted a distraction amongst the saddles.  There, in a corner, as out of place as he was himself, was a Western saddle.  His mind came back from its refuge and recalled the old image of the Western rider. Now, those of you who ride Western will be aware of the reaction of those who follow other riding styles.  But, to Tenderfoot, it came as a surprise. His enquiries re the saddle brought the response, “It’s in for repair”.  Undaunted, he enquired if there was anywhere where one could ride Western.  This brought the dismissive reply, “I think there’s a card on the board”.  Board?  What Board?  Where?  Gimmie!  Gimmie!  By now, her ladyship had become the proud owner of a new jacket and I had the name of a Western trainer. Having found her companion scribbling down a name and phone number, the interrogation started, all of which resulted in two middle aged individuals descending on one Trisha Wren. It can’t be easy trying to teach someone almost as old as your Dad the first thing about a horse but I hope it’s fun!  (More on this “Dad” bit in a later tale.)  Certainly all the trainers I have come across in this horse riding game appear to enjoy shouting.  Oh!  Those happy hours of hearing “heels down”, “look where you’re going”, “think pelvic thrusts”, to name but a few.  One of the first things I discovered when starting out was that your Public Library is unlikely to have many books on Western riding.  Your average tenderfoot needs some pretty basic stuff.  You know, poll, frog, withers, cantle, latigo, etc., etc.  This is a new world with new words and a whole lot of fun. From a beginner’s point of view, I can only emphasise that, if you don’t know, don’t be shy to say so. The instructor cannot guess and mine was only too happy to repeat and/or expand on any point. (Still does – has eyes in the back of her Stetson!) Personally, I doubt that you can be half-hearted in this riding game.  For me, it was love at first sit.  I read somewhere that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man and I’ll agree with that.  That first walk around the school on Justin convinced me that I wanted to learn more.  Thus the first lesson started.