[drivingpairs] Re: Insensitive,spoiled jerks! // was: Re: who'sdriving
- From: Gail Smith <gail.smith@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 20:18:17 +0000
Infact thinking about it, if u guys know any driving establishments
aftersome sort of perm live-in employers we'd be offfering our services
1. I have a BA (Hons) Equine Science + 1 yrs experience at an Equine
Hospital and pre-race checking at the Harness RaceTrack
2. Advanced Computer Skills. Web Design Skills
3. Long-reining and lunging
4. Taught riding for kids and adults Beginners to Jumping (not that
much of a keen rider myself but may be happy on a nice reliable
quarter horse. I prefer the ground work)
5. My bf has some skills in fixing things, running electricity wiring
+ sounds systems. He is very keen on learning and is a hard
worker. He is also quite good with animals.
6. Have some theatre skills, organisational skills (especially
interested in Show organisation)
7. Some driving experience....mostly with single
horses.........dressage and cones, some pairs and a ground
experience little with teams.
8. I have also done showjump writing and dressage writing for driven
dressage.
More detailed CV available if anyone knows of an establishment after
permanment help.
Gail
Gail Smith wrote:
>Gosh Laura, I hear what u say. Those ones sure seemed bratty. I am
>really unsure of what to do now. If I had the money i would breed
>horses. My bf is so keen to learn as well it has become our little
>dream......Oneday i want a team he can backstep. I know I have a lot to
>learn. I would never pretend i know everything but i am not ignorant.
>however, offering help freely again makes me nervous. somtimes i turn up
>at shows and people welcome my help...holding horses, hosing them done,
>hitching up, feeding, grooming......that sort of thing. The guy with the
>injured horse is a very successful competitor in the UK and he ALWAYS
>greets me and inquires about my progress in finding help with driving.
>He told me once that he started out like me..........and not to give up! :0)
>
>The people who i 'helped' I see them now and again. Still running the
>team with one groom. Poor soul. The horses carry
>them..........pre-schooled and already Drive-ready.....some people just
>get all the luck. Those horse cover their mistakes.
>
>
>So, I dunno.....my carreer in horses ended, mostly because of this kind
>of treatment. I cannot be doing with poeple like that and if oneday i am
>fortunate enuf to have my own team i will remember the lessons i learnt
>and not treat other like that.
>
>Now I work in an office with computers and I hate it. I would jump at
>the chance to get out of here and go somewhere where my knowledge and
>help is appreciated. My bf is the same. He wants to get out of England
>and learn about horses. My enthusiasm about driving has him hooked. And
>to be fair...if we had the money thas what we would do. I suppose the
>onbly thing that stops me taking the risk is the possibility that i meet
>some people like those ones again.
>
>Gosh, I would love to come over there....check out the driving scene. My
>bf is sitting saying 'Gosh, I wish' If I found a place for us I would
>work horses again. I have Business Mgt in my degree...........it's just
>all the jobs i found were with people like those ones and horrible pay.
>In the UK no way.........but if I found something better elsewhere both
>of us would jump at the chance to go
>
>Gail
>Laura Crews wrote:
>
>
>
>>Gail,
>>
>>What a horror story! What a shame you endured such abuse and condescension!
>> I'll echo what some others have been saying: Come stay at my place in
>>Virginia and let's have some fun! Heck, it would probably be worth it to me
>>to buy you a plane ticket (I don't think I'm really joking, either!)!!
>>
>>I have seen the snobbery you describe. The limited combined driving
>>competing I've experienced has put me alongside some of the ultra-wealthy.
>>I have felt some condescension but it has never really expressed itself. I
>>am owner, trainer, groom, and competitor all rolled into one. I have
>>learned that the "informal" competitors parties with "come as you are"
>>attire has a different meaning to a millionaire (which I'm not!). (Hint: it
>>does NOT mean show up in CLEAN barn clothes.) I find it more enjoyable to
>>stay quiet and eavesdrop on interesting conversations of the very rich!
>>Still, in general, the driving people I've met are nothing like the
>>cut-throat competitors I've seen in the hunter world! There are indeed many
>>very conjovial driving people who are owner, trainer, competitor and groom.
>>
>>I resort to taking out ads in newspapers for free riding lessons in exchange
>>for help at shows. It is very difficult to find ANYONE willing. They find
>>out that I have "just ponies" and they "don't want to do... THAT!" They
>>want to ride some Quarter Horses in the local little pseudo-shows. I just
>>have "ponies" and no one wants to mess with THEM... even if we are going to
>>national-level recognized shows... it's very frustrating. My best students
>>right now are aged 8 and 10. Adorable little girls that can ride my small
>>ponies. But they can't help much (yet!) with the driving.
>>
>>What I'm faced with right now is kicking two 14-year-olds out of my program.
>> I hate to have to do it, but when they lit up a cigarette the other day,
>>THAT WAS IT!! They showed up unexpectedly just after several of us had
>>returned from driving on the roads and we unhitched. I was on an early
>>schedule because I had to get up at 0300 for day shift on the police desk
>>the next morning (yes dear, I actually have to work for a living!). I was
>>surprised to see them, since one's mom had previously told me she couldn't
>>come that day because she was babysitting. The other girl comes only to
>>"keep up with" her friend.
>>
>>Instead of helping with the ponies or putting anything away, or even rolling
>>the carriage out of the crosstie area to the end of the barn, they whispered
>>secretly to themselves, snickered, and then ignored my requests. The next
>>thing I knew, they had walked out the end of the barn and were smoking.
>>Thank god they exited the barn.
>>
>>I called out to put the cigarette out NOW. They looked up and let me know
>>they heard me, and made it plain they didn't take me seriously. They
>>eventually came back in the barn to call for a ride home again.
>>
>>I am certain that if I had not been home, they would have shown up and maybe
>>even smoked in the barn. They came one Saturday when I was at work and
>>tacked up a couple of ponies and rode them in the turnout paddock. I had
>>until then made them ride in the indoor track, because they were not ready
>>to take the ponies out and rip around. I told them I have some of the
>>fastest ponies in three states. Apparently they wanted to see if that was
>>true, and took them out and raced them. One girl fell off (she kept saying
>>the pony THREW her). I got home after the fact. I was NOT happy. Their
>>parents had no idea that I was not even home that day. Since then, the one
>>girl has been terrified riding. She has jumped off a pony at a walk,
>>screaming and literally diving head first to the ground, saying the pony was
>>"throwing" her. She has never ridden on the marathon carriage. I feel
>>certain she would be terrified and would jump off as we went down the road.
>>Better to "fire" her from helping at all at this point, I guess.
>>
>>What I'm trying to say (I think) is that finding suitable help is so very
>>very difficult, especially when I am not rich enough to hire full time a
>>graduate of an equine studies program to come live in my barn and to let me
>>be the "absent" owner. And another thing: I cannot take a
>>riding-experienced horse person and expect them to have the "common sense"
>>you'd think they'd have around horses. Handling driving horses is very very
>>different from handling riding horses. People develop unconscious habits
>>that are very difficult to break. Some things just CANNOT be done around
>>driving horses (like, for example, leaning forward in the cart and smacking
>>one's hand down hard on the pony's butt to "swat a fly"). My ponies do not
>>respond to "kisses" or "clucks." You would be amazed at how many people
>>make such sounds every few seconds. I find it annoying. My ponies ignore
>>the sounds. I have to scold people when they cheerfully assure me that the
>>pony is "starting to learn it though!"
>>
>>Yes, you are welcome to come stay with me anytime!
>>
>>
>>
>>Laura Crews
>>Country Roads Farm Welsh Ponies*
>>Virginia
>>*and Fancy Rats
>>
>>"My furs are not in storage or draped across the bed,
>>They're hanging from the cage door, waiting to be fed."
>>
>>"Horses very rarely display the extreme strength that they are blessed with.
>>It is truly awesome when you see it. You want it pointed in the right
>>direction."
>>
>>Anyone who would release an animal into the wild to fend for itself should
>>themselves be put out in the wilderness with no food or water. If they
>>survive, then they know how the animal feels. If they don't survive, then
>>they have improved the human gene pool....
>>
>>Remember: STUPIDITY IS A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE!
>>
>>
>>
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