Two Saturday's ago,February 6, 2010 I was going to interview the trainer at Hunter Creek Farm, but she had an emergency and left after practice. My friend introduced me to the next person that could help me with my research, and that turn out to be the perfect candidate because she was able to give me the point of view of both, a trainer and a rider.
I interviewed a very interesting 28 year old woman named Sandra Gomez. She is an assistant trainer and a rider ar Hunter Creek Farm.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Fourth Observation
This past Saturday at 1:00 PM I went to Hunter Creek Farm. My goal was to interview the trainer and at the same time watch riders either hack or train. The first thing I did was observed how the horses are prepared before they get ridden. (as you can see in the pictures), this is a long processes that may take up to 20 minutes. The first step is to take the horse’s blanket off; blankets are used only during cold weather. Once the blanket is folded and put away, a vacuum is on the horse to get as much dirt out of the horse’s coat as possible. After vacuuming, the currying begins. A grooming mitt is used for this. The purposed of currying is to help finish getting the dirt out, as well as the hair that the horse is ready. Currying is done all over the horse’s body. Brushing comes next; usually two brushes are used to make the job faster, the horse’s body gets all brushed as well. Then the horse’s hooves are cleaned out, subsequently, the tail and mane are brush too and the horse is ready to get tack up.
The first step is to put the martingale if the horse uses one, then comes the baby pad, which goes under the saddle blanket and the saddle. Once these are put on the horse the girth is put into place. The girth holds the saddle in place. Afterwards, the bridal is put on the horse, and the horse is ready to get ridden.
In this observation I was able to learn the difference between hacking and training. Although a horse can be trained while being hacked, I am referring to training as a lesson for both the horse and rider. The hacking generally consists of walking, trotting and catering. It can last from 15 to 10 minutes. While training might take up to an hour, during this time, the horse warms up by walking, trotting and cantering for around 10 minutes or so, then the jumping begins. As I mentioned in one of my earlier observations, what is done during training depends on what the horse and/or rider needs to work on.
Finally, when the trainer finished her class, I was able to interview her and learn about her experience, opinion, knowledge and some very interesting stories that are going to be extremely usefull for my next paper.
In addition to the pictures from that day, I will like to show you some images that will represent each material that is used to prepare the horse.
The first step is to put the martingale if the horse uses one, then comes the baby pad, which goes under the saddle blanket and the saddle. Once these are put on the horse the girth is put into place. The girth holds the saddle in place. Afterwards, the bridal is put on the horse, and the horse is ready to get ridden.
In this observation I was able to learn the difference between hacking and training. Although a horse can be trained while being hacked, I am referring to training as a lesson for both the horse and rider. The hacking generally consists of walking, trotting and catering. It can last from 15 to 10 minutes. While training might take up to an hour, during this time, the horse warms up by walking, trotting and cantering for around 10 minutes or so, then the jumping begins. As I mentioned in one of my earlier observations, what is done during training depends on what the horse and/or rider needs to work on.
Finally, when the trainer finished her class, I was able to interview her and learn about her experience, opinion, knowledge and some very interesting stories that are going to be extremely usefull for my next paper.
In addition to the pictures from that day, I will like to show you some images that will represent each material that is used to prepare the horse.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Third Observation
This past Tuesday at 3:30 pm I went to Hunter Creek Farm to conduct my third observation. I was supposed to learn and observe the process of preparing a rider for a competition;especially the type of trainning they have and the diet they need to follow in order to be in shape to participate in one. This was impossible to achieve beacuse the rain from Monday flooded the arena and the riders couldn't use the facilities. The pictures show how the the rain flooded the space where the training is conducted.
This incovenient represented my first obstacle in the research of my community. In order to overcome this obstacle, I decided to turn the problem into an opportunity. The trainer from Hunter Creek Farm, is a very busy woman but because she couldn't train her riders, she was available. My friend introduced me to her and I had the chance to talk to her about the sport and asked her if I could interview her and one of her riders. She said yes, and told me to go back Saturday at 1:00pm to interview her. However, in order to interview one of her riders I would have to go next Monday and ask for the permission of a parent to conduct the interview on a twelve year old girl that is one of the best riders she has right now.
At the same time, I took the opportunity to observe how the horses are fed. One of the horses had a cut on the left front leg, and I was able to see how it was treated. The horse was taken out if his stall, and the cut was cleaned with water, then some medicine was applied on the cut. I was told, this needs to be done daily, until the cut heals.
This was the observation I was able to make that day due to the circumstances mentioned aboved. I am looking forward to go back on Saturday to interview the rider (s).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)