40 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2011
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren Corey
The frst month of summer was absolutely crazy between
my summer job and eventually trying to fnd the time to
ride. I have been working for my dad’s business that
manufactures machine parts for different companies. My
job is to do the copious amounts of fling. Come Friday,
I rushed over to the barn to fnally see Petey. After a
joyful reunion, my trainer Toni McIntosh gave me a private
lesson. It was so much fun, we started out just jumping
one jump and after each time we jumped it, Toni would put
it up a notch higher. By the end of the lesson, the jump
was about 3’6”, which is close to the highest we have ever
jumped. After that exercise, we jumped a couple courses,
and Petey was fantastic!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ride on Saturday since I had a
shift during my lesson. But when I came for my lesson on
Sunday, Petey was a little off. We participated in the fat
part of the lesson, but no jumping for us. Petey has been on
and off lame for the latter part of the winter, despite having
all of the vet work that we could possibly think of. But we
couldn’t quite put our fnger on the source of the lameness
and it was looking like we wouldn’t get to compete at the
Woodside Summer Festival horse show in June.
Another Horse to Ride?
Occasionally, when Petey was off during the winter, I
would ride a lesson horse named Dillon. I enjoyed riding
Juniorside
Time to Say Goodbye
him on the fat, but I was not very confdent jumping him since he
has a tendency to get strong in the corners. Petey was the only
horse I was completely comfortable with jumping, I knew him so
well and we were really starting to work together well this year. I
was signed up to compete at Woodside with Petey, but since he
was not completely sound, Toni suggested I bring Dillon. I wanted
a few more lessons on him before we made the fnal decision, so I
rode Dillon in all of my weekly lessons since I couldn’t ride Petey.
Our frst Saturday lesson together was right before week one of
Woodside. We jumped a course of about nine jumps, and after
each person went once, Toni and my other trainer, Colin, put the
jumps up higher. I was the last person to go in the order, so when
I started out on my course I expected everything to be the same
for me as it was for everyone else. But, as I rounded the corner to
the last two jumps on course, a bending line, I realized that Colin
had put the jumps up higher for me. At least I didn’t have time to
get nervous, so Dillon and I sailed over the 3’6” jumps with ease.
It was a major confdence builder to know that I can jump 3’6” on
Dillon. But we still weren’t sure about taking him to a show, since
that was the frst full course I had jumped him.
Diffcult Decision-Making
We knew if we were going to take Dillon to Woodside, it would
be for week two. So we decided to keep on lessoning on Dillon
and make a fnal decision after my Wednesday lesson. Of course,
in the midst of all this, we had to fgure out what we were going
to do with Petey. Earlier in the year, Toni had suggested selling
Petey and moving on to a more advanced horse, but I had hoped
to share one last show season with Petey. The vet could not fnd
any concrete reason for Petey’s unsoundness; it could simply be
because he needed a break. The original plan was to send him to
a ranch in Lodi for a couple months to let him fully heal and then
fgure out what to do next. However, the person we bought Petey
from runs a sales barn and she offered to take Petey back. If he
went to the sales barn, he would have some time off to recover,
and then we could trade him in for a different horse. This would
mean sending Petey off and probably not seeing him again. Every
time I saw his face, my heart melted and I wanted nothing more
than to keep him forever. Unfortunately, we did not have too many
options, and with the economy the way it is, we could not afford
to have another horse in addition to Petey. Since Petey is my frst
horse, it was an especially diffcult decision to make, but in the
end we decided to let him go to the sale barn, at least for the time
being. Until he either sells or we trade him, I plan on going up to
visit him and ride him since he will still be my horse. When he
sells, I plan to keep in contact with his new owners to make sure
that he has the life he deserves. Hopefully I will be able to watch
him at shows. Even while trying to think on the positive side, I was
devastated to have to make that decision.
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Lauren Corey is a junior
at Woodside Priory
School in Portola Valley,
California. She aspires
to become a Big Eq
rider as well as possibly
compete in the Grand
Prix ring. Lauren also
spends much of her
time practicing piano,
and hopes to fnish the
fnal level of California
Music Examinations next
spring.