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allegedlyfranzferdinand · 4 years ago

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horses? in MY westerns?

It’s exactly as likely as you think! That is, very likely! The genre wouldn’t exist without them, and I feel like people should talk about them more often, especially wrt fics and fic-writing! So, that’s exactly what I hope to do: give a little run-down of how these very strange dogs work, and how to make them seem a little more real in your transformative works.

DISCLAIMER: I’m an English rider who’s been riding English for almost ten years now! I don’t ride western, and I could count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been in a western saddle. Even so, the people in western flicks aren’t exactly competing in shows, and I think a lot of the basic principles carry through. If I get anything grievously wrong, though, feel free to correct me!

Long post below the cut:

PART ONE: ANATOMY

Both of the horses and of tack, anatomy is important for understanding how things work! Since I suppose people only really need to know the anatomy of a horse as it relates to the equipment placed on said horse, I’ll mention it as it comes up.

I. The saddle

Western saddles differ from English saddles in lots of ways, but the main difference between them is that western saddles are designed to be comfortable for the rider to be in for hours at a time. They have deep seats with a high cantle and pommel (back and front, respectively), which makes them easier to stay in than a flatter English saddle. That’s how people can stand to stay on horseback for those long trail rides, or days at a time spent in the saddle moving a herd across the desert. Saddles sit just behind the withers (above the highest point of the shoulder on a horse, that visible ‘bump’ after the neck ties into the back), usually with a saddle pad or blanket between the saddle and the horse’s back. The cinch, which is the strap that holds the saddle onto the horse, wraps around his barrel (essentially his belly and sides, the main barrel-shaped part of his body. Go figure.) just behind his front leg. Some horses also are fitted with a breast collar, which is a strap that attaches to the middle of the cinch and the front of the saddle through his front legs to keep the saddle from sliding back.

The horn on the front of a saddle might look like a tempting handhold while you’re on the horse, but it’s not meant for grabbing. The horn comes from the saddle’s purpose on cutting and reining horses, and is for tying roped cattle to. Grabbing it while riding is more liable to put you off-balance than anything, as you’re hunched forward and out of the stirrups.

Speaking of! The stirrups are the things that you put your feet in while you’re in the saddle, and they attach to the saddle with stirrup leathers. Western stirrups can’t be removed from the saddle like English stirrups can, but this is mostly because they’re a lot thicker than English stirrups, and combined with a high-heeled cowboy boot, it’s a lot harder for the rider’s foot to slip through the stirrup and get stuck, especially in the event of a fall. The stirrups are where a lot of the rider’s weight is while they’re riding, alongside their seat, and losing a stirrup can really throw you off-balance.

II. The bridle

This would be the piece of tack on his head! Most western bridles don’t have nose bands (a piece of leather that wraps around a horse’s nose several inches above his nostrils) as they’re not really necessary for functionality, but most working styles do have throat latches, which is the piece of leather that goes around his cheeks, and a browband, which is the strap that goes in front of his ears, as both help keep the bridle more firmly in place. Both of these attach to the cheek straps, which run down his face lengthwise.

Honorary II.5 on this list is the bit, the piece of metal in the horse’s mouth that the reins attach to. In most of the westerns I’ve seen, most of the horses are wearing a Tom Thumb or some other kind of shank bit attached to split reins. Split reins are pretty much what they say on the tin: reins attached to either side of the bit but which do not connect with each other. This can give the rider more control, and also makes it real handy to just hop off a horse and tie one of his reins to a hitching post.

Now for the bit ipse.

The above is what a modern Tom Thumb bit looks like. It’s a jointed piece of metal that goes inside a horse’s mouth, attached to a shank that’s anywhere from 5 to 7 inches long. I’m grouping all shank bits together here, since they all have basically the same effect: pressure at the poll (the top of a horse’s head behind his ears) and pressure on the mouth. Since the reins are attached to the bottom of the shank, the rider is given a significant amount of leverage when they pull on the reins; a general rule of thumb is that with a 5″ shank, every pound of pressure the rider puts on the reins is multiplied by three in the horse’s mouth. This lever motion puts pressure on his poll and his mouth, and when the rider pulls sharply, a lot of pressure on the corners of his mouth, and a twisting of the jointed part of the bit that makes it come into contact with the roof of a horse’s mouth. This can cause a horse to toss his head and gape his mouth, something that’s unfortunately seen in lots of westerns.

Shank bits like this can be incredibly harsh in the wrong hands, and can damage a horse’s mouth if they’re used too aggressively. Honestly, I feel bad for most of the horses in these films, where they’re under an inexperienced rider who often saws away at their mouth with a harsh bit like this. If you’re writing a story, remember that for most horses, it isn’t necessary to haul back on the reins to get a horse, even a hot horse, to slow or stop.

III: miscellaneous

Shoes: shoeing a horse makes him better suited to hard surfaces and long-term work. Any horse expected to be used for work would be shod. Horses can throw (somehow get rid of, don’t ask me how, little buggers. . .) shoes to varying degrees of trauma to the hoof, and while it should be fixed as soon as possible, it’s rarely too serious.

Spurs: technically a piece of apparel for the rider, but since everything else a rider wears is kind of a given for any self-respecting cowboy, I’ll chat about spurs. The stereotypical janglin’ cowboy spur is a rowel spur, named after that funky star-shaped thing that spins. Spurs are used to help encourage forward motion, and trained riders can ride a horse in rowels without any harm done to the horse. Even so, overuse or misuse can lead to damage and bleeding on a horse’s side, and deaden him to your legs.

PART TWO: ACTUALLY RIDING A HORSE

Unsurprisingly, riding a horse for a long time can be very tiring. Even in a saddle designed for comfort, someone unaccustomed to riding for long distances will find their back and core hurting something fierce. Worst of all, though, would be the strain it would put on a rider’s legs. Riding for extended periods of time makes your thighs ache, and can rub you pretty raw in the inner thighs and knees even with proper trousers. It can also have you walking bowlegged, which is pretty funny to watch.

Stability when riding starts from the bottom up. A good rider has a steady seat and good legs that grip the horse without pinching at the knees or the ankles (remember those big spurs you’re wearing, cowboy? ouch!). They stay with the motion of the horse, which can be difficult when you're just starting out. Beginner riders might find themselves too tense and easily thrown off-balance, since they're not working with the horse. Though western saddles make the act of staying on easier, developing a good seat and the muscles necessary to stay balanced on horseback can take a while.

In western riding especially, the reins don’t need to be taut while you’re riding. The horse isn’t responding to aids from your hand, he’s responding to your seat and your legs. The reins are helpful to direct and to slow him, but they’re not the star attraction. A horse moves forward in response to pressure from the lower leg, and if he doesn’t listen to that, a rider can angle their foot to press the spur into his side, removing the spur and the pressure as soon as the horse responds to the aid. To slow, a rider settles into the saddle and applies gentle pressure on the reins, escalating as needed, but again, removing the pressure as soon as a horse responds. Anything else is more energy expended than necessary on the rider’s part, and it’s also just kind of mean.

In addition, though I hope I don’t actually have to say this, flicking the reins will not make a single horse on god’s green earth go forward. Why is this a thing.

SO, LIKE, HOW LONG CAN I KEEP DOING THIS?

Mileage varies a lot as to how long a horse can run before he gets tired. A good average is about twenty miles a day if you’re planning on going long distances, which obviously can also vary depending on an individual horse or rider’s endurance. A horse can only gallop (their fastest, four-beat gait--think racehorses) for a mile or two before he’s exhausted, but he can canter (a three-beat gait that’s generally around 10 or 12 mph) for a while longer. Quarter horses, which I assume most of the horses in these movies are meant to be since they're the standard horse for working cattle and ranching in the U.S., aren't built for running long distances; they're significantly better at running short sprints. If a rider wants to cover a long distance in a short amount of time, it behooves them to switch horses along the way so he’s never riding a tired horse, and can run the horse they do have harder while they’ve got him.

An important thing to remember is that a horse should always have a chance to walk for a bit after he’s been working hard. Walking is more effective to cool a horse than just standing still is, as it allows the blood flowing through their legs to cool down. As well, it’s generally a bad idea to let a horse just drink his fill after he’s been working. Ideally, he gets smaller amounts of water over time.

A lot of these examples of less than stellar horsemanship might seem a bit like splitting hairs in fiction, but I think they can serve lots of different purposes. Does your villain have a horse whose skin is rubbed raw behind the cinch since he never lets up on his spurs? Does your hero have to make a daring escape, only to find his horse sick from exhaustion? Horses are a pivotal part of many stories, and there's lots of aspects to them as creatures and as methods of transportation that can be used in many different ways!

BONUS PART THREE: COLORS

Horses of every color show up in westerns, mostly because quarter horses can come in just about every color! Here’s a brief rundown of what different colors are called in horses, so you’ve got some words better than ‘brown’ to work with.

Chestnut: also called ‘sorrel’ when talking about western horses, a chestnut is a horse whose mane and tail are the same color brown as their body. They can range from light, cool browns to deep red browns, but the main thing is that their mane is the same color as their body.

Bay: a bay horse can have any of the same colors as a chestnut, but his points (that is, his ears, nose, mane, tail, and all four feet) are black. A bay horse can still have white markings on his feet, as long as all of his other points are black.

Palomino: a classic western horse, a palomino is a golden or yellow horse with a white mane and tail. A chocolate palomino has a body darker than a normal palomino's, but maintains a white mane and tail.

White/gray: while many horses may have white hair, very few are truly white. A white horse has white hair and pink skin, while a gray horse has white hair and black or brown skin. Most ‘white’ horses are, technically, gray. Generally, it’s safer to refer to a horse as a gray. Horses will also become a darker gray as they age, even if they’re born white.

Buckskin: A buckskin horse has tan or gold hair similar to a palomino, but black points like a bay. Similarly, a dun horse also has a tan coat and black points, but also has a black stripe called a “dorsal” stripe down his spine, a remnant of ancient breeds of horse.

Roan: a roan horse has a coat that’s equal parts white hairs and colored hairs, and solid-colored points. They can have a blueish or blush-colored look, depending on what colors are mixed in their coats.

HEAD AND LEG MARKINGS

Stars and snips: a star is a white mark on a horse’s forehead, and a snip is a white mark on his nose.

Stripe: a stripe is, rather self-evidently, a white stripe that runs from a horse’s forehead to his nose. They’re generally fairly thin, because when they’re thick they’re called a

Blaze: a blaze is a thick stripe of white down a horse’s face that does not cover his eyes.

Bald face: a horse with a bald face has white on his face that does cover his eyes, and usually most of his nose.

Socks/stockings: socks are white marks on a horse’s leg that only goes about to his fetlock, the first joint above his hoof. Stockings are white markings that come up between his fetlocks and his knees on his front legs and his hocks on his back legs.

IN FINE

Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be! Hopefully it helped someone.

I thought about talking about feed on here, but honestly, I have no idea what feed looked like in those days, and this post is long enough without advice that amounts to “probably they got lots of grazing on what you can find in the desert”, so. . .

Most of the information here is pretty basic, but there’s lots of resources online for further research!

Happy riding and happy writing!

#writing #writing ref #horses #western #oh god im sorry in advance #spaghetti western #reference #the good the bad and the ugly

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kristablogs · 5 years ago

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Leatherworking tips from a modern-day cowgirl

Why have a boring, flat leather belt when you can have one that looks like weathered wood? (Courtesy of Aprille Tomilinson/)

The iconic American cowboy’s style invokes a feeling of ruggedness and free spirit, so it’s no surprise the functional fashion of the wild, wild West is once again trendy in mainstream fashion. Distressed boot-cut jeans, a cowboy hat, and a pair high-end boots make wearers feel like they’re ready to saddle up and work on a ranch—even if they’ve never ridden a horse or touched a cow. Hand-carved handbags and custom-tooled belts are popular accessories for those who long for a day in the saddle, but they’re also part of the everyday attire for working cowboys and competitive riders like myself who like to bring a bit of the frontier into the corporate office space.

But mass-produced leather products aren’t the same as those handcrafted by an artisan. They’ve got a similar look and feel, but often aren’t made with the same high-quality leather and don’t offer the personalization that defines artisan work. So, when it’s time for me to order a new belt or gear for my horse, I go to a skilled leatherworker.

Aprille Tomlinson is exactly that. And as a trained artist who taught herself the craft after buying a horse, she knows the appeal of teaching oneself a new trade. For anyone considering a foray into leatherworking, she has some wisdom to offer.

Home on the range

Tall and thin with a neat blonde braid that hangs down to her waist, Tomlinson looks like she belongs on a ranch out west—especially when she’s riding her golden palomino. Her favorite outfit is a chocolate-colored felt cowboy hat, a long-sleeved purple button-down shirt with pearl snaps and a western yoke adorning her shoulders. Chocolate-colored leg coverings with ivory accents are her favorite piece of cowgirl gear.

Known as chinks, these protect a rider’s legs from brush and bramble, the weather, and a cow’s pointy horns. They’re a shorter variation of chaps that end mid-calf on most riders and are believed to have evolved from the Spanish vaquero leg covering called armitas. These are her favorite because she made them herself.

Tomlinson fits the part of a working cowgirl, but she wasn’t raised on the open prairie; she was born in West Sand Lake, New York—a town with fewer than 3,000 residents that’s about 40 minutes north of Albany, the state capital. She lives in nearby East Nassau on a 12-acre farm, large enough for a few horses.

An elementary school art teacher by day, Tomlinson earned a bachelor’s degree in art education and a master’s in painting and drawing. About five years ago, she was shopping for new horse gear, called tack, and found herself admiring the decorative carvings on the leather.

“I remember thinking: ‘Why can’t I make this myself?’” she says. “My parents are creative and always building things just by looking at a finished piece. It was just a way of life for me and with my art background, I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Leatherworking: the basics

Her workshop is in a spare bedroom at the back of her 1879 farm house, with various work stations set up around the perimeter of the room. There’s one table for dye work and painting, and one oversized wooden desk topped with a granite slab for drawing, carving, and stamping. A long table covered by a rubber mat fills one wall and serves as the cutting and assembly area. An industrial sewing machine sits in one corner and a large rack that nearly fills one wall of the room stores rolls of leather. She’s also created a staging area near her worktable for photographing her work.

But before you go on a shopping spree to fill a room with tools and materials for leatherworking, Tomlinson says it’s important to understand a few basics of the trade:

Make sure your work area is well-lit. The detail and crispness of the carving is what makes a difference in the final quality and working in a dim area makes it hard to make fine cuts.

Start with an inexpensive kit. Well-made tools are expensive. They are worth the investment as you become more skilled, but starting with a cheap kit will give you a chance to learn how to use the tools.

Set up a workspace with a surface that won’t damage your tools when you cut through the leather. Tomlinson uses <a href="https://ift.tt/32sIz0U" target=_blank>a self-healing cutting mat</a> to protect her blades when cutting leather to size. When tooling, she sets a granite slab on top of the work bench for a solid surface to pound against. A plastic kitchen-style cutting board is best for punching holes.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have experience with drawing or painting—you can buy ready-made patterns online.

Take your time. Mistakes happen when you rush, and there’s no eraser or undo option.

Leatherworking supplies

Tomlinson says there are eight tools every aspiring leatherworker needs to start:

Utility knife with an interchangeable blade

You’ll use one of these to cut smaller pieces of leather off a hide or to round corners. They’re ideal for leather about 1/16th of an inch thick—5 ounces in leatherworking terms—or less. Leather measurements describe the material’s thickness, and Tomlinson says 1 ounce is equal to about 1/64th of an inch. Other countries measure in millimeters instead of ounces.

Round knife

Also called a head knife, these are used to cut out shapes or trim off pieces of leather.

Swivel knife

Leatherworkers use these to carve designs into leather. Tomilinson says this type of knife tends to feel quite awkward until you get the hang of it. Using one a skill that relies on muscle memory, so you’ll have to train your hand through repetitive work. “Start just using leather scraps and practice creating curved cuts and following lines until you’re comfortable using it,” she says.

Beveler

Simply put, these are used to enhance the edges of a design.

Tomlinson uses a maul to tap the end of a metal stamping tool. Both are pieces of equipment she says every leatherworker should have. (Courtesy of Aprille Tomlinson/)

Maul

Use this tool to tap the top of a beveler or a stamping tool to make impressions in the leather. Mauls come in different weights, ranging from 6 ounces up to 5 pounds, so it’s important to find one you like. Tomlinson prefers a 16-ounce maul and says anything heavier quickly tires her arm. Some people use mallets, but she feels she has more control with a maul.

Mallet

These are made out of rawhide or plastic, and Tomlinson uses one to punch holes and set rivets.

A set of stamps

When hammered into wet leather, these three-dimensional metal blocks leave an impression in the form of either a letter or a geometric design.

An awl and thread

Together, you’ll use these to stitch two pieces of leather together or to add decorative details.

Material selection

Cow hides are a leatherworker’s canvas. Learning the difference between leather types takes a lot of research, and Tomlinson says the project she’s working on dictates which leather she uses. For beginners, she recommends imported leathers, as they’re inexpensive and good to practice on.

Tomlinson mostly uses American vegetable tan leathers for her custom orders, especially when making horse gear, because it needs to be durable. This type of leather is heavy, stiff, and comes in a natural tan color that leatherworkers can dye to their desired hue. She doesn’t have a tannery nearby so she buys it online by the square foot.

Regardless of the brand, leathers are of varying quality, Tomlinson says. All hides are ranked Grade A, B or C, depending on how damaged they are and how many defects are in the most usable (prime) areas or sections most likely to be trimmed off (non-prime). “I’ve found that I’m able to use Grade B for most of my projects and they are a bit more reasonably priced. You can definitely feel the difference in quality when you get to C leather,” she says.

If you’re looking for softer, more flexible leathers that come pre-dyed in a range of colors, you may want to check out the oil tan and glove tan varieties.

Getting to work

Deciding on a design is the first step to any leatherworking project. When Tomlinson makes an item for a client, she first asks if they have a design in mind. Some prefer a traditional leather pattern such as an oak leaf, acorn, or flowers. Others choose something more personal. Once she has a direction, she draws the design on tracing paper. Wax paper works, too.

“When I first start to draw a design, I always start with the flower and build my vine-type lines off that,” she says. “There is a certain flow that needs to be achieved when designing a pattern and that flow needs to be established ahead of time so you know which way each petal should bend, and which direction each vine should travel.”

Aprille Tomlinson on horseback. (Kelsey Morgan Photography/)

Next, she wets both sides of the leather—a process called casing. If the hide is too wet or too dry, it is difficult to get a good, clean, deep cut. To get the perfect moisture content, Tomlinson uses a spray bottle. You could also use a sponge or dip the hide in water and then let it sit.

“When the natural color starts to come back into the leather, that’s usually about the ideal moisture level you are looking for,” she says.

Once the leather is wet, she transfers the design to it by laying transfer paper with the pattern over the wet leather and tracing the lines with a stylus-type tool. The stylus imprints the design into the wet leather, giving her an outline to carve.

“A drawing can be transferred to leather in a number of different ways,” she says. “If you feel comfortable enough, you can just draw directly on the leather with pencil because it erases quite easily.”

The carving process begins with the swivel knife. Tomlinson tries to go about half the thickness of the leather. The deeper you cut, the more dimension you’ll get in your carving, but you obviously don’t want to cut all the way through the hide.

After she’s finished with the main design, she uses the beveler to add depth and dimension. Holding the beveler in her off-hand, she angles the widest part of the edge where she wants to add shading and taps the tool with a maul. Depending on the project, she might also use a stamping tool to add texture.

“Decorative cuts are like the artist’s signature. Every leatherworker develops their own set and style of decorative cuts, and they are added after all the other carving and is done,” she says. “In general, these marks are shallower than the cuts that are being beveled.”

The finishing touches

For Tomlinson, leathermaking is functional art. Each completed piece is worn—either by horse, human, or dog—rather than hung on a wall for display. Beyond the carving and the stamping, she adds her own flair by using an antique gel or acrylic paints to create accents.

“I like to experiment,” she says. “I once carved a mermaid and watered down some acrylic paint to color her hair and tail.”

Antique gel is a popular finish among leatherworkers. It’s a dark brown goo that gets wiped over a carved design, filling in crevices, creating contrast, and giving the carving a 3D look.

“There are so many items that we use on a daily basis that either already are or could be made from leather,” she says. “I have made sandals, rifle scabbards, belts, chaps, and hand bags. My favorite is when I see my work in action… especially when I am at a horse show and see someone ride by in a pair of chaps I made — it’s exciting.”

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scootoaster · 5 years ago

Text

Leatherworking tips from a modern-day cowgirl

Why have a boring, flat leather belt when you can have one that looks like weathered wood? (Courtesy of Aprille Tomilinson/)

Home on the range

Leatherworking: the basics

But before you go on a shopping spree to fill a room with tools and materials for leatherworking, Tomlinson says it’s important to understand a few basics of the trade:

Make sure your work area is well-lit. The detail and crispness of the carving is what makes a difference in the final quality and working in a dim area makes it hard to make fine cuts.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have experience with drawing or painting—you can buy ready-made patterns online.

Take your time. Mistakes happen when you rush, and there’s no eraser or undo option.

Leatherworking supplies

Tomlinson says there are eight tools every aspiring leatherworker needs to start:

Utility knife with an interchangeable blade

Round knife

Also called a head knife, these are used to cut out shapes or trim off pieces of leather.

Swivel knife

Beveler

Simply put, these are used to enhance the edges of a design.

Tomlinson uses a maul to tap the end of a metal stamping tool. Both are pieces of equipment she says every leatherworker should have. (Courtesy of Aprille Tomlinson/)

Maul

Mallet

These are made out of rawhide or plastic, and Tomlinson uses one to punch holes and set rivets.

A set of stamps

When hammered into wet leather, these three-dimensional metal blocks leave an impression in the form of either a letter or a geometric design.

An awl and thread

Together, you’ll use these to stitch two pieces of leather together or to add decorative details.

Material selection

If you’re looking for softer, more flexible leathers that come pre-dyed in a range of colors, you may want to check out the oil tan and glove tan varieties.

Getting to work

Aprille Tomlinson on horseback. (Kelsey Morgan Photography/)

“When the natural color starts to come back into the leather, that’s usually about the ideal moisture level you are looking for,” she says.

The finishing touches

“I like to experiment,” she says. “I once carved a mermaid and watered down some acrylic paint to color her hair and tail.”

Antique gel is a popular finish among leatherworkers. It’s a dark brown goo that gets wiped over a carved design, filling in crevices, creating contrast, and giving the carving a 3D look.

0 notes

kampa77-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Growing up on a farm, riding horses became a way of life, an entertainment, a source of competition, even my social life involved horses, and horse people. There was nothing wrong this of course, and now I look back fondly on my memories of the tack shed, the stables and yes, even the countless hours grooming for shows, hunts and equine school.

Somewhere between the first several years of horse riding, dad brought home an old red motorbike. It was more of a wreck than an actual motorcycle. It had a birds nest of wires hanging out from where the motorcycles brains should be, and there was rust where the chrome should have been shining. The bike sat proudly on the back verandah covered by a tarpaulin.

As the years went past, the cold and wet winter riding sessions took their toll. Horses are amazing animals, grounded and therapeutic, but they take a lot of effort. There’s dragging hay bales across swamped paddocks, hard feeding, and plaiting manes when your fingers are so cold you can’t feel what your doing. Then one night at a family dinner I saw a movie. Not just any movie but a movie with Vanilla Ice acting as a main character in “Cool as Ice”. The year was 1991. Jim Bolger was Prime Minister of New Zealand, and suddenly motorcycles, the status symbol of coolness, shone a light on my horizon.

I remember sneaking out onto the back verandah when my parents went out, frantically trying to work out which wires went where, and kicking the crank lever to see if I could get the bike fired up. Without any idea what I was doing, I was doomed to failure. Looking on in amusement from across the lawn were a 15 hands high grey Gelding named Sonny. My show horse. “What an idiot”, he must have thought. “That bike doesn’t even have its ignition coil” !!! I liked the idea of being able to move without effort.

A couple of years later, and long after that old bike had been given to someone that knew what they were doing, I was still high in the saddle, now with an affliction to Western Style riding, I tried to re-enact riding scenes filmed in Monument Valley, Montana and Calgary. Anything to create a little more excitement from my meander tasks that had become routine on the farm. ��I even had a stick whip, and pretended to be Jim Craig out of “The Man from Snowy River”, and Clint Eastwood out of “Long Plains Rider”. Sure competition days were fun, I even participated in a few mock hunts (there’s not actually any wild foxes in New Zealand by the way) to mix things up as Rodeo back then in NZ was like snowboarding was in the ski fields. Not a viable main stream option. I still however, longed for the feel of fresh air at 80km/hr on a leather seat of a motorcycle.

I guess the attraction more than anything was the knowledge that the exhilaration of speed came without effort. You just swing your leg over the bike, turn a key, and in seconds you would be going fast. No grooming, picking out hoofs, saddling up was required. I was becoming a lazy idealistic youth !!

On my 15th birthday, I sat my drivers license, and passed. It seems those lessons in the paddock steering the old Land Rover while sitting on dads knee, had paid off. Within months I had a shiny red CG105 motorcycle made by Honda. It had a single cylinder, a chrome exhaust and hanging indicators. It cost all of $6 to fill and I polished it after every ride. It was my pride and joy. I never stopped riding though.

Finally I was cool !! I wore dads old oilskin half jacket (the closest thing to real leather I could find) and to top off the coolness, I wrapped a black and white scarf around my neck just like the guy out of “The Gumball Rally” that rode the motorcycle. Suddenly my world had opened up. I could see friends that usually I’d have to wait for school to see (we lived in a country town, my friends lived miles away), and I had the world in front of me. I even joined the local Volunteer Fire Brigade. I was a man !!! The man !!!

With horses, riding is a calculated risk based on experience and skill. It takes years of equine school (Pony Club) the become a proficient rider able to tame even the most difficult of horses (something I actually really enjoy even to this very day). Motorcycles, it seems are very similar. A horse has a personality, a mode and temperament, and a horse can also tell if your mood isn’t right, and reacts accordingly. A motorcycle doesn’t. It doesn’t care if your tired, fatigued mentally after helping put out a scrub fire for the past 4 hours. Exhausted and mentally incapable of making educated decisions – like leaving the fires station, and instead of going straight home, thinking it was a good idea to ride down twisty road to see a mate.

So there I was, sore, bleeding and in shock after trying to take a corner faster than I should have, and riding deep down into the ditch on the side of the road. Now for those of you that don’t know what a country ditch is like. Its nothing like a gutter you see on the side of the road in the suburbs. Its about 4 feet deep and has gravel on one side and clay on the other. So there I was. Still sitting on my pride possession, cheap leather gloves ripped open, helmet visor gone, and not quite sure what had just happened. But man, did I feel strong !! I dragged my bike up out of the ditch, started it up, and continued my ride to my friends house. I had no hand brake, no right mirror or indicators, but like an injured soldier, I couldn’t leave a fellow soldier in the field. I headed for my friends. Dad arrived soon with the trailer just as I was feeling nauseous from the shock and took the bike and I home.

I’d fallen off numerous horses over the years, and always got back on. Reluctantly sometimes, but I did. My bike sat motionless in the garage for months after Dad fixed it up for me. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that motorcycles are too easy, and that without effort (like you put into horses before riding them), the respect for the dangers encountered by riding a motorcycle were greater than the enjoyment. My next vehicle was a car.

25 years have passed since that night. I’ve had numerous bikes over the years, and have been lucky enough ( I use the word loosely ), not to have relived that night. Luck does pay a huge part nowadays with the introduction of driver distractive devices such as mobile phones, GPS inputs etc that puts a motorcycle rider in danger every time he/she rides.

I admittedly don’t ride as often as I used to, I have friends that ride, and when i visit home, but funnily enough, I’d happily trade the bike in on a horse. I now really enjoy the processes involved in horse riding. Like brewing a good cup of coffee, the walking into the paddock, calling the horse, grooming, saddling up and then, just like taking that first sip from the fresh cup, you climb on and start your your ride, knowing this is the reward for the effort you’ve just put in.

I used to wish for a life of excitement, technology, speed, the more the better. Now grown up, and living close to the city, I have technology, a motorcycle, and access to speed/the fast life, and like many people my age, we look forward to slowing down a little, maybe buying a farm, and yes, of course…. some horses.

How times have changed.

The two wheeled Cowboy Growing up on a farm, riding horses became a way of life, an entertainment, a source of competition, even my social life involved horses, and horse people.

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