Abigail Lipow has spent the summer as SFD's working student. In the spirit of all of those annoying 4th grade essays, I asked her to describe her summer in her words. I have been really pleased with her improvements in the saddle, and in reading this, I think she is too. -- Ange
by Abigail Lipow
Last year, I had no idea what I was going to do with my
summer. In fact, summer wasn’t even close to being on my radar, as we Penn
Staters had enough to deal with. I had vague thoughts of getting an internship
somewhere and having that as my whole summer experience, which would be good
work experience for the future and graduate school. Way back during the fall
semester, all of my friends were getting confirmation on their study abroad
programs, and I was kind of stuck. I had gone abroad and traveled a lot in high
school, and studying abroad didn’t really appeal to me then. However, I was
especially jealous of my friend who studied in Italy for the entire semester, and
then got to stay another month and travel around Europe after her program ended.
I also knew that I needed help with my riding. I took the
place of our first level rider on the Penn State IDA team after she graduated
in 2011, and our other first level rider went on a study abroad in Britain. At
the time, I had been coming back from taking a two year hiatus from dressage
and doing hunters on the IHSA team at school. I was more of a training level
rider, and I admit it, if I had stayed in that level I probably could have
swept it. I could ride a first level test, but it definitely wasn’t pretty and
the girls I was up against were solid first level riders, some of them most
likely schooling second. I (or rather, my mother) found that Ange had moved
into the old Banbury Cross when I decided I was going to quit hunters (because,
really) and go back to my first love, dressage.
I had really only ridden with Ange for about a month during
my school breaks and I asked if she maybe had room for another working student
for the summer, since my internship prospects were looking sort of grim, even
though it was too early to tell at that point. After I took over the presidency
of the team in the beginning of the spring semester, we started talking about
bringing in a clinician and I immediately thought of Ange, considering that our
current coach is more of a cross-country rider herself.
Ange agreed to come up to State College, and the clinic was
a hit with the local Pony Club. During my lesson, she said that there was an
opening for the summer as her working student, for which I am definitely
grateful. Even though we still had a month of school left, including finals
(ugh), I wanted to come home and start right away. Plus the weather in State
College was kind of icky that month, and I think we all needed a break from the
news vans crowding campus.
This summer has been a blast. Where else can you be around
horses for hours every day? An internship in the city was certainly not going
to give me that, unless you count the carriage horses. The first thing Ange did
was strap me into the Unisit, forcing me to sit deep in the saddle and use my
seat, which is something the hunter deep inside of me still cringes at. I think
after a few rides in that I could feel every individual abdominal muscle, and
soon I could sit Clyde’s springy trot, without the Unisit. At the same time, I
was learning about how much work it is to care for a barn, painting gates
(which look awesome by the way), cleaning stalls, and much more. I even got to
visit Hassler Dressage at the beginning of the summer, which I’m still in awe
of.
My riding has become a million times better, and not only do
my abs not hurt that much anymore after I ride, but the “wow, he did what I
asked-oops, I stopped riding” has almost gone away. Sort of. We’re still
working on those chicken wings. I have a few more weeks to cram in what I can
before school starts at the end of August and set the mental attitude that I
can make a difference in whatever horse I’m riding. As Ange calls it, this is my “crash course”.
I can now make round ten and twenty meter circles, and make square corners. Sometimes
I can even get Karison to stay round and have some power without getting all
scrunched up in the saddle.
The little hunter leg squeezes have mostly gone away, and
leg bumps have mostly taken their place. I’ve still got more work to do on
leading with my seat, not following, but hey at least I can sit now without
posting at all. I’ve learned make circles with my seat and leg, not my hands,
while I still need to work on having quieter hands. I also need to remember not
to go hunter when I feel uncomfortable. While there’s still quite a bit for me
to work on (as we’re all always learning), I feel like I’ve accomplished my
riding goal for the summer: be competitive at first level in the fall. So thank
you Ange, and everyone else, for giving me an awesome summer. And don’t worry;
I’ll be back for some touch ups in the fall.
