Crap from the barn

I will start by explaining the location in which I observed, give a broader focus of the overall scheme of things and then narrow my focus.  I wanted to enhance the experience by using what I am most familiar with, watching others ride horses and to maybe shed light on some unique perspectives pertaining to my action research plan.  The location is Fowler Park in Terre Haute, IN.  This park has a day camp for riders to come and ride for the day. The majority of my observation takes place in the campground which is where riders are getting saddled and then ride around to make sure horses are going to behave.  Later , I move to the start of several trails so I could observe while the riders were actually on the trails.  Sometimes horses act differently when they are in the trails as opposed of just riding around the campground. Usually this behavior affects the riders position and reactions; something I might want to see.

I began by just observing, not looking for anything in particular.  The campground was not very busy. I chose a group of four riders with three horses, three boys and a girl.  They were teenagers and some seemed to have more experience than others by the way they handled themselves around the horses. There were two boys who could saddle their own horses with no problem; the third needed a little coaching.  The girl stood on the outside just waiting for the boys to finish tacking up.

All the horses seemed to be seasoned trail horses. They stood tied at the trailers and were not restless. There was an older appaloosa mare that whinnied a lot. I wondered if she was from the same barn as the other two quarter horses.  One was a bay gelding and the other was a sorrel gelding with a white blaze running down his face.

When the horses were tacked up, the girl rode double with the one boy who seemed more confident in his skills.  She rode on the back behind the saddle.  The other riders mounted their horses. The rider on the bay gelding landed with a thud on the horses back.  A taller thinner boy mounted the mare with a softer landing perhaps saving the mare’s back from pain.  The sorrel horse which was being rode double seemed a little anxious. It could be because of his nature or because of the fact that he has two riders. Other than that the mounting and riding around the campground was uneventful.

The group rode around for about ten minutes.  They were very talkative, laughing and enjoying their ride.  None of the rider’s appeared to be nervous.  The more experienced rider circled his horse many times.  I am not sure whether this is because the horse was a fast walker or if the boy was anticipating something to happen.  After awhile, my eye naturally began look deeper into their equitation. None of them actually had the ideal position.  

The more experienced boy rode with rigid shoulders and shrugged themalmost the entire time.  This maybe because his horse was the antsy one.  He did ride with the longest back and seemed to be centered on the horse’s back.  He rode with his feet pushing on the stirrups at times.

The second rider’s entire back and shoulder rolled forward putting him in a very slouched position.  If the horse trotted, he would be behind the horses motion.  His feet would go up when the horse took off because of his instability in the torso. In addition, he would draw his heels up and grip at the knee when the horse would trot, indicating that he is a beginner rider without much balance. 

The third rider shifted from being forward in his upper torso to being behind.  Any quick movement and his feet would sway back and his upper body forward. Like the second rider, it depended on the gait of the horse. He had heel problems too. He would draw them up but then at times he would really shove his heels down and put pressure on the sitrrup.  When observing him from behind, he rode with one leg against the horse’s side and the other was sticking straight out and extremely stiff.  A very tiring position, I would think. This rider occansionally had a chair seat, meaning that his upper body is behind the vertical and his legs are too far forward, a very insecure seat.

 Eventually, the group disappeared into the woods to begin their trail ride.  I then moved to my  positon at the edge of the woods to see if there was any change once they entered the trails. The horses followed one another as if they were actually park trail horses. They knew their job and the trail. I sat awaiting their return. To my surprise, upon  arrival the girl was now on behind the tall thin boy on the appaloosa mare.  I heard their conversation and he sorrel horse on which she began the ride was too rough for her to ride behind so she switched horses. She and the tall thin boy  got bucked off of the mare when the mare jumped over a log on the trail.  Just by observing, I knew the balance was not sufficient to keep them in the saddle if something were to cause one of the horses to startle or jump.

Their positions left them unable to use their aids individually.  In fact, I am sure they did not know how to use them, that they were supposed to or what it meant.  This lack of knowledge and ability can lead to accidents, cause strain on certain body parts and eventually an uncomfortable ride. I would have liked to talk to these riders after a two or three hours ride to see if they did experience any lower back pain. 

I approached this assignment from a passive observers position and fieldnotes, if that is allowable. I did just sit and observe. I am certain the riders had no idea I was watching, much less taking notes.  As far as the field notes, I did record everything I saw and thought in a notebook while watching.

 I found that during this expereince my senses were heightened. Since this was my first official experience at recording observations, I was not sure if it was important to record sounds and feelings as well.  It was a beautiful day and the wildlife was like a symphony in the woods.  There was an slight breeze and the warmth of the sun was perfect. The smell of the horses was a familiar one. I found myself wanting to record all of those senses too.   I tried to focus on what I was seeing  not hearing, smelling and feeling. I wasn’t sure how detailed the observations should be, for example, the wear of the leather on the saddles was obvious, the quality of equipment used and saddle blankets that were turned in the wrong direction were also things I observed but opted not to put in the body of this assignment.  

I learned several things through this expereince. One being that it is hard to separate the senses when conducting an observation. They are so connected. I found it hard to know how detailed to get when actually writing about the observation. Should I keep focused on just the rider’s position because that was my main plan? Should I leave out the conversations that I might hear?  Does the sound  help or hinder my interpretation of the experience?