The Memorable Ride At Pole Bending | A Horse Story

By: Kim Walters

“Easy Jumper”  I whispered softly.  The little bay  flickered his ears toward me, listening to my voice.  His whole body was tense under me, waiting for me to give him the signal to run.  The only piece of equipment he wore on his head for control was a rope halter with reins attached so I could guide him.  The two of us shared a bond so close that when we were together we could almost read each others’ minds.  There was no need for harsh equipment because we could communicate so well.  Jumper was almost seven and I was almost sixteen.  We had been together for a little over 4 years.

The arena was divided into three separate lanes, and two other horses and riders were lined up with us.  When given the signal each of us will run a timed event called, Pole Bending.  It looks like we are racing, but we each have our own stop clock.  When we cross the starting line our time starts ticking, and it stops when we cross the finish line.

As we waited for the signal to start, visions of the past few years I had shared with Jumper raced through my mind.  I had never really won anything with Jumper before.  Jumper had a rough start in his training.  Pushed to hard and handled harshly, he stopped trying.  Instead of running, he took to bucking in every show I entered him in.  Scared, confused, and frustrated, he had no trust in me.  And I felt the same way toward him.  I didn’t know why he acted so badly, and in a desperate attempt to control him I put a tie-down and a harsh bit on his head.  But that didn’t stop Jumper, he just continued to get worse.  People told me that he was just a bad horse, and that I was to old for him, so I should just sell him.  “You’ll never win anything on him anyway” they told me.  “He’s hopeless.  Get a bigger horse that will actually run for you.”  I started to lose hope.

I was about to give up, when I met a man who showed me things I never knew were possible.  He offered to help Jumper and I – free of charge.  Almost every day he devoted a couple hours of his time to the two of us.  He showed us what it was like to communicate with each other.  Together the two of us became partners.  With his help, I formed a bond with Jumper that I don’t think I’ll ever have with another horse.  Galloping on Jumper’s back with the wind blowing in my face feels like flying.  When the two of us are together, it feels as though we could do anything.

And now after a lot of hard work, here I am starting a new show season for 2002.  I’ve finally earned Jumper’s trust, now I just have to wait and see if he’ll try for me again.

I settled down in my western saddle, pushed my feet into the stirrups, and prepared for the signal to go.  I remembered my dad’s words that he had told me earlier “Don’t worry, Jumper can do it, I know he can.”  “What if people make fun of me for riding a pony at my age?”  I had worried.  “It doesn’t matter what other people think”  My parents told me.  “Don’t listen to them, just believe in yourself and Jumper.”  I looked around at the other horses and riders waiting with me.  Those horses were all at least 15 hands tall, if not taller, and most of all, they were fast.  Very fast.  I didn’t know how Jumper  could possibly compete with them, being a pony only 13 hands tall.  But we were partners now.  Win or lose, we would do it together.

“Riders you may go!”  shouted the announcer.  Jumper took off like a rocket, racing toward the poles.  I leaned forward urging him on.  I couldn’t believe it!  Jumper was running his heart out for me, giving it everything he had.  I looked straight ahead, concentrating on the first pole, which was coming up fast.  At just the right moment, I sat down in my saddle and I felt Jumper slow up slightly and then we whipped around the first pole as sharp as we could.  Straight ahead of me were five more poles to get around.  Jumper didn’t hesitate as he raced through the next four poles.  Now we were doing the dancing part of poles with  Jumper changing leads for every pole and we were so close that I could feel them brushing against me.  The sixth pole loomed ahead and we slowed up slightly, whipped around and headed back up from the way we had just came from.

By now I could feel Jumper tiring just a little, but he wasn’t about to give up.  He turned the last pole so sharp I thought for sure it would fall, which would be a five second penalty, but as we came around the turn the pole stayed up.  Jumper dug in hard and  raced for the finish line, his little legs moving so fast he was almost flying.  I was holding back tears as we flew across the finish line.  I was so proud of him!  He had been through so much, and yet he was willing to forgive and start over.  He had just given me everything he had for that race.  And win or lose, there’s nothing compared to that.  As the announcer said our time, we were the fastest in that group with a time of 23.789 seconds.  Several more competitors still had to run though, so we wouldn’t find out how we did until later.

I walked back to the trailer and I silently thanked God for that ride.  No matter what else happened throughout the day, nothing could compare to what I had just felt.  My parents were the first to congratulate me.  They never stopped believing in Jumper and me, and they were very proud.  Later I found out that Jumper and I won the blue for that event.  As I walked up to Jumper to show him our ribbon, he turned toward me and gave me a look like “What, didn’t you believe that I could do it?”  And then he went back to munching his hay like nothing had happened.  I smiled and gave him a big hug.  To think that this was the same pony who everyone had said was worthless.  Jumper overcame the odds that day.  And the two of us went on to win several more times throughout the year.  I have big dreams for the two of us, we’ll always be partners, until the very end.  Jumper has shown me that big is not always better – it’s heart that really counts.