Horse Profile-Autumn Day

I first met Autumn one Sunday afternoon in September of 1981. I had a friend visiting me that weekend. My friend C.W. and I were sitting in the truck waiting for my Dad to pick up some tack and supplies from our old friend Jerry. We had stopped at his place on our way home from church. Dad told us that Jerry had a horse that he thought mother would like to see. The horse was on a layover. She had been picked up in Ohio and was on her way to a performance horse sale. She would be leaving soon so if mother was going to see the horse she had to come over to Jerry's place right away.

Mother came and Jerry got the horse out. She was a 15.3 hand six year old blood bay mare with a small white spot on her forehead and a white snip on her nose and a short tail that only came down to her hocks (had a goat chewed off the end??). She also had a white stocking on her right hind leg. Jerry asked mother if she like the mare. Mother liked her well enough to have Jerry's helper saddle the mare up and ride her around the driveway. Mother asked Jerry if the mare trots (she wanted to be sure that she wasn't gaited) and he said he didn't know let's see. So he yelled to the kid riding the mare to trot her up the drive. The kid gave a squeeze and Autumn trotted up the the round drive way. Mother bought her on the spot and they loaded the mare onto the horse trailer.

So we brought the mare home and tried to think of a name for her. Dad said we should name her Autumn since it was fall when we bought her. So her name became Autumn Day.

Autumn had obviously been handled and was well halter broken. We weren't sure if she was broken to saddle but we knew that she did not react adversely to the teenager riding her when we went to see her. So we figured that she had been ridden a little. However it was obvious that she had very little training. It was always frustrating to me that I did not know any details about Autumn's life prior to coming to Jerry's place. I wondered why she had been sold and if she possibly knew how to drive. She had a mysterious indentation on her hind quarter close to the top mother always thought that it was an old injury. So I wondered how she had gotten hurt.

Mother began riding her right away. Autumn's training went well. Mother enjoyed riding her and thought that Autumn was a very sensible horse. It wasn't long until mother started jumping Autumn over small jumps. Autumn loved to jump! She probably never refused a jump during her early training.

About that time we started to have horse trials at Gusty Wind. The farm wasn't as big as it is now but Dad built jumps in the Buscie boy field and in the 30 acre Thompson field that we leased at that time. Mother took Autumn in our first event. She took her in Hopeful. The height limit was two feet and she did a walk-trot test. Autumn was a good girl. She finished the horse trials with no jumping faults on cross country or stadium. I don't know what her Dressage score was but we were all very happy with Autumn's debut as an event horse.

By the time I turned thirteen Autumn had been in training for quite a while. So when I decided I wanted an event horse that I could take to Pony Club mother, thought the best horse for the job was Autumn. She knew that she could trust Autumn to keep me out of trouble. (Believe me, Autumn spent a lot of time taking care of me!)

Autumn was my move up horse. I had ridden ponies before that. The last pony I had was Valentine and then I started riding Autumn. I had competed Valentine in Hunter and Dressage. I also evented her at several pony club rallies.

Autumn was always fun. The best thing about riding her is that she loves to jump. If you even remotely point her towards a jump she starts to go towards it! So all I really had to do was to point her at the jumps get in position and wait. She took care of the rest. At the first Pony Club rally I took her to the parents of the other pony clubbers kept wanting to know if she was for sale. (Which she was NOT!)

My adventures with Autumn are some of the best memories of my teenage years. My happiest times where when I would gallop her through the fields and soar over the jumps. She loved those time too. I evented her at a lot of places around western Pennsylvania including Erie Hunt and Saddle Club, Basset's Horse Trails, Moriatie's, Winterfield Stables, JD Acres, at home, and at many pony club rallies. It was very rare for us to have any jumping penalties although we had a few.

I think the most memorable experience that I had with Autumn happened at Pony Club. Pony Club camp was held at Moriarities' Farm in Saxonburg. Suzanne and I both attended Autumn and her pony, chocolate. Mother had worked very hard to prepare us to be ready for camp. She made sure that we each had a good mounts, she made sure we could care for our own horses and tack them. Since we live so far from Saxonburg, Suzanne and I stayed with the Spatz family. Their daughter Amy was also participating in pony club camp. At Moriaties we rode two sessions. It was a hot summer day so during the lunch break some of the pony clubbers were swimming their horses and ponies in the pond. I decided that I wanted to swim Autumn. The fact I couldn't swim didn't seem like a problem to me because I thought all horses can swim (a common misconception). So I thought that I could just hold on and let her do the work. Suzanne (my younger sister) tried to stop me from going in but I was sure it would be alright. When I rode Autumn over to the pond she didn't even want to go in, but I kept pushing and squeezing..and finally she went in. Then I kept trying to get her over to the deeper part because I wanted to feel her swim. Her feet did come up off of the ground a few times and the feeling of her swimming underneath me was very exciting. Meanwhile up on the bank Suzanne was having an absolute fit. She actually went and got the camera. She took a picture because she didn't think mother would believe her if she didn't have a picture as proof. That picture came outvery nicely!

When we got home the first thing Suzanne told mother was about how I took Autumn swimming. (In fact I think she might have told her on the telephone that night when we got back to the Spatz's house). I knew I was in trouble so I was pretty scared. Mother said that we weren't putting off swimming lessons any longer since she couldn't trust me to stay out of the water.

So the next summer we started swimming lessons. I found myself the only 16 year old girl in a group of 8-10 year old. The director rescued me out of the situation and arranged for mother, Suzanne and I to take private lessons from a wonderful instructor named Louise Waters. I am so glad that I learned to swim it is my favorite sport other than riding.

At one point we wanted to breed a mare to our stallion Long Legs, who was a four year old Throughbred/Hannoverian cross that was born at our place. We had decided to geld him and wanted to at least get one baby from him. We decided Autumn would make a good mother. So we bred her 3 different times, but it just didn't seem to work. So we didn't record the breeding dates. Later that summer Autumn often seemed short of breath. When the vet was out to geld Long Legs (and Mischief Maker as well) he asked if we had bred Long Legs to any mares. We said yes he was bred to one mare but the mare didn't take. The vet asked, "which mare?" Mom told him "That one right there" and pointed up the the field. He said, "bring her over here" so we did and he examined her. Much to our surprise she was in foal. He thought she was due in June.

Autumn was pastured with several geldings (the original Buscie Boys). On April 31, Dad went out to feed the horses and looked up into the pasture at Autumn and saw 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 legs! He thought how is that possible so he looked again and sure enough it was 8 legs! Autumn had foaled in the field with 4 geldings present and the foal was dry and standing up when we found her! So that is how we got April Morning! (I thought we should have named her April Suprise but no one else liked the name).

I left Autumn and April alone for a while, but I really wanted to start riding Autumn again as soon as possible. So once the baby was old enough to eat we weaned her a little bit so that I could take Autumn out and ride her lightly. However we did not fully wean April until the proper time.

I started attending college the summer of my 18 year old year. I lived at home and continued to ride Autumn. However as my college education progressed I had less time for riding and my emphasis switched to Long Legs. So Autumn started giving riding lessons during my college years. Incidentally, it was during my college years that I started giving the group lessons and getting more serious about teaching riding.

After graduated from college I wanted to continue my eventing career with Autumn. However I found that her breathing wasn't as good as it used to be. So I was satisfied with riding her in some Dressage shows and allowing her to teach lessons.

Autumn is a favorite of many riding students. She is happiest when she gets to go on a trail ride or jump. She has competed every summer since 1995 in our home horse shows with students on board. She has taught children that now themselves have graduated from college how to jump. Now she is finally slow enough that I can sometimes teach people to canter on her. She still jumps but I do not expect and high jumping from her. I think horse camp is her favorite time of year because she gets to have adventures with the kids (like jumping in the bottom ring, trail riding, and cross country). I have to keep her work interesting or she gets cranky.

However her favorite time is when she gets to run with the herd out to the 60 acre pasture field. She is one of the "boss" mares in the group. She is very firm, but she is not mean with the other horses. She and April have been pastured together for most of their lives. It is common to find them standing together in the field. We intend to keep her the rest of her life.

The story of "Gusty Wind"

Often people say to me "I see why your place is called 'Gusty Wind' the wind is so strong up here. I almost always answer "Well the name Gusty Wind is certainly appropriate, however our placed was not named because of the wind we get up here. It was named in honor of a horse my mother used to have."

The story goes like this. My mother was raised in suburban Baltimore, MD. Her family had cats, a dogs, a bunny rabbit, and white rats, but horses where far from their minds. That is everyone's mind except for hers. She thought about horses most of the time.

When she was in seventh grade, in January 1958 a friend of hers named Ruth took my mother and another friend named Bobbi to Rolling Road stable for a birthday party. Ruth and Bobby had been taking riding lessons with their girl scout troup so my mother's parents thought it would be ok for her to attend the party since the other girls knew how to "ride" (they had taken about 6-12 riding lessons). So Ruth's parents rented each girl a horse. Since mother didn't have any problems at the party her parents felt assured that it would be safe for her to go riding with Ruth again. She started going riding as often as mother could save up the money to rent a horse. She was probably riding once every 2-3 weeks and certainly every day off from school was used to go riding. Ruth was giving mother second hand riding lessons. The second time she went riding Ruth told her how to post. Out in the field they where trotting along and mother's horse broke into a canter. Her friend Ruth said "You where cantering!" Mother said "I wonder why I couldn't post to it". Ruth said "You don't post to a canter". Mom said "Oh".

Once school was out for the summer Rolling Road had a special 13 week course of riding lessons. The package was cheaper than buying the lessons individually so her parents agreed to let her take the lessons. Mother saved up her money and then took the lessons. After the thirteen week course was getting close to being finished mother wanted to continue to take more lessons, but would have had to struggle to pay for more lessons. Her father seeing that she was very interested offered to pay for 1/2 f her lessons. That arrangement continued for the entire duration of the time she continued to take lessons.

As time progressed her riding got better and better. After about three years her teacher Mrs. Williams called my mother's mom up on the telephone and said that Mother "probably didn't have as much natural ability as some of the others but that Arlene makes up for it in hard work" She also told her that the only way mother could continue to improve her riding skills was if mother had her own horse. Mother was not aware that Mrs. Williams had called the house. That was in mother's eleventh grade year. That year when mother made her Christmas list up she only put one thing on it "Gus". Gus was a 14.2 hand six year old Arabian gelding that mother rode for riding lessons. He was originally brought into the stable for another person but that did not work out. That year mother got on the president's list which meant she had straight A's in academic classes (the hardest classes she could sign up for). Her father was so pleased with her grades that he wanted to reward her. So, after viewing her Christmas list and much careful consideration, he went out to the stable and purchased Gus. He purchased Gus on the December 22 but told the owners that he wanted mother to get to ride Gus but to keep it a secret that her father had purchased him. So Mr. Cauliflower the stable owner told mother that he wanted her to ride Gus during Christmas break since she would have a lot of extra time. So she didn't suspect anything and rode him when she was out at the stable before Christmas. Before Christmas as she groomed him she thought to herself "I don't know why I'm doing this, he'll never be mine" but she did it because she "just liked him".

So as mother says "Daddy made three copies of the bill of sale Christmas when he handed out the presents the last things he handed out where three copies of the bill of sale one to my brother, one to my sister, and lastly one to me". So technically Gus was given to all three children but mother was the only one who knew how to ride. She says "I couldn't believe my eyes. I gave my father a big hug and we went out to the stable to see Gus".

She and her friends tried to choose a "show name" for Gus. Her friend Sue, suggested "Gusty Wind". Since mom thought that was the best suggestion she decided on "Gusty Wind" for his "real" or "show" name but always called him Gus when he was not showing.

Gus had a lot of talent. Mother showed him for years in open jumper. He jumped and won at 4 feet. He never touched a jump because he thought it was scary to hit his feet on those jumps. She also fox hunted him one time. He jumped every jump and was in outstanding physical condition. He did so well that the hunt staff kept inviting him to move up farther in the hunt.

Other highlights of 2007

This summer we had 3 camps!!! We had three advanced camps and one regular camp.
During camp. At the advanced camps the students did a lot of jumping. In fact, by the end of the second camp three of the students: Kathleen, Sherri, and, Abby went in the prehopeful level of the horse trials that was held here at Gusty Wind Acres Riding School. Their favorite part was the cross country course. Everybody had a great time. Sherri and Cameo went first. Sherri was the first one on course. She decided to walk the course and just trot up to the jumps from a short distance away. After stopping to look at the second jump Cameo jumped it and went on to do the rest of the course with ease. Sherri says that Cameo really got excited between fences three and four, but she behaved like a perfect lady. Kathleen and April breezed around the course in great form. Abby took Cinci last. He was so ready to go. She was able to trot/canter the jumps. At fence 5, the "W" jump, Cinci jumped very high! Abby had a shocked look on her face. After the cross country was done I cantered Buddy over the course just for fun!

I can't remember what happened in stadium, but I think everyone went clean and I know that I jumped Buddy over that course too! Abigail and Cinci won. In my mind, everyone won because they all reached so far beyond their comfort zones!

Happy New Year! A review of last year

A new year, a new website!
I hope 2007 was a good year for you!
Overall 2007 was a good year but we definitely had our ups and downs.
The biggest down happened at the end of the year--December 22
Our much loved school horse and friend Desi died of old age (he was 33).
Desi was the equine teacher for many many students during his 17 year career.
Desi began his career at the age of 16. He began by taking a refresher course from
my sister Suzanne. Then she showed him for a couple of years in both hunter shows and horse trials. I have some great pictures of them together, but they are not digitalized because that technology did not exist at that time (at least not here at Gusty Wind). Suzanne was an older teenager when Desi first came to live with us. His big trick was to trip, every step. Strangely this problem did not occur when he was out by himself (doing what he wanted). So Suzanne gave Desi a good reminder everytime he tripped and within 2 sessions he got over that trick. Which is good because now that he could remember where all four of his feet went he could start to have some adventures! Suzanne taught that little guy to jump, jump, jump! He loved to jump. Then she started training him for eventing. Boy did he love that. That little horse would gallop and jump like no one would believe. Suzanne got rather serious about his training and did a lot of conditioning work with him. She often would go out on her own and practice trotting and cantering him so that he would be strong enough to handle the endurance requirements of cross country when she competed him. One day she staggered in from riding Desi with an odd look on her face and some dirt on one of her legs. When mother asked her what happened she said she wasn't exactly sure, but that she remember that she had been galloping Desi across a field. The next she remember was laying on the ground, no Desi in sight. (Yes she was wearing her riding helmet). So she got up and started hiking towards home she found Desi eating grass with the herd of horses. So she caught him, climbed back on and rode him home. Once she got home she untacked him and put him back in his field. The best we can guess is that while she was cantering him he slipped and fell down. Then he got up and went on to join the herd. We guess that she must have been knocked out for a short time. (One reason that riding alone isn't a real bright idea). Both of them were fine, but it was a strange incident!

At one point Suzanne had 7 horses that she was training/showing. So she finally stopped riding Desi and he started working more often in the riding school. For a long time he taught many people to canter and to jump. Later after another golden oldie Honey (at age 34), passed away he became the first canter horse. As he got older he began to specialize in beginner lessons. Many people did their first walking trail class, walk trot class or walk trot individual canter class on Desi. He enjoyed the attention that he got as a lesson horse. His favorite time of the lesson was the end when he got his treats! He used to look at the students with this expectant look on his face his ears would be up and he neck would be arched while he waited for the student to give him his treat. As he got older we had to wait longer and longer for him to chew his carrots because his ancient teeth were not as good as they were in his youthful teenage years.

What I loved about Desi was that I could absolutely trust him and that he genuinely enjoyed being with us!