Barn Bits
Rachel
Rachel Webber
Rachel Markels Webber is an equestrian trainer and dressage instructor at Apple Valley Farm, Littleton, MA. She is Founder and Director of the New England Valkyries Association. She and her colleague, equestrian trainer/instructor, Heidi Lepage, run the Dunvegan Farm/ City to Saddle Equestrian Vaulting Program located in Wrentham, MA
City to Saddle Day 1 June 2004
I’m standing in the parking lot with Heidi, wondering if the kids are actually coming. It’s already slightly past the appointed hour when a caravan of cars pull into the driveway, and a herd of 9-year-old boys fly out of the barely opened doors.
“I want to ride a brown one,” proclaims Victor.
“I want a black one,” Gilson chimes in.
“A white one.”
"A black one and a white one.”
All of a sudden color has become the theme of the day. I try, and quickly give up explaining what they are going to do. They are simply too excited. Heidi and I herd them up to the ring.
I have a plan. I’ve used it many times with great success. It’s a good first day lesson plan. After @ 29 seconds I’ve thrown the plan out the window. I’ve forgotten one small thing. I have made a career of teaching girls. I'm now standing face to face with six, nine-year-old boys. And face to face would be a slight exaggeration… as within the first 17 seconds Victor is running laps around the arena, Gilson is drawing in the dirt, another boy is sitting on the bench and Yuri wonderful Yuri, is standing at rapt attention.
I look around at the mayhem and say, “I think you’re more the kamikaze types, lets get the trampoline.” From that moment on the program is a huge success. They run and jump onto our artificial horse, landing in new positions each time. They learn how to do shoulder stands, backward rolls, and leaps, always asking for more. They work together to create a team routine. And when it is time to come to the horse they stand quietly for the first time all day. The respect and genuine sensitivity they show for our horse both surprise and delight me. Caring for Willi afterwards becomes more important than the lesson itself. Their parents have to drag them away.
There are moments that stand out in my mind. One father’s tale of how he had ridden his horse to school, and how wonderful it is for him to be able to give his son an opportunity to be around horses. A sister who comes to class every week, watching attentively, is not allowed to participate because, her parents tell her, it is not a sport for girls.
Vaulting
The next summer we encourage the girls to come, and Louanna is more advanced than the returning boys-she has paid attention. One day her mother tells me that Louanna called her at work three times to remind her to come home early to take them to Vaulting. And Yuri, Louanna’s younger brother, a boy who born into another family would have been scooped up my some gymnastics coach and groomed for the Olympics. So talented, he takes to Vaulting like he had been waiting for it his whole life. At the end, we all agree it is Victor who had exceeded all our expectations. Loud, ADD Type, bullyish, 0 self-esteem, Victor talks so much he has no idea what’s going on. Convinced he will fail before he begins, failure has become for him a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the end of the summer he earns a national certificate for his skill and competence in Vaulting.
I recently received an email from a former vaulter. In the email she talks about what she learned. “It is possible to pursue your passions in life and still be successful….I can explore opportunities that make me happy and encompass things that bring me joy.”
Thank you , all of you, for being part of a program that brings so much joy to so many children. For being part of a program where young people grow and develop through their relationship with the most perfect of all beings.
