This year I have been the schooling rider for the Oak Haven Farm Interscholastic Equestrian Association team. In practical terms, this means that I warm-up and school horses before the shows.
When the students go to the show, each team brings their own school horses to compete. Before the show begins, the show management take all the horses' names, put them in a hat, and draw out a random horse for each kid to ride. Because of this procedure, the kid in question may or may not get a horse he knows to compete for any particular class.
To keep everything as fair as possible, competitors are not allowed to warm up or school the horses before the show. This is where I come in. Each team needs a schooling rider to warm up the horses their team brought before the show.
It's pretty straightforward, and a fun way to spend a weekend: all the excitement of a horse show with none of the pressure. And less work, since the competitors help with the care of their team's horses.
The only drawback this particular weekend is the fact that I had to school at 6:00am when the temperature at the show grounds was 46F.
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