Let me open this blog with a story...so that you may understand my extreme irritation. This happened a week ago:
I came home from an interview with one of my recruiters to find my roommate and several of his friends in the house. I walked in and this blonde skunk-looking girl (her hair was blonde with black streaks in it) said "hi, I'm Kristine." I will refer to her as "stupid biotch from here on out. Well, this struck me as odd because most of my roommates' friends don't ever introduce themselves unless I ask. So I was slightly shocked. But nonetheless, I told her my name and shook her hand. Then I asked everyone in the room if anyone wanted to buy my car. (I had it for sale.) One of my other roommate's said "what are you going to drive if you sell your car?" Well, I have a gas-guzzling Excursion, but I said "well, I want to buy a motorcycle to commute IF I work in San Diego and have to drive that far." So now here is the conversation that occurred...
Stupid Biotch: "Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?"
Me: "No, but my friend teaches people how to ride and she said that it's just like riding a horse...and she does both."
SB: "Uh...no. It's MUCH harder than riding a horse. I would know...I've been riding street bikes, dirt bikes and horses my whole life." (Let me interject here that I would guess that she was MAYBE 21...so "whole life" really isn't that long compared to me. Not to mention that you can't legally be riding a motorcycle before you're 15-and-a-half anyway.)
Me: "Well, my friend TEACHES people to ride bikes and she and I are really good at horseback riding...but she said that learning to ride the bike is not that hard compared to riding a horse."
My roommate (a guy): "Riding a motorcycle is harder because you have to do different things with each hand and each leg."
Me: "UH...kinda of like riding a HORSE. I do jumpers and it's a lot harder than it looks. You have to do something different with every part of your body. PLUS, a motorcylce isn't going to spook and jump sideways and dump you. You're in control...not like on a horse."
SB: "Oh well...riding horses is still easier than a bike. I've done barrel racing my whole life. I never did English or got into jumping because my friends and I thought English people were snobby biotches."
(UM...EXCUSE ME. Oh hells no...I know you did NOT just imply that I'm a snobby biotch! Ooh, I wanted to kick her stupid butt after she said that. Instead...)
Me: "Well my friends and I are really laid back and not snobby at all." (As if I need to defend or explain myself??? In fact, after she said that, I considered telling her to get out of my house since I pay to live there and I don't feel like being harrassed by some dumb skunk.)
SB: "That's another thing...I got out of riding because I'd rather have sex." (Again...this means she has NOT, in fact, "been riding horses her whole life." And then WTF? Where did THAT come from anyway?!? You CAN still have sex and be an equestrian. So I didn't even respond to that...but she kept on going...)
SB: "If you put a penis next to a horse, I'd choose the penis any day. I love sex. I'm like a man, but with a vagina."
(And at this point, I just walked away because she had "desperate wh0re" written all over her! On top of all that, homegirl looked like she was already 8 months pregnant. Either that OR she really WAS a man with a BEER BELLY...I will also interject here and say that later on, she ended up pissing off everybody and she was asked to leave. LOL. Apparently she tried to sleep with one of my roommates also.)
So I would like to take the moment to point out that barrel racing isn't really a difficult equestrian sport. When I told this story to my horse friends, every single one of them laughed and said "yeah...barrel racing. NOT even close to show jumping." This is true. You could probably learn to be a good barrel racer in less than a year. But to do show jumping...takes YEARS to do it right and there are not a whole lot of people who have the guts and talent to do it at the Olympic or Grand Prix level. We're talking horses going over 5' and higher jumps, galloping the whole time. It is NOT EASY. I have only ever jumped 3'9" in my life and that is hard enough.
Why am I BEYOND pissed you ask?
Well, first of all, that SB got me upset about the whole horseback riding thing because some people think it's not a valid sport. I would challenge any of those morons to get on my horse and jump him over a jump. (Much less one that is 3'9".) Because I KNOW you wouldn't be able to. Unless, like me, you've been riding for 17 years. And even then, my horse does not like anyone but me riding him. So good luck even getting him to listen to you.
I would like to also point out that Western riding (as opposed to English) is not even IN THE OLYMPICS. So barrel racing, which is a Western discipline, is not in the Olympics!!!! At least show jumping is in the Olympics. Hmmm...
So I am mad because my roommate got an issue of "Time" magazine in the mail and the cover was about the top 100 (or whatever number) of athletes to watch in the Olympics. I went through the whole list and NOT ONE SINGLE equestrian. NOT ONE. Do these idiots have ANY IDEA how DIFFICULT IT IS FOR A HORSE AND RIDER TEAM TO QUALIFY FOR THE OLYMPICS???? Not to mention that the equestrian events are the only ones in which men and women can comptete directly against each other equally? Or the fact that a horse and rider have to have such a dynamic partnership to get so far? Yes, the horse does a lot of work. But why? Because that is what a partnership is all about. The horse trusts the rider and does what he OR she asks. In turn, the rider trusts that the horse will perform at their very best.
What prompted this little tirade of mine was that I went to a website to read an article about the 15 most inspiring moments in Olympic history. So what, right? I didn't really expect an equestrian even to be one of them, but it jolted my memory and I recalled the magazine article which had sent me into my fit of rage in the first place. Well, actually, what started it was some stupid, ignorant girl...and this was a week or more ago. And yes, I'm still on my high horse...or my soap box. Whichever you prefer.
