The Chronicle of the Horse
THE EQUESTRIAN LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
TURNING THE LENS ON ELMA GARCIA SPRING FASHION PREVIEW WARMER WEATHER WEAR
HUNGRY AND HURRIED?
7
FOOD DELIVERY OPTIONS FOR BUSY RIDERS
WORLD, MEET OMAHA
LEARN THE INSIDER TIPS FOR THIS NEBRASKA CITY
WILD AND WOOLY
THE HORSES OF ICELAND A SUPPLEMENT TO THE CHRONICLE OF THE HORSE
MARCH/APRIL 2017
LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS Seeing The World With
“Life Between The Ears”
SALLY WALKER PHOTO
Contributors to the “Life Between The Ears” social media accounts transport us to the world’s most interesting and beautiful places—all viewed from the saddle. Each issue, we share a few of their images.
74 MARCH /APRIL 2017
U N TAC K E D
RACHEL KAUFMAN/@MINNESOTA.JONES PHOTO
BROUGHTON, SCOTLAND This picturesque view is Sally Walker’s backyard in Scotland. “The photo is taken from the hill opposite my home,” she said. “I do ride it often as long as I’m not disturbing the livestock. You can see the green track I’m on is actually part of an Iron Age fort of which there are many in our area. Home is an old farmhouse that we are renovating, located directly over Oliver’s left ear.” Walker lives in Broughton, a small village steeped in Scottish history. Broughton was the home of John Murray, the secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart at the time of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Murray testified against Stuart, an action that forced Stuart to forfeit his lands and properties. “The tower house that stood here was burned down, and our house and steading was built using the stone in the early 1800s,” Walker said. Walker, 45, took some time off from riding due to joint problems, but after two hip replacements she’s back in the saddle. “I’m mostly a happy hacker but have bought a second younger horse to start doing a bit more on,” she said. “I’ve been having some flatwork lessons and hope to have some cross-country lessons, too.” Walker is the mother of two teenagers and spends time managing the renovations to the property where they’ve lived for 2 ½ years. “I do a lot of the stripping down of the woodwork, painting and decorating, design, curtain-making and spending!” she said. “I do administration for my husband’s company and spend a lot of time with my two horses, two dogs and cat. I’m truly, madly deeply crackers over my ponies. My poor husband is very tolerant.” The ears belong to Oliver, Walker’s 21-year-old Irish Sport Horse. Oliver is a retired event horse on permanent loan from his former rider. “He used to challenge me quite a lot, but now he’s so settled and happy I feel totally safe on him,” Walker said. “He has a very quirky character; he’s the grumpiest horse on the planet but quite likes to pretend he’s more grumpy than he actually is. He gets jealous of me fussing over other horses and will grunt and paw the ground quite like a sudden colic attack until his human comes to check on him. “I ride him bitless, as he came to me like that,” she continued. “He also has an incredible compass in his head—no matter where we go, he knows as soon as we turn towards home, and his speed increases. Oli loves pears; well, he likes food, so pears just slightly more than any other kind of food on offer or stealable. He’s quite stubborn with people he doesn’t know well or if thinks he can get away with it but is almost lamblike at times with me.”
AVENUE OF THE VOLCANOES, ECUADOR Rachel Kaufman lives in New Hope, Minn., and used to be a professional trainer, riding and competing in dressage and eventing. But she’s now left that life behind and works in the medical field. “Though I’ve had the opportunity to ride and work with many wonderful horses, it’s been over a decade since I said goodbye to ‘my’ horse—the truly special Quarter Horse mare I had as a teen. Zoe was my best friend, my light in dark places, and I’m so lucky she was a part of my life,” she said. “I still hop on friends’ horses for trail riding whenever possible,” Kaufman continued. “Every spare dollar is saved for travel, and I recently met my goal of solo travel on at least six continents before I turned 30. My favorite way to see the world has always been from the saddle.” This photo was taken through the ears of a hired horse for the trek, looking down the Avenue of the Volcanoes. This 200mile section of terrain runs between two mountain ranges in the Andes that have seven peaks more than 17,000 feet high. German explorer Alexander von Humboldt gave the area its name in the early 1800s when he was climbing there.
C H RO N O F H O R S E .CO M
MARCH /APRIL 2017
75
LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS
JONO ARNOTT/@FARANDRIDE PHOTO
EASTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA This shot of a pair of giraffes galloping away was taken in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa by tour guide Jono Arnott. Arnott has his own trip business, Beachcomber Horse Trails, but posted this photo in the Instagram feed for the Far And Ride riding holiday company (farandride.com). Arnott leads groups on multi-day adventures out of the coastal town Kenton-on-Sea for his own business as well as for Far And Ride. The trips take riders along the beaches and into the bush. An experienced endurance rider, Arnott has been leading guided rides for 17 years, has extensive knowledge of the flora and fauna of the area, and also breeds many of the horses used for the rides. “To give you a bit of info on the picture, the horse’s name is Razmataz, and he is a full Arabian,” Arnott said. “The photo was taken at Kaba Farm in the Eastern Cape, Alexandria, district in South Africa, a really amazing place,” he added. “It was taken on one of my seven-day trails.”
76 MARCH /APRIL 2017
U N TAC K E D
ALIX CRITTENDEN/@ALIXCRITT PHOTO
BONDURANT, WYOMING Alix Crittenden and her husband, Sam, run Sleeping Indian Outfitters (sleepingindianoutfitters.com) out of Bondurant, Wyo. “We are nestled between the Gros Ventre and Wyoming mountain ranges, right in the heart of BridgerTeton National Forest,” Alix said. “We offer guided trail rides, overnight pack trips, fishing excursions and guided hunts for many species of wild game. In the winter we both take other jobs. I currently train and race a group of about 25 sled dogs.” The cute chestnut ears in the photo belong to Alix’s horse, Tuff. “He is a Haflinger cross, which is a best guess, as he’s the bastard child of an island pony mare and who knows what,” Alix said. “His mother was a guest horse on a ranch I used to work at. They bought her at auction and put her to work. That winter, while counting the herd on pasture one day in February’s icy temperatures, there was an extra little nugget. He made it, and they dubbed him Tuff, because he was. “I broke him to ride while I worked there, and at the end of the season he was given to me as my end-of-season bonus,” Alix continued. “He is more than a horse to me. We are best pals. Every morning he helps me wrangle the rest of the herd, about 20 head, into the corrals, and we pretty much do everything together in the summer. What I love about Tuff is his super strong personality (everyone else that’s ever ridden him hates riding him—his mom’s name was Sassy, so he comes by it honestly), and his very round, squishy figure, which is perfect for bareback riding. It’s like riding a La-Z-Boy couch.” The photo was taken in the Wind River Range mountains. Massive wildfires in the summer of 2016 ravaged the area, with more than 40,000 acres lost to the fire. “Not only were they disturbingly close to our home, but they destroyed many of the places that we do business, out in the backcountry,” said Alix. “Luckily we were able to move the summer’s backcountry trips into the Wind River Range a little further south of us. [Tuff and I] traveled over 100 miles together the week that photo was taken, packing the camp in and out and taking the clients in and out. It was some of the roughest terrain I have ever led a string on. It was glorious country though. Its beauty was astounding— the photo doesn’t do it justice.”
JENNIE HILL/@JENNIE_HILL PHOTO
SNOWSHILL, ENGLAND Jennie Hill took this photo through the ears of Mr. T, a horse in the string at Cotswolds Riding at Jill Carenza Equestrian. Hill works at the facility, which offers lessons and guided sightseeing rides around the Cotswolds. “Mr. T is currently quite young but enjoys leading the rides,” said Hill. “I work at the yard on weekends, but during the week I am currently in my third and final year of an equine science degree. I graduate in the summer, and I plan to travel and work for a while, hopefully in America for some of it—I’d particularly love to visit Wyoming and Montana!” The church in the photo dates to the 19th century, but the Snowshill manor house goes back the 16th century. The 2011 census listed the population of Snowshill as 164 residents. Snowshill has been used as a location for multiple period movie shoots.
C H RO N O F H O R S E .CO M
MARCH /APRIL 2017
77
LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS
DIANA JENSEN/@POLOPEOPLEPLACES PHOTO
FANØ, DENMARK During a visit to her father on the island of Fanø, Diana Jensen discovered a pony trekking company there (fanoridning.dk) and decided to hit the beach with them. She was assigned a pinto, Leia, and went for a ride full of mad gallops down the beach and wading in the sea. “It really was a great experience and taught me quite a few things: 1.) Don’t overestimate what you can do on a horse. 2.) If you have overestimated, well then just go with the flow and try to hang on,” she said. Jensen’s true equine passion is polo, however. She started riding two years ago in Bahrain, which was her base at the time for her job as a flight attendant on a private jet. “I started at a local riding school, which mostly taught show jumping, and I flew around the world on my days off to take polo lessons in Florida, London, Dubai, Copenhagen and Spain, to name a few. And whenever I could get a chance to get on a horse— any horse, in any style—I took it. I did beach rides in the Caribbean and Bali when on work flights,” she said. Now Jensen lives in Dubai and works as the social media and marketing executive at the new Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club. “I started here three months ago and did quite a bit of dressage riding, as the horses needed to get used to the place before we put clients on them,” she said. “Now I am back to stick and ball and learning polo; actually, the dressage has helped me improve a great deal. I have played a few chukkers but mostly just instructionals. I am not yet confident for actual matches. Hopefully soon though!” Jensen blogs about her adventures at polopeopleplaces.com.
RICK DAHMS PHOTO
Sharing Life Between The Ears
Since 2008, Life Between The Ears founder Kristine Dahms has posted stunning photos shot by riders in all corners of the world with one hand on the reins and the other on the shutter. Dahms mines photos with the hashtag #lifebetweentheears, contacts the original poster of the image, then features the photo, complete with educational details about the place that’s portrayed. Life Between The Ears photos appear on a LBTE Facebook page, an Instagram feed, a dedicated website (lifebetweentheears.com), a Twitter feed and a Pinterest account, all under lifebetweentheears account names. Dahms—who lives in Vashon, Wash., with her Welsh Cob, mini horse, pygmy goats, two dogs and two cats—rides dressage and takes quite a few photos herself on the picturesque Vashon-Maury Island. Dahms has taken some of the Life Between The Ears images from cyberspace to print, creating three lines of greeting cards with selected photos from her social media pages. A portion of the proceeds from the card sales goes to the Equine Land Conservation Resource (elcr.org). Cards are available at lifebetweentheears.com/retail.
78 MARCH /APRIL 2017
U N TAC K E D