A group of nearly 30 adults in the Southern Tier is discovering it's as much fun to work
toward personal achievement in Horsemanship as it was when they were teens.
The opportunity was created on July 8, 2001, when the Southern Tier Adult Riding
Society (STARS) was formed as the first New York chapter of the national Old
People's Riding Club.

Old People's Riding Club (OPRC) follows the policies and guidelines of the
United States Pony Clubs, and was featured in a June 2001 article in Practical Horseman
magazine. Members need only be over the age of twenty-one to join an OPRC chapter,
whereas twenty is the maximum age for the United States Pony Clubs.
As a teenager I "Pony-Clubbed" as a member of the Bridlespur Pony Club in
St. Louis, Missouri. I learned to clean bridles until they gleamed, clean stalls until
they smelled like high-class hotels, and clean my horse until Mom would almost let her
come in for the night (almost!). I learned proper feeding, conditioning, warming-up and
cooling-down. I learned equine first aid, and understood when it was essential to call the
veterinarian. I rode dressage tests, jumped hunter courses and pushed hard against the
clock on rugged cross-country courses. I studied and worked to pass increasingly more
difficult "ratings", in which a stern examiner tested my knowledge and evaluated my
performance. I was chosen to be on the team of five Pony Clubbers representing the St.
Louis area in the three-day regional competition at the Ponca Hills Equestrian Center in
Omaha, Nebraska. 

More than anything, I had the time of my life.

Thirty years later, I'm getting to do it again. Like many horse-crazy kids, I grew up,
got married and settled into a job and raising children. Horses were part of my
childhood, but not part of my schedule or budget as an adult.

That changed in the summer of 2000, when I bought my Thoroughbred mare,
Quest. But horse showing had become much more expensive in the intervening thirty years and I
wasn't sure a blue ribbon would justify the cost. Worse, I wasn't sure I remembered
everything I used to know and I couldn't afford for either Quest or I to get hurt.

That's where STARS came in. The focus is on safety, education and fun. All
types of riding are welcome (saddle seat, Western, hunt seat) and there are
non-jumping options available at all rating levels. Already STARS has had an instructional
clinic with Dr. Patrick Tersigni on equine spinal adjustments and a Centered Riding clinic
with international riding teacher, author and artist Susan Harris of Cortland, New York. 
Other plans include trail rides, hunter paces and a day at the Finger Lakes Race Track. 
We'd learned that as adults,we were more interested in learning and improving
than in ribbons.

So there I was on a recent Sunday, with butterflies in my stomach, checking
my watch every two minutes. At exactly 220 p.m., I was going to be examined for my
combined D1-D2 rating. Quest had been brushed until her reddish-brown coat reflected 
the hazy afternoon light filtering through the barn's door. I kept repeating the obscure 
equine anatomy terms to myself like a personal mantra stifle, gaskin, fetlock, hock,
pastern. Would I sit deep, keep my eyes up, my heels down, remember to breathe? 
Would Quest's adolescent enthusiasm erupt into bucking when we moved to the huge 
outdoor arena, or had she gotten it out of her system late that morning in the round pen?

And then the Examiner was introducing herself. "Gale Wolfe", she said as she
reached to shake my hand. "I'll be examining you today as a candidate for the D1-D2
ratings. Shall we begin?" Of course, this calm serious woman was the same Gale I had 
seen in her bathrobe early on a Saturday morning, checking on a thirty-year-old trusted 
gelding with a swollen tendon. The same Gale who owns the stable where Quest lives 
(Gale's Equine Facility, Big Flats, New York). The same Gale who can find something 
to make you laugh even when you've lifted the 300th 50-pound hay bale up two feet to 
the next pair of tired hands.

"Yes, let's begin," I mumbled, and remembered to breathe. I'd felt a bit silly that morning, 
asking my ten-year-old daughter to quiz me on material from my thirty-year-old Pony 
Club Manual, wondering if I wasn't making too big a deal of this. Now I was glad I
had. With the number of hours I devote to my horse, it was worth learning to do it well.

Time flew as the examination proceeded. I was a proud fourteen-year-old again as I
demonstrated how to groom, tack up and lead a horse, and answered questions about
feeding, routine veterinary care and anatomy. We entered the indoor arena and I mounted
and worked Quest in big loopy circles to loosen and relax her. With two other candidates,
I demonstrated my ability to ride at a walk, trot and canter. We headed outdoors. Quest 
seemed to know it was an important occasion, because she was all business in the
outdoor arena. The jump course is her passion and she charged the fences like a
steeplechaser. We pulled up to regroup and reconsider our readiness. Gale suggested we
try the second line again, and that I sit back and really take hold of her after the first fence. 
I did, and she easily braked from a hand-gallop to a working trot, as though she'd known 
better and was just waiting for me to catch on. We floated out of the fenced arena to the 
trail ride, heading to the top of a hill at the north of Gale's property. Trotting up a steep 
incline and jumping a log forced a long-submerged giggle from somewhere near my heart. 
The Examiner had tested seven candidates that day, and she was happy to be aboard 
Skippy watching the late-afternoon sun light the group of mares grazing in the pasture below. 

One of the horses shied a little on the final return stretch and two others joined in, but all three
candidates remained balanced and secure in their saddles. It had been a good day to be
tested; it felt wonderful to have passed. Completing their D1 ratings were 
Chip Shumway
Tina Turk
Monika Wood
Jane Marie Law
Laurie Baker
Pam Schneider
Linda Nichols
Completing their D2 ratings were
Chip Shumway
Tina Turk
Laurie Baker
Pam Schneider
Linda Nichols

Rating certificates are recorded at the national level of the Old People's
Riding Club and recipients receive a colorful certificate to recognize their
achievement.
For more information on OPRC visit the website at
www.oldpeoplesridingclub.org.