My four-legged colleagues come in all shapes, sizes and colours. While the colour is more or less irrelevant and only matters to a certain type of people (think: Muuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmy, I want the whiiiiite horse/Can I have this one, I think it goes well with my outfit and we have the same highlights in our hair/This one looks just like the one on TeeVeeeeeeeeeeeee), the colour variations are certainly nice to look at and Icelandic horses sport some unusual combinations, such as my personal favourite, the silver dapple black:
Shape and size however do matter in determining which rider to put on this particular horse. Some horses are petite and almost fragile looking, others are strong and robust, so this is a good starting point when trying to match rider and horse. But then, there are tiny little horsies that are incredibly strong and energetic, even with a heavier weight on their back, whereas there are also big, tall and feisty horses that cannot carry or run much.
There are two people at work who have made it a true science to match the right horse with the right rider or vice versa. Not only do they know each and every horse's personality (horsiality?) as well as its strengths and weaknesses in terms of endurance, ridability, reliability and so on, there is also a lot of psychology that influences the decision. Of course we have a horse for the girl who has been riding for 12 years. But, we also have a horse for her boyfriend who has only been on horseback twice before but is reasonably athletic and looks like he would like to be able to keep up. And a different one for the husband who is reluctant to get on, but will give it a shot in order to do his significant other a favour. We have horses for kids that do a better job at babysitting than most nannies.
I am quite in awe of the success rate my two colleagues have at match-making. For returning customers, each horse will be a new highlight in comparison to the one they had the day before. The amount of organisation and mental leg work required is quite impressive.
P.S. We also have the crazy ones, of course. But we keep those for the guides :-)
Shape and size however do matter in determining which rider to put on this particular horse. Some horses are petite and almost fragile looking, others are strong and robust, so this is a good starting point when trying to match rider and horse. But then, there are tiny little horsies that are incredibly strong and energetic, even with a heavier weight on their back, whereas there are also big, tall and feisty horses that cannot carry or run much.
There are two people at work who have made it a true science to match the right horse with the right rider or vice versa. Not only do they know each and every horse's personality (horsiality?) as well as its strengths and weaknesses in terms of endurance, ridability, reliability and so on, there is also a lot of psychology that influences the decision. Of course we have a horse for the girl who has been riding for 12 years. But, we also have a horse for her boyfriend who has only been on horseback twice before but is reasonably athletic and looks like he would like to be able to keep up. And a different one for the husband who is reluctant to get on, but will give it a shot in order to do his significant other a favour. We have horses for kids that do a better job at babysitting than most nannies.
I am quite in awe of the success rate my two colleagues have at match-making. For returning customers, each horse will be a new highlight in comparison to the one they had the day before. The amount of organisation and mental leg work required is quite impressive.
P.S. We also have the crazy ones, of course. But we keep those for the guides :-)
