[Music] [Applause] Hi I'm Miss Penny from KidVision.

I am thrilled to be here with a horse trainer to find out about your profession and to share it with the children.

Hi Miss Penny I'm Max Amaya I'm from New Jersey I'm here in Wellington and I run Stonehenge Stables among a great team and I'm excited you guys are here and to show everyone you know what we do and what our life is all about.

Very interested to know how you got started.

Well you know it's uh it became a profession but it started as a passion.

I was nine years old and my Grandfather and my older brother Victor were quite involved with horse jumping and I was very interested about it but I was not really comfortable with horses.

I was actually very afraid of them.

So interesting that you started out afraid and then it became your passion.

Yes, you know horses are quite such a noble animal.

They're good friends they just really do anything we ask them to do and I always loved them ever since I was a very little kid, but they're so big and so intimidating that I didn't know how to approach them.

How did you choose horse jumping rather than another type of sport related to horses?

In all fairness you know I tried everything when I was in my late teens, (horses neighing) they're just talking to us, I tried horse racing but that was too scary.

Then I tried polo which I found it very you know amazing but I just couldn't hit the ball.

and I have a few friends telling me I'm not good at this so show jumping was what I was probably the best at and so I pursued that which I actually love more than any other discipline.

Is there a trick when you're first teaching a horse how to jump?

Are there certain tricks or methods that you use?

Yes it's like everything like a rider or a horse when they're new young or just starting to do it you start with a very basic with a very little so basically you could put a pole on the ground and that becomes an obstacle that is not normally on the ground so the horse learns to walk over then trot then canter then that pole becomes a little fence and then so on.

So we have this beautiful stable here.

Basically about three years ago in 2017 I transitioned from me competing at the top of the sport to start teaching people how to get to the top of the sport so I enjoy that very much.

What ages do you teach?

We have a big group of trainers in the staff including myself and we teach from probably 9, 10 years old all the way up to 63, 64 years old.

That's wonderful.

I would really like to meet your horses and see where you keep them and how you take care of them.

What they wear during competition.

Could we go into the stable?

Absolutely Miss Penny let's go!

[Music] Great!

[Music] These stables are really beautiful.

How many horses do you have here?

We have 40 horses.

This is Kensingtown you know she's one of them.

Hi.

And how do you care for the horses?

Well we have a wonderful team you know there's grooms that take care of the daily you know chores of cleaning their you know bedroom and then feeding them and bathing them and making sure they have the right equipment.

Then we have trainers that they ensure that they get exercise every day and each individual rider gets a lesson or practice their skills and get ready for competition so it's a big effort but we are very happy and very lucky we have a wonderful team.

How many hours a day does a horse train?

Well normally they train for about 45 minutes maybe an hour not more sometimes a little less but that will be the average... and now she's very happy with these treats... and then normally you know they spend a lot of time in what we call their bedrooms you know which are stalls and we try to have this as nice as we can with good windows and a lot of air and as comfortable as they can be.

She does like, we have animal crackers rather than carrots but i think she really likes them.

This is the treat of choice.

Oh yes, I can tell that she loves it!

What kind of equipment do they wear when they're competing?

Well they were normally on their head they were a bridle which you know helps you control a little bit where they go and how fast they go then they wear a saddle which is where we sit so we're not on their back and then they wear boots you know or polo wraps to protect their legs.

I know I don't have any more.

How many times a day do they get to have snacks Oh as many times as anybody can get them.

I see that they're tall so horse jumpers are generally tall?

Yes generally they're tall they're you know medium-sized very rarely they're small.

I guess because they have to jump over..

Yes, power and ability for sure that's terrific I really enjoyed meeting the horse and learning about what the horses wear and what they do and this is a very interesting breed and really nice horse thank you for introducing her to us.

And what do you wear when you compete?

Let's go i'll show you.

Okay [Music] Well Miss Penny, here we are in the tag room.

As you can see here is where we store the saddles that go on the back of the horses for them to be ridden and here in this side of the room we have the equipment that I wear and we can start probably by showing you what we call the tall boots.

Tall boots obviously you know we have the shoe part and then this covers your lower leg.

Then we have the helmet which is very important it's a safety issue you know you want to always keep your head protected you know from an eventual fall or anything that can happen.

Then we have the set of gloves you know obviously they go in your hands and this allows you to grab the reins or pet the horse and not get any blisters.

And then we have some time for a small encouragement we have what we call a whip or a stick and if a horse is a little bit you know lazy or a little bit quiet we just stop him a little bit you know on the rib cage and then they move forward.

You don't tap them very hard?

No this is a very tiny one.

And you have a lucky hat that you wear all the time?

I am quite superstitious this hat is not the prettiest one it's very, very efficient and i had it for about 12 years and I've been keep being reminded by my staff you need a new hat you need your hat I just this is my lucky one and i wear it and the same happens with the gloves you know I mean I could get new gloves every you know three four weeks but I just like the ones that give me luck and I keep them until they don't give me any more luck.

I understand that.

And I see you've won a lot of ribbons this year.

Yes, my students have been very lucky they have done all their homework and the horses have been you know tremendous partner partners for them so we've done very well.

So let's find out about jumping.

Let's go.

We've learned a lot about horses so far.

We've learned about what you wear, what the horses wear.

Tell us about the course.

Well the courses are actually something you know quite interesting because every weekend we go to different competitions we have you know a person that is called the course designer.

It's basically a little bit like an art like drawing pictures or doing something.

Everybody has their own style.

So when we're at home we have these fences you know that are the the obstacles that we jump and we try to recreate in a very easy way and friendly way what we will be asked at the competitions in order to practice and rehearse.

What's the goal of the competition?

How do you know if you're the winner?

Show jumping it's a little complicated but yet it's very simple.

You have fences and you basically have to jump them with your horse without knocking them down.

They're set on very light caps so to speak on each end of the pole.

And you have to jump them.

Everybody starts when they're kids at the very low level and you start with the baby steps we call them.

And how about time?

Do they time the competition?

They do time the competitions not all of them but the jumpers they do get time they have a certain time allowed to go in that you know course in that track and if you exceed it you get a penalty by time.

I'd love to see you jump.

I'm excited.

Favorite is the horse we're jumping today.

He's a lovely horse and I'm excited to show you guys some jumps.

Great.

[Music] You're amazing.

The horse was amazing.

The jumping was exciting!

Thank you so much for sharing your sport with us.

I am completely inspired and I'm sure you've inspired many others.

My pleasure, thank you.

[Music] Hi boys and girls, it's Miss Penny.

Put on your thinking caps, it's time to learn a new word.

Competition.

Competition is the act of competing with others for victory.

A situation in which someone is trying to win something over someone else.

What was that word?

Competition.

Good job.

Horse.

A horse is a large four-legged animal that you can ride.

Horses have the largest eyes of all land mammals.

What was that word?

Good job.

Horse trainer.

A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them certain behaviors.

What was that word?

Good job.

Show jumping.

Show jumping is the competitive riding of horses over a course of fences and obstacles.

Winners are judged by agility and speed.

What was that word?

Show jumping.

Good job.

See you next time!