Post by Elaine on Oct 27, 2009 17:50:56 GMT
Nowadays there are houses and schools all over where the riding school used to be. The local school use to be a one room, one teacher centre of learning, but now it is a multi-storey, multi-building college of advanced education. Where wallabies and wombats used to roam in the hills there are manicured lawns with closely fenced yards to keep the pet poodle in and the neighbours out. The riding trails have been turned into dark grey motor ways and instead of fallen trees and ditches to negotiate there are traffic lights and roundabouts.
The riding school is not the only forgotten treasure to have succumbed to our ravenous hunger for urban expansion. Surrounding the riding school were hundreds of acres of orchards that each year provided Sydney with an abundant supply of apples, citrus and stone fruit. As a kid it was ritual to pilfer ripe fruit from the ground and occasionally from the trees. Old Mr Barnsby never seemed to mind even when he caught you doing it. It was pretty much accepted that that was the sort of relationship the Barnsby’s had with the kids and locals in general.
The boss of the riding school had a second cousin called Charlie. Charlie was an itinerant. He travelled all over the country going from job to job and living day to day. Charlie drove an old Bedford truck with a rough sort of living quarters in the back of the truck. He also travelled with his best companion, a mule called Suzy which came along in the float that he towed behind the Bedford.
Charlie was an interesting fellow and as a kid he sort of scared me. He was in his late forties or early fifties, tall and heavy. He always had a 3 day old beard and wore torn and stained T shirts and ripped jeans. He looked unclean and there was a constant whiff of body odour about him. When he talked to you there was always a hint of white spit at the corner of his mouth. Charlie used to be a policeman and at one time had a wife and 2 kids.
While on duty Charlie got called out to a brawl in a pub in Newton and during the skirmish a bottle was smashed over his head and he hit the ground head first. He was in hospital for 4 months and rehab for another 12 months. The damage to his brain was permanent and he would never be able to work again. About 18 months after he was allowed home his wife took the kids and left.
He never saw is kids again. Charlie was left to fend for himself on a pension. After a couple of years being cooped up in a flat in Bondi, Charlie bought the truck and went looking for jobs fruit picking in the country.
At one farm in the Riverina he saw and fell in love with Suzy. She was a 15hh mule that had no purpose in life anymore. Charlie had to have her and the farmer said he take her if he could ride her.
Charlie had never ridden in his life and didn’t know a thing about it. Without even asking the owner to borrow a saddle or bridle, Charlie got some hay twine and led Suzy over to a rail fence. He clumsily climbed the fence and leapt across her back. Suzy just stood quietly and waited until Charlie was sitting up and balanced. She walked him around as Charlie clung to her neck.
When she stopped by the stump, Charlie slid off and fell to the ground laughing. He was in love. Apparently the farmer was dumbfounded because Suzy had not been ridden for five years and even then had been a handful. He let Charlie take her.
Every year Charlie showed up at the riding school ready for apple picking season. The boss let him park his truck near the house so he could connect to power and use the toilet and shower. He gave Suzy her own yard too. Each morning Charlie would go off to pick apples, but on Sundays he would hang around the riding school. That’s how I got to know him.
I use to watch Charlie with Suzy. I was constantly amazed how patient that animal was with him. I had never seen somebody so clueless of how to be around a horse or a mule. It was the funniest ritual to seem them together. He was so clumsy at mounting. He would haul his huge mass up like he was doing chin-ups. He always accidentally kicked Suzy in the ribs as he got on board. You could see her flinch, but she never budged. She would wait until she was sure he was on and safe. Once she was sure everything was okay, she would walk off without waiting for him to give the all-clear. She would head straight for the sweetest grass, put her head down and begin to eat. Charlie would pull the reins to get her head up, kick her and say “Aw Suzy, don’t eat. Come on Suzy. SUZY!” The Suzy would pick her head up and walk on. It was like that almost every time I saw them.
Charlie had almost no balance and would sway constantly in the saddle. If he wanted to change direction or stop he just jerked on the reins and say ”Aw come on Suzy.” If Suzy ever trotted Charlie would let go of the reins and lean forward to wrap his arms around her neck and say “Aw Suzy slow down,” and wait until she slowed to a walk again. I can’t imagine what he would have done if Suzy had ever got a wild idea to canter.
One day Charlie approached Walt about how to teach Suzy to kneel down. He had seen a fellow get a horse to kneel down and then get on and figured that if he could teach that to Suzy he would not have to always be looking for something to climb onto before getting on Suzy.
“Charlie, no worries. I can teach Suzy to kneel for ya. But it will cost ya some of them apples ya been pickin,” Walt said.
“No Walt. Suzy don’t like too many other people. She’s a woman ya know and she’s very fussy. Just tell me what I’m suppose to do and I’ll teach her,” Charlie laughed. Charlie was always laughing.
Walt explained about teaching her to softly pick up a front leg and get her to put weight on that shoulder as the leg is off the ground. He emphasized about helping to prepare her hindquarters to reach back so she would stretch her front end down and forward. Walt gave Charlie some suggestions of techniques to get this done. As Walt talked Charlie just nodded, but didn’t ask any questions.
“Okay Walt, I think I got it now. I’ll just go and explain it to Suzy,” he said.
At first watching Charlie train Suzy to kneel down was a frustrating experience. Suzy was standing in her yard with no halter or lead rope. Charlie picked up her left foreleg in his hand and then reached across her wither and tried to pull her towards him. It was clear that the only thing Charlie had heard of Walt’s explanation is to pick up a foot and get the horse to lean on it while it is up.
“Aw Suzy. Come on Suzy. Go down Suzy. Come on, go down. Good girl, do down Suzy.”
This went on for several minutes. Charlie just persisted and persisted with the same approach. The frustration of seeing this was driving me nuts. Just when I was about to walk away because I couldn’t watch anymore, Suzy kneeled. I didn’t even seen her get ready. She just did it. What made me even more bug eyed was the instant she kneeled Charlie threw a leg over her and climb on. There was no reward or release of pressure for kneeling down. Charlie figured that kneeling was just part of the job and the other part was getting on. So he just did it. He sat up there laughing, slapping her neck and yelling “Good girl Suzy. Good girl.” I told Charlie I thought that was amazing and then I ran off to tell Walt.
“Walt, I can’t believe it, you should have seen it. Charlie got Suzy to kneel down. He had no idea what he was doing and hardly took in anything you had told him, but he trained her to kneel. It was amazing,” I said in my excitement.
“That’s great matey,” he said.
“Yeh, it was incredible because he did almost everything wrong yet she still kneeled for him. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand Walt. How can a person be so un-horsey, so clumsy and have so little understanding as Charlie and still get along so well with his mule,” I asked?
“Matey, Charlie sure is different. His accident left him a little slower than most and more clumsy than most, but it didn’t change anything that’s inside him. There ain’t any doubt that there are lots of mules and horses that wouldn’t be able to get along nearly so well with Charlie as Suzy does. But ya know matey what he has to offer Suzy is what Suzy most needs. Charlie gives her the care and love she needs and she knows his intent is always good and that she comes first in his list of what is important. For her it is small price to pay to put up with him nearly fallin off every step or jerkin her in the mouth. I don’t know why Suzy needs somebody like Charlie, but it works for her and they are lucky to have each other. Lots of us try to make the horse be what we want them to be and not enough of us try to be the person our horse’s need us to be. There is a lot to be learned from a fellow like Charlie.
The riding school is not the only forgotten treasure to have succumbed to our ravenous hunger for urban expansion. Surrounding the riding school were hundreds of acres of orchards that each year provided Sydney with an abundant supply of apples, citrus and stone fruit. As a kid it was ritual to pilfer ripe fruit from the ground and occasionally from the trees. Old Mr Barnsby never seemed to mind even when he caught you doing it. It was pretty much accepted that that was the sort of relationship the Barnsby’s had with the kids and locals in general.
The boss of the riding school had a second cousin called Charlie. Charlie was an itinerant. He travelled all over the country going from job to job and living day to day. Charlie drove an old Bedford truck with a rough sort of living quarters in the back of the truck. He also travelled with his best companion, a mule called Suzy which came along in the float that he towed behind the Bedford.
Charlie was an interesting fellow and as a kid he sort of scared me. He was in his late forties or early fifties, tall and heavy. He always had a 3 day old beard and wore torn and stained T shirts and ripped jeans. He looked unclean and there was a constant whiff of body odour about him. When he talked to you there was always a hint of white spit at the corner of his mouth. Charlie used to be a policeman and at one time had a wife and 2 kids.
While on duty Charlie got called out to a brawl in a pub in Newton and during the skirmish a bottle was smashed over his head and he hit the ground head first. He was in hospital for 4 months and rehab for another 12 months. The damage to his brain was permanent and he would never be able to work again. About 18 months after he was allowed home his wife took the kids and left.
He never saw is kids again. Charlie was left to fend for himself on a pension. After a couple of years being cooped up in a flat in Bondi, Charlie bought the truck and went looking for jobs fruit picking in the country.
At one farm in the Riverina he saw and fell in love with Suzy. She was a 15hh mule that had no purpose in life anymore. Charlie had to have her and the farmer said he take her if he could ride her.
Charlie had never ridden in his life and didn’t know a thing about it. Without even asking the owner to borrow a saddle or bridle, Charlie got some hay twine and led Suzy over to a rail fence. He clumsily climbed the fence and leapt across her back. Suzy just stood quietly and waited until Charlie was sitting up and balanced. She walked him around as Charlie clung to her neck.
When she stopped by the stump, Charlie slid off and fell to the ground laughing. He was in love. Apparently the farmer was dumbfounded because Suzy had not been ridden for five years and even then had been a handful. He let Charlie take her.
Every year Charlie showed up at the riding school ready for apple picking season. The boss let him park his truck near the house so he could connect to power and use the toilet and shower. He gave Suzy her own yard too. Each morning Charlie would go off to pick apples, but on Sundays he would hang around the riding school. That’s how I got to know him.
I use to watch Charlie with Suzy. I was constantly amazed how patient that animal was with him. I had never seen somebody so clueless of how to be around a horse or a mule. It was the funniest ritual to seem them together. He was so clumsy at mounting. He would haul his huge mass up like he was doing chin-ups. He always accidentally kicked Suzy in the ribs as he got on board. You could see her flinch, but she never budged. She would wait until she was sure he was on and safe. Once she was sure everything was okay, she would walk off without waiting for him to give the all-clear. She would head straight for the sweetest grass, put her head down and begin to eat. Charlie would pull the reins to get her head up, kick her and say “Aw Suzy, don’t eat. Come on Suzy. SUZY!” The Suzy would pick her head up and walk on. It was like that almost every time I saw them.
Charlie had almost no balance and would sway constantly in the saddle. If he wanted to change direction or stop he just jerked on the reins and say ”Aw come on Suzy.” If Suzy ever trotted Charlie would let go of the reins and lean forward to wrap his arms around her neck and say “Aw Suzy slow down,” and wait until she slowed to a walk again. I can’t imagine what he would have done if Suzy had ever got a wild idea to canter.
One day Charlie approached Walt about how to teach Suzy to kneel down. He had seen a fellow get a horse to kneel down and then get on and figured that if he could teach that to Suzy he would not have to always be looking for something to climb onto before getting on Suzy.
“Charlie, no worries. I can teach Suzy to kneel for ya. But it will cost ya some of them apples ya been pickin,” Walt said.
“No Walt. Suzy don’t like too many other people. She’s a woman ya know and she’s very fussy. Just tell me what I’m suppose to do and I’ll teach her,” Charlie laughed. Charlie was always laughing.
Walt explained about teaching her to softly pick up a front leg and get her to put weight on that shoulder as the leg is off the ground. He emphasized about helping to prepare her hindquarters to reach back so she would stretch her front end down and forward. Walt gave Charlie some suggestions of techniques to get this done. As Walt talked Charlie just nodded, but didn’t ask any questions.
“Okay Walt, I think I got it now. I’ll just go and explain it to Suzy,” he said.
At first watching Charlie train Suzy to kneel down was a frustrating experience. Suzy was standing in her yard with no halter or lead rope. Charlie picked up her left foreleg in his hand and then reached across her wither and tried to pull her towards him. It was clear that the only thing Charlie had heard of Walt’s explanation is to pick up a foot and get the horse to lean on it while it is up.
“Aw Suzy. Come on Suzy. Go down Suzy. Come on, go down. Good girl, do down Suzy.”
This went on for several minutes. Charlie just persisted and persisted with the same approach. The frustration of seeing this was driving me nuts. Just when I was about to walk away because I couldn’t watch anymore, Suzy kneeled. I didn’t even seen her get ready. She just did it. What made me even more bug eyed was the instant she kneeled Charlie threw a leg over her and climb on. There was no reward or release of pressure for kneeling down. Charlie figured that kneeling was just part of the job and the other part was getting on. So he just did it. He sat up there laughing, slapping her neck and yelling “Good girl Suzy. Good girl.” I told Charlie I thought that was amazing and then I ran off to tell Walt.
“Walt, I can’t believe it, you should have seen it. Charlie got Suzy to kneel down. He had no idea what he was doing and hardly took in anything you had told him, but he trained her to kneel. It was amazing,” I said in my excitement.
“That’s great matey,” he said.
“Yeh, it was incredible because he did almost everything wrong yet she still kneeled for him. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand Walt. How can a person be so un-horsey, so clumsy and have so little understanding as Charlie and still get along so well with his mule,” I asked?
“Matey, Charlie sure is different. His accident left him a little slower than most and more clumsy than most, but it didn’t change anything that’s inside him. There ain’t any doubt that there are lots of mules and horses that wouldn’t be able to get along nearly so well with Charlie as Suzy does. But ya know matey what he has to offer Suzy is what Suzy most needs. Charlie gives her the care and love she needs and she knows his intent is always good and that she comes first in his list of what is important. For her it is small price to pay to put up with him nearly fallin off every step or jerkin her in the mouth. I don’t know why Suzy needs somebody like Charlie, but it works for her and they are lucky to have each other. Lots of us try to make the horse be what we want them to be and not enough of us try to be the person our horse’s need us to be. There is a lot to be learned from a fellow like Charlie.