Saddle up! Let's get ready to ride

If you're looking to begin or just rekindle your love affair with horses go ahead and keep that sentimental edition of Black Beauty or The Black Stallion on the bookshelf. Well, at least get it out of the reference section.

"Unfortunately people have really romanticized horses," said Ann Smith who teaches English & Western Riding for Yavapai College. "It's no wonder we have ideas of what horses are like that differ from what horses really act like."

With more than 9 million horses in the United States and the horse industry making a $102 billion impact on the US economy, it's important to know your fact from fiction.

"Horse ownership is a huge responsibility," said Danielle Keesey, who along with Smith gets students ready to ride safely on a mount that's well-behaved, happy and healthy.

At the women's new 11-acre facility on Bent River Ranch in Clarkdale students get to know their tack, seating, trotting, posting, and cantering, safety first and just what exactly makes a dandy brush, well "dandy."

"Usually if people have taken riding classes all the grooming and saddling has been done for them," explained Smith. "We like to make sure our students know how to do everything from the beginning, through the middle and to the end."

A new approach to horse ownership

It's this complete approach to horse ownership that Smith began teaching Keesey as a teenage volunteer.

"I've worked for Ann for more than 10 years," said Keesey. "I had been around horses all my life but Ann taught me how to train and compete before going on to study equine science in college."

"Now Danielle does some things better than I do," laughed Smith. "It's great that I've been able to watch her grow into an adult and carry her love of horses into the next part of her life."

As partners in the business Future Hope Equestrian and co-instructors at Yavapai College Smith and Keesey make sure Arabians like Irish, Buster, Pashura and Bshara can help train students to become life-long horse lovers.

"We can lease a horse to a student so they can participate in the classes," said Keesey. "It gives them an idea of what horse ownership is like without the large responsibility."

You could think of if it as being similar to borrowing a library book, if you really fall in love with the main character you may just have to have a copy of your own.

Verde Valley Spring Equine Classes

• Introductory Equine Science
• Equine Nutrition
• English & Western Riding I
• Equine Anatomy & Physiology
• Equine Special Events Management
• English & Western Riding II