Split Second Farm
Ponies & People Left to Right: Cassie Holloway (Blondie), Beth Boniface (Silver Charm), Heather Scampton (Ally), Me (Ellie), Emily Ruff (Buddy), Jessica Ruff (Fanny?), Ms.Amy (Willis)
I feel like most riding schools and barns that you see nowadays feature a common theme. They ride solely in the ring, on dead quiet ponies, and never push kids out of their comfort zones. I know that implementing these tactics into riding schools to a degree is important. However, they should not be what the program solely focuses on. I grew up riding at Split Second Farm with former jockey, Ms. Amy Ruff as my trainer. The skills I acquired from Split Second and Ms.Amy, I still use every single day when I ride. Some of those skills came from dead broke ponies that we rode round and round in the ring. However, most of them did not. At Split Second Farm we did everything you can imagine on horses, it was a playground for horse crazy girls. Ms. Amy embraced that playground, and set boundaries that we were able to stay in (for our safety) but didn’t take away small risks for reward and knowledge.
The first few lessons I had at Split Second were trail rides. I feel like trail rides, with ring work sprinkled in on level ground when able is the best way to keep a kid focused and learning. We took big long trail rides all over Split Second Farm frequently. Sometimes Ms.Amy had to keep track of 8 kids under 10 on ponies! I learned so much as a kid from going on these big trail rides. We had to cross streams, grab mane as our ponies launched over ditches, dodge trees, jump fallen trees, learn to stay single file, swim in the pond/streams and we were even given the freedom to race one another up big hills. The kids who were scared to let their ponies take off up the hill as fast as they could Ms. Amy’s response was always “they will stop at the top”. And she was right, they always did. This was my favorite part of any lesson or trail ride. I loved going fast. I remember standing in the barn after my first lesson (I have a very good memory), I rode a small white pony by the name of Silver Charm and my mom was asking me how my lesson was. I responded that I loved galloping up the hill. Ms.Amy then asked “why?” and my response was “I like feeling the wind on my face.” How wholesome coming from a 6yo, and it still applies.
Me (8) and Silver Charm going cross country at York Country Day School (2007) PC: Hoof Print Images
Ms. Amy also created a very level playing field for everyone who rode there. There were favorite ponies among the little riders like Silver Charm, Ellie, and Ally. And Ms.Amy did a good job of rotating them, so you were never riding the same pony over and over, and learned how to ride an array of different ponies with different styles and different attitudes. There was always a looming wonder on the day of your lesson as you walked into the barn to see which pony was next to your name. I frankly don’t ever remember having a “bad lesson” as a kid except for one. I was used to hitting the dirt from my pony Phantom. However, the pony I rode in this lesson taught me a valuable lesson of what it means to ride a horse you just simply cannot ride. Her name was Tiffany, Ms.Amy put me on her because she potentially would be a good pony racing candidate and was for sale. I was so excited to ride her, and potentially beg my mom the whole drive home from the barn if we could buy her. The lesson went much differently. The warm up went great, but when I went to turn her to her first jump, at the base she ran out and threw me into the flower box. I don’t remember quite how it went after that, but there was a lot of falling off and a lot of crying (and I never cried, and with 4 other people in the lesson. I specifically remember being mortifyingly embarrassed). Tiffany had a much different jump from any pony I had ever ridden. It was a big, back cracking jump for a small pony, which was hard for me to ride and maintain control of her (as she was a bit rank). She kept popping me out of the tack and then would run off a bit (from what I remember) and then I would fall off or something of those sorts. All I know is that it was pure carnage. However, Ms.Amy took control of the situation by leading me over the jumps so that I wouldn’t have to worry about Tiffany getting away from me. She also told me that I can ride her jump better by grabbing my neck strap to maintain balance and not get left behind with her big jump. Sure enough, it worked, and I learned that grabbing the neck strap then and still today could be the difference between life and death. ALWAYS grab the neck strap. That was my first and last ride on Tiffany.
Me (9) and my pony Party, on cross country at the hunter trials (he stopped at every single jump)
As I got older and became a better rider I learned to like and be good at riding the tougher ponies. My moms reasoning for putting off getting me my own pony for so long was for two reasons. 1. She said I would get bored (she wasn’t wrong) and 2. I wouldn’t learn as much (which she was halfway wrong, as the pony we got - Party - was a firecracker and I learned a lot from him). I learned to like the tougher ponies because of Party, and I enjoyed learning to navigate and work through their quirks. One time at pony camp we were riding bareback and playing games - specifically red, light, green light. There were probably ten of us lined up and ready to go. Once Ms.Amy said green light, Party took off bucking through the air across the ring as hard as he could. I sat back as much as I could and thought I had him, but he got me forward and let out another big buck and I super-manned off of him into the stone dust. I was covered in stone dust, it was in my mouth, down my shirt. Everywhere. But, that was party and sometimes or most times he would do things like that, and you would just get back on and try again (and maybe sit a little deeper).
Me(8) on Silver Charm & Brittany on Ellie before the Childrens Hunt the day after Thanksgiving.
I firmly believe a lot of knowledge and experience comes from a lot of saddle time on a lot of different horses, especially the ones that challenge you, and embarrass you. You’re not learning much from some Fluffy saint who carts you around circles and never puts a foot wrong. At Split Second there were always a lot of ponies to ride and we rode them. On Saturdays or during the Summer I would go over to Split Second and ride multiple ponies with Ms. Amy’s daughters Brittany & Heather and all of our other barn friends. We spent so much time together and it was a blast. Some days we would ride them in the ring, some days we would have a bareback jumping contest, some days we would build cross country jumps in the woods. Other days we would go fox hunting, eventing at Olde Hope, we even did pony club for a few years It was never not fun.
We would even ride the unbroke donkey who lacked any sort of steering. But he was a good jumper! (When he went over them that is).
Like most riding schools we did horse show. We actually showed a lot, almost every weekend in the summer, and we all did very well. But horse showing isn’t what made me and everyone else at Split Second capable riders. In fact, my equitation then and still is terrible. However, I am an effective and confident rider because of the array of riding that we did and the skills we were taught from Ms.Amy and all the different horses we had at our finger tips. Split Second was my home away from home as a kid and I couldn’t be more grateful for the experiences, skills, and friends I gained from it.
