Secret Lives of Horses: Ridley and Chalk

Ridley and Chalk today at New Era Farm in Aiken

By Nancy Johnson, Photography by Gary Knoll

Ridley, 40, and Chalk, 38, were two of Karen Jones’s best lesson horses, “co-workers” at New Era Farm in Maryland for over 25 years. Although they certainly knew each other during the time they were working, the geldings had little interaction and were never turned out together. Since Karen moved her business to Aiken in the fall of 2017, however, both horses have been retired and share a large paddock and roomy shed.

“They walk around together like they are attached at the hip,” Karen says with a laugh. Do they watch the other horses in the arena and reminisce about their decades of being the ones with that all-important job, teaching beginner riders? Perhaps.

Both horses are remarkably sound, and with the exception of Ridley’s taking Pergolide for his Cushings disease, are on no other medications. Karen attributes their longevity in her lesson program to their work schedule. “I always stagger lesson days for all the horses in my program; they are never overworked, yet are kept fit.”

With the move to Aiken, the lesson program had to be put on hold

while Karen and her husband built their new farm. The rest of the horses are now back in full work, but Karen felt it would be too hard on Ridley and Chalk to get them back into condition to be lesson horses.

Ridley and Chalk walk around together "Like they are attached at the hip.

A Standardbred, Ridley came to Karen’s farm as an 11-year-old with very little experience. “Although he paces, I don’t think he ever raced,” she says, adding that his previous owner just occasionally rode him around her farm in Western tack.

“I had taught the woman’s kids when they were young and one day she called me and said she thought the horse was a bit lonely. After all, he was the only horse on this big farm with just a lamb for company.”

As soon as she took him home and saw Ridley ridden in the arena, Karen realized how truly green the little horse was. Fortunately, he was also very smart. “He’s under 15 hands, so I put a very good, small adult rider on him and in one night we literally taught him to walk, trot, canter and even jump crossrails.”

Despite his lack of experience, Ridley quickly proved to be an outstanding schoolmaster. “He’s so kind that I could put anyone on him and never worry,” Karen says. “He took around the ones who couldn’t even steer or stop, and just took care of them. He was wonderful with voice commands, so I could stand in the middle of the ring and tell him what to do.”

In addition to being quiet and steady, Ridley was also a very comfortable horse to ride. His canter was exceptionally smooth and he naturally judged his distance to jumps. “He was just an exceptional little guy,” Karen adds.

Chalk came to New Era shortly after Ridley. Like Ridley, the 15 hand, 10-year-old Quarter horse, had been living a very leisurely lifestyle going on trail rides in Western tack. Their age, size, and Western tack is about where the similarity between the two ends.

“When you see Chalk trot, you would think he was a fancy Warmblood,” Karen says. “He’s an absolutely elegant mover and jumps like a gazelle with perfect, natural lead changes.”

Chalk was not a beginner’s mount. “Chalk was more of an advanced ride. He was very springy, making it hard for beginners to sit to him,” she says. “Plus, when he was younger, he tended to be a bit on the ‘looky’ side; not the kind of horse you could put just anybody on, but students who had some riding skills always wanted to ride him because he was so fancy and fun to ride.”

Their differences aren’t just obvious under saddle. Karen describes Ridley as, “A kind of funny, quiet guy. He’s not super affectionate; he likes some attention, but draws the line at smooching.” She also notes that he’s very suspicious about eating anything that looks disguised. “If you put medication in applesauce or inside a treat, he won’t touch it. But if you put it right on his regular feed, he’ll gobble it up.”

Chalk, on the other hand, is much more people-oriented and thrives on attention. Karen relays a story about a woman rider who always brought the horses peppermints. “She had to unwrap the peppermints at home and bring them to the barn in a plastic container because Chalk would harass her so badly as soon as he heard the wrappers crinkle that she couldn’t get them off !”

Throughout his time with Karen, Ridley was always low man amongst his turnout buddies, whereas, until recently, Chalk was the boss of his pasture. When she saw Chalk beginning to lose his status in the herd, Karen hatched the idea of putting the two older gents together in their own paddock. She specifically chose a pasture that she can see from her house.

“I told [my husband,] David that this will be the retirement pasture. It is the first thing I see in the morning and last thing I see at night. That way I can keep tabs on them.”

Karen likes having Ridley and Chalk close to the action on the farm. “They both really liked their jobs and being included. They’ve been on the team a long time and certainly don’t owe us anything. We are just going to do our best to keep them in a very comfortable retirement and hope they live a long, long time.”

The Aiken Horse June-July 2019