When Lisa Osborne sits atop her 19-year-old horse, Sassy, she is a commanding presence. She rides with an air of confidence in the show ring at Clarksville 79 Riding Club, confidence that belies her inexperience.
“She’s going to go far. She’s doing great,” says her coach, Trina Phipps. “She wants to go to state this year, in her first year showing. That’s a lot in a few months, but you can’t stop her. She’s got a lot of energy and a lot of passion. I wish I had more students like her.”
Another thing that makes her unlike any student Phipps has had before: Osborne is deaf. She always longed to show horses, and finally gave in to that longing this spring. Because she can’t hear, she has to go to unusual lengths to understand instructions given in the show ring.
“When they make an announcement, I can hear the noise, but not the words,” Osborne said.
She and Phipps devised an iPhone to iPhone communication system, allowing Phipps to send Osborne instructions while in the ring. It’s not that big of a deal, Osborne said, and it frustrates her that some of her friends allow their disabilities to be deal breakers.
“It just takes time and patience to figure out what to do. I have deaf friends who say, ‘I can’t do this; I can’t do that.’ It makes me mad!” Osborne says. “I’ve always dreamed of being in a horse show. I’m 38 years old, and I’m finally in a horse show.”
From the looks of it, Osborne isn’t just in a horse show. She’s quickly rising to the top, placing in everything she enters.
“It’s really neat,” Osborne says. “I really like it.”
At her last show, she took first place on Sassy and third place on Cheyenne, a yearling filly that is as new to horse shows as Osborne is. Her next big show is the 2010 Ann Dean Open Money Show, set for 4 p.m. July 31 at Clarksville 79 Riding Club. Osborne says her mother, Kay Freeman, her husband, Scott Osborne and the whole club have been endlessly encouraging of her entry into the world of showing horses.
“It tickles me they’re willing to take their time to help me,” Osborne says.
But it’s Phipps who gives Osborne the most attention.
“She really takes all of her time and helps me get ready for the show,” Osborne says about her coach.
Phipps says she wishes she had more students with Osborne’s drive and determination.
“It’s mostly her. She does all the work herself,” Phipps says. “She puts up all her own fencing. I went over there the other night and she was putting paneling in her horse trailer. She’s not going to wait for somebody to do it for her.”
Freeman says she is grateful for the individual attention Phipps offers her daughter.
“Where Trina has come in so much is teaching Lisa how to show Cheyenne, a filly she has in halter training,” Freeman says.
Taking on a yearling is “a big chore,” Phipps says, but her many years of experience dealing with horses makes it manageable.
“Horses’ body language is close to identical to a person’s,” Phipps says. “You can tell when they’re mad, you can tell when they’re hurt, you can tell when they’re irritated. Most of it is in their ears and their tail.”
And helping Osborne along is well worth the challenge of training a young horse.
“I just absolutely love working with her,” Phipps says. “She’s an awesome woman. For her and the disability she has, she doesn’t care. She’s going to do what she wants to do.”
- Written by Stacy Leiser of The Leaf Chronicle, June 23, 2010
