More summary! Spoiler alert!!!
He describes his first lesson and how much he loved horses as a child under 10. It was 2 pages of his happiness and not being picked on. Oh wait! The next summer his parents sent him to a horse camp where he was harassed by girls also under 10 about the fact he had a penis (what under 10 girls mock penises? WTH?) and was not Jewish. The camp was owned by a “sadistic” woman who also harassed him. I’m sensing a theme here. I find it hard to believe that either a) his camp stories are accurate and/or b) his parents didn’t come get him. This whole section is about how he was victimized by the “cruel” and “evil” owner whom I couldn’t imagine would be in business if this was true. But he got his revenge when a local trainer of kids took the kids to a show and he “beat the brains” out of the owner at her barn. The last paragraph starts with the saying “Revenge is a dish best served cold” and ends with him stating that he defeated her and she knew it. He was under 10 at the time.
Yep, no ghost writer here! Pure Maestro.
He then explains how his instructor turned him on to dressage. Of note, he gave the full name of the “evil” woman about but hasn’t listed the full name of his kid instructor. He was riding other horses and “winning” at every turn (I think of Charlie Sheen’s interpretation of “winning”). At 14, he decided to give a summer camp another try. The owner of this new camp “belonged in a mental institution”. Here we go. His parents didn’t seem to vet any place they sent him to. Again, I find it hard to believe this camp story is accurate and/or b) his parents didn’t care that he was being so abused and sworn at and put in physical danger while being the only one excluded from camp activities even though the parents paid money. First he complains about the horse he’s given to ride is difficult, now he’s saying the next horse he was given to ride that he really liked was “a trick” on the part of the owner. She even was so conniving that she offered to sell the horse to NP! Awful! Of note, NP doesn’t always get the name of this horse right (! - That is an example of the quality of editing). He didn’t get that horse because his instructor though it was too “push button” for him and later he’d be riding horses no one else would be able to ride.
Then he met Chevy in a parking lot! He told the woman who owned him that he was an experienced rider with a show background and the woman just let him get on for a 15 min ride in an adjacent field! He was a trainer now that he purchased him. He was a legend at the barn.
The next Chapter is about how an Olympian invited him to DaD as a teen. The female groom was incredibly nasty to his teenager self. A male security guard ripped the pass off of his neck and tackled him to the ground and told him that if he sees him again, “he’d kick his f*cking ass”. Oh, then he opened his jacket and revealed his gun, and told him that he’d kill him and his dad that night. And Christie was watching and did nothing! (I can’t think of an Olympic rider named Christie who would be at DaD, can you?) NP was traumatized for months and concluded that Christie and her groom have mental issues. That pattern again. Geeze, if this is true, why did his parents not put him in counseling? The world was apparently out to get him!
This must have been in the late 90s? I can’t BELIEVE that a security guard would tackle a kid with a pass petting a competition horse, pinning him on the ground so he couldn’t breathe and threatening to kill him and his father after showing him his gun.
This reads like a soap opera from the perspective of a super-paranoid person. The next chapter is called “A knife in my back” but I just can’t read anymore right now!
@Paint_Party, I’m counting on you to critique my critique whenever you get your version!! Please point out everywhere that I’ve been incorrect or not comprehending properly! We’re counting on you!!
