Horse soccer gains toehold, or rather hoof-hold, in Kern

Jul. 17—"Go forward, lean forward!

"Now squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Great job!"

Like any good coach, Jena Williams was encouraging and informing as she gave instruction at the Rancho Rio Equestrian Center on Saturday.

But this wasn't any ordinary summer sports camp.

The half-dozen or so gathered in the arena were the guinea pigs in Williams' first horse soccer clinic.

That's right, horse soccer, or hoofball, as it's also known among enthusiasts.

Mickey Rivers was there with her 22-year-old horse named Jesse James, who she's had for more than 10 years, and said she wanted to learn about horse soccer for two reasons: "One, it's a challenge. And two, so we can bond. It's trust."

To be sure, Jesse James did look a bit skeptical at his first opportunity to nose or kick the 40-inch-tall blue and red soccer ball in front of him. But with encouragement from Williams and Rivers at the reins, he eventually seemed to get the hang of it.

Williams said she found the sport while she was looking to fill the void left after her previous horse, who was a champion at cutting — a competition in which a horse and rider must move quietly into a herd of cattle, cut one cow from the herd, drive it to the center of the arena and "hold" it away from the herd — died of cancer.

Williams said she couldn't bear to try to find a replacement, so she sought something different.

Mission accomplished.

The goal in horse soccer is to work in conjunction with a team of horseback riders to push the oversized soccer ball from one end of the field of play to the other in under eight minutes. The goal posts in this version of soccer were represented by two orange cones.

The riders who showed up to practice at 7 a.m. in an effort to beat the heat all seemed to have the skills necessary on horseback that translated into horse soccer success.

Chevie Woolf and her quarter horse Corduroy managed to push the ball down field in under 30 seconds — which she attributed to practice the day before at her own place just across the Kern River — and most seemed to be there for a good time, with the $20 clinic fee being an affordable option for a morning of fun with friends.

The concept of horse soccer might seem farcical to some, but Williams said it's already quite popular on the East Coast, and said there are groups that compete as close as Paso Robles now. There are also practical advantages the sport fosters in addition to the bonding between horse and rider.

Dennis Dean said he was trying to get more exposure to these types of activities for Zander, a horse he was riding on behalf of its owner.

"This is real popular with mountain police training," he said. "They use it for people able to push through crowd control. It's also good for working cows, and the precision for working with cows.

"They're prey animals, they're not attack animals, so you're teaching them to attack something," he said, referring to the ball.

The laughs, bonding and skills-building all made Rio Rancho co-owner Judi Burns smile as she watched the riders break into teams to start two-on-two practice after about an hour of instructions and skills lessons.

"When I bought in (to the ranch), I wanted to improve horsemanship," Burns said. "And so I find whatever I think someone might be interested in, and we try it. We've had mounted archery here a couple of times, which is great fun. We put on sensory clinics to help the horses become calmer and quieter."

The facility also hosts a number of horse shows and other events throughout the year, including an upcoming one called Hot August Nights, when drip sprinklers are set up for the horses so they can stay cool while they play in the evening heat.

"And before I came, there was no trail course over here," Burns said, pointing to an area behind the arena where one had been installed. "There was no cowboy dressage. They did do some cattle events, like roping and sorting. So I just tried to find things that are interesting. I mean, this is interesting, right? Certainly."